LEGO and RPG licenses

[appiah4]

I wonder why LEGO don't license RPG lines as themes.. I mean LEGO D&D could be only be a huge hit, no? And even if that would be too expensive, maybe Lego Pathfinder or more scifi/cyberpunk settings like Lego Heavy Gear and Lego Shadowrun..

[x105Black]

D&D is a property of Wizards of the Coast, owned by Hasbro, a LEGO competitor. That license is considered unattainable.

Pathfinder was made under a contract with Wizards of the Coast, since it is based off of the D&D ruleset. I imagine that there are legal complications here as well.

Heavy Gear and Shadowrun, I can only assume, do not fit with LEGO's brand values. Either that, or they just do not see them as marketable to their target audience, which is 6-12 year olds.

I don't necessarily like it, but these are probably the reasons you'll hear.

Personally, I think that D&D would be a very successful license. I think that LEGO could make a comparable theme without the license, and still be very successful.

[appiah4]

D&D is a property of Wizards of the Coast, owned by Hasbro, a LEGO competitor. That license is considered unattainable.

Pathfinder was made under a contract with Wizards of the Coast, since it is based off of the D&D ruleset. I imagine that there are legal complications here as well.

Heavy Gear and Shadowrun, I can only assume, do not fit with LEGO's brand values. Either that, or they just do not see them as marketable to their target audience, which is 6-12 year olds.

I don't necessarily like it, but these are probably the reasons you'll hear.

Personally, I think that D&D would be a very successful license. I think that LEGO could make a comparable theme without the license, and still be very successful.

Fair points, all.. Still, they could make a Lego D&D theme in all but the name, with something like Lego Fantasy Adventures or whatever.. I think it would be a huge smash hit.

As for Heavy Gear, I think there is a huge market for Lego mechs, and seeing as Mechwarrior would probably be just as expensive as D&D to license, Heavy Gear would probably be a very good and very cheap alternative (and they have better designs that would lend themselves much better to Lego's mech pieces and style)..

All in all, it's such a wasted opportunity.

[rodiziorobs]

I think Heroica was intended to fill that sort of niche, albeit with a much simpler game mechanic so that it was appropriate for 6-12 yr olds.

Evidently sales weren't as good as hoped, although I am not if that was sure why TLG scrapped their games line altogether.

[HawkLord]

D&D buildable sets were made under the Kre-O line a couple years ago, but they tanked really hard. I'm betting that has had an impact on future RPG based buildable lines.

Plus, the RPG community tends to use miniatures, ether metal or plastic to illustrate their characters. I should know, I have tons of them. With that said, I don't know what role a buildable RPG line would fill.

[BattleBrik]

Fair points, all.. Still, they could make a Lego D&D theme in all but the name, with something like Lego Fantasy Adventures or whatever.. I think it would be a huge smash hit.

As for Heavy Gear, I think there is a huge market for Lego mechs, and seeing as Mechwarrior would probably be just as expensive as D&D to license, Heavy Gear would probably be a very good and very cheap alternative (and they have better designs that would lend themselves much better to Lego's mech pieces and style)..

All in all, it's such a wasted opportunity.

As pointed out above, Heroica was an attempt at a simple implementation of a D&D RPG. There have been innumerable "advanced Heroica" house rues written and available on the internet to try to make it closer to D&D. I agree a "LEGO Fantasy Adventures" game would be great.

Regarding mechs, there have been a couple of non-official games released that cover this space. Check out Mechaton and MobileFrame Zero (http://mobileframezero.com/mfz/).

Shamless plug: I myself am working on a minifig-based game that would provide a game engine that would support skirmish, fantasy adventures, giant monster battles, zombie, etc, etc. Check out one of my sites below.

Thx

Edited March 4, 2016 by BattleBrik

[kibosh]

We used to use LEGO minifigures and set pieces when we played D&D instead of the lead figures. It was easier to build, and easier to reconfigure. But, a part of that, was we all had substantial collections. I think the barrier to entry for something like this for someone just starting out would be very high.

As much as I would love to see something like this to flesh out the castle world, I think the RPG world is getting smaller every year, is it not? Just not a big enough market.

[HawkLord]

I agree the RPG market is getting killed by tabletop games that can be built and played in an evening or online games that require no set-up.

If anything, some kind of intro pack would be required in a buildable theme that would allow gamers to be able to make the most character types right away - Warriors, Mages, Rogues, etc. And then some kind of GM pack with Orcs, Goblins, etc.

[MAB]

Also lego is really a building toy that has minifigures, rather than a minifigure company (although some may disagree!) To produce loads of essentially minifigure only sets would take away production from the other sets where minfiigures are included, thus meaning less minifigures in other ranges.

[appiah4]

Also lego is really a building toy that has minifigures, rather than a minifigure company (although some may disagree!) To produce loads of essentially minifigure only sets would take away production from the other sets where minfiigures are included, thus meaning less minifigures in other ranges.

Yet they do sell CMF?

[Blondie-Wan]

Yet they do sell CMF?

Yes, as a tiny part of their overall business. They've been offering the blind-bagged minifigures only since 2010, but they've been making sets of bricks that work with them for decades longer. The minifigures are just an aspect of their overall construction toy system that has become especially popular.

[x105Black]

A LEGO based RPG would be very cool, but I'd be more interested in seeing LEGO produce sets within a theme that is similar to D&D.

While it would be fun to have an entire RPG, I think that a "LEGO Fantasy Adventures" theme of building sets would work really well. Each wave could include different Fantasy RPG concepts across multiple sets. Perhaps each wave contains the basic elements of a quest, and the theme as a whole would be like a campaign that changes every year or 2. Just an idea, but it could be something along those lines, anyways.

I just want to see LEGO produce more medieval fantasy, and I would really like it to be somewhat darker than their typical Castle themes. And by darker I don't mean I want to see the undead or demons. I just mean a darker overall tone, darker color palette, appealing to the higher end of their target market and purchasing demographic (12-16+).

[kibosh]

I just want to see LEGO produce more medieval fantasy, and I would really like it to be somewhat darker than their typical Castle themes. And by darker I don't mean I want to see the undead or demons. I just mean a darker overall tone, darker color palette, appealing to the higher end of their target market and purchasing demographic (12-16+).

A Game of Thrones license would do that nicely.

[x105Black]

A Game of Thrones license would do that nicely.

Or even better, LEGO could come up with their own IP that has much of the same design aesthetic. It would save them the licensing fees, and give them more freedom to create. Besides, I'm sure that Game of Thrones is wildly distant from LEGO's brand values.

I personally find LEGO's brand values to be limiting, and would love to see them embrace their adult audience with some sort of mature product line. This can be done without necessarily including sexual themes and gory violence, just allowing for more mature products and those based on licenses like the ones mentioned above. But that's for another topic.

[appiah4]

A LEGO based RPG would be very cool, but I'd be more interested in seeing LEGO produce sets within a theme that is similar to D&D.

This was the idea I had when I started the thread actually, lego releading sets and models based on RPG licenses, not Lego making an RPG..

[x105Black]

A license would help, but if they just used similar style and design they can accomplish more without restrictions. Hopefully they would follow aesthetic cues from D&D or Game of Thrones, rather than convert it into something too original, or we may get another Nexo Knights situation.

[Trenk]

My older Brother in the '80s used to use lego bricks to make dungeons for D&D. I uesd to ues Catle stuff for Warhammer FRPG. I have not played yet but we are going to use Lego minifigures for skirmish games and Super heroes RPGs.

[BattleBrik]

My older Brother in the '80s used to use lego bricks to make dungeons for D&D. I uesd to ues Catle stuff for Warhammer FRPG. I have not played yet but we are going to use Lego minifigures for skirmish games and Super heroes RPGs.

At various times throughout the years (starting in the 80's) I've used LEGO to represent skirmish figures in various games.

Just in the last 10 years the number of pieces and parts both from official LEGO themes and from 3rd party vendors like Brick Arms and Brick Warrior have made it even easier to represent any kind of warrior from any historical/fantasy/sci-fi genre.

Assuming you agree Heroica just didn't do it justice , what would you all say are the most important things you would want to see in a tabletop board/skirmish game that was designed specifically for use with minifigures (and all the associated accessories)?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the latest D&D version where you can use the game for both pure RPG and for skirmish.Thx

Edited March 9, 2016 by BattleBrik

[appiah4]

At various times throughout the years (starting in the 80's) I've used LEGO to represent skirmish figures in various games.

Just in the last 10 years the number of pieces and parts both from official LEGO themes and from 3rd party vendors like Brick Arms and Brick Warrior have made it even easier to represent any kind of warrior from any historical/fantasy/sci-fi genre.

Assuming you agree Heroica just didn't do it justice , what would you all say are the most important things you would want to see in a tabletop board/skirmish game that was designed specifically for use with minifigures (and all the associated accessories)?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the latest D&D version where you can use the game for both pure RPG and for skirmish.Thx

I think D&D's new model of releasing whole campaigns would suit a minifigure RPG really well. Write a plot involving three major encounters, pack each encounter into a different set that serves as a battle map and scenery and include the story/rules booklet with it (it could include character/equipment/battle rules and the bestiary)

Then release blind bag characters and monsters for each module, and watch it print money.

[Trenk]

At various times throughout the years (starting in the 80's) I've used LEGO to represent skirmish figures in various games.

Just in the last 10 years the number of pieces and parts both from official LEGO themes and from 3rd party vendors like Brick Arms and Brick Warrior have made it even easier to represent any kind of warrior from any historical/fantasy/sci-fi genre.

Assuming you agree Heroica just didn't do it justice , what would you all say are the most important things you would want to see in a tabletop board/skirmish game that was designed specifically for use with minifigures (and all the associated accessories)?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the latest D&D version where you can use the game for both pure RPG and for skirmish.Thx

I think a game aimed at all pockets would be the main thing free downloadable rules would be good but I think half the fun is using other rules and IP and adapting lego around it. The pirates theme is great for seven years war stuff and of course Stevie's pirate lego game.

One thing I do think is that Space 1889 would make a great lego license.

[kibosh]

Assuming you agree Heroica just didn't do it justice , what would you all say are the most important things you would want to see in a tabletop board/skirmish game that was designed specifically for use with minifigures (and all the associated accessories)?

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the latest D&D version where you can use the game for both pure RPG and for skirmish.Thx

Ease of tracking movement, and statistics. I loved the Lord of the Rings Tradeable Miniature Game (LotR TMG). The hex bases (and maps) simplified movement. The bases also had dials that tracked special abilities and health. Things like this would be huge.

[HawkLord]

Having some type of Heroclix or, as mentioned above, LOTR TMG type character stat tracking would be good. Small plate bases and different colored studs could be used to track hit points, damage output, movement, etc.

[BattleBrik]

Having some type of Heroclix or, as mentioned above, LOTR TMG type character stat tracking would be good. Small plate bases and different colored studs could be used to track hit points, damage output, movement, etc.

I've seen that done before and it doesn't work as well as you would think it would...it is hard to adjust it and not always easy to glance at it and understand the current state....

A better way I've found is stat cards with markers (like 2x2 tiles) on the cards to indicate current state. That's the approach I'm using for my game.

Thx