TOPIC: 2020-2021 Community Theme Idea - Leveraging Rothfuss Material

Another forumite suggested a community drive where treasure draw donations made by players unlock something special for the following year. I had an idea that I'd like to share on that front that could make 2020 and 2021 even more interesting.

It could be done starting at Origins 2020 with an interesting story leading into 2021 with Rothfuss material available again. It opens with a post on the forums and a sign physically appearing at Origins.

"Kvothe [or Bast or Elodin - a significant character] has been captured by a group of powerful bandits who don't yet realize the value of their captive or the luck they had to capture him unaware and unprepared. They have fled to foreign lands far afield. Freeing Kvothe will require a great deal of resources. Consulting an oracle will be need to divine the location. A ship will need to be hired and secured to sail to that land - an expensive proposition since his name cannot be revealed nor the true purpose of the mission. The crew brought to help find him will need the best trackers in order to locate the bandits. Adem mercenaries will be needed to help defend the ship and help go after the bandits. In order for a brave adventuring party to free him, the resources must be raised to make it possible!"

Set a goal of 2,500 draws (or some other number) donated. Have a box for the donations at the entrance to the TD area at all the cons with a chart showing progress made. If the goal is hit, the character is "freed" and will appear in conventions for the remainder of the year. The freed character can help parties during runs, may give out presents, etc..

The same theme could cross-over into true grind where players are helping defeat the forces holding the character and can reduce the treasure requirement to achieve the objective. Maybe even an interesting mission as the 8th room of runs at a particular convention like GenCon.

Tying it to Rothfuss could also allow re-introducing the tavern run several years ago. Even though it wouldn't be a run, it would be thematic to the story and would draw people in. If TD really wanted to go crazy with it, they could steal a page from the Munchkin Tavern that used to be run at GenCon. For 3 hours each night, one of the local restaurants had a section dedicated to all things Munchkin including a themed menu. Charge admission for it to offset expenses and you'd fill it up pretty much every night (SJG filled up the tavern every night and sold a TON of promotional items like shirts, etc..) Have guest appearances from characters interacting with players and maybe even giving hints on puzzles that appear that year.

It would make for a very interesting coherent story throughout the season that we'd see progress over time.

Fred

Since there is going to be no Rothfuss material in TD in 2020 why not another theme?

I could see donating something like trade item goods, but we're keeping our draws.

Involving someone else's IP seems like a non-starter.

TPTB haven't signed off on anything, or hinted at allowing players to leverage pulls/goods/actual dollars into any type of payoff.

This just seems like a weird thing to speculate at / dream up

2 years ago, TD was approved to run 3 adventures based on Rothfuss materials so it isn't a reach to go into IP that they have prior and future approval for. We know 2021 is when "the Underthing" is scheduled to premier for TD (Jeff indicated it when Taborlin's key was renamed) - thus why to have something Rothfuss oriented (since we'll have Rothfuss content that year).

My thought is whatever is donated or whatever the community needs to achieve as a group, it should take multiple conventions to lead up to it. This would have an interesting story continue for a year or more. Then, the following year, everyone could experience the thing unlocked for an entire season.

It could definitely be something other than Rothfuss but using that would be a draw even to non-TD players and help promote TD overall. If Pat went as far as even allowing some text he wrote to be included, that would be even better (he did that for the prior adventures - we could even recycle some of that material). If you were carefully watching during those runs, we actually got glimpses of things from Rothfuss's world that don't appear in the books yet that he personally approved (including story related things).

It's possible that Rothfuss's publisher stopped the adventure this year because of something tied to the publishing schedule or development of shows based on the IP (likely something tied to Auri). Once that timetable has passed, it sounds like TD will be able to do that adventure. So, my original idea would have to be adjusted to be 2021-2022 with the community drive beginning when the Underthing premiers.

It's definitely easier to have it be based on something completely TD owned IP but that wouldn't draw in players who are interested because of the story.

If it were TD based IP, I'd recommend introducing a character this year that fans really like. Someone with a lot of lines and is really engaging. At the end of the season, begin the story of him being captured with the first convention of the season - then go through the steps I described in the original post.

As for what would be donated, treasure draws seems to be the most universal thing. Alternately, it could be tied to some charitable fundraiser. TD sells a "funds to free Kvothe" (or TD introduced NPC) token for $5 with the proceeds being donated to a worthy cause. The tokens (or other item) are then put by players into a clear case (to show people are doing it) visible at each show (emptied as it fills up). A running ticker is displayed for how much has been raised. When $10,000 is raised - part one of the reward is unlocked, at $25K - part two is unlocked, etc.. The unlock(s) then either apply immediately for non-story related things or start the beginning of the next season lasting throughout the entire season.

With the charity option, TD gets a healthy tax write-off increasing their take-home profits, we get an interesting story with possible minor benefits, and a good charity gets funds to help their mission. It's also pretty likely that matching funds either from companies or individuals could make the amount even more significant. That charity may even help promote TD as well.

It could be an interesting and more immersive opportunity for the True Dungeon community.

Fred

Fred K wrote: It's definitely easier to have it be based on something completely TD owned IP but that wouldn't draw in players who are interested because of the story.

If it were TD based IP, I'd recommend introducing a character this year that fans really like. Someone with a lot of lines and is really engaging. At the end of the season, begin the story of him being captured with the first convention of the season - then go through the steps I described in the original post.

Does Dreugar count as TD-owned IP yet?

I can see it now... "Druegar has been kidnapped! No new tokens can be released until he has been freed!"

Fred K wrote: 2 years ago, TD was approved to run 3 adventures based on Rothfuss materials so it isn't a reach to go into IP that they have prior and future approval for. We know 2021 is when "the Underthing" is scheduled to premier for TD (Jeff indicated it when Taborlin's key was renamed) - thus why to have something Rothfuss oriented (since we'll have Rothfuss content that year).

My thought is whatever is donated or whatever the community needs to achieve as a group, it should take multiple conventions to lead up to it. This would have an interesting story continue for a year or more. Then, the following year, everyone could experience the thing unlocked for an entire season.

It could definitely be something other than Rothfuss but using that would be a draw even to non-TD players and help promote TD overall. If Pat went as far as even allowing some text he wrote to be included, that would be even better (he did that for the prior adventures - we could even recycle some of that material). If you were carefully watching during those runs, we actually got glimpses of things from Rothfuss's world that don't appear in the books yet that he personally approved (including story related things).

It's possible that Rothfuss's publisher stopped the adventure this year because of something tied to the publishing schedule or development of shows based on the IP (likely something tied to Auri). Once that timetable has passed, it sounds like TD will be able to do that adventure. So, my original idea would have to be adjusted to be 2021-2022 with the community drive beginning when the Underthing premiers.

It's definitely easier to have it be based on something completely TD owned IP but that wouldn't draw in players who are interested because of the story.

If it were TD based IP, I'd recommend introducing a character this year that fans really like. Someone with a lot of lines and is really engaging. At the end of the season, begin the story of him being captured with the first convention of the season - then go through the steps I described in the original post.

As for what would be donated, treasure draws seems to be the most universal thing. Alternately, it could be tied to some charitable fundraiser. TD sells a "funds to free Kvothe" (or TD introduced NPC) token for $5 with the proceeds being donated to a worthy cause. The tokens (or other item) are then put by players into a clear case (to show people are doing it) visible at each show (emptied as it fills up). A running ticker is displayed for how much has been raised. When $10,000 is raised - part one of the reward is unlocked, at $25K - part two is unlocked, etc.. The unlock(s) then either apply immediately for non-story related things or start the beginning of the next season lasting throughout the entire season.

With the charity option, TD gets a healthy tax write-off increasing their take-home profits, we get an interesting story with possible minor benefits, and a good charity gets funds to help their mission. It's also pretty likely that matching funds either from companies or individuals could make the amount even more significant. That charity may even help promote TD as well.

It could be an interesting and more immersive opportunity for the True Dungeon community.

Fred

I don’t think we do know 2021 is when the underthing will happen. Jeff said another year and another date, not next year. So we don’t know when.

[/quote]I don’t think we do know 2021 is when the underthing will happen. Jeff said another year and another date, not next year. So we don’t know when.[/quote]

That's true. Whatever year he gets approval for, promoting it for then seems to make sense. It sounds like it isn't dead, only delayed. The type of program I am suggesting should be planned 1-2 years in advance so it could be framed around that time (whenever that is). I would especially love the idea of a local restaurant doing Kothe's Inn even for just an evening as part of it

Fred

I am not saying the idea is bad, or that Rothfuss theme is bad. I just think Rothfuss theme without content seems weird to me. sorry cutting and pasts on this device is harder than I would like.

Fiddy wrote: Druegar has been kidnapped!

The story of Red Chief's kidnapping has already been told--many times.

Druegar wrote:

Fiddy wrote: Druegar has been kidnapped!

The story of Red Chief's kidnapping has already been told--many times.

The O Henry story?

jedibcg wrote:

Druegar wrote:

Fiddy wrote: Druegar has been kidnapped!

The story of Red Chief's kidnapping has already been told--many times.

The O Henry story?

But are you a bad enough chap to save the president:D