Disney buys Hasbro and D&D?

According to rumors, Disney may buy Hasbro, and by extension D&D. Check the link, and I stress, these are just rumors; but they are loud enough to be covered on several sources, Google it for yourself and dive into the speculation.

Wow. If true, this would be the biggest shocker since Disney bought Star Wars, at least in our little corner of the hobby. Good or bad? I have no idea, it all depends on how open the company is with the fans and third parties. If good, it could lead to a new era of openness and roleplaying; if bad, it could be a failed resurrection saving throw. If true, I hope someone is put in charge that understands the 'RPGs as social' angle, and supports the community. Like Star Wars, there is incredible potential for coll stuff here, but also a real chance at a company locking up IP and doing it wrong.

What could it mean for the game? It could mean D&D's demons and devils could be exorcised from the game again, aka 2nd Ed D&D. Sorry guys, you just don't fit in with 'brand management' anymore, and any chance of seeing Orcus Prince of Undeath walk around at a theme park has just been squashed. There are serious ramifications and corporate decisions like this that may fall out from such a deal, or in fact, anyone who buys the D&D brand.

Another thought is that the IP in D&D has been pulled from so many sources, it's not really locking much up at all - Pathfinder has done much without much of the core D&D product identity. In fact, if the D&D IP were locked up, it may force real alternatives to emerge and blossom. If the game is opened up and established as the 'game of the community' this may not happen; if D&D is locked up it may force alternatives to appear. Even with locked up IP, good things may come of a Disney acquisition, it all depends on how it is handled.

As a sidebar, this is another reason we banned copyrighted IP from SBRPG. In D&D, if your big-bad is a beholder, that creation is owned by the parent company of D&D, and thus subject to support and branding decisions from the home office. Of course, real roleplayers will say, 'so what it's my campaign anyways' and play with the beholder, and even port them to different systems. New players in the next generation would most likely start playing with Disney:D&D, and miss out on the old stuff that was removed from the game, for good or bad.

With us and SBRPG, it's a principle thing, and we wanted you to create your own IP, create your own big-bads, and own everything in your game. Therefore, if some day you wanted to write a book about your game world, it would be a lot easier, since you started with everything that you created yourself. If we banned copyrighted IP, it got the creative juices flowing, and got you off to the right start. This was our choice, and in light of buy-outs and the pitfalls of playing with other people's IP, something I am proud we went with.

Back on the subject, the business of gaming just makes my head spin....