Wizards of the Coast is trying to landlord the OGL... (again)?

[Twisted Crow]

https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/932349-critical-role-criticized-response-dnd-dungeons-dragons-ogl-1-1-2-0
https://www.polygon.com/23553669/dungeons-dragons-dnd-ogl-wizards-of-the-coast-licensing

I'm getting the strangest case of deja vu...

[Twisted Crow]

This thread was originally going to be called "WoTC is a greedy corporationg, but I figured that would have been redundant.

[Missy]

You could have always just gone with Breaking News: WotC is a Capitalist Corporation.

That would have communicated everything you needed to know to anyone who doesn't have their head deep in the sand.

[Oniya]

I had to double-check the link title to make sure this wasn't a meatloaf situation.  ('We had that last week!  And the week before that, and the week before that...')

[Caitlin]

You may also want to check this update of half an hour ago, the public apology they posted on DnDBeyond and the survey they want to put up isn't going to do all that much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr9WDUCK5aQ

[Caitlin]

Also this: https://mobile.twitter.com/DnD_Shorts/status/1615806825198194708?cxt=HHwWqMC4meTvv-wsAAAA

[Laughing Hyena]

I guess I owe Elven Sex Goddess a big thank you for encouraging me to get into Pathfinder 2.0. True I already have the hard covers of 5e but I guess I shall be saving money since I don't have to get into D&D one. Or whatever Hasbro calls it.

Anyway the fatal mistake that WotC made was thinking that they can control the homebrew community that has since the days of Gygax helped build D&D into what it is. Those people including myself have built wonderful stories with hard work and many rewrites. And the beautiful part of tabletop is we too are game makers. They didn't want competition with this new OGL, but they are going to get it now that this got leaked.

Hasbro, Wizards execs; You fucked up.

[Regina Minx]

Monte Cook has earned a (forgive me) shots fired.

[Caitlin]

I'm genuinely pissed off at what Hasbro/ WotC is trying to pull here. I literally have over a thousand euros worth of DnD books sitting next to me in the cabinet and I would typically buy 1 - 3 new books a year depending on what they published. That all stopped now though. I never believed in DnDBeyond since it would basically force me to buy everything I own off line again in a digital format, which I always found rediculous, so I don't have a DnDBeyond sub to cancel. If I could, however, then I would have. I'll continue with 5e for the coming years (I'm going to start a new tabletop campaign within the month with friends), but going forward I won't buy any new books from them anymore. Once this campaign ran its course I'm thinking of moving onto Pathfinder 2 or Classic Dungeon Crawls, those two seem the most promising follow up systems. I also hope that the ORC license from Paizo will become a big success.

There will be a big update tomorrow from DnD Shorts on YouTube with a lot of new information. In the meantime, he did give an update on the survey situation.

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/DnD_Shorts/status/1615873119398379527?cxt=HHwWjoC-vc6C3uwsAAAA

[stormwyrm]

Looks like after the backlash there's a bit of spin control going on here, and they're walking things more towards a Creative Commons-style license.

https://gizmodo.com/dnd-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl-1-1-creative-commons-licen-1850008294

Until there's a draft license that real copyright lawyers can have a look at though, this is nothing more than spin control.

[Caitlin]

There is a draft version available already on dndbeyond, but unfortunately there is still a lot of bad stuff in OGL 1.2. For a full analysis I can recommend this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DKTKI_Kr5k

[Thufir Hawat]

Looks like after the backlash there's a bit of spin control going on here, and they're walking things more towards a Creative Commons-style license.

https://gizmodo.com/dnd-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl-1-1-creative-commons-licen-1850008294

Until there's a draft license that real copyright lawyers can have a look at though, this is nothing more than spin control.

More like "attempts at spindoctoring", from what I've seen. They still insist they can legally deauthorize the OGL1.0a which makes it unacceptable anyway. And no, the Creative Commons part isn't nearly good enough as a substitute, not when coupled with their idea for OGL.

I mean, morality clause? FFS, who here trusts WotC to apply it even-handedly? To not abuse it? Does anyone trust the corp that tries to weasel out of a license they signed freely?

I'm just glad that Paizo and the other publishers who banded together under the ORC license are basically telling them to sue, if they wish.

[Caitlin]

For those interested, this is a very insightful video of what WotC is trying to accomplish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4kGMsZSdbY

[Caitlin]

It would appear that WotC finally realizes that 1.2 isn't much better than 1.1: https://www.thegamer.com/wizards-of-the-coast-ogl-1-2-hasnt-hit-the-mark/

I'm not sure if I'll bother with filling in the survey for 1.3, but who knows... It's frustrating that they continue trying to disallow OGL1.0a.

[Regina Minx]

Pathfinder Sales Surge as Players Seek Dungeons & Dragons Alternative

I particularly enjoyed this line from the first paragraph:

Paizo revealed that the current print run of the Pathfinder 2E Core Rulebook had sold out at its warehouse, with a supply that was meant to last eight months lasting just two weeks due to a surge in demand. A new print run of the Core Rulebook hardcover has been ordered, with an estimated delivery date of mid-April. The Pathfinder 2E Core Rulebook has also sold out at Amazon and most other major online book retailers.

[Callie Del Noire]

Pathfinder Sales Surge as Players Seek Dungeons & Dragons Alternative

I particularly enjoyed this line from the first paragraph:

Paizo revealed that the current print run of the Pathfinder 2E Core Rulebook had sold out at its warehouse, with a supply that was meant to last eight months lasting just two weeks due to a surge in demand. A new print run of the Core Rulebook hardcover has been ordered, with an estimated delivery date of mid-April. The Pathfinder 2E Core Rulebook has also sold out at Amazon and most other major online book retailers.

I think they should send a thank you card to Hasbro.

[Caitlin]

It may all be over... for now...

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2023/01/dd-breaking-wotc-will-leave-the-ogl-1-0a-untouched.html

[Caitlin]

There is also a news update on DnDBeyond: https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439-ogl-1-0a-creative-commons

[TheGlyphstone]

The battle is over, but the war may have just begun. We'll have to wait and see.

[Callie Del Noire]

Paizo is taking advantage of the bustle of this issue to throw up a new grab bag of stuff.

https://email.paizo.com/4XTJ-JAB4-5EB8A8246FAED4F03F0S3I47CA5008FA722458/cr.aspx

[Caitlin]

Paizo is taking advantage of the bustle of this issue to throw up a new grab bag of stuff.

https://email.paizo.com/4XTJ-JAB4-5EB8A8246FAED4F03F0S3I47CA5008FA722458/cr.aspx

Thank you for linking to this! I'll consider purchasing it myself and I've also passed the link along to friends.

[Kailandra]

Just because Hasbro is putting the OGL/5e in Creative Commons, that doesn't mean gamers can let their guard down. This is caused by a fundemental misunderstanding of the product, both in nature and culture, by Hasbro. They're expecting all this to blow over at some point and they'll have some other tactic to try and gut the OGL. Hasbro is still trying to spin this, rather than putting an actual, dedicated gamer in charge of D&D development. And I'm not talking about the ones in charge right now that came over from EA...

[Annaamarth]

Just because Hasbro is putting the OGL/5e in Creative Commons, that doesn't mean gamers can let their guard down. This is caused by a fundemental misunderstanding of the product, both in nature and culture, by Hasbro. They're expecting all this to blow over at some point and they'll have some other tactic to try and gut the OGL. Hasbro is still trying to spin this, rather than putting an actual, dedicated gamer in charge of D&D development. And I'm not talking about the ones in charge right now that came over from EA...

They aren't putting OGL in Creative Commons.  It was done as part of the announcement, permanently.  Once that is done, it can't really be un-done - not until the copyright itself expires, and neither Wizards nor Hasbro want that.  That'd be starting from step zero.

You're right about Hasbro and such, but they can't do anything about anything under the CCL.  They can try to go after the OGL, but that probably won't hold up in court - and enough nerds are willing to take it to the mat, I think Hasbro was advised which way that would go.

But that's okay, I just threw Paizo and other creators some money.

[Caitlin]

My bet is that they'll try new shenanigans with 6e or One DnD as they call it. I wouldn't be surprised if they introduce a new OGL then. Right now, the only thing they want is peace and quiet until after the movie release.

Personally though, I'm boycotting the movie and new WotC content for the foreseeable future. I was going to see the movie with my wife first since it's about D&D, but I already wasn't feeling too sure about the plot and DnD movies in general always seem to revolve about the Red Wizards of They, as if they can't think of any other enemy. A Drizt or Elminster movie could be so much cooler.

I'm not letting my guard down regardless though, the genie is out of the bottle now that WotC has shown its true face. For the foreseeable future my tabletop group will continue with 5e, but already have all the content that we need to play anyway and new books won't really add much to that. Besides, the last books they've published were pretty crappy to be honest. You can tell that quality control is no longer a priority to them. Especially 'Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse' was a pure money grab. They rehashed existing content and actually removed a lot of lore. I'm not about to pay money again for less content while I already own the content anyway. It doesn't make sense at any level to purchase that book. 

I did buy third party content, however, and I'm interested in PF2 down the line.

[Keelan]

My bet is that they'll try new shenanigans with 6e or One DnD as they call it. I wouldn't be surprised if they introduce a new OGL then. Right now, the only thing they want is peace and quiet until after the movie release.

You know, if that is what they did from the get-go - instead of attempting to retroactively change an existing contract/license - then I think that would have been MUCH better of a decision and gotten less pushback. I mean it would have sucked, people wouldn't have been the most happy with it, people may have left, not bought in, or simply pushed to lengthen the lifespan of the 1.0 products for as long as they feasibly could... but I mean, at that point it's their new product and if that's their call then that's their call.

Either way, I primarily play Shadowrun 5e, so... :3