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daarka · 1 year

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Actually fucking nuts. Capitalism ruins everything.

Push back against this. Be loud. Use #OpenDnD liberally.

Staying in 5e and ignoring 6e/"OneDnD" is not an option. I'll try to summarize below the cut, but I'm not an expert, so please seek out resources that aren't me for full info. This link is a good start. This is the full deep-dive I read up on a few days ago. Listening to the community is also worthwhile to understand from the voices of those affected most. To be more involved in the discussion yourself, a lawyer has set up a Discord server for the community to gather and converse in regarding this issue.

Again, for full context and information from more knowledgeable sources than me (including actual professionals), please go to the links I included above. If you don't have the time/patience/spoons to read those articles, scroll a twitter feed, or poke around a Discord server though, here are the things that made the most potent impression on me and why you should care about this issue.

As mentioned, staying in 5e and ignoring 6e/"OneDnD" is not an option. While OGL1.1 was made for 6e, the extensive parts of the document that have been leaked make it clear that with OGL1.1 going into effect, OGL1.0a (which has been the OGL for the past decade) will no longer be functional. 3rd party creators must choose to either sign the OGL1.1 and comply with it's insanely restrictive and predatory terms, or face legal repercussions for publishing the content they have made their livelihoods off of the past decade.

Per the leaked document, all 3rd party creators must register themselves and their creations with WotC. - 3rd party creators making over $50,000 USD per year must also report their earnings to WotC. - 3rd party creators making over $750,000 USD gross per year must also pay WotC a 25% royalty. This means it is not 750k in profits, it is 750k before any expenses that they are taking the royalties from. Anyone whose profit margin was 25% or less would be financially invalidated by this royalty, and can even end up losing money. Furthermore, the nature of Kickstarters for example is that there is no upper ceiling on earnings, so a KS for a 3rd party sourcebook will suddenly be facing a massive expense they may not have planned for if their campaign exceeds the 750k mark, potentially destroying their ability to deliver on the rewards when they otherwise could have. While currently only a small number of creators are known to make over 750k/year (gross, not net), that does not mean this will not affect you. It creates a very dire argument for why 3rd party creators should not even make the effort in the first place, especially with crowdfunding where too much success can suddenly ruin them.

Remember how those who make over 50k have to report their earnings? Well, the 750k threshold is one WotC says they have the right to change at any time in OGL1.1. This means they can see what people are making when creators are forced to report their earnings over 50k, and use that data to lower the threshold of income for their royalty fee, and they can do this at any time, however much they want. Per OGL1.1, they are telling you that they can decide on a whim that actually, anyone making over $5,000 USD gross a year has to pay the 25% royalty.

D&DBeyond / OneDnD are working towards creating a VTT to host OneDnD/6e. While Roll20 is licensed by WotC if I'm not mistaken, virtually no other VTT is. Platforms like Foundry VTT (my personal favorite and most beloved VTT) will not be able to host the D&D system on them under OGL1.1. What does that mean? Hard to say. But it will objectively become much harder to play D&D outside of WotC-approved spaces in the near future, and that is by design. They want to monopolize how this game is played, and that means making it difficult, inconvenient, or even illegal to play the game outside of their personal playground.

Under OGL1.1, WotC claims full and complete ownership over any and all 3rd party content created for D&D, and the rights to use it however, whenever, and wherever they want without paying you royalties. You made this? Hasbro made this.

I've only ever played 5e. But this link I put up above was very informative about prior editions and the drama surrounding them. 3e had an OGL, and the community began to flourish with 3rd party content. WotC didn't like that people who weren't them were making money off a passion for D&D, and they regretted the OGL--but that OGL was irrevocable, and could not be cancelled, removed, or in any way undone. So they put together 3.5e. They promised 3.5e would be backwards compatible, and all your resources for 3e would still work for it. So people jumped to 3.5e, only to find all their 3e content was now worthless, because that hadn't been true. And 3.5e, of course, did away with that open and welcoming OGL from 3e. Sound familiar? "OneDnD" is touted to be backwards compatible. And yet also comes with crushing restrictions in their OGL1.1 that make it impossible for the D&D community to exist as it has been. It is transparently clear that for WotC/Hasbro, an ideal world would be one where all the money people have spent on flourishing this community over the last decade would have gone exclusively into their pockets. D&D makes hundreds of millions every year, but it's "under monetized" according to their new CEO. It doesn't matter if "Honor Among Thieves" flops at the box office, WotC has already green-lit the production of multiple D&D movies. It's not about fanservice, it's about fan exploitation. Because they can't fucking stand that the game they made can be played obsessively and passionately for decades with only the one-time purchases of the DMG and PHB. And instead of fixing the apparent "under-monetization" problem by publishing more official content, they choose to poach 3rd party creators. The very lifeblood that has caused D&D's success. Because capitalist greed is a soulless poison to whatever it fixes its attention on.

The only way the community has any shot in hell to fight this is if the pushback is intense and loud. WotC has released statements mentioning an openness to listening to the community and revising their choices based on feedback; whether that proves to be lip service or not remains to be seen, but either way: the only thing they seem to care about is money. Fine, let your money do the talking, then. Wholeheartedly support the boycott. Proclaim your support of it loudly. Let Hasbro know that their attempts to milk more profits out of this franchise will be the very thing that kills it if they don't ease the fuck back and allow OGL1.0a to persist. They apparently didn't learn shit when this happened in 3e/3.5e. They can either wise up now before they fuck up beyond repair, or they can be fully destroyed by their own greed. Time will tell.

Edit:

Good catch, thanks! You're right, I must have had some wires crossed when writing that bit. They couldn't revoke it, but they did publish new content for 3.5e that made 3.0e content feel worthless; this is not something I personally lived through, but is based on the reporting from this second article I linked. Likewise, that article explains how 4e did not have an OGL and was consequentially a bit of a wasteland, presumably prompting WotC to bring the OGL back for 5e. Which flourished. And now we're here.

Edit II:

I'm Super not the best source of information for this because I'm absolutely all over the place, but 2 things.

Please check out OpenDnD.games for full, proper info and a place to give your signature in support of the community's pushback.

Something else I failed to mention above: OGL1.1 has a "poison pill" clause. Anyone who signs it permanently forfeits their right to publish under prior versions of the OGL, even if they are unable to take down those prior versions. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING FOR OGL1.1. Even if the community pushback yields results, you may have trapped yourself. "Predatory" does not even begin to cover it.

#opendnd #ogl #dnd #dungeons and dragons #dnd5e #6e #onednd #ttrpg #rpg #wotc #hasbro #daarka gekkers

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sapphhyra · 3 months

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sneak peak. I can't wait to show you what I'm working on

#dnd5e #onednd #ttrpg #cyberpunk art #cyberpunk

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theinkedknight · 1 year

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I'm begging y'all to just move now. Play something else. Make content for something else. Many games have OGLs, or make your own games. I'm doing that right now and it's the most fun I've had game designing all year. Please. I'm begging.

#ttrpg #rpg #tabletop rpg #gaming #dnd #one dnd #onednd #dungeons and dragons

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crossheadstudios · 1 year

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Hasbro and the Orb of Gratuitous Leeching! A free 5E adventure where you get to stop the Big Bad Evil from destroying the Wizards of the Coast OGL

3rd Party creators are who introduced me to Tabletop Games in the first place, the fact that WoTC & Hasbro found it necessary to change the OGL in order to make a some extra change (in comparison to the millions they already make from their content) by ripping of those creators is just insane.

Watching Puss in Boots 2 last week with my kids sort of put two and two together and I put together this adventure piece to do a whole play on what is going on. I’d love to see people share it, would love to see people play it!

Special thanks to Pim, Lashy and Luke who helped me with the inspiration, art and statblocks!

#wotc #ogl #opendnd #stopthesub #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd #dnd5e #onednd #ttrpg #battlemap #puss in boots #hasbro

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melancholia-ennui · 1 year

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OGL Update

OK, now I think we can say "we've won" (this battle, if not the war): irrespective of any further WotC bullshittery, the CC-BY-4.0 license is irrevocable, so whatever happens now, at a bare minimum, the entire 5e SRD 5.1 is forever available to third party creators.

Beyond that... Well, it's good that WotC have said they will not deauthorize the OGL 1.0a for content produced in that framework, though it was always a kinda bad license and as far as I am aware such statements are in no way legally binding, so I would still recommend any third party creators to move to exclusively using the CC content where possible.

I hope Paizo continue with the development of the ORC license, as it would be good to have a proper system neutral alternative which was designed explicitly with the particular needs of the TTRPG hobby in mind. Once that license is released, it will at least provide developers with the option of whether they embrace standard CC licenses or follow the ORC if they want to give their content back to the community.

I also hope that people who were encouraged to try new games from this whole fiasco go ahead with that. The world of TTRPGs is rich and diverse, and while I think 5e does serve a particular niche exceptionally well (far better than some give it credit), there's a lot that can be gained by playing other games, both for the experience of the games themselves and as a learning point for how to improve your experience of your preferred system(s).

Lastly, I hope that folks remember this episode - and treat WotC/Hasbro with the suspicion they deserve going forward. They may have realised that they overstepped with this particularly blatant attempted power-grab, but that realisation will not change their fundamental goals and objectives: namely, the monopolisation of the mainstream TTRPG hobby and the increasing monetisation of the D&D brand in particular. As such, the lesson the executives are likely to learn from all this is not that they shouldn't mess with the fans, but that if they do, they need to find subtler ways of doing it.

So stay sharp, remember to take your turn on watch, and above all, remember this: they need us more than we need them.

There will always be other TTRPGs to play.

#dnd #dnd 5e #5e #dungeons and dragons #ttrpg #wotc #hasbro #wizards of the coast #open gaming license #ogl #ogl 1.0a #ogl 1.1 #ogl 1.2 #opendnd #one dnd #onednd

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tsuyoshikentsu · 1 year

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Holy shit it got worse somehow Delete your subscription.

#dnd #d&d #onednd #oned&d #ogl #open gaming license #dndbegone #d&d beyond #dnd beyond #wotc #wizards #wizards of the coast #homebrew

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bahamaat · 7 months

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OneD&D playtest grumble - Force damage

Anyone else following the playtest getting a bit annoyed how the design team has decided to suddenly make Force energy damage the default for all untyped "magic damage"?

I think the largest issue I have is they are being half-assed about it. Which is my uncharitable way of saying they think simply changing things to Force damage is fixing an issue and calling it a day, but then not accounting for the availability of its resistance/immunity options, or how Force was previously established as a "very rare" energy type.

This is no more obvious in how it changes the interaction with the Wildheart barbarian's resistance ability (formerly the Bear totem from the Totem Barbarian subclass). Originally, Bear gave the ability to resist all energy types by Psychic, which when added to the innate rage benefit of resistance to normal physical damage forms, gave the barbarian resistance to virtually all damage in the game. Now, in addition to the Bear spirit only giving 2 energy types chosen per rage (not a huge drawback most times), but Force joined Psychic in the exclusion list.

Another point of consideration is the brooch of shielding, a relatively niche item for anti-magic missile protection, it's ability to deal with Force damage makes it a lot more important. And the whole situation makes the rider on the Shield spell (perhaps the most unbalanced of the level 1 spells) about magic missiles even more nonsensical. Why are magic missiles (Force damage) treated differently from other sources of Force damage?

It just makes me seriously wonder what is happening at Hasbro - either they are accounting for this but haven't shown us how yet (making evaluating the change impossible), or they didn't think about it or didn't think it was worth accounting for (which is poor game design or an error in judgement that should have been caught by senior designers).

The larger issue is of course, that in producing the new revision, they could simply have addressed the damage types and ... maybe tweaked them a bit? I mean everyone else is doing it - Kobold Press has had Void damage forever, Pathfinder is doing a lot of damage recategorization, and they could even go back to 4e or even 3e which had different variations of damage types to work with.

There are a lot of issues that could be addressed in energy damage - like how "low tier" poison damage is given how widely it is resisted. I've mentioned this before - by introducing poison and disease but then giving a lot of options to ignore them in game just undersells them as threats while simultaneously ruining their potential.

The issue with elemental energies could be addressed (a lot of people are upset that a spell that hurls elemental energy just does Blunt damage, or Slashing, or why Water gets to choose between Acid or Cold neither of which are really appropriate most of the time). Or why Necrotic is somehow the default 'evil'/unholy damage AND represents time/entropic effects as well while fiends are themselves not necessarily associated with ageing.

#blog update #ttrpg design #onedndplaytest #onednd #musings

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arkenforge · 1 year

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What does OGL v1.1 mean for VTTs?

Hey folks! You’ve probably heard that a draft of the OGL v1.1 from WotC has been leaked. We’ve heard what this means for publishers thanks to folks like The Rules Lawyer and Linda Codega. We haven’t heard much about the VTT side of things. As a VTT developer, we’ll be weighing in on this issue from the digital TTRPG side of things. We’ll be explaining how this is a clear attempt for WotC to consolidate power in the digital TTRPG space at the expense of independent (and some large) publishers.

If you aren’t sure what the OGL is, we’ll let Wikipedia do the work on this one.

Before we dive into how this will affect the VTT space, we need to look at the context for the OGL v1.1 release.

D&D Beyond

D&D Beyond is by far the most popular tool for character management in D&D5e. It contains a fully searchable and filterable repository of all game rules, classes, races, spells, etc. It also does character management, encounter building and dice rolls, and hosts a digital copy of all official 5e adventures. Essentially, if you’re using any official content from Wizards of the Coast, you can find it on D&D Beyond.

Last year D&D Beyond was purchased by Wizards of the Coast for $146.3 million. At the time of purchase they had amassed almost 10 million users (now ~13 million based on a recent investor call). We learnt recently that WotC is using D&D Beyond as the cornerstone of their new digital D&D offering. All of the content and automation that is needed to play 5e can be managed through D&D Beyond except for one key element – interactive maps. That’s where the recent announcement of Wizards’ new VTT, OneD&D, comes into the picture.

But why male models VTTs?

For those that haven’t heard of the term before, VTTs are virtual tabletops. They allow people to run their games digitally, either online or in person. VTTs tend to provide tools and/or automation to make running your games smoother and more immersive. They are also very useful for those who have party members in multiple locations.

VTT use is at its highest point ever. After two years of global isolation, players flocked to online VTTs such as Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, and Owlbear Rodeo. This led to millions of players who typically play around the table to experience digital tabletop tools for the first time, and by far the most popular game they were playing was D&D.

Playing D&D online

Right now 5e is played everywhere, and could make up as much as half of all TTRPG games played globally based on information from last year’s Orr report. This is a huge market, and right now it’s spread over every VTT out there. Wouldn’t it be great for Wizards of the Coast if everyone was playing on a platform that they fully owned and controlled? GMs could buy all their content from WotC directly, without needing to revenue share with those other VTTs. The famously under-monetised players could customise and personalise their characters with purchaseable cosmetics or character sheets that are provided by WotC directly, not by independent artists.

Wizards of the Coast certainly seems to think that this is a great idea. Enter OneD&D.

OneD&D is a new VTT being built by Wizards, slated for a 2024 release. Early footage from the announcement trailer shows it as a highly detailed 3D platform that provides all the standard VTT features. However, with everyone already using all the other VTT platforms competition would be quite fierce. That is, unless they had a way to shut out others from the market.

We think that’s one of the primary purposes of OGL v1.1 – to deliberately remove the competition for digital D&D tools, leaving WotC with the monopoly on all future D&D content through D&D Beyond and OneD&D.

Consolidating Power – OGL v1.1

The primary thing we need to worry about in the VTT space is covered by the following excerpts. We’ve bolded the important bits:

From the recent OGL post on DnDBeyond: “those materials are only ever permitted as printed media or static electronic files (like epubs and PDFs)”, and

This section from Linda’s Gizmodo article: “[The updated license] only allows for creation of roleplaying games and supplements in printed media and static electronic file formats. It does not allow for anything else, including but not limited to things like … virtual tabletops or VTT campaigns … You may engage in these activities only to the extent allowed under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy or separately agreed between You and Us.”

The mostly overlooked takeaway from OGL v1.1 is that it only covers static electronic files. That is, content that can not be altered in any way, and content that is in transferrable file form. No websites. Even if you’re putting up a single static web page, if it’s got text from a 5e book it’s illegal.

Creating a form fillable PDF? Not allowed. Building your own 5e character manager? Illegal. A 5e compendium? Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (ironically also a reference to a Hasbro product). Nothing that is both digital and interactive can be published without a special ‘custom agreement’ with WotC.

The forbidden content

Here’s a few examples of things that are both digital and interactive that OGL v1.1 forbids:

A fully searchable and filterable repository of any 5e content. If you can show or hide content based on a set of filters, it’s not static

Character management

Encounter building

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty close to all the things that D&D Beyond does! What else could you consider digital and interactive I wonder?

Interactive maps

Automation of 5e rules and combat

That’s sounding quite a bit like the features a VTT might provide! How awfully convenient that WotC is releasing one in 2024!

“But VTTs already have agreements, so OGL v1.1 won’t affect them”

This is an argument that WotC has already made, and no doubt will continue making until the release of OneD&D. This is specifically what they’ve said:

“The top VTT platforms already have custom agreements with Wizards to do what they do.” (source). This is a handwaving a lot of issues.

Firstly, note here that the top VTT platforms are specifically Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. FoundryVTT, who at this point we would very much consider a top VTT, does not have a custom agreement with WotC. Arkenforge (who we consider a pretty great VTT) does not have an agreement with WotC. The vast majority of VTTs don’t have an agreement with WotC.

As Foundry founder and developer Atropos himself said recently: “We’ve been actively monitoring this situation and we’re going to be proactively working on a path forward that will cover our use case and allow us to support One D&D. We are not, however, in a position to do so already under the terms of today’s post. There is work to do“.

This isn’t a surprise

We alluded to this in our previous article about the D&D Beyond purchase: “The bigger implication here though is the continuation of ‘unofficial’ D&D Beyond support. …there are a large number of tools out there that are currently skirting an incredibly grey area of licensing. Neither D&D Beyond or WotC have approved these tools…. Knowing WotC, it’s incredibly likely that as the release of the VTT draws near, the creators of these tools will start receiving Cease and Desist letters and takedown notices”. It’s why we’ve deliberately shied away for putting anything even remotely close to 5e into our software. We’d love to have functionality that allows us to pull D&D Beyond data, but it’s a dangerous area.

There’s a very long list of VTTs that have appeared in the last few years that primarily serve 5e content. Too many to list here. All of these VTTs are risking cease and desists under OGL v1.1. Tools that pull content from Beyond, or even tools that allow for easy browsing of the 5e ruleset are also illegal under OGL v1.1.

Independent releases on VTTs

The other elephant in the room with Wizards’ statement is that this agreement is with VTT platforms that release their own versions of 5e books. VTTs are also an excellent marketplace for independent creators. They can publish their content for people to play directly without needing to worry about printing and distribution. Many Patreons also offer VTT content for their higher tier patrons.

Content that independent creators create and sell on these platforms is not part of the VTT agreement. Most likely the OGL v1.1 will prevent them from creating interactive digital versions of their products to sell on VTT marketplaces. This is going to force anyone wanting to create online D&D content to OneD&D, who will more than likely provide plentiful tools to publish your content through their own platform.

The ability for WotC to revoke any license with only 30 days’ warning can put a strain on those VTTs with marketplaces. We could very well have a message from Wizards that we need to remove a certain product at once. Not only does this put stress on our the people managing our marketplace, it can also annoy users who could see any D&D-related purchased content vanish from their libraries with no warning.

OGL v1.1 overreach

As you read above, we expected the heavy-handed crackdown on 5e content. It’s only natural that WotC would try to reduce competition and move as many players as possible to their own platform. What we didn’t expect however, were the changes to OGL publishing.

Wizards is trying very hard to have OGL 1.1 be the only publishable license available. They’re already trying to claim that the existing OGL is now unauthorized, which would prevent anyone from publishing under it.

If you think this will only affect D&D, here’s just some of the popular Publishers and TTRPGs that are published under the previous OGL.

Paizo – Pathfinder, Starfinder

Evil Hat Productions – Fate, The Dresden Files RPG

Pinnacle Entertainment – Pathfinder for Savage Worlds

Green Ronin Publishing – Mutants and Masterminds

This leads to one big question for publishers and VTTs alike. Can these publishers publish VTT versions of their systems and adventures? The new OGL says no.

A digital graveyard

Under the new licensing, Mutants and Masterminds can’t decide to put their content on any VTT without consulting WotC first. We likely can’t get official Pathfinder or Starfinder content on our own Arkenforge store because those new products may violate OGL v1.1’s ‘no interactive digital content’ terms. Despite a publisher already having a deep library of content, converting an existing adventure module for a VTT can easily be classified as a ‘new product’ that OGL v1.1 covers. No third parties could create digital content for these systems either. Many people will likely try to continue releasing content for open VTTs such as Foundry under the Fan Content Policy, but that’s treading into an incredibly grey area and will most likely be forbidden.

If this interpretation is correct (and all signs so far point to WotC trying to push this as the correct interpretation) then there’s a lot more than D&D that will be affected by this change in the digital space. Several independent creators will be unable to keep up releases with new VTTs unless Wizards allows them to. This simple change in the OGL gives Wizards of the Coast complete control of the digital future of several popular roleplaying games. We sincerely hope that this isn’t the interpretation that they end up going with.

Conclusion

Wizards of the Coast strongly believes that online, digital tools are the future of tabletop roleplaying. They’ve structured OGL v1.1 to try and monopolise this space for all future D&D content. Both large and independent publishers can only release digital content on Wizards’ terms. These terms will likely come with either OneD&D exclusivity requirements or some level of royalties. They can also choose to shut people out of the digital market entirely. OGL v1.1 gives WotC the ability to stop Paizo releasing any future Starfinder content on any VTT. There’s a couple of other tricks that they have up their sleeve that we unfortunately can’t discuss for legal reasons.

OGL v1.1 in its current form will undoubtedly be disastrous for the future of independent creators for 5e content. Wizards is unhappy with the lack of control they’ve had over independent creators in the past, and they’re now tightening their grip too hard. We can only hope that enough people speak out to make these Wizards break concentration.

#dnd #onednd #ogl 1.1 #ogl #opendnd

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clarislam · 1 year

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I’ve been reading up on all the discussion around OneDnD and the possibility of changes to the DnD open game license (OGL for short). Based on what I know now, it does make me concerned about all the various DnD content creators I’ve watched over the years. Not just big ones like Critical Role for example, but other (smaller) creators as well.

I’m not a DnD content creator, but I can’t imagine how hard of a time those creators are having with trying to figure out how to pivot from this or how they will manage things from here. Whatever they may decide (even if the new OGL doesn’t end up going through), I encourage you to support them however you can.

For those that don’t know what’s going on regarding OneDnD and Wizards of the Coast possibly implementing a more restrictive open game license that will cancel out the past versions of DnD, I’ll put links below to a couple articles for more details:

D&D’s stricter licensing rules might impact some beloved RPGs - Polygon

The Dungeons & Dragons' OGL 1.1 Tightens Grip On Competition -Gizmodo

Dungeons & Dragons Community Holds Breath as Wizards of the Coast Prepares New OGL - Comicbook

#onednd #wotc #wizards of the coast #dnd open game license #critical role #opendnd #content creators #dnd content creators #oned&d #opend&d #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #claris speaks

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impsemporium · 2 years

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First-time bro?

#onednd #DnD #dungeonsanddragons #dnd5e #5e #dndmemes #dndmeme #ttrpg #tabletop #tabletopgames #meme #memes #tabletopgaming #dungeonsanddragons5e #dungeonmaster #gamer #roleplayinggame #boardgamegeek #pathfinder

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leidensygdom · 1 year

Link

(Check the link for the post itself! Here’s a screenshot of the same content available in the page, though)

Wizards of the Coast has finally made an official statement about the new OGL, and as expected, it’s an attempt to douse the fire with sweet corpo speak. So, here’s some key points about it, so we don’t forget what actually happened.

They repeated thorough the letter that this was to avoid bigoted content. About three times. Don’t let them lie to you: This was NEVER about preventing bigoted content. (In fact, please remember that WOTC released the hadozee on 2022, and has a lot of unresolved sexual harassment case allegations)

They also mentioned the NFT thing. Again: This is another buzzword, given how nowadays most people dislike NFTs openly. It was NEVER about preventing NFTs

Most importantly: They are blatantly lying about the leaked OGL being “up to revision” and them having planned “to accept community feedback”. The leaked OGL was sent as it is to implied third parties, alongside with contracts. THEY FULLY PLANNED TO HAVE PEOPLE SIGN IT AS IT WAS.

They have been saying they’ll backpedal on some of the choices. DO NOT BELIEVE THEM until we see an actual readable OGL of whatever changes they are promising. They are trying to, desperately, calm down the storm.

KEEP pushing, in fact. Keep unsuscribing from DnD Beyond. Do not buy their products, don’t watch the movie, etc. If this PR stunt makes people suddenly calm down, they’ll try to get away with the OGL as it is.

Also, here’s some segments I want to highlight, just to show how thoroughly filled with horseshit they are:

And third, we wanted to ensure that the OGL is for the content creator, the homebrewer, the aspiring designer, our players, and the community—not major corporations to use for their own commercial and promotional purpose.

This one is probably a jab at Paizo, but they certainly didn’t care about all the third parties affected by this. The “aspiring designer”, the “homebrewer”, the “content creator” are all people who probably have a foot in the industry and are working with smaller TTRPG companies, or third parties. Most third parties have a very limited number of employees (or quite literally consist of just one person), and hire freelancers as needed. These were quite literally the most hurt by this new OGL. Let’s not forget they were content trying to put an end to that.

It also will not include the license back provision that some people were afraid was a means for us to steal work. That thought never crossed our minds. Under any new OGL, you will own the content you create. We won’t. Any language we put down will be crystal clear and unequivocal on that point. The license back language was intended to protect us and our partners from creators who incorrectly allege that we steal their work simply because of coincidental similarities.

They made a section in the OGL that allowed them to steal content. Of course, they are claiming that is not true now, as it would give them a bad image. And yet, they have the nerve to claim they are just defending themselves when they release copied content.

Finally, we’d appreciate the chance to make this right. We love D&D’s devoted players and the creators who take them on so many incredible adventures. We won’t let you down.

This is obviously that sweet corpo speak that ties everything together. They never wanted to make this right: Again, the leaked full OGL was never a draft. They were ready to fuck the entire community over (and still are, most probably) over a greedy cash grab. Do noT forget, and do not relent now: The fight is not over.

We don’t need a “compromise” over the new OGL. I wouldn’t care if they applied this new OGL exclusively to OneDnD, but there is still a lot of people who have built a living operating under 5e’s OGL, and they should NOT be taking that from people.

(As always, reblog for awareness!)

#onednd #dndbeyond #dnd #dungeons and dragons #ogl #open game license #wotc #wizards of the coast #opendnd #open dnd #ttrpg #5e #long post

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daarka · 1 year

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For those late to the party who want to know what the hell is going on with #OpenDnD, #StoptheSub, #DnDBegone etc, and why everyone is cancelling DnDBeyond subscriptions, I tried to do a crash course as succinctly as possible. OpenDnD.Games is a great resource for more in-depth details, and if you wish to do so, you can cancel your DnDBeyond subscription through this direct link (as there have been many reporting trouble in locating where to do so). Edit: Tweaked the very first detail below, as someone reminded me it was not a wholly accurate statement as I had initially written it. Apologies to everyone who already reblogged the first version of this :')

Hasbro acquired Wizards of the Coast (WotC) some time ago, but recently they got new leadership who said in an interview that they see D&D as "under-monetized". Hasbro is on the decline with finances, and WotC is its biggest cash cow. Why milk that cash cow through producing more content when you can instead revoke a legally irrevocable license that makes it impossible for 3rd party content creators to exist?

America loves a good monopoly. The old license that permitted the community to grow to what it is today was OGL1.0a, and without it, D&D would not be what it is right now, nor even close. They tried to shift to OGL1.1, a new license that is, in a word, PREDATORY. Horrific, nasty shit.

OGL1.1 was quietly sent to large creators to sign. It then got leaked. The community erupted. The backlash was loud and unanimous. WotC was radio silent for like two weeks. They finally gave a single-sentence "we'll explain soon" tweet on DnDBeyond's account. Then more silence.

A WotC employee reached out to large creators to blow the whistle on WotC. The source was verified, and they shared that WotC sees the community as an obstacle between them and their money, all they care about is bottom line, and they're delaying in hopes we forget and move on.

And also that they are mainly looking at DnDBeyond subscription cancelations to gauge the financial impact; they don't care about our sentiments, only our money. So everyone erupted into signal boosting for others to unsubscribe as the single and best way to make ourselves heard. Cue the mass unsubscribing.

Today (January 13th 2023), a shitty PR piece was posted on DnDBeyond full of blatant lies and, in my opinion, barely-contained saltiness. Right before that, though, OGL2.0 leaks came out; the tweaks they'd begrudgingly made following the backlash. 2.0 is basically just as bad as 1.1; they just spoke of it as being more changed than it was.

In other words, they keep bold-faced lying to a community of rules-lawyers who recreationally read fine print :)

Meanwhile, Paizo (creators of Pathfinder) has come to the rescue, vowing to release a truly open license that will allow everyone to continue pursuing the livelihoods they're passionate about; this is the Open RPG Creative License, or "ORC".

Canceling subscriptions immediately sends a potent message, even if you may have to resubscribe later for functionality in your games. You'll still have the remainder of your billing cycle to enjoy paid perks.

Everything's a little on fire, but I think we'll be okay ♥️

OGL1.0a was never meant to be revocable, as loudly stated in the past couple days by the very people who authored it. It is very likely that WotC is actually just bluffing and bullying, and is actually powerless to revoke it--something many lawyers more knowledgeable than myself seem to be suggesting. In which case, it is my greatest hope in all of this that 3rd party creators are able to continue doing what they love, with no further interruptions.

Remember: the majority of WotC and DnDBeyond employees feel the exact same way we do, but they don't have a choice. Hasbro is the enemy here. Be kind to each other, and know where blame should and should not be placed. If you want to stay up to speed, the account of @.DnD_Shorts seems to be a very active and informed voice, largely responsible for sharing the first leak. If Twitter makes you want to puke, I completely understand; DnD_Shorts also has a YouTube channel with frequent updates on the situation posted in video format.

It's cathartic to me to try to signal boost this stuff, and provide summaries that might help others stay informed. It helps me feel like I'm somehow able to affect these nasty things that are otherwise just inflicted onto lil guys in the community like myself.

However, this has been beyond exhausting and stressful. I'm going to start untangling myself and stepping back from posting about this issue so I can hopefully restore some of my own sanity.

It's been really crazy--in a good way--to see the power this community has when rallied together under a common threat. It makes me proud to be in that community.

At the end of the day, all TTRPGs are really just exercises in creativity and fun. The golden rule has always been and should always be that there is no right or wrong way to play, other than what suits you and those you play with. Likewise, no one should ever feel guilty or judged by others for playing one system over another. It's okay to like D&D5e despite all this. No matter how much they've tried, Wizards of the Coast cannot claim jurisdiction over the invaluable memories you've made, and what has become a creative outlet for countless people. Myself included.

Boycotting is a great way to be heard, since they only care about money. But continuing to use the content you have to play D&D5e is your prerogative, and hurts no one. Furthermore, it's also okay if you can't cancel your DnDBeyond subscription because you rely on it too heavily for your games. That doesn't make you a traitor. That doesn't estrange you from the community. DnDBeyond, at its core, is a great tool that is popular for a reason; it's the new leadership that is forcing it to become something it wasn't meant to be. One day, I hope to be able to resubscribe in good conscious, and I hope that day is soon.

To reiterate, if anyone's even read down this far... be kind to one another. Keep in mind that big enemies win when the party is divided. You can love or hate anything you want in the TTRPG sphere, but how you feel about it does not invalidate someone else feeling the opposite.

Be kind. Be patient. Be empathetic. We're already coming out on top.

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