WotC Third party, DNDBeyond and potential bad side effects.

[OB1]

In many ways, DDB is now a gaming platform similar to Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox. But let's not forget that the videogame industry was once dominated by Atari and Sega. The point being that when a product or service get's mass popularity, competitors will appear and just because you are the leader today, doesn't mean you always will be. Nothing about what WotC is doing with 3rd parties strikes me as anti-competitive, and in fact probably makes it more likely that a strong competitor will eventually appear.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I'm not sure why they'd do that full last list.....and we don't demand it of anyone else. I get your concerns, I really do, but some of this is just no realistic for a business to do. I mean, if they sold stuff on Foundry and there was a full character builder there, why would anyone use the WotC tools ever again?

PDFs is one example. Every other RPG publisher publishes PDFs. Why not WOTC? They do it for every version of D&D except 5e. Why? Why is it ok for Morrus to do it but not WOTC?

Many online tools offer APIs. I've been spending a lot of time at https://open5e.com and it's completely volunteer run but it has an open API. I use it all the time for building random generators.

Almost every other online tool has ways to filter your content. Shard, Roll20, Foundry – all of them.

I think we do ask that of other publishers and they deliver. One big reason is that they really depend on their customers.

 

[aco175]

I'm not on DDBeyond, at least not yet, so might not be a big deal for me. I would like other companies to get the 'official' tag and put out stuff. Maybe stuff Wizards is not like shorter modules that I can put into my homebrew games. I know I can go to other companies sites and DMsGuild and such, but if they are doing it- this is what I'm asking.

I thought Paizo did good things in the 3e days, maybe get another company like that.

 

[Zaukrie]

Also, Mike, love your books, I own almost all of them.....hope you are taking this in the spirit of we just likely won't fully agree on this.

My experienced players loved Grendleroot, I just got burned out before we finished (we're playing Gloomhaven on line while we all recharge our batteries to DM).

 

[Zaukrie]

PDFs is one example. Every other RPG publisher publishes PDFs. Why not WOTC? They do it for every version of D&D except 5e. Why? Why is it ok for Morrus to do it but not WOTC?

Many online tools offer APIs. I've been spending a lot of time at https://open5e.com and it's completely volunteer run but it has an open API. I use it all the time for building random generators.

Almost every other online tool has ways to filter your content. Shard, Roll20, Foundry – all of them.

I think we do ask that of other publishers and they deliver. One big reason is that they really depend on their customers.

that lack of filtering hurts my brain also. I understand the PDF thing, but agree with you on it.

The API? I mean, I'd love that! Truly would love to not hand enter stuff on DnDBeyond....but I'm not sure how their back-end is set up and how much technical debt they have, so I can't rip them on that one way or the other.

 

[Zaukrie]

I also will note both of these are "mature, dark, themed" and were likely chosen partly for that reason. It is an area that WotC doesn't touch on much (I made the mistake of buying the book of vile darkness......).

 

[darjr]

They could sell the book in DnDBeyond and hand you a pdf too. I can even imagine sales would go up and they’d get more chances at subscribers.

Make no mistake, they haven’t stopped piracy of their books, and probably never will.

 

[Sparky McDibben]

I don't use DDB, but almost all of my players do. So I feel like I have a dog in this fight. Personally I agree with Mr. Shea on all points. I'm concerned with WotC consolidating their already-massive market share. I don't want "Can I get this on DDB?" to be a critical path question where "No" means the product doesn't get built.

 

[Nightfly]

Maybe I'm being a Pollyanna. I admit I could be. But my feeling is that, going forward, WotC won't try any shenanigans like the OGL debacle again -- at least not for many years.

First, it backfired very badly for them. Community outrage usually means very little to lawyers and beancounters, but if it blows up into a full-scale movement that damages their bottom line, eventually even the suits notice. I'm pretty sure everyone at Hasbro is clear that attempting to revoke the OGL was a Very Bad Idea.

Second, I have a hunch that the real target of OGL change was Paizo. Pathfinder has to stick in the craw of folks at WotC, right? For years they've watched money go to another company publishing a version of thier own game with the serial numbers filed off. Since Paizo backed down earlier this year by leaving the OGL entirely and re-writing all their core books, I don't see a motive for another OGL stunt. D&D's owners made their biggest rivals retreat and no one else in the industry is worth that much fuss.

Mind you, it's not that I trust WotC, because of course I don't. And even if I did, I don't trust Hasbro. What they tried to do with the OGL was downright scummy. But even corporations will do the right thing when it benefits them to do so.

 

[Zaukrie]

I don't use DDB, but almost all of my players do. So I feel like I have a dog in this fight. Personally I agree with Mr. Shea on all points. I'm concerned with WotC consolidating their already-massive market share. I don't want "Can I get this on DDB?" to be a critical path question where "No" means the product doesn't get built.

except it is being built now, and that won't stop because of DnDBeyond, IMO. It might stop for other reasons.....but it won't be that.