D&D 5E OrcPub is Closing Down

[dropbear8mybaby]

Note that I said complete. DDB is limited to the SRD content unless, as you point out, you shell out for the PHB etc all over again on that system. Even if you believe the idea that the PHB is a significantly different product than the one you already own, I don't imagine many people would be keen to buy the PHB just to get access to a character creator.

I think you should be our God-Emperor and be given everything you ever wanted just because you want it.

 

[epithet]

I think you should be our God-Emperor and be given everything you ever wanted just because you want it.

Those two things are mutually exclusive, and neither is relevant to OrcPub.

 

[LordEntrails]

The problem is twofold. First, WotC has to protect its IP, so it has to either C&D people who go beyond a certain point of usage, or license them to use the IP.

Agreed, as they are legally and morally obligated to do.

The second problem is that WotC seems to think that 5e is so amazingly popular that they don't need to actually support the community, they can just turn it upside down and collect the change that falls out of its pockets.

Maybe. But that is their prerogative and not a problem. The problem I see is a community full of thieves and those willing to try to justify theft because they disagree with the one or more decisions made by the company who is being stolen from.

Some day in the not too distant future, someone is going to publish a game that is more popular than 5e.

Maybe. D&D has dominated it's market since it created the market. Maybe tomorrow they won't. Such prognostication is ... not of interest to me.

 

[epithet]

... The problem I see is a community full of thieves...

Dude, seriously? Thieves? We're talking about people who have bought the PHB, maybe also the PHB deluxe module on Fantasy Grounds, but yeah, they're thieves for using an unlicensed character creator. Right.

Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Dude, seriously?

Yes, seriously.

Try spending months, or even years, devoted to a creative pursuit and then put it out there on the market and tell me if you'd be happy to see everyone justifying their use of your efforts for free through an illegitimate product.

Get some perspective, "dude".

 

[epithet]

Yes, seriously.

Try spending months, or even years, devoted to a creative pursuit and then put it out there on the market and tell me if you'd be happy to see everyone justifying their use of your efforts for free through an illegitimate product.

Get some perspective, "dude".

Y'know what? If they had already bought the product one or more times, I wouldn't get all choked up over their limited "illegitimate" use of my IP. I would, of course, do what I needed to do to prevent losing my trademark or copyright protection, but I certainly wouldn't be pretending that it was some kind of moral outrage. I couldn't muster much sanctimonious indignation against the people who were paying customers, which is what we're talking about here. These are the folks who have made 5e quite the profitable venture, after all.

But then, I would have launched 5e with some kind of digital strategy in mind instead of waiting a few years in, so I would be in a better position to bundle multiple formats of the same damn book. If a service like OrcPub sprang into being to serve my customers in a way I wasn't, I think I'd be likely to offer the guy a job. I wouldn't expect my paying customers to repurchase all of their books in a digital format just to have access to a complete character creation tool.

But, I know... you believe that we should carefully limit our use of our purchased D&D materials to exactly what WotC expressly grants us. If they want to charge us for everything all over again, well... you reckon we ought to just pay up. To say that Wizards looks like they're trying to shaft us, and that they should have maybe taken a lesson from Paizo... that's just entitled whining, right?

Yeah, I have plenty of perspective. I just don't share yours.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Yes, like I thought, you'll twist and turn everything to your advantage and claim some sort of unfair victimhood. Your statements are nothing but justifications.

 

[Azzy]

Orc Pub is evil, but Hero Lab is a-okay, amiright?

 

[epithet]

Yes, like I thought, you'll twist and turn everything to your advantage and claim some sort of unfair victimhood. Your statements are nothing but justifications.

Victimhood, eh? That's a new one. For the record, I'm not the one crying "Thief!" or bemoaning how unfair it was that OrcPub let you generate a character sheet for an arcana cleric. I have nothing to justify. In fact, the gist of my comments has been that, justified or not, folks are going to keep making and using tools like OrcPub, and that WotC would be better served by providing a character builder that didn't ask customers to pay all over again for the same races and classes. I have no interest in justifications, because I'm not inveighing upon the morality of this situation--that seems to be more your sort of thing.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Orc Pub is evil, but Hero Lab is a-okay, amiright?

I hope that's not aimed at me. If it is, see post history for how much I think of Hero Lab.