Dungeonosophy
Legend
In other threads, folks (such as moderator @Umbran) have asked those, such as I, who are embarking on a lifetime boycott of WOTC/Ha$bro products: exactly what actions would it take from WOTC in order to 'make it right,' and thus for me to continue as a patron of D&D-branded products.
That is a tall order. Yet I meditated on it last night, and brought this question to my community service this morning. And, upon reflection, this is what it would take, as a complete suite of amendatory, deeply trust-building actions.
WOTC, take these actions of amends:
In the meantime, I'm rolling out a lifetime boycott of new WOTC/Ha$bro products. And I told all my players as well. I won't be developing any player network for You over-paid backstabbers anymore. Rather, we are switching entirely to ORC-allied creators.
-Travis Henry, Dungeon Master since 1983
CEO of Twelvefold Works Publishing
Creator of the "Malice of the Three-Headed Giant" meme:
That is a tall order. Yet I meditated on it last night, and brought this question to my community service this morning. And, upon reflection, this is what it would take, as a complete suite of amendatory, deeply trust-building actions.
WOTC, take these actions of amends:
- Promptly release OGL 1.0b which includes only two changes: 1) the word "irrevocable", and 2) also say something like: "WOTC perpetually and irrevocably affirms that the previous version of this license, OGL 1.0a, is likewise irrevocable." (Note: I understand that You (WOTC) do not wish to release 6E under OGL1.0a or OGL1.0b. I'm actually okay with that. See further down this post.)
- Promptly re-issue the 3.0 SRD, 3.5 SRD, d20 Modern SRD, and 5.0 SRD with OGL 1.0b documentation.
- As soon as the ORC License is on-line, release those SRDs under ORC as well.
- Announce that the following SRDs will be released soon: an OD&D SRD, a Holmes BASIC SRD, 1E SRD (including 1.5E UA), B/X SRD (Moldvay/Cook BASIC edition), BECMI SRD (Mentzer BASIC edition), Rules Cyclopedia/Wrath of the Immortals SRD (Allston BASIC edition), 2E SRD (including the 2.5E "Players/DMs Option" system, as errata'ed in DRAGON mag), and 4E SRD. Extract the rules content for each of those editions, and release these under both OGL 1.0b and ORC documentation.
- Open DMs Guild for content creation using any of the Legacy Editions. They are all D&D. Just make clear search tags for each edition. And make an easily discernible Community Content logo for each edition, for placing on the cover. Besides DMs Guild revenue, the Legacy Editions will also still indirectly bring in money for WOTC via classic PDF sales, and via a general flourishment of the gaming culture, which fuels sales of non-edition-specific stuff, such as D&D novels, D&D t-shirts, D&D media, etc.
- Mongolian / Asian "yellow loonies"? And Native American "red orcs"? WTF. Stop making money off the crudest racism. Write an amendatory 6E web-enhancement for the most racist book you've ever published: GAZ10: The Orcs of Thar. You have been making money off this PDF since 2014, and you even updated the file in 2020. The milquetoast boilerplate disclaimer You posted on the DriveThruRPG page is not enough. And don't split the community by yanking it and 'punishing' me as a 'censor' for bringing it up. As a person who has done graduate work in Native American Studies at Montana State University, as a speaker of Chinese who has lived in China, and student of linguistics, I researched the real world origins of the 'comedic' racist Native American- and East Asian-themed parodies contained therein: here, with key follow-up points here and here, with a call for concrete actions of amends laid out beginning here, and continuing here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, with the steps of amends re-summarized here, continuing here, yet another recap of the amends steps here, followed by a comparative analysis with later Native-American themed portrayals in the AD&D Savage Coast. ....Yet when I posted my research on ENWorld, and called for You to make amends, You ignored this call. For amends, You must have a cultural team review the book in detail, and author a detailed scholarly analysis of the insensitivities therein, along with a revised perspective and rendition (even if only in barest outline) of the Land of Thar as it exists in the 6E reality, as a web-enhancement which is forever bundled with the GAZ10 PDF. And either change the price of the product to "free," or perpetually donate all proceeds (including all past sales of this racist PDF, dating back to 2014) to a relevant charity (I recommend Lakota Waldorf School). I understand that some folks suggest that the latter option might be offensive to the recipient (to receive monies for sales of such an ugly product), but You could ask the school and see.
- Release the Jeff Grubb-authored vaporware AD&D 2E Mystara Worldbook manuscript onto DMs Guild as a free download. I myself launched the petition for that. When I wrote to Your customer service reps about the signatures we'd gathered, we were completely ignored. Then, when the webmaster of Official Mystara Fansite (who has Grubb's manuscript in hand) contacted You, You told him it was okay to post it, but then, once he announced it on ENWorld as a news-story, You backtracked and said no. What a souring breach of trust. It's the little things.
- As an action of goodwill, take the one major D&D world which has (AFAIK) been completely unmentioned in any 5E product: Aebrynis, the World of the BIRTHRIGHT campaign setting...and, as a gift to the community, release all BIRTHRIGHT products (including novels) into the Public Domain. Reserving only certain terms contained therein, such as "Dungeons & Dragons." Switch the classic BIRTHRIGHT PDFs at DMs Guild to "pay what you will."
- I reserve the right to add and edit in more actions as I think of them!
- I understand that, minus the malice-tinged B.S., one main thing You were trying to do is to basically turn all of 6E into the DMs Guild model, but with now the garden enclosing the use of the 6E rules set (not only the setting IP), so that there's a clearly defined play-space, and everyone (including WOTC) is free to draw ingredients from the pot and re-use them. And everyone knows that up-front. Well, then just do that. DMs Guild is great, for what it does. Don't make an OGL for 6E at all. Just enclose all 6E Content Creation in DMs Guild and/or clearly-defined playspace extensions thereof: the "D&D Sixth Edition Compatibility License" (6ECL; don't dishonestly call it an "OGL"! Don't pretend that a Compatibility License is a Open Game License.) and also the "D&D Fan Content Policy." Done. Don't f*** with the existing OGL and SRDs. (You'll still glean income directly and indirectly from a flourishing of Legacy D&D editions.)
- In regard to the twisted gaslighting verbiage found in Your recent statements. Find a wordsmith who is not emotionally tone deaf, and who can speak straightly (= honestly and forthrightly), out of both sides of their mouth. If You had something actually trustworthy and heartening to say, there would be no shortage of WOTC creatives willing to step up as serve as the face and voice of amends, rather than as the Mouth of Sauron.
- Refrain from smiling shark-like "Corpor-UwU-tist" verbiage in future legal documents.
- I strongly recommend You refrain from using the legitimate struggle for human and civil rights as a marketing ploy and smoke-screen for Your shameless greed.
- Having experienced the struggle to pay rent and keep the wolf from the door (while patronizing Your over-priced products for 40 years), I am one person who is not eager to call for anyone to lose their livelihood. Including executive bigshots. Yet I am astounded at the threads of intertwined ignorance (incompetence) and malice which led to a decision to burn and destroy ten years of hard-won goodwill. Yet if the actions which I outlined above were taken, it would show that whoever was behind those ignorant+malicious actions, also has the capacity for wisdom and human 'repentance' (if that's a fitting word). Under these outlined conditions, those one, two, or three executives would be free to again go about their daily work, perhaps even at Hasbro. I'm sure, at a personal level, these are fine human beings, and at a professional level, have some awesome skill sets. Probably best to keep a workmanlike low profile for the next decade.
In the meantime, I'm rolling out a lifetime boycott of new WOTC/Ha$bro products. And I told all my players as well. I won't be developing any player network for You over-paid backstabbers anymore. Rather, we are switching entirely to ORC-allied creators.
-Travis Henry, Dungeon Master since 1983
CEO of Twelvefold Works Publishing
Creator of the "Malice of the Three-Headed Giant" meme:
Last edited:
