If Hasbro Pulls the Plug....

[Dice4Hire]

I think people are looking at this issue in far too much black and white.

It is not 0 or 100%, the article just said D&D would not be a primary brand, which means it would be less supported, and subject to downsizing, which, honestly, is what has already happened. 4E is small and the D&D side of WOTC seems a lot smaller than it ever was.

That does not mean it will end up in the trash bin of history in the next several months.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

*running around, flailing arms*

Yes, it does! Yes it does!

 

[Argyle King]

That does not mean it will end up in the trash bin of history in the next several months.

Sure it does, and then the entire hobby will implode followed by any remaining books exploding. This will kill the hobby as well as anybody who knows about the hobby; heralding an era where rpgs don't exist. I've heard hardly anybody plays rpgs anymore anyway, so the loss of life will be minimal.

This proves it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/meta/315833-we-just-hit-120-000-members.html#post5762861

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We just hit 120,000 members!

Sounds painful!

 

[S'mon]

While Beholders are WotC IP, obviously derived floating-eye-monsters using other names are very common in fantasy gaming and have been for decades now.

The Ultima series of computer games had "Gazers" and "Wandering Eyes", in the Final Fantasy series they were called "Death Eye" and "Bloody Eye", EverQuest had "Evil Eyes", and Reaper Miniatures has sold a metal mini called "eyebeast" for many years which is pretty dang distinctively a beholder.

But business practice does not necessarily bear any relation to the Law; which is something we teach our 1st year students.

 

[S'mon]

I've got no dog in that fight. I'm not a publisher.

I'm just saying that fans are going to think you can do it, because they see professionally produced gaming products (CRPG's and miniatures) that have what are clearly Beholders with just the name changed and perhaps some superficial changes to the creature.

In EverQuest, they were literally giant eyeballs that floated around (no mouth or skin, just a giant floating eyeball), with the optic nerve trailing behind them like a tail. The Reaper eyebeast miniature had it's lower eyestalks drape the ground and act like legs for it to walk on (which also helped its presentation as a miniature).

So, you're saying that any creature that consists of a large roughly spherical monocular floating body with any number of tendrils/stalks/appendages that has as defining characteristics a very strong defense against magic and multiple powerful magical attacks that can instantly incapacitate or kill is WotC copyright?

No, Beholders are WoTC copyright. Your picture was of actual Beholders - WotC copyright - with the name changed. Your text examples above though seem to just use the basic 'magic eyeball monster' idea; ideas in themselves are not copyright-protected.

Where exactly 'idea' shades into 'expression' is a grey area - as we lawyers say, it is 'a question for the courts to decide'.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Collidus the Warp-Watcher - NPC - World of Warcraft

That's a link to Collidus the Warp-Watcher.

Check out the loot he drops:
Emerald, Amethyst, Crimson, and Fiery Beholder Eyes

 

[Aeolius]

Your picture was of actual Beholders - WotC copyright - with the name changed.

Best to tell DAZ3D, then... they have been selling models of the Gazer and similar creatures for years...

 

[Ahnehnois]

I'm more interested in a thread 'What if the OGL was somehow revoked'.

An interesting question. Ignoring the 'somehow', I think this might actually do more to kill the hobby than the shelving of the D&D brand.

The disillusioned crowd who needs to constantly buy rpg products and flocked to PF after 3.5's demise would be screwed. I doubt any significant number of them would move to 4e or the other available gaming systems, and I doubt any new game produced in the current environment would satisfy them. Most would probably play with what they have and produce whatever fan-generated material they could get away with. Anti-WotC rage would increase to previously unimagined levels.

4e would not really benefit; if anything the loss of synergy with PF adventures and social networking might hurt the brand.

The 3.5 secondhand book market would become even more robust then it already is, and the people that still play some non-PF 3.X game would continue to do so, albeit without the convenience of the SRD. Beyond that, blatant copyright infringement would increase to new levels. Full text of all the books would be all over the internet, and WotC would never be able to hire enough lawyers to kill the bootlegging.

In short, roleplaying would go post-apocalyptic.

 

[S'mon]

Best to tell DAZ3D, then... they have been selling models of the Gazer and similar creatures for years...

You don't lose copyright by not enforcing it (unlike trade marks) - WoTC are free to ignore it. They can always send C&D letters later if they change their mind.