D&D 5E I'll make my own Fifth Edition.

[Dungeonosophy]

Good luck on making your own version of domain free D&D, how would we get our hardback books? Should we just PM you a mailing address or are you planing on having some sort of a survey system? And when can we expect it?

Warder

Thanks. I'll keep the EN World forum updated. Print-on-demand (at-cost, with no royalties). No release date yet.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Without pro-artists, I wouldn't be perusing the new PHB tonight, and I wouldn't have seen Guardians of the Galaxy last week, so, I'm good.

You're using the word "professional artist" only to refer to corporate-embedded artists. The same or better quality of work could be done by professional artists/designers/filmmakers who are associated in an artist-owned collectivity or association or "firm". This form hardly exists yet.

And DnDPhil wouldn't have a 5th-edition to dream of turning into a free culture D&D!

I'm not for dismissing what work has been done, even if it has been partially bent by corporatism. (e.g. 4E's attempt to turn itself into a pen & paper MMORPG)

I'm like a D&D aficionado from the 1990s saying: "If AD&D2E were released under the GNU software license, it could really open things up...even for the betterment of TSR."

I'm here in 2014 saying: "If 5E and the D&D Worlds were released as Free Culture, it could really open things up...even for the betterment of Hasbro."

 

[Dungeonosophy]

To EN Worlders,

I admit that though this topic is definitely game-related, the topic is also related to a wider societal question. I acknowledge that EN World is not the ideal or fitting place to go into economic and political aspects, even as it relates to D&D. I don't especially desire to cause dissention or distraction.

I'm okay with letting this thread wind down.

I appreciate the good suggestions and vigorous questions.

You're welcome to PM me.

I'll keep EN World posted if and as My Own Fifth Edition unfolds.

Respectfully,
Shane H.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

The OP's economics argument is deeply flawed. Just for starters, the three rule books are $150, which at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 will take you about 20 hours to earn. So you can take an extra part time job at McDonald's for one week and pay for the books, or you can put in who knows how many hours to write them yourself. Unless you really think you can create a rules set of equal value to the published 5E books in less than 20 hours, which I would seriously doubt, the economics argument flops.

Of course this leaves out the enjoyment of creation and the satisfaction of having others use your work. I'm sure this is what is motivating you to make a rules set rather than use the published material. Well that's fine, and good for you. I'd be interested in seeing the final product. But the idea that economics can be the motivation is just not credible.

And "ensuring that artists are paid well for their work" has a pretty sound to it, but dig a little deeper and it's ugly. The only way to do this is to force people to pay the artist whether they want to or not. I find the loss of liberty inherent in this approach to be far worse than the current system.

 

[Morrus]

And "ensuring that artists are paid well for their work" has a pretty sound to it

The conventional way to do that is to just pay artists well for their work. Like WotC does!

 

[Umbran]

You're using the word "professional artist" only to refer to corporate-embedded artists.

I think you'd need to be more clear about what "corporate embedded" artists are, in your mind. I don't think the folks who did art on the PHB, for example, are permanent employees of WotC, or Hasbro, or the like. So, not really "embedded" in a meaningful sense.

The same or better quality of work could be done by professional artists/designers/filmmakers who are associated in an artist-owned collectivity or association or "firm". This form hardly exists yet.

But how is that "firm" not itself a corporation? It sounds like just an agency. The "firm" will need administration, and the artists themselves probably don't have the proper skillsets. Even if some of them do, that means said artists will have to be recompensed for the time they take on administration instead of doing art for pay... and now you have a standard corporate structure, and overall corporate goals. The fact that it is artist owned is zero protection against the negative aspects of corporate influence.

 

[Morrus]

I think you'd need to be more clear about what "corporate embedded" artists are, in your mind. I don't think the folks who did art on the PHB, for example, are permanent employees of WotC, or Hasbro, or the like. So, not really "embedded" in a meaningful sense.

Hey, [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION], you did art for 5E! Are you corporate embedded?

 

[Klaus]

Hey, [MENTION=607]Klaus[/MENTION], you did art for 5E! Are you corporate embedded?

HA! I wish! For starters, I wouldn't have to buy my own beer and tequila during GenCon, it'd be all "business expenses"!

 

[Mistwell]

Not saying that "free culture" isn't communist. Just saying that we're using some charged language, which is hard not to do when conversations stray into politics. Which is why we have the "no politics" rule.

This whole thread is political from start to finish. The Original Poster SAID his "manifesto" is political in nature (in addition to being other things). Why are you saying that the word "communist" is the line between this thread being political and not, given dozens of other political references in this thread? I suspect the only reason this thread still exists, and is still in this forum as opposed to another one, is that in some way it amuses Morrus

 

[Remathilis]

HA! I wish! For starters, I wouldn't have to buy my own beer and tequila during GenCon, it'd be all "business expenses"!

I'm assuming that'd be for brush-cleaning and not "inspirational" use, right? ;p