Okay, I am full of rants. The one that really gets me going lately is concerning D&D Beyond, the OGL and SRD. So, you might be familiar with such online tools as OrcPub? OrcPub was, and still fairly is, an amazing online character builder for 5e. OrcPub is solely responsible for the ease with which I began my foray into this beloved hobby called Dungeons & Dragons. Without their amazing tools, I would probably have suffered from information overload and extreme tedium, ultimately giving up on D&D altogether. OrcPub was especially amazing because it included options from EVERY source, even Unearthed Arcana articles, for creating your character. It DID, anyway, until WotC caught wind of it and stepped in. They demanded that OrcPub remove all non-SRD content from the site, limiting each class to a single archetype and every character to the Acolyte background. OrcPub, of course, complied as they did not want to incur the wrath of the vampiric corporate lawyers. Why would WotC do this over a simple character builder? Something that isn't selling its service or even turning a profit? The answer is....drumroll...D&D Beyond!
Now, WotC, in partnership with Hasbro and Twitch, cooked up a neat little toolset for 5e and named it D&D Beyond. This toolset includes a character builder and compendium of all things 5e. However, and here is the caveat, it is incomplete. It, too, only contains SRD content unless you buy digital copies of the core books and adventures in order to unlock their content in the toolset. So, to summarize, I currently own about $300 worth of hard copy core rulebooks and adventures that sit on my shelf in my living room. In order to utilize the content of those books on D&D Beyond, I would then need to buy the digital version for $30 EACH BOOK! No unlock codes for those holding hard copies. No love for those who have already shelled out the big bucks for the real-world, ink and paper books. Due to this, they feel it necessary to scour the webs for anyone utilizing non-SRD content and put a stop to them so that we, the devoted fans, players and DMs, have no choice but to submit to their grand conspiracy to separate us from even more of our hard earned money. As if we have not spent enough of it already.
This infuriates me. To me, this seems to demonstrate such disregard and lack of appreciation for WotC's customers that it borders on insulting. F#$% you all, give us more money! Thoughts?