Ray Winninger comments on the OGL

[Desdichado]

Yes. This is moment in our hobby where we learn that we no longer matter, that we can't play the way we want, that content is packaged by a corporation that has no foundation in games anymore (when even WotC had connections to magic cards).
And this is the time when many fans (like myself) realize that it's artists, creative minds, and those who have inspiration that we want to invite into our imaginations - those who fantasize about dragons more than dollar signs.
D&D has lost its soul. I'm not going to sell my imagination, my hobby time, my precious moments with friends and family, to the highest bidder ... people who clearly can give a rat's behind about how we enjoy the game.

First time?

Flippancy aside, that's nonsense. WotC isn't coming to your table with attorneys telling you how to play. It's pretty easy to avoid all of this drama by just continuing to use all of your 5e material, and in fact, buying anything for it 3pp that you had your eye on. Most likely, you can get enough material to keep you gaming successfully for decades without needing anything else new from WotC.

It sucks to be a 3pp content creator, but it makes little difference to you as a player. Just keep playing the game you already have and ignore WotC completely. Heck, I've been doing that for years already. It really does work fine.

 

[payn]

First time?

Flippancy aside, that's nonsense. WotC isn't coming to your table with attorneys telling you how to play. It's pretty easy to avoid all of this drama by just continuing to use all of your 5e material, and in fact, buying anything for it 3pp that you had your eye on. Most likely, you can get enough material to keep you gaming successfully for decades without needing anything else new from WotC.

It sucks to be a 3pp content creator, but it makes little difference to you as a player. Just keep playing the game you already have and ignore WotC completely. Heck, I've been doing that for years already. It really does work fine.

It's a lot more difficult if you use VTT, but still possible.

 

[Alzrius]

First time?

Flippancy aside, that's nonsense. WotC isn't coming to your table with attorneys telling you how to play. It's pretty easy to avoid all of this drama by just continuing to use all of your 5e material, and in fact, buying anything for it 3pp that you had your eye on. Most likely, you can get enough material to keep you gaming successfully for decades without needing anything else new from WotC.

It sucks to be a 3pp content creator, but it makes little difference to you as a player. Just keep playing the game you already have and ignore WotC completely. Heck, I've been doing that for years already. It really does work fine.

You're not wrong, but at the same time I can't help but be mournful about all of the OGL stuff that probably would have been, but won't be made now. It's not just 5E material, either; for a lot of people who play OGL-based games, this marks the end of new material being made for their favorite RPG(s), all because WotC wanted to maximize profits. That's certainly reason to be upset.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I just don't see how it's only NOW that WotC has lost its way. Seems to me that HasbrotC has "lost its way" a number of times in the past. And heck... it's not like TSR never screwed the pooch for their game or its players either.

Yeah, what's happening now sucks for a lot of people. But let's not suggest that its the end times either-- somewhere down the line it's quite probable that D&D will return to form like it always seems to do. Heck, all you'd need to do would be to show an 'Anti-GSL' person back in 2008 where the game was in the summer of 2022 to know that turnarounds can happen and that nothing is set permanent.

 

[payn]

I just don't see how it's only NOW that WotC has lost its way. Seems to me that HasbrotC has "lost its way" a number of times in the past. And heck... it's not like TSR never screwed the pooch for their game or its players either.

Yeah, what's happening now sucks for a lot of people. But let's not suggest that its the end times either-- somewhere down the line it's quite probable that D&D will return to form like it always seems to do. Heck, all you'd need to do would be to show an 'Anti-GSL' person back in 2008 where the game was in the summer of 2022 to know that turnarounds can happen and that nothing is set permanent.

It's not just D&D this time though, its the whole market thats effected.

 

[Alzrius]

I just don't see how it's only NOW that WotC has lost its way.

This is the first time they've lost other people's ways.

 

[darjr]

Couldn't it be a re-purposed account? Unless the Kobolds are skilled clairvoyants...

Ruin makes a good argument but this may be evidence that negotiations have been going on for a while.

Or Kobold knew the direction of the breeze even back then.

Or just that they’d been working in pirate stuff anyway.

 

[Desdichado]

I just don't see how it's only NOW that WotC has lost its way. Seems to me that HasbrotC has "lost its way" a number of times in the past. And heck... it's not like TSR never screwed the pooch for their game or its players either.

Indeed. Going back to the launch of 3.5, when nobody on the development team thought that it was a good idea, but Hasbro wanted to pump profits. 4e's launch and the GSL was an even bigger debacle, obviously. It does seem that the magnitude of the debacles continues to grow over time, but ultimately, I strongly suspect that the magnitude of the debacle from the fan-facing perspective turns into a much bigger magnitude of debacle from Hasbro-facing, and they have to figure out how to save face while about facing. Just like they did with the launch of 5e after 4e's disappointing sales and non-existent GSL ecosystem.

 

[overgeeked]

Yes and no.

I can keep running 5e in person with the material I already have in person forever, no changes.

But if WotC doesn’t change course, I highly doubt I’ll be able to run any edition of D&D on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds once their current contracts with WotC expire.

No. You don’t need to buy the VTT support to play the game. You can run any RPG on any VTT just fine. All the official bells and whistles and art assets are helpful extras, not necessary components.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It's not just D&D this time though, its the whole market thats effected.

This is the first time they've lost other people's ways.

Well, I'd argue that the GSL screwed over and/or caused problems for a bunch of people who made D&D content and who didn't eventually transfer over to making Pathfinder content instead... but I suppose an argument could also be made that the 3PP Industry had already screwed itself over by cannibalizing itself and dropping the bottom out of 3E/3.5.

But what does it matter? Whether this is all-new or just a larger version of an event that has occurred previously doesn't change what is happening or who this current situation is affecting, so fair enough.