Beholders, Mind Flayers, and Strahd von Zarovich Released Into Creative Commons (Kinda)

In the 5.1 SRD that just got released into the Creative Commons is a bunch of IP including Count Strahd von Zarovich, the Feywild, the Shadowfell, the City of Brass, Palace of Dispater, Street of Steel, Gate of Ashes, and the Sea of Fire. The beholder is also specifically referenced by name in the Deck of Illusions, and Mind Flayers and Slaad are also referenced--at least by name--repeatedly in the document.

Here's a link to the content released to CC.

WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons

Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons. So, what's happened? The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a...

www.enworld.org

What does that mean? Under OGL v1.0a terms like this were generally designated as ‘Product Identity’ and were unavailable for use. The CC license has no such provision. This means that those using the OGL cannot (still) use terms designated as PI, but those using the CC can use the full content of the document released under it.

Only the names of these creatures and places are contained in the document--so you can't use Strahd's image or stat block or description, nor can you use those of the beholder, etc. But it does appear that you can refer to these items.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Alta Fox is part of the reason this whole thing happened. Capitalizing on the calamity their domino set off is just par for the course with jerks like them.

At no point did Alta Fox ask Hasbro to do ANYTHING like trying to revoke the OGL, they wanted to draw closer to the community by spinning off WotC, removing Hasbro parastic behavior, not drive them off.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I suspect this dramatic change in direction means someone already has.

Who do you think will be the sacrificial executive Lamb? Who does Chris Cock throw under the bus to save himself? My bet is WotC President Cynthia Williams, D&D Vice President Rawson is just too new to blame, and firing him does nothing to appease the angry MtG fans.

 

[Steampunkette]

At no point did Alta Fox ask Hasbro to do ANYTHING like trying to revoke the OGL, they wanted to draw closer to the community by spinning off WotC, removing Hasbro parastic behavior, not drive them off.

Their goal was short-term increase of monetization for WotC investors. Same as Hasbro, Same as WotC's directors.

If they'd had 3 more voices on the board of 10 I suspect they would have also gone for "Let's try and monetize things in a monthly method for quick revenue bumps and shut down competition!" Because that's what investors -do- with a business.

They pushed the domino. It lead to this. I'm not going to laud them for not gaining the power they needed to do this, themselves, nor cheer them for their Johnny come Lately "See how badly they need us? We wouldn't have done that!"

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Their goal was short-term increase of monetization for WotC investors. Same as Hasbro, Same as WotC's directors.

If they'd had 3 more voices on the board of 10 I suspect they would have also gone for "Let's try and monetize things in a monthly method for quick revenue bumps and shut down competition!" Because that's what investors -do- with a business.

They pushed the domino. It lead to this. I'm not going to laud them for not gaining the power they needed to do this, themselves, nor cheer them for their Johnny come Lately "See how badly they need us? We wouldn't have done that!"

You assume too much with nothing to back that up.

 

[Steampunkette]

You assume too much with nothing to back that up.

Check their Twitter Feed to see how much they cared when this situation started, compared to how it turned out.

Not -one- post about it until the 26th. Everything before that was "Wait and See" with bated breath.

The leaks started on the 3rd. Silent for 23 days, then spewing "Hur hur look how bad it went!" once the chips had fully fallen.

And yeah. I assume that an Investment Firm that talks a big game about wanting to get their clients a better return from "Underperforming" companies are gonna be just as profit-motivated as all the other Investment Firms.

I dunno why anyone would give them a greater benefit of the doubt than that.

 

[Rabulias]

At no point did Alta Fox ask Hasbro to do ANYTHING like trying to revoke the OGL, they wanted to draw closer to the community by spinning off WotC, removing Hasbro parastic behavior, not drive them off.

It may seem parasitic now, but if D&D hits some lean years when the Great Monopoly Fad of 2029 hits, it will be nice that Hasbro will have the money to keep the D&D lights on.

With the SRD 5.1 release into CC, the dream of keeping D&D available beyond any company bankruptcy is stronger than ever. That does not mean I want to see a company go bankrupt, and spinning Wizards off onto its own (especially with predatory investors sniffing around) may lead to that.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Check their Twitter Feed to see how much they cared when this situation started, compared to how it turned out.

Not -one- post about it until the 26th. Everything before that was "Wait and See" with bated breath.

The leaks started on the 3rd. Silent for 23 days, then spewing "Hur hur look how bad it went!" once the chips had fully fallen.

And yeah. I assume that an Investment Firm that talks a big game about wanting to get their clients a better return from "Underperforming" companies are gonna be just as profit-motivated as all the other Investment Firms.

I dunno why anyone would give them a greater benefit of the doubt than that.

They were likely being carefully after SEC slammed them hard for Free the Wizards website (which is why you can't find that anymore).

 

[Steampunkette]

They were likely being carefully after SEC slammed them hard for Free the Wizards website (which is why you can't find that anymore).

Cool beans.

Or that was propaganda to try and get the customers and investor groups to see Alta Fox as a "Heroic" investment group that would "Save" Wizards in order to leverage public image toward their takeover and they don't -really- care about D&D or WotC beyond their fiduciary responsibility to their investors.

Considering they have to sign documents accepting fiduciary responsibility to their investors and -don't- have to sign documents that legally bind them to ensuring WotC gets to flourish and make awesome games...

I'm not going to buy their "Heroic Investment Bros swooping in to rescue WotC from the Evil Hasbro" hype.

And instead see them as jut another investment group looking for whatever adds the biggest set of 0s to their investors' bottom line.

 

[tetrasodium]

Their goal was short-term increase of monetization for WotC investors. Same as Hasbro, Same as WotC's directors.

If they'd had 3 more voices on the board of 10 I suspect they would have also gone for "Let's try and monetize things in a monthly method for quick revenue bumps and shut down competition!" Because that's what investors -do- with a business.

They pushed the domino. It lead to this. I'm not going to laud them for not gaining the power they needed to do this, themselves, nor cheer them for their Johnny come Lately "See how badly they need us? We wouldn't have done that!"

I don't think it's reasonable to ignore the fact that "this" was such an act of epic stupidity that wotc trying it after failing the first time time it was not a credible claim when the leaks first started in november or whatever it was.

edit: This was kinda like home depot getting rid of parking lots in an effort to shut down the parkinglot guys who will help you do whatever because customers sometimes pay them instead of getting pro install services from home depo

 

[dave2008]

I will not assume this will stick.

I mean, if a disgruntled employee at a tech company published a document saying the company releases all their patents to the public, the company probably could unwind that.

I am not sure what you are referring to as you didn't quote anything; however, when something is put up on the CC license it can't be removed from it. So currently the 5.1 SRD is now and forever available to all through the CC license. No one can change that.