D&D (2024) D&D Player's Handbook Video Redactions & Takedowns

There's a lot of YouTube videos looking at the brand new Player's Handbook right now, and some of them include the YouTuber in question flipping through the new book on screen. A couple of those video creators have been asked by WotC to redact some of the content of their videos, with one finding that their video had been taken down entirely due to copyright claims from the company. It appears to be the folks who are flipping through the whole book on-screen who are running into this issue which, it seems, is based on piracy concerns.

Jorphdan posted on Twitter that "Despite fulfilling [WotC's] requests for the flip through video I was issues a copyright strike on my channel. Three strikes TERMINATES your channel. I don't think going over the 2024 PHB is worth losing my channel I've been working on since 2017. I'm pretty upset as none of this was said up front and when notified I did comply with their requirements. And I see other creators still have their videos up. Videos that are not unlike mine. Covering WotC is not worth losing my channel... Meanwhile please subscribe to my D&D free channel the Jocular Junction, where I'll most likely be making the majority of my TTRPG videos."

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Mike Shea, aka Sly Flourish, also posted a walkthrough of the Player's Handbook. While he didn't receive a copyright takedown action, after an email from WotC he has blurred out all the page images. "Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete b******t, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value."

Popular YouTuber DnD Shorts had a video entitled 100% Walkthrough of the New Player's Handbook in D&D. That video is no longer available. However, his full spoilers review is still online.

 

[TiQuinn]

Indeed. I listened to both Jorphdan’s and Mike Shea’s videos on the PHB - absolutely nothing in those videos that isn’t/hasn’t been done for plenty of other D&D products. They were flipping back and forth, the cameras don’t reveal the whole page most of the time, they don’t flip through every single page, there’s intelligent commentary, they’re pulling out their old PHBs to compare changes side by side. Hard to see any reasonable case for censuring either Jorphdan or Mike Shea.

Anyone painting Jorphdan and Mike with the same paintbrush as D&D Shorts… uh pffff…. to adopt my kindest voice, D&D Shorts is standard salacious YouTube drivel that happened to get an aura of legitimacy due to breaking the OGL crisis leak. D&D Shorts is a YouTube creator first and foremost - Mike and Jorphdan are fans/GMs/authors first and foremost. It’s night and day.

So much this.

DnDShorts was one of the worst muckrakers during the OGL fiasco, putting out misleading videos and tweets about any rumor available at the time. The guy is just slimy.

As for flip through videos, I can’t begin to count the number of vids on YouTube and Twitch that I’ve watched from these folks, as well as Matt Colville, NerdImmersion, and others. No one that I’ve watched flips through the entire book (I watched the Jorphdan one and he’s back and forth constantly - you never see the whole book). It’s just ridiculous.

 

[JDR]

What's crazy?

WotC has been doing this for YEARS. Just spitting in the community's face. Then we complain. Then they apologize and promise to do better.

Then the next time they spit even harder.

I'm tired of defending it.

I'm done.

I stopped buying Wizards product last year and I had already made the decision I wasn't going in on D&D 2024. This just affirms again I made the right decision. I've moved on to other games and systems. If I run another 5e campaign I will stick with 2014. If the IP ever goes to another caretaker I will look into coming back. But for now I'm done, too.

 

[Andrew Anderson]

I find that astonishing. Perhaps I'm old and don't understand how this is easily done with advanced technology.
You are telling me someone went through the video second by second, screenshotting individual frames, then resized and reformatted the screen shots into pdf files, then compiled the .pdf files into a book?

I think it was Terry Pratchett who suggested that bandits were some of the hardest working people in the world.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Really? I find that unbelievable. Like literally unbelievable.

You sure that it wasn't made by scanning one of the 3000 copies?

The watermark is right there with the name of who the copy was provided to, and it was not someone at GenCon

 

[Minigiant]

I find that astonishing. Perhaps I'm old and don't understand how this is easily done with advanced technology.
You are telling me someone went through the video second by second, screenshotting individual frames, then resized and reformatted the screen shots into pdf files, then compiled the .pdf files into a book?

I think it was Terry Pratchett who suggested that bandits were some of the hardest working people in the world.

15+ years in sales taught me to never underestimate how hard someone will work to get something for free.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

The watermark is right there with the name of who the copy was provided to, and it was not someone at GenCon

So I've been told. Turns out someone who people are unsurprised by set up the perfect tool for the job. Not a usual occurrence. I stand corrected on the assertion.

Still doesn't change my opinion that they should have been more careful to go after THAT guy and leave the more innocent alone.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

15+ years in sales taught me to never underestimate how hard someone will work to get something for free.

I'm not sure that it's even to "get it for free" just for themselves - the intent is often to be the first to distribute, like there's some kind of weird bragging rights.

Unfathomable. (To me).

 

[DrJawaPhD]

Still doesn't change my opinion that they should have been more careful to go after THAT guy and leave the more innocent alone.

Absolutely agree and I really hope Jorphdan can get WotC to get Youtube to rescind his copyright violation, that is so messed up

 

[Zardnaar]

Another WotC own goal.

 

[Charlaquin]

YouTube often does not understand fair use and it used to be possible for anyone to issue a copyright strike, at least form some case a couple of years ago. All you needed was an email address. YouTube may have made it harder since.

It’s still extremely easy to do, and gets weaponized against creators all the time. There is an appeal process, but it can sometimes take multiple attempts before an appeal is granted, and in the meantime the creator loses an important revenue stream. I can’t imagine the stress the unreliability of ad revenue must put full-time YouTubers under.