D&D (2024) Wizards of the Coast Backtracks on D&D Beyond and 2014 Content

Wizards of the Coast posted an overnight update stating that they are not going forward with previously released plans to require those wishing to use some 2014 content on D&D Beyond to use the Homebrew function to manually enter it. Instead, all the content including spells and magic items will be included. From the update:

D&D (2024) - How D&D Beyond Will Handle Access To 2014 Rules

D&D Beyond has announced how the transition to the new 2024 edition will work on the platform, and how legacy access to the 2014 version of D&D will be implemented. You will still be able to access the 2014 Basic Rules and core rulebooks. You will still be able to make characters using the 2014...

www.enworld.org

Last week we released a Changelog detailing how players would experience the 2024 Core Rulebooks on D&D Beyond. We heard your feedback loud and clear and thank you for speaking up.

Our excitement around the 2024 Core Rulebooks led us to view these planned updates as welcome improvements and free upgrades to existing content. We misjudged the impact of this change, and we agree that you should be free to choose your own way to play. Taking your feedback to heart, here’s what we’re going to do:

Players who only have access to the 2014 Player’s Handbook will maintain their character options, spells, and magical items in their character sheets. Players with access to the 2024 and 2014 digital Player’s Handbooks can select from both sources when creating new characters. Players will not need to rely on Homebrew to use their 2014 player options, including spells and magic items, as recommended in previous changelogs.

Please Note:

Players will continue to have access to their free, shared, and purchased items on D&D Beyond, with the ability to use previously acquired player options when creating characters and using character sheets.

We are not changing players’ current character sheets, except for relabeling and renaming. Examples include Races to Species, Inspiration to Heroic Inspiration, and Cast Spell to Magic.

We’re dedicated to making D&D Beyond the ultimate digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons, continuously enhancing the platform to ensure you can create, customize, and play your game just as you envision it. From your first one-shot to multi-year campaigns and everything in between, we're grateful to be on this journey with you.

- The D&D Studio

 

[mamba]

How much revenue are they making off old content that's already purchased?? How does any amount of man hours in this scenario get paid for?

wasn’t what I was asking, not my problem.

Consider it effort to properly roll out 2024, because that is why you now need it, so make the 2024 sales pay for it. Consider it the cost of doing business and let the subscriptions pay for it. It does not need to be assigned to the 2014 sales you had three years ago, that is just an excuse

 

[Scribe]

Meanwhile 3.x is still covered by the OGL.

Which nobody trusts, because the company behind it is untrustworthy. Effectively, the OGL is dead because without trust, nobody has reason to put faith in it.

 

[mamba]

Likely a whole lot.

You don't post something late night on a Sunday when it's easy.

you post something on Sunday because there is public pressure, that has nothing to do with whether it is easy or not, even hard could have waited until Monday afternoon

Again, they have a week to roll it out unless they have to delay that rollout until after the books are available. Would a lot of work require a delay? I’d say yes, so that will give you some answer right there (no delay = not a lot of work, not as easy for the reverse…)

 

[Oofta]

Which nobody trusts, because the company behind it is untrustworthy. Effectively, the OGL is dead because without trust, nobody has reason to put faith in it.

People not trusting the OGL doesn't mean it's any more "dead" than it always was.

 

[Jadeite]

They did not kill the OGL. There was a [very stupid] proposal to change and they reversed course before the change was implemented based on feedback while putting the current version in CC. They've stated that they plan on putting other 3.x in CC, but the work on 2024 edition has taken priority. Meanwhile 3.x is still covered by the OGL.

As far as the entire concept of the OGL, that's a whole separate issue and was their attempt to break away from TSR's lawsuit happy days. Putting it in something like CC from the get go probably would have been a better idea.

They said they are going to release the SRDs in CC. They also said that there was no plan to change the OGL. Why exactly should I trust them? Just putting the word "irrevocable" into the OGL or at least stating publicly that they don't have the power to deauthorize the OGL would have been pretty easy. And it's not like the 3.5 SRD contains stuff like Strahd.

 

[Minigiant]

you post something on Sunday because there is public pressure, that has nothing to do with whether it is easy or not, even hard could have waited until Monday afternoon

Again, they have a week to roll it out unless they have to delay that rollout until after the books are available. Would a lot of work require a delay? I’d say yes, so that will give you some answer right there (no delay = not a lot of work, not as easy for the reverse…)

If you want people to see a Statement, you don't post it Sunday Night unless it's football.

 

[Mr. Lahey]

Late to the party, but….

Fair enough that we feel that, in hindsight, WotC/Hasbro should have known that some of their recent decisions would anger many of their customers.

However, the fact that the D&D customer base has the power/influence to compel them to backtrack on unpopular decisions is HUGE. I think it’s important for us, as customers, to understand the power we have to influence decision-makers, if we use it.

 

[Scribe]

People not trusting the OGL doesn't mean it's any more "dead" than it always was.

No, not trusting Wizards, and therefore having no longer having faith in the OGL as printed, means it is effectively dead.

There is a reason multiple companies went out of their way to rewrite their systems to detach from the OGL/SRD base, and it has everything to do with what Wizards did.

 

[Mr. Lahey]

They said they are going to release the SRDs in CC. They also said that there was no plan to change the OGL. Why exactly should I trust them?

You shouldn’t trust them. Their promises are irrelevant. What matters are the decisions they make. As it turns out, we as the customer base appear to have influence over the decisions they make. That power will last only as long as they worry about losing us as customers.

 

[Parmandur]

They did not kill the OGL. There was a [very stupid] proposal to change and they reversed course before the change was implemented based on feedback while putting the current version in CC. They've stated that they plan on putting other 3.x in CC, but the work on 2024 edition has taken priority. Meanwhile 3.x is still covered by the OGL.

As far as the entire concept of the OGL, that's a whole separate issue and was their attempt to break away from TSR's lawsuit happy days. Putting it in something like CC from the get go probably would have been a better idea.

Either the CC didn't exist yet at the time, or they didn't use it because of the desire to make the spreading of rules viral...but the latter never really took off, as it required buy-in from creators, so essentially no different from CC in effect.