3rd-Party Apps for 5E Rising From The Dead!

To quote Monty Python, "I'm not Dead Yet!" Over the last few months, a number of D&D 5E third-party electronic tools have been removed from the web at WotC's request. Some of the creators of these tools cited Cease-and-Desists and posted angry "closing down" messages, while others indicated they'd had friendly requests to observe WotC's IP rights. What's interesting is that some of these tools are now reappearing, apparently after having met WotC's requests as to what can or can't be included - whch appears, at least at first blush, to be Basic Rules material, along with some minor trademark usage restrictions.

A couple of notable examples include Pathguy's D&D Next character generator. He closed his generator last month, leaving a closing message, but now the generator is back and running, noting that "I've been granted specific permission by WoTC to publish and distribute this generator. However, I've been asked to limit my "Fifth Edition" character generator to the content of the free online D&D Basic Rules."

That's not the only one that's risen from the grave! The d20 Fight Club for Fifth Edition iOS app was removed from Apple's App Store, citing an actual "cease and desist order from Wizards of the Coast". This, too, is back, under a new name! The creator notes that "To be compliant with Wizards of the Coast copyrights and trademarks this app will no longer contain any content from the Dungeon Master's Guide or use the trademarks "Dungeon Master" and "D20"

So what's happening? It seems that two things are going on. First, the C&Ds folks are talking about don't sound like they're particularly stern, and WotC is happily working things out with the creators of these apps and the like. Secondly, it appears that WotC is limiting use of certain trademarks (which is hardly surprising) and allowing content from the Basic Rules, although that's not 100% clear.

Does this hint at any kind of longer-term policy or license? These are individual agreements at present, but this may be a clue as to what we migh be able to expect in the future.

The D&D Tools website is still closed, but that was a rather different kettle of fish.

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I'm not sure Basic=OGL is a such a good idea. Open content monsters help 3pp make adventures and all classes need splat, not just the four basic classes.

Splat is love. Splat is life.
 

Since WotC seems incapable of creating compelling and effective digital tools of their own, it sure would be nice if they could work out a licensing deal with 3rd parties who are already making pretty good products.

It doesn't do everything I'd like, and manually entering all the character data is a pain, but I find Fight Club to be a pretty compelling experience. If the developer could just pay WotC a commission for using their game data, he could focus on refining the experience instead of wasting unproductive time working around WotC's property rights.
 

Seems to be that Wizards is being proactive with regards to coordinating efforts of adventure writers, too. The author of the Dungeons On Demand kickstarter reported that he was contacted by Wizards, who kindly explained a few areas of his modules to edit and some legal text to add in order to make sure things are compliant.

From this thread:

Dan Coleman said:
Also - cool story! I actually was contacted by Wizards of the Coast shortly after putting this up. At first I thought they were going to issue a cease & desist, but it turns out they're cool with the project - they just asked me to change a few references on the adventure packets and to add an attribution to make everything nice and legal. Otherwise they gave it their blessing, which is super cool! I was kind of gushing that they’d even contact me, and it turns out they're very considerate and supportive. Go Wizards!
 

Since WotC seems incapable of creating compelling and effective digital tools of their own, it sure would be nice if they could work out a licensing deal with 3rd parties who are already making pretty good products.

It doesn't do everything I'd like, and manually entering all the character data is a pain, but I find Fight Club to be a pretty compelling experience. If the developer could just pay WotC a commission for using their game data, he could focus on refining the experience instead of wasting unproductive time working around WotC's property rights.

How much would that cost? I'm not sure some random guy could affort what WotC is asking and pay a few coders to make the product.
 




Let's also not forget that I'm pretty sure the only reference we have received about a potentially imminent OGL for 5E thus far was from Christopher Perkins in a tweet... which is not even close to being any official notification we can hang our hat on. I'm pretty sure that anything that comes across his Twitter feed should be taken with a massive grain of salt. He's the story guy for D&D... he ain't a part of the business end of things.

At this point in time, WotC has not officially announced anything about the potential arrival of an OGL (or any license for 5E for that matter.)

I thought that Perkin's statement said that they 'plan' to release an OGL of some kind but they didn't know when. Which didn't suggest anything imminent. Nor did it really say they'd end up doing it at all. My guess would be that a number of the designers would really like an OGL but that they have legal department hurdles to clear.

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"WotC is happily working things out with the creators of these apps and the like."

While it would probably have been better for them to have led with that, credit where credit is due: It appears WotC is willing to work things out. IMO that is a very positive step.
 

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