C&Ds for Online D&D 5E Character Generators

Ed Friedlander reports that WotC has asked him to remove his D&D character generators. Ed ran the generators at his site, Pathguy.com, including a D&D 5E character generator. His Pathfinder RPG character generator is still running. Thanks to Slayyne for the scoop (who also reports that at least one other site has also closed). [Update: while the actual request has not been shared, others have reported that these are very amicable requests].

You can see his closing note here.

"After almost two decades, Wizards of the Coast has asked me to remove my online character generators. I appreciate the many people who have written and thanked me for my work, and I hope you will continue to enjoy the hobby.

As a physician and gamer, I've supported and defended the hobby, and helped concerned families understand its value.

The "Dungeons and Dragons" phenomenon has encouraged young people to study other cultures. It is a game in which people work together to accomplish a meaningful goal. Characters even define themselves in terms of their good morals and their ethics. On one level, it simulates the spiritual warfare described in the Christian scriptures and in the Arthurian legends on which the game is based. I am proud that I was able to make a contribution.

My generator for Pathfinder will of course remain online. Click here for more information about this role-playing game.

May your dice come up 20s.

Ed Friedlander MD"

Back in November, the D&D Tools website suffered a similar fate, as have a couple of spellcard websites. While WotC appears to be largely easygoing as far as fan creations are concerned, they do take action when content from their products is copied or distributed.

Ed's character generator created characters by selecting a number of options, and output a character sheet similar to below. I'm not all that familiar with it, so I don't know what text, if any, it may have borrowed from the official rules.

As yet, there's no license (Open Gaming or otherwise) for D&D 5th Edition (although WotC does intend to do so), although a number of publishers have published books anyway using the older Open Gaming License for D&D 3E and 3.5.

What is interesting to hear is that some people who have received such requests describe them as very amicable. Toxic Rat says "Speaking from personal experience, I received a very nice email asking that I take down particular content owned by WotC. No threats, no warnings of legal action, just a request to honor their copyright." That's great to hear.

​

 

[Evenglare]

um..they've said, for a long time now, that we'd hear information on that topic in the spring of 2015. Have you not been paying attention, or just forgot?

[citation needed]
And even if so. Why are they waiting? Again, every company in this space has a license ASAP. Even the small companies. You would think the big player would be on top of this stuff

 

[Sacrosanct]

[citation needed]
And even if so. Why are they waiting? Again, every company in this space has a license ASAP. Even the small companies. You would think the big player would be on top of this stuff

. I'm not going to go digging for all of Mearls' tweets. You've been here long enough, and a prolific poster, so I gotta think you've seen them every time a thread like this gets opened.

I work for a large company, and I'm here to tell you the bigger the company, the longer things take. Red tape and lawyers. This is not unusual, especially when they're probably still hashing out what sort of license they want.

I suggest everyone just chill, and at the very least wait until the time they told us has passed. Oh, and before someone says it, the spring time frame was when we would hear something about it, not that that is when there would be an official licence.

 

[Evenglare]

I've been here a while, but I don't read every single thing. I have not heard this spring announcement. You shouldn't assume everyone has and if you can't prove it then why say it? Also it may take a while, in that case they shouldn't have released it before they had all of their ducks in a row. It seems really shady that they would release something, with no way of actually controlling it other than issuing cease and desist letters. I mean.. certainly I can't be the only one who thinks this is fishy.

Its just another Public Relations failure. First the morning star incident, then not disclosing what is in store for the future, announcing things had been cut from the DMG after it had reached the hands of consumers (mass combat, kender, warforged), now cease and desist letters for fan tools, no fan license. These things each alone aren't worth getting mad about but when they start adding up it's getting irritating to say the least. Is it so much to ask that you talk to your fan base and let them know what's going on, at least tentatively? Yes after the DMG came out they said they would publish these things for free. Why did they wait so long to tell us, and even then they just surprised us. No one had any inkling that it would just be released into the wild with no forethought.

To me, it's a crappy way of running a company since your company is quite literally based on fan usage and creation. They have every right to do what they are doing, but to me, it's crappy. I'm clearly not the only one who is getting irritated as well.

 

[weldon]

Also it may take a while, in that case they shouldn't have released it before they had all of their ducks in a row. It seems really shady that they would release something, with no way of actually controlling it other than issuing cease and desist letters. I mean.. certainly I can't be the only one who thinks this is fishy.

I can't quite figure out what you are talking about here. WotC should not have released WHAT exactly? The core rulebooks before they were ready to release open content under an OGL? They shouldn't have released an announcement that an OGL for 5e was coming?

I don't understand what is shady or fishy.

 

[Evenglare]

They shouldn't have released this edition if they had no clue how they were going to handle fan creations. Hell we don't actually even know what licensing they are giving to other companies. As far as I can tell it's all under the table. We know they are having other companies make stuff like adventures we don't know the specifics of HOW they are doing this. So no, if you can't take care of your franchise then you shouldn't be releasing this stuff. Going on a case by case basis and evaluating material is 1. Fishy and shady we don't know whos going to get C&D, we dont know WHY because they haven't put out any stipulations. We can only go off of general legalese with copyright and IP infringements. Again it's a shot in the dark. This stuff should have been ironed out before the edition was released. GSL was released VERY shortly after 4th edition (if not exactly when it was launched), 3e's OGL was released in 2000 right along side 3e launch. They did it then, they should have had the foresight to do it now. Being a big company show have given them MORE incentive. You iron out contracts for this kind of stuff ASAP. I don't even know why I'm trying to defend something that should be a given. You can't argue against this. You can't defend this kind of stuff, you just cant. Anyone in business knows you get your crap together legally before this type of stuff hits. I'm going to take my leave, I've said what I wanted, and I can't believe people are defending wizards decision to not put out a license during release. Do you people not WANT a fan licesnse? Are you happy that wizards can just pick off whatever they want? I dont... i can't even try to convince anyone this is bad if you can't clearly see what is going on here.

Fans don't have what we need to make stuff for a game that relies on fans making stuff! I must be just insane to expect something like this apparently.

 

[Sacrosanct]

you're making an awful lot of claims as to what should be done. So I ask you, what is your expertise and experience in business and these sorts of projects?

 

[Blue Phoenix RPG]

Bottom line: WOTC is failing at each step of this product. The one thing I can say positive about 5e is that it is an amazing game engine and the 3 source books have exceeded my expectations. BUT, WOTC needs to gets its legal act together and fix the absence of digital tools (which includes a viable forum/blog). This is the FIRST time they've released an edition without any sense from the fans that they're being heard or communicated to. This will ultimately alienate many. Myself I have hope and patience that by the end of this year that this will change, especially in digital tools.

I think that hardcore D&D player like myself aren't going anywhere but if they want to capture new players they will definitely have to step it up a notch. The Pathfinder publishers and other are way out ahead of them on source material, miniatures, digital tools, etc. At least fourth edition had the really cool online tools for slapping together NPC/Monster block stats and the like. It did not seem to be an impossible task so it shouldn't be one now to recreate those tools for DMs. Also, the webs and forums are gone, as well as a TON, and I mean TON, of older source materials that are now no longer present online.

By restricting new products, not having digital tools, threatening C&D issues, no magazines, no forums (they have one but it's totally worthless IMHO), removing older free content, and restricting fan generated content, WOTC actions might cause this to be the final edition we see for a while and that would be tragic.

 

[Sacrosanct]

not listening to the fans? What the heck do you think the playtest was?

 

[BoldItalic]

Personally, I do not share the sense of rage or the sense of entitlement that others seem to have expressed.

I like 5e, as a game. I've bought the books and that entitles me to - read the books and join in the fun. It doesn't entitle me to demand that WotC tell me their business plans; they are not accountable to me at all, except for the physical quality of the copy of the book that I've bought, just as any book publisher is.

I bought the PHB so that I could make characters and play D&D. It would be slightly annoying to find that someone unconnected with WotC was giving away the ability to make the same characters for nothing. Slightly annoying because it would mean I had wasted my money. Only slightly annoying, because it wasn't a huge amount of money. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to see that WotC are going to try to stop that happening. They are acting to preserve the monetary value of the book that I've bought from them. For me, personally, that's good, not bad.

 

[delericho]

We know they are having other companies make stuff like adventures we don't know the specifics of HOW they are doing this.

Sure we do. The adventures done by Kobold and Sasquatch have come about because WotC contracted them to write the adventures, but the printing and distribution is done in-house. The other officially-marked licensed stuff, such as GF9's spell cards, came about because GF9 approached WotC a few years ago to get a license for that purpose. We don't know the exact detail of the contracts themselves, but that's hardly unusual - it's no different from any contract used by any RPG company ever.

The other 5e adventures and supplements are being produced under the OGL (from 3e days) and are nothing to do with WotC at all. In theory, WotC could hit any of those with a C&D, and wouldn't that be interesting...