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.

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[painted_klown]

I don't understand all of the rage against WOTC on this forum. Really, I just don't get it.

They had 5E heavily play tested by fans, they used that feedback to structure the game. The game (by all accounts I have read) is a nice throwback to the "good old days", then they proceed to give it away for free!

Less than a month after the DMG comes out, the complaints about not enough books being out are getting louder and louder. Then an official book is announced and posted to their official web page. Shortly thereafter, they give us some free material via UA, and the free material gets picked apart.

Now that people can't complain that the "radio silence" is killing them, it's time to complain about UN-necessary software.

At this point, I honestly feel that nothing WOTC does will make people happy. Let's say they release digital tools...I can guarantee the forum will light up with complains that it's useless crap. They know this as well.

Why keep giving to an audience that will only be satisfied when you let them run your business for you?

IMO WOTC owes us nothing, they have given us a great game (isn't that what we're all here for, the actual game?). The 3 core books are beautiful, we have more books on the way, more free stuff on the way, and even some 3rd parties are using existing licenses to give us their content as well.

The reality is this, there are plenty of games out there with everything that some people seem to be clamoring for. Some of these games are also great games, I'm sure. I know I love Pathfinder myself. If the product released by WOTC is not what your looking for, and you seem to be suffering through so much agony over it, why not play another game that meets all of your needs?

It doesn't make sense to me why anyone would be so distraught over a game! If you hate WOTC, and everything they do is a mistake and too late when they do it, then maybe it's simply not for you. Perhaps you should play a game that makes you happy. Life is way too short to be that miserable over a game. It's also too short to be angry about what a corporation does.

Take care of yourselves, find your inner peace, and evaluate why you play games in the first place. Is it for digital tools? Is it for PDF files? Is it so you can spend your money?

I play for none of those reasons. I play because I think it's fun. When you're no longer having fun, play something that is fun.

IMO, YMMV, Etc.

 

[aramis erak]

I don't understand all of the rage against WOTC on this forum. Really, I just don't get it.

They had 5E heavily play tested by fans, they used that feedback to structure the game. The game (by all accounts I have read) is a nice throwback to the "good old days", then they proceed to give it away for free!

Less than a month after the DMG comes out, the complaints about not enough books being out are getting louder and louder. Then an official book is announced and posted to their official web page. Shortly thereafter, they give us some free material via UA, and the free material gets picked apart.

Now that people can't complain that the "radio silence" is killing them, it's time to complain about UN-necessary software.

At this point, I honestly feel that nothing WOTC does will make people happy. Let's say they release digital tools...I can guarantee the forum will light up with complains that it's useless crap. They know this as well.
[snip]
IMO, YMMV, Etc.

I have to wonder how many of the whingers actually play 5E. Most of the complaints seem to be ivory tower non-played comparisons to prior editions rather than evaluating 5E as an integral game of its own... a new game that just happens to share the name and many of the tropes of prior editions.

And the demands for more material are understandable, but it's not like it's hard to find the AL adventures nor the password for them.

 

[Ranes]

I don't understand all of the rage against WOTC on this forum. Really, I just don't get it.

They've also produced two other editions, each of which has legions of fans, they've reprinted old editions and re-introduced a vast range of PDF titles.

Rarely but sometimes the company's decisions have irritated me. However, I congratulate them for the efforts they have made to appeal to fans of every edition of D&D, not just with 5e but with everything else they've been doing.

 

[Umbran]

Whatever, man. Just like I said, some people will defend WotC no matter what. You even arrived on cue.

This is from several pages back, but I'm going to use it as an example.

At the point when you're going to start claiming that the other side is not rational, it is time for you to STOP.

Walk away. Learn to walk away before you become a rude jerk.

When you say things like this, you yourself are not being rational either. The discussion, such as it was, has stopped, and has turned into two sides venting at each other. It has become about being right, and winning, and you've become willing to say nasty things about people you don't really know to do it.

And, if you cannot learn to stop before you say something jerkish, you are in grave danger of the mods hearing about it, and coming in and making an embarassing, upsetting example of you, or just giving you a vacation from the site.

Treat each other with respect. If you have lost respect, don't respond. Is that clear? I hope so. If not, please take it up in e-mail or PM with one of the moderators. Thanks, all.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Perhaps I can help put things into context a bit. HASBRO is a pretty big company. I imagine WoTC is probably not all that big, but a fairly good sized one anyway. A bit about me: For the past 10 or so years, I have worked in project management for a very large corporation. I think that gives me some insight as to how things are working, rather than armchair guessing. That being said, of course I don't work for WoTC so I don't know exactly what they are doing. Just giving some insight on the way things typically work.

When you have a project (like adding digital tools that replicate everything in the core books), from the start of the project (requirements definitions) to the actual roll out/install of the project, it easily takes a year. Longer if you have more hands in the pot, which it sounds like WoTC/HASBO has. It's a sucky process, but there's a lot of stuff that goes into it (I won't list them all out here because it will bore you). And this is doubly true if you want to put out software that is actually good, and not a pile of buggy crap.

Let me put it to you like this. You've got only a couple people whose job it is to replicate as many possible scenarios with that software as hundreds of thousands of customers will do. I come from a tester background, and when I write my scripts, I have to think of every possible way a customer might use that product in addition to just validating the requirements and every possible scenario (class/race/background combination, etc). It's time consuming. That's why coming out with reliable software is WAY more complex than just putting out the books. And from what we know, WotC wasn't happy with how things were going with MorningStar, so they probably had to start from scratch.

Re: the OGL, Mearls had officially announced it would be "early 2015". What does that mean? Any time before May, really. And he only promised we'd hear something about it, not that we'd have it. WoTC just recently posted a position for someone to handle licensing. All things point to something getting done. Just because it's not out yet people seem to be getting all worked up. Again, coming from a business perspective, this is not unusual. Their priority was putting out a core game of D&D, and focus on the license at a later date after the core books are completed. That's not unusual at all. In fact, I would much rather have them working on the core game only leading up to the release, than to have spread their resources between the game and a license and release them at the same time. Especially with how much legal crap is need to get green lit to release a license.

Bottom line, is that you can think they are dropping the ball on a lot of things here, but I'm guessing you don't have any experiences working on projects in a corporate environment. This isn't some business that you or I run out of our home and can make decisions at the drop of a hat. It's a lot more complex than most realize.

I hope that helps a bit.

 

[dream66_]

I don't understand all of the rage against WOTC on this forum. Really, I just don't get it.

They had 5E heavily play tested by fans, they used that feedback to structure the game. The game (by all accounts I have read) is a nice throwback to the "good old days", then they proceed to give it away for free!

Less than a month after the DMG comes out, the complaints about not enough books being out are getting louder and louder.
.

Let me give you my point of veiw to help you understand. I do not pretend that this is shared by everyone, might even just be me.

When I went thru the playtest I did not understand the goal to be "back to the good old days" I heard stuff about bringing all editions together, and rules modules to let you play the way you wanted. To me that meant if you liked AEDU they're be a module for it, if you like Martial healing that would be an option, if you like tactical miniature play there would be an option. Magic Items shops on every corner option, and zero magic historical recreation option. What I feel like I got is a very fun, very improved version of 1e. But I'm still waiting on all those optional modules.

And adventure paths do not do it. So doesn't matter how many princes of the apocolype they publish if they don't have the "D&D without casters" module or whatever. I'm looking for the toolkit D&D that was talked about in the playtest, a subclass wizard and a couple races do not fill that out.

 

[Bugleyman]

Bottom line, is that you can think they are dropping the ball on a lot of things here, but I'm guessing you don't have any experiences working on projects in a corporate environment.

...and you would be mistaken; I've worked in corporate america for almost 20 years. I believe the evidence is overwhelming that they are simply dropping the ball:

P1 -- Releasing PDFs (at a minimum) is the RPG industry norm for digital support.
P2 -- It is reasonable to expect the industry leader (WotC) to provide product offerings which (again, at a minimum) match the industry norm.
P3 -- There are no (legal) PDFs, despite ample time and opportunity (and a pre-existing distribution channel) to release them.
Conclusion -- WotC has failed to meet reasonable expectations (aka "they have dropped the ball").

I do appreciate what you're saying about corporate politics; however, I would characterize five years of no PDFs as a problematic level of dysfunction. In other words, I don't doubt that politics are the problem -- in fact that is my expectation -- that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. If that problem doesn't affect you, great! But what I don't get is why some people insist on telling me (quite rudely) that there is no problem.

As for me, I'll (happily) come back to D&D if and when WotC adopts a less digital-hostile stance. Until then, I (regretfully) play other games.

-- A lapsed (but hopefully future) D&D fan

 

[Sacrosanct]

...and you would be mistaken; I've worked in corporate america for almost 20 years.

Ok, that's nice. But what is your specific experience managing projects in corporate America?

 

[Bugleyman]

Ok, that's nice. But what is your specific experience managing projects in corporate America?

First of all, that's not what you said. You said "experiences working on projects in a corporate environment."

But as it happens, I work in IT for Pearson, one of the largest publishers in the world. While I am not a project manager, I interact with them on a daily basis. And I've watched our company grapple with the digital revolution, and mostly get it wrong. Frankly, it is that experience that has led me to believe WotC, also a publisher, is exhibiting similar dysfunction. They, like us, clearly haven't fully shed the dead-tree publisher mentality. In many ways we have paid the price; I'm fearful that WotC will pay the price as well. Only in this case, that might mothball a game I love and have played for decades.

Sure, you don't know me, and it's easy to write me off as "some random guy on the Internet," but really, this isn't about me. This is about my argument, which I presented two posts up. At a minimum, PDFs would represent an acceptable -- and industry standard -- form of digital support. Yet WotC has been "looking at a solution" for literally five-plus years, and have yet to offer one. They can't even get ebooks done, let alone software. That is dysfunctional.

 

[tomBitonti]

Actually, there a lot of folks here with a wide range of experience. This is not a fruitful line to take.

Being in a corporation isn't always a disadvantage. There should be a lot of folks with deep experience to draw on when needed. There should be a database of game information already created as an output of the game formation.

My sense is that Hasbro/Wotc is just not a software company. Their focus is on other things, so they are inept at doing the software thing. My 2c though.