Crow Eating thread

MonsterEnvy · Jan 28, 2023

Clint_L said:
I just posted that they would not back down on digital, so I got that one very wrong.

I think? Did they back down on digital?

No, they are still going to make their VTT, this mess does not really affect it.

Bacon Bits · Jan 28, 2023

Reynard said:
I just wanted to say: I was completely wrong. I did not believe WotC would ever back down.

I still don't trust them. My interest in D&D is at an all-time low. At this point I feel like Rhett Butler. I just don't care.

I'm very excited to see what Kobold, MCDM, and Pelgrane Press come up with this year.

FitzTheRuke · Jan 28, 2023

Yeah, I didn't think there was any way that they would back down this far. I'm very surprised and delighted. On top of this, the other net result of the fiasco is that I sold a lot more Pathfinder2 books in the past few weeks than I had since its first release. And it looks like support for 3pp might continue to have a bit of a boost. PLUS, 3pp creators are all fired up to make new content! The industry overall very well may have scored a massive victory here. Time will tell if it's a blip, or a game-changer.

MGibster · Jan 28, 2023

Reynard said:
I just wanted to say: I was completely wrong. I did not believe WotC would ever back down.

I didn't either. I saw the OGL fiasco as the opening salvo to change D&D from being undermonetized to something better. Now I wonder how they plan to fix the undermonetization problem.

Krachek · Jan 28, 2023

On an humorous way,
do anybody know how to bring back DnD books from a pile of hashes?

Gladius Legis · Jan 28, 2023

MGibster said:
I didn't either. I saw the OGL fiasco as the opening salvo to change D&D from being undermonetized to something better. Now I wonder how they plan to fix the undermonetization problem.

My guess is that they will make a new, more restrictive, license entirely separate from OGL for OneDnD/5.5/6e/whatevertheycallit. Similar to what they tried with 4e.

goes back to eating my crow doused in apple vinegar

Greggy C · Jan 28, 2023

I was excited for some new game engines.
But back to derivative copies of 5e with tiny tweaks because that's where everyone makes their money.

And I guess this means we won't get a new edition of D&D, it will just be 5e forever.

Such a shame, I've lost all interest.

Charlaquin · Jan 28, 2023

Incenjucar said:
I just hope people keep this in mind when someone claims that boycotts don't work. Things are not always hopeless, and we sometimes have more power than we think. I hope this brings you all hope. <3

Yup, boycotts do work, when a community bands together. That’s why, even though I didn’t think WotC would back down on this, I was very adamantly opposed to the “let’s compromise and try and get a less worse 1.2” position. We have tremendous collective bargaining power, but the nature of collective power is that we have to be united to utilize it.

Charlaquin · Jan 28, 2023

Vaalingrade said:
Eat crow if you must, but it's way more important to remember this next time scumbags try to make moves. Take heart that the worse case scenario isn't a prophecy.

Indeed. Two big takeaways here:
1.) WotC tried to get rid of the OGL, and could do so again.
2.) We managed to stop them by banding together, and could do so again.

Don’t trust corporations. Don’t underestimate the power of well-adopted boycotts.

Charlaquin · Jan 28, 2023

Clint_L said:
I just posted that they would not back down on digital, so I got that one very wrong.

I think? Did they back down on digital?

They backed down on everything! They’re leaving OGL 1.0a completely alone, released the full 5.1 SRD under Creative Commons, and closed the 1.2 survey. Technically they could still release 1D&D under a new license, but it would be a pretty tone-deaf move, and moreover, unless it’s truly incompatible with 5e, it should be easy to clone using the CC license.