D&D (2024) D&D Player's Handbook Video Redactions & Takedowns

There's a lot of YouTube videos looking at the brand new Player's Handbook right now, and some of them include the YouTuber in question flipping through the new book on screen. A couple of those video creators have been asked by WotC to redact some of the content of their videos, with one finding that their video had been taken down entirely due to copyright claims from the company. It appears to be the folks who are flipping through the whole book on-screen who are running into this issue which, it seems, is based on piracy concerns.

Jorphdan posted on Twitter that "Despite fulfilling [WotC's] requests for the flip through video I was issues a copyright strike on my channel. Three strikes TERMINATES your channel. I don't think going over the 2024 PHB is worth losing my channel I've been working on since 2017. I'm pretty upset as none of this was said up front and when notified I did comply with their requirements. And I see other creators still have their videos up. Videos that are not unlike mine. Covering WotC is not worth losing my channel... Meanwhile please subscribe to my D&D free channel the Jocular Junction, where I'll most likely be making the majority of my TTRPG videos."

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Mike Shea, aka Sly Flourish, also posted a walkthrough of the Player's Handbook. While he didn't receive a copyright takedown action, after an email from WotC he has blurred out all the page images. "Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete b******t, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value."

Popular YouTuber DnD Shorts had a video entitled 100% Walkthrough of the New Player's Handbook in D&D. That video is no longer available. However, his full spoilers review is still online.

 

[Minigiant]

Saying "It's going to happen" is NOT the same thing as saying "It's okay that it happens".

No

I am saying there are people out here posting "it's okay that it happens" and "so what if it happens".

And that group is growing and boosting each other online and as high comments in spaces of influencers.

The "it's okay to steal from corporate" mentality and "lets nonchalantly share property made for profit" sentiment are not gonna make corporations less paranoid.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Eventually we'll be numerous enough to just remove them entirely.

Or be removed by their private armies.

 

[Minigiant]

Eventually we'll be numerous enough to just remove them entirely.

Or be removed by their private armies.

You won't replace WOTC until a replacement corporation is ready to take their place. Paizo isn't ready and if they become as big, they'd do the same

A current problem in the TTRPG industry is there is really only one company doing the monetary outreach to the mainstream to bring in the huge swathes of new gamers to keep the rest of the TTRPG industry going. At least in America's and Europe.

 

[SteveC]

Being worried about a pirated screenshot compilation pdf is so incredibly dumb when they literally sold thousands of these books early at GenCon and anyone with a mind to could simply scan the entire book for a much better quality pdf.

This is a good point. I am too old and too law-abiding to have checked this, but I have heard that this has already happened.

I know with the 2014 edition that there was a fully bookmarked PDF at launch because I wondered if WotC was going to sell it as a PDF, so I did a Google search, only to actually find a download. Let me just tell you that I had an alignment test right there (and I think I passed it...)

For the record, I'm going to pick up the Foundry edition of the new rules to support Foundry.

 

[darjr]

Important things to me are the order of things, the apology from the WotC D&D creative team and that Jorohdan isn’t upset at this point.

 

[Quickleaf]

Important things to me are the order of things, the apology from the WotC D&D creative team and that Jorohdan isn’t upset at this point.

He's extremely gracious.

 

[darjr]

Sky has a follow up

 

[Iosue]

Nerd Immersion has a nice deep dive on the controversy with lawyer Noah Downs to explain how fair use works.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Nerd Immersion video explains the whole thing quite well. I still think that WotC could have easily acted better, but it does sound more like a mistake than any sort of malice on their part. (And the end results are logical and understandable.)

 

[Demetrios1453]

Nerd Immersion video explains the whole thing quite well. I still think that WotC could have easily acted better, but it does sound more like a mistake than any sort of malice on their part. (And the end results are logical and understandable.)

What's the old saying about never to assign to malice that which can be explained by stupidity?