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.

 

[Remathilis]

You can take DnDShorts' entire channel and throw it and him in the garbage, but this is not the same thing as Jorphdan and SlyFlourish's videos.

Glad we agree on this

 

[Corinnguard]

Glad we agree on this

As long as he doesn't come back up smelling like roses.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Were you watching his 14-minute spoiler review or the hour and a half page-by-page review?

Are you asking about DnDShorts? The long one, I stopped because I was not going to learn anything from what he said, too much talk, and I got the feeling he expected me to read the damn pages he was holding up. I stopped on d4 Deep Dives, 3hour + video also because too much information being talked at me. I much prefer Treantmonk's more digestible approach.

I wonder how many of us on EN World are lawyers in RL.

Less than the number willing to give legal opinions but more that you would think. The OGL really pulled them out of the woodwork.

 

[Dausuul]

And legally Wizards is required to come after you because they they don't they said the prcedent that they don't.

You're thinking of trademark law. Copyright doesn't work that way.

 

[Corinnguard]

Are you asking about DnDShorts? The long one, I stopped because I was not going to learn anything from what he said, too much talk, and I got the feeling he expected me to read the damn pages he was holding up.

Yes. I watched most of the long one but had to stop when he got to the spells section of the 2024 PHB. I found the review to be informative. And yes, he did suggest on more than occasion that you could stop his video and check out the stuff you might have had questions about.

I also tried to watch d4 Deep Dives' review, but I reached my quota of TMI that day.

 

[Arilyn]

Isn't that the 3.5 hour review he did live with people? If so, yes, he showed more than 75% of the book. He was doing page by page, just out of order.

No, this is not the one.

 

[darjr]

 

[MarkB]

Given what we have heard and seen so far from these reviews of the 2024 PHB, there was a lot of stuff that wasn't fixed from 5e and there was some new stuff that hadn't been received well during the playtests. If WoTC had not decided to have any of the pages revealed, imagine the amount of the Buyer's Remorse that could have ensued. The Content Creators reviews did us all a huge favor by revealing what they did.

To be clear, there isn't a ban on showing or discussing content from the PHB, and people have been doing just that. It's just that the content needs to be re-typed as a separate document, rather than screenshotting the actual page.

 

[Parmandur]

So it looks like WotC was able to intervene and get Jorphdan's strike removed on YouTube.

 

[timbannock]

So it looks like WotC was able to intervene and get Jorphdan's strike removed on YouTube.

Source?

I don't think we should ever again accept WOTC doing something nice goes unsourced. (No offense meant, @Paramandur, as I feel like you post quality stuff, but WOTC has been exceptionally vile for years.)