Scribe
Legend
If Wizards is taking a cut, its not some altruistic move. Its a revenue stream that does nothing but pull more people into Wizards wheel house, its not an act in good faith.
D&D (2024) I am so torn [UPDATE: I bought it]
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
If Wizards is taking a cut, its not some altruistic move. Its a revenue stream that does nothing but pull more people into Wizards wheel house, its not an act in good faith.
From the specific perspective of WotC supporting 3rd parties and open gaming, it actually is a show of good faith.
I want to be clear: the only thing about WotC that has me angry is the OGL issue. I don't care about layoffs, I don't care about AI, and I don't even care about Pinkertons. My sole issue with their corporate practices is how they tried to undermine the OGL and Open Gaming in general.
Scribe
Legend
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
Since you mentioned the OGL debacle, I'll go ahead and mention this:
It would take WotC no time or effort whatsoever to release an OGL v1.0b which added the word "irrevocable" and was released into the public domain, just like Paizo's ORC license was. And yet they don't seem to want to so much as consider doing any such thing.
Heck, there's no indication that they plan on releasing the (supposedly) forthcoming 2024 SRD under the OGL. And while people say "that would be redundant, and ergo pointless" I disagree. If anyone out there wants to back-convert the 2024 materials to an OGL system (and yes, there are products out there which do this for extant 5E OGL materials), then you need them under the OGL.
Is that a niche case? Absolutely. But niche cases are the hallmark of the proverbial "little guy," the small-press third-party publishers contributing to an OGL ecosystem which now has nearly a quarter-century's worth of additions that anyone can use.
And yet WotC continues to turn their nose up at this ecosystem. Even the allowance of other publishers to use D&D Beyond, and the DMs Guild, are all under WotC's control, ready for them to veto them once they find them inconvenient. Their license to let other VTTs use 5E 2024 will last as long as WotC wants it to last, and no longer; I've seen plenty of people say "well, that's normal for licenses," and indeed it is; but the OGL paradigm set a standard that greater because it freely gave to the community.
If WotC isn't interested that standard, then are they really interested in the community as anything other than (to quote from one notable leak during the OGL debacle), "obstacles between them and their money"?
Just a point of clarity: I use Fantasy Grounds, and if I buy ANY system for FG, they cannot take it away. I own those files. I beleive Foundry is the same. Not sure about Roll20.
MonsterEnvy
Legend
For the new SRD stuff they have stated it’s coming after the Monster Manual.
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
To be clear, are those files downloaded onto your computer? Likewise, could you use them if FG didn't want you to on their platform, or even shut down altogether?
I know that the question of renting vs. owning digital materials is a separate consideration, but I'm curious.
Given that, I think my initial response still stands because until the OGL-->CC thing is complete and finished, the stuff I cry out about basically extends to this in the way of, "Until you see them actually release the thing you want, assume you may not get it, because shareholder priorities could change before it drops. No matter what their promises are."
THAT said, if that's truly all you care about, then the reality is that D&D 2024 is a D&D edition. Plain and simple. So your options become:
1. Will it bring you pleasure to read it, and/or will you bring it to the table to play it (as player or DM)? Then get it. Life's short, get your pleasure where you can (with all the usual moral and ethical caveats, of course).
2. But if the chances are slim you'll either read it or play it any time soon, then wait. See what happens with the CC stuff. There is literally no edition of D&D that won't be available in some format by the time you make up your mind based on what you see them actually release.
thullgrim
Hero
I’ve owned every edition of D&D. The only version sitting on my shelf anymore is 4e and couple of sourcebooks from earlier editions I have for reference (World Builder Guidebook, Grey Box FR). I bought 2014 5e. It wasn’t for me.
As I try and get to the minimum number of games to own and run (that will support the kinds of games I want to run) I don’t need 2024.
Do I look at those books in the FLGS and think it would be cool to own them? Yes. Then I ask myself if I would actually use them and the answer is No. So I move on.
If I want to play a 5e fantasy game I have A5e and Shadowdark. If I want a crunchier fantasy game I have SWADE, PF1, GURPS.
For everything else there’s SWADE and GURPS.
Bottom line. If it’s important to you to have the 2024 game then buy it. If it’s just tradition, nostalgia, or FOMO then skip it. I encourage you, if you’ve drawn a line in the sand then stick to it, or it didn’t/doesn’t mean anything.
As I try and get to the minimum number of games to own and run (that will support the kinds of games I want to run) I don’t need 2024.
Do I look at those books in the FLGS and think it would be cool to own them? Yes. Then I ask myself if I would actually use them and the answer is No. So I move on.
If I want to play a 5e fantasy game I have A5e and Shadowdark. If I want a crunchier fantasy game I have SWADE, PF1, GURPS.
For everything else there’s SWADE and GURPS.
Bottom line. If it’s important to you to have the 2024 game then buy it. If it’s just tradition, nostalgia, or FOMO then skip it. I encourage you, if you’ve drawn a line in the sand then stick to it, or it didn’t/doesn’t mean anything.
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