Now WotC has taken Dragonlance (merged)

[Steel_Wind]

What really blows about this is that they were only halfway through re-releasing the classic DL Chronicles series of adventures. Dragons of Winter is due out in August but will we ever see the final part of the trilogy, Dragons of Spring ? ...

Depends on Cam Banks and Jamie Chambers I would guess.

I really like Cam's stuff. He's a great designer and a great author. Not shy with the word count either! Have you seen the SIZE of Price of Courage?

 

[Bardsandsages]

You mean, you let other people develop it, then harvest the goods yourself.

Sure, it a way to do business, and it's not illegal.

But ethical?

Joël

It's a license. I don't believe Margaret Weiss is stupid, naive, or unsavvy. She didn't walk into it blind. She knew it was a temporary situation (as is the nature of such things). It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. I don't believe she was manipulated, brainwashed, or otherwise tricked into developing anything. She made a nice amount of cash working on a mutually beneficial business arrangement. That arrangement has ended at the end of its term. I don't see where such is unethical.

 

[AllisterH]

You mean, you let other people develop it, then harvest the goods yourself.

Sure, it's a way to do business, and it's not illegal. People who agreed to such license knew what they were doing.

But ethical? Can you say yes without laughing ?

Joël

I'm not sure why it isnt ethical. WOTC could've simply sat on the license and nothing could've come of it and that is exactly what you're arguing for.

To relate this to RPGs, this is nothing compared to Red Sonja.

To most people, Red Sonja is a Howard creation but if you actually know the history behind her, you'll see that 99% of what makes Red Sonja, the she-devil with the sword, is the work marvel put into her.

To a smaller extent, Marvel itself has to be given credit since a large part of Conan's appeal comes from their comics.

For all their hard work, Marvel only saw a dime during the years of the licence and no longer gets any benefit from either Red Sonja or Conan. Is this fair?

 

[TheYeti1775]

I'm not sure why it isnt ethical. WOTC could've simply sat on the license and nothing could've come of it and that is exactly what you're arguing for.

Have to agree with you on that.
Nothing unethical about any of the dealings we know about right now.

Just the silence out of WOTC is quite deafening if I do say so.

 

[Jim Hague]

Imagine the shape of the RPG industry if the d20 license gets pulled. Companies that are d20-only would be in dire straits unless they have proprietary or non-d20 OGL products lined up.

Except that would only affect companies sporting the d20 logo. OGL products would be unaffected. No dire straits, considering very, very few companies go through the hassle of getting that little logo to begin with. You overstate the impact.

 

[Shroomy]

Kalamar is alive and kicking.

Yep, forgot about Kalamar.

BTW, does anyone think this has something to do with the forthcoming release of the DL animated movie?

 

[Mouseferatu]

BTW, does anyone think this has something to do with the forthcoming release of the DL animated movie?

I find that scenario more likely than the 4E theories, honestly.

 

[Hussar]

I really want to license products from some of you guys. Wow, talk about risk free investing. If I do a bad job, you yank the license from me and I go on my way. If I do a good job, I get to keep the license forever. Win win for me. I never have to do all the grunt work getting the original product off the ground and I get to reap the benefits of your hard work.

Can I license stuff from you?

 

[Khairn]

So a company reclaiming it's IP is reason enough for you to steal? I'm pretty mad at my health insurance company about changes to my premiums. Guess I'll go steal my agent's car.....

In my never humble opinion, methinks a few folks here in the forums might want to consider stepping away from their computers for a couple of days. Tis much ado...not about nothing...but about very little.

I am usually easy going and would never think of doing any such thing. But the total lack of any communication from WotC despite the now almost 6 days that this firestorm has been raging and the clear decision to deliberately let their customers emotions fester has truly irritated me.

Since IMHO my irritation is justified and caused by the deliberate/planned inaction of WotC, I have no problems continuing to share my opinion in an honest, responsible and open manner.

To me it is not much ado about very little. Its much ado about something that I am passionate about and hate to see mis-managed as much as its being done these days.

 

[Piratecat]

I am usually easy going and would never think of doing any such thing. But the total lack of any communication from WotC despite the now almost 6 days that this firestorm has been raging and the clear decision to deliberately let their customers emotions fester has truly irritated me.

I'm not sure if this changes your opinion or not, but they've been in touch with us; that's why we had the "questions you want to ask WotC" thread. We should be seeing answers about a lot of these things in the next few days, by my guess.

It's also quite possible that wotC doesn't have their plans finalized, but Paizo does -- which is why Paizo made the announcement. That's just supposition, though.