Robert J. Schwalb removed all 5E OGL products from DriveThru

[JEB]

Was about to post a review of Schwalb's 5E product Forbidden Knowledge today and was very confused when I couldn't find it... this was why. Kind of a shame, since his OGL 5E warlord was one of the better attempts out there.

Technically this is fairly old news (9 January) but since I just noticed, figured I'd send out an alert. If you have a copy of his 5E stuff, make sure to back it up somewhere...

 

[dave2008]

Doesn't this really just hurt the fans more than anyone? I am not understanding this move really. I kinda see why, but if I think about...I'm not to sure.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Doesn't this really just hurt the fans more than anyone? I am not understanding this move really. I kinda see why, but if I think about...I'm not to sure.

Yes, but also, I can't blame somebody for taking their ball and going home if they just don't want to deal with any of this nonsense anymore.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I'm a huge fan of Schwalb's Shadow of the Demon Lord, and am eagerly awaiting his Shadow of the Weird Wizard kickstarter, which is more of a direct 5E competitor genre-wise.

It does suck for D&D fans that he's taken his 5E stuff down, as a solid portion of it was quite good. But given that very few creators have the ability to fight WotC if/when they do get lawyerly, I don't blame any of them for avoiding the mess entirely.

 

[Morrus]

Doesn't this really just hurt the fans more than anyone? I am not understanding this move really. I kinda see why, but if I think about...I'm not to sure.

I would think it hurts him mostly, followed by the fans, and then WotC far behind (as in not at all). But I can't speak for him -- I assume his motives aren't to hurt WotC (as that's not possible) and may be more personal? I don't know!

 

[SkidAce]

Was about to post a review of Schwalb's 5E product Forbidden Knowledge today and was very confused when I couldn't find it... this was why. Kind of a shame, since his OGL 5E warlord was one of the better attempts out there.

Technically this is fairly old news (9 January) but since I just noticed, figured I'd send out an alert. If you have a copy of his 5E stuff, make sure to back it up somewhere...

You made me nervous, so I checked my files and remembered I had already purchased it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would think it hurts him mostly, followed by the fans, and then WotC far behind (as in not at all).

It doesn't hurt D&D not at all, if he has fans -- as I'm sure must exist -- who buy his 5E stuff almost exclusively to use with the core D&D books. Certainly not millions of customers, but they exist.

If I didn't have access to third party stuff, which is the bulk of my collection, as it has been since the 3E era, I wouldn't be running 5E games today. (No, I wouldn't buy Ravnica instead of Ptolus -- WotC literally doesn't make equivalent things that I could have bought instead.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In any case, this is my worst case scenario. I don't have the money to put everything I want in a lifeboat at this moment, and some third party companies are really bad about communicating what they're doing during the OGL fiasco. I don't want to wake up tomorrow and see a game I want is gone.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Anyone got Rob's phone number?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Anyone got Rob's phone number?

yeah I wonder if he is coming back or not with "his ball"