Rumours: WotC Announcement Today; Insider Email Reveals Plans

There's a couple of rumours going round today. I cannot verify either, but I'm reporting them as most of the recent OGL rumours have proven true.

First -- it is rumoured that today at 3pm ET Wizards of the Coast will make some kind of video statement about the current Open Game License situation. This rumour came from the folks at Roll For Combat who were the first to break the draft OGL scoop.

[[UPDATE -- This didn't happen!]]

Second -- an email has been circulating from an anonymous WotC insider. Again, I must reiterate I cannot myself verify this, so read this with that in mind, but the email says:

Hi,

I'm an employee at WotC currently working on D&Dbeyond (DDB) and with D&D business leaders on the health of the product line. If you want I can provide proof of this.

I'm sending this message because I fear for the health of a community I love, and I know what the leaders at WOTC are looking at:

-They are briefly delaying rollout of OGL changes due to the backlash.
-Their decision making is based entirely on the provable impact to their bottom line.
-Specifically they are looking at DDB subscriptions and cancellations as it is the quickest financial data they currently have.
-They are still hoping the community forgets, moves on, and they can still push this through.

I have decided to reach out because at my time in WotC I have never once heard management refer to customers in a positive manner, their communication gives me the impression they see customers as obstacles between them and their money, the DDB team was first told to prepare to support the new OGL changes and online portal when they got back from the holidays, and leadership doesn't take any responsibility for the pain and stress they cause others. Leadership's first communication to the rank and file on the OGL was 30 minutes on 1/11/23, This was the first time they even tried to communicate their intentions about the OGL to employees, and even in this meeting they blamed the community for over-reacting.

I will repeat, the main thing this leadership is looking at is DDB subscription cancellations.

Hope your day goes well,

P.S. I will be copying and pasting this message to other community leaders.

If both rumours are true, I guess at 3pm ET today we'll find that out.

 

[FrogReaver]

Or maybe they scheduled some maintenance right in the middle of a mass-exodus, hoping to break the momentum and maybe slow it down a bit?

Not them. Paizo.

 

[CleverNickName]

Not them. Paizo.

Ah, gotcha. I have no idea, then.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also, if you absolutely want to keep playing "official" D&D just buy the books used.
I bet that probably bothers them more than not playing at all.

Check them out at the library! These kind of suits hate the public library!

With a nod to the humor, I'm gonna humbly suggest folks not. There have always been so many good reasons not to have a D&D Beyond account subscription at all that this one barely even registers a change on the whole tumescent mass.

I know it’s tangential to the thread, but…not really.

I mean it’s always valid to not spend your money in a way you don’t want to, but there’s never been any standout reasons to not use DDB. The only reason now isn’t even because of anything about ddb other than who owns it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Cancelled my DnDB master tier, and said the OGL greed was the reason. I've heavily invested in DnDB (maybe 6 of products 50ish I don't have?), but personally, no more

I did the same, and I own everything except a couple of the little pamphlet sized things.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I mean it’s always valid to not spend your money in a way you don’t want to, but there’s never been any standout reasons to not use DDB. The only reason now isn’t even because of anything about ddb other than who owns it.

I know not everybody shares this opinion but for me, my reason is that I don't want to have to pay twice for the content in a book I already bought.

 

[theCourier]

Goodman Games response:

"Goodman Games has supported tabletop role-playing games in all forms for 20 years, and we plan to continue supporting it for many years to come.As you may be aware, Wizards of the Coast may consider amending the Open Game License which may include changes to how it manages licenses to third parties. We have reviewed the possible changes and determined that they will not impact our line of roleplaying games, including Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mutant Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics, and related products; Fifth Edition Fantasy, Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower, Original Adventures Reincarnated #8: Caverns of Thracia, and related products; and our other lines.Fans, don’t worry. We think we will all be just fine."

I... don't know what to make of this. It's really short, says not to worry, but doesn't say much else than that? Really hoping they didn't cut a deal with WotC or anything, tbh.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Goodman Games response:

"Goodman Games has supported tabletop role-playing games in all forms for 20 years, and we plan to continue supporting it for many years to come.As you may be aware, Wizards of the Coast may consider amending the Open Game License which may include changes to how it manages licenses to third parties. We have reviewed the possible changes and determined that they will not impact our line of roleplaying games, including Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mutant Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics, and related products; Fifth Edition Fantasy, Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower, Original Adventures Reincarnated #8: Caverns of Thracia, and related products; and our other lines.Fans, don’t worry. We think we will all be just fine."

I... don't know what to make of this. It's really short, says not to worry, but doesn't say much else than that? Really hoping they didn't cut a deal with WotC or anything, tbh.

Goodman Games was one of the only GSL licensees for 4e. They also are the 3PP that publishes OAR.

If anyone is going to get along with Hasbro…. It’s Goodman Games.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I... don't know what to make of this. It's really short, says not to worry, but doesn't say much else than that? Really hoping they didn't cut a deal with WotC or anything, tbh.

I think Goodman has had a deal with WotC for many years.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm afraid I don't quite follow.

Paizo, these are the same guys who had to be publicly shamed and browbeat into not oppressing their workforce like a year ago. Yet here we are, people have moved on. So the cycle goes.

 

[Parmandur]

Goodman Games response:

"Goodman Games has supported tabletop role-playing games in all forms for 20 years, and we plan to continue supporting it for many years to come.As you may be aware, Wizards of the Coast may consider amending the Open Game License which may include changes to how it manages licenses to third parties. We have reviewed the possible changes and determined that they will not impact our line of roleplaying games, including Dungeon Crawl Classics, Mutant Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics, and related products; Fifth Edition Fantasy, Original Adventures Reincarnated #7: Dark Tower, Original Adventures Reincarnated #8: Caverns of Thracia, and related products; and our other lines.Fans, don’t worry. We think we will all be just fine."

I... don't know what to make of this. It's really short, says not to worry, but doesn't say much else than that? Really hoping they didn't cut a deal with WotC or anything, tbh.

This reads like they have a deal with WotC. Why should they worry, if they have the details worked out already?