WotC Shannon Appelcline the layoffs and the OGL fiasco.

[Parmandur]

Well, unless they did indeed make the promise while knowing they had no intention of actually carrying it through. I don't think that's what happened here, but I'm too old and too cynical, and have been on the receiving end of too many of those promises (from others, not WotC), to discount the possibility entirely.

I think it's a good idea for folks to keep bringing the idea up, so it stays on the radar: but I think it's also a little uncalled for to say that ij the event they're lease some old SRDs in, say, April 2024, thst they were lying when they expressed the intention to release them in 2023. For me, I think it is important that they follow throufh, but...timing is fungible. Stuff happens.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

It wouldn't surprise me if preparing the pre-5E SRDs for CC was de-prioritized by WotC management soon after the promise was made, and they have no plans of picking it up again.

 

[delericho]

I think it's a good idea for folks to keep bringing the idea up, so it stays on the radar: but I think it's also a little uncalled for to say that ij the event they're lease some old SRDs in, say, April 2024, thst they were lying when they expressed the intention to release them in 2023. For me, I think it is important that they follow throufh, but...timing is fungible. Stuff happens.

Indeed. As I see it, there are three basic possibilities. From most to least likely (IMO):

- They may have expressed nothing more than an intention to post the 3.x SRDs, possibly with a timeframe. That's not a promise, so there's no question of dishonesty regardless of what happens.

- They may have expressed a promise, intending to follow through, but it gets delayed (or even doesn't happen). I'd file that under "stuff happens" - again, there's no dishonesty here.

- Finally, they might have made the promise while fully intending to renege. That's the only case I'd consider dishonest.

I think that third case is extremely unlikely, just not quite impossible.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Anyway, I doubt we'll see the older edition SRDs in CC anytime soon. The staff left at WotC after the layoffs probably have more important things to work on than preparing documents that aren't going to earn any money and only a small number of people even care about.

 

[delericho]

Anyway, I doubt we'll see the older edition SRDs in CC anytime soon. The staff left at WotC after the layoffs probably have more important things to work on than preparing documents that aren't going to earn any money and only a small number of people even care about.

Probably. It's just about possible it's sitting on someone's to-do list and really bugging them, enough that they get it done just to clear the item. I've had tasks like that in the past - objectively low priority, but like an itch that demands to be scratched.

Barring that, though, I think you're probably right.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I'm actually all for WotC/Hasbro changing the business model that D&D relies on.

What if that business model is designed to draw more people in the hobby into their own walled garden and cut off 99% of the products put out by other publishers? What if that business model moves away from books and into digital only / platform only products?

Hasbro’s plans for D&D could change the hobby into something we don’t recognize. I don’t think that’s good even if it opens more jobs up in Hasbro.

 

[SlyFlourish]

That being said, I don't remember if Kyle actually said "we will have it done before the end of the year"

He said it in several interviews he gave at the time. He sounded pretty sure about it.

Its not a lie if they don’t make it but it’s a broken promise and a bad sign that Hasbro just wants to walk away from the whole thing and forget the community outrage.

 

[mamba]

It wouldn't surprise me if preparing the pre-5E SRDs for CC was de-prioritized by WotC management soon after the promise was made, and they have no plans of picking it up again.

what I am more interested in is whether we will see a proper SRD for 2024, if they just release a two-pager with changes that to me means they are not really interested in an SRD any more

 

[LordEntrails]

What if that business model is designed to draw more people in the hobby into their own walled garden and cut off 99% of the products put out by other publishers?

It will fail if it is.

What if that business model moves away from books and into digital only / platform only products?

I'd have zero problem with that. I've been digital only for over 8 years now. I have no interest in non-digital products. Fine if others do, but the non-digital market will soon be a thing for the eccentrics, not mainstream gamers.

Hasbro’s plans for D&D could change the hobby into something we don’t recognize. I don’t think that’s good even if it opens more jobs up in Hasbro.

Sure, it could. And it could be good or bad, but assuming it will be bad just because it is different from what a person knows now is actually a concerning trait. Those people who fear change can get help with that. Such as https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-adaptive-mind/201809/how-overcome-the-fear-change

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Well, unless they did indeed make the promise while knowing they had no intention of actually carrying it through. I don't think that's what happened here, but I'm too old and too cynical, and have been on the receiving end of too many of those promises (from others, not WotC), to discount the possibility entirely.

You're right of course! It's possible that they could have been lying. But that seems like the least likely scenario when compared to all the things that could have gone wrong for the plan between then and now!