So how do we respond?

[ersatzphil]

I suspect WotC is in a state of civil war right now, this has already done this much damage to their business and it's not even been full released? So they've gone completely silent while they fight it out.

Given that Chris Perkins, Jeremy Crawford, James Wyatt et al. worked at Wizards through the 4e transition and it’s issues, I strongly suspect the divide isn’t in the D&D studio, but the D&D studio vs. other parts of Hasbro. I forget now where I read it, but I remember some freelancer commenting that Crawford specifically was deathly afraid of ever repeating anything like that debacle.

 

[mamba]

I am sure that is not uncommon.

no, but it doesn’t make it any better

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I heard a couple of months ago that Ray Winninger quit WOTC because Hasbro was planning to scrap the OGL and he was totally opposed. I didn't give it any credence to the rumor at the time, but knowing what we know now that seems a whole lot more credible.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If this OGL turns me 35 again, I'm buying all the supplements.

sorry not sorry, if we get a sip of the fountain of youth I will let the OGL go

 

[GMforPowergamers]

no, but it doesn’t make it any better

no it doesn't.

I expect to see more and more of it though

 

[MoonSong]

I'm not really sure changing the OGL is naughty word behavior. On the surface of it, it appears as though WotC has the right to change the license agreement, though maybe a court will say different, and I'm not convinced they have an obligation to keep the license as is in perpetuity.

"Linus Torrovald has the right to change the license to the Linux core and demand royalties for every Mac, smarphone, android device and game console ever sold. I'm not convinced he has an obligation to keep the license in perpetuity"

Lots of people contributed to the OGC-included your truly- in good faith under the promise that it was a perpetual thing. Now WotC wants to renege on that promise and privatize all of the OGC for its own use while negating us access to the content we created unless we agree to draconian terms that still prevent us from giving ongoing support to games already existing. This affects a lot of people, including Paizo and the publishers running this very site.

 

[ersatzphil]

I heard a couple of months ago that Ray Winninger quit WOTC because Hasbro was planning to scrap the OGL and he was totally opposed. I didn't give it any credence to the rumor at the time, but knowing what we know now that seems a whole lot more credible.

Someone on Reddit recently pointed out that a lot of this is mirroring the events in '93/'94, when TSR tried to claim everything concerning D&D online was theirs, and pointed to the old rec.games.frp.dnd from the UseNet days. The flame wars were legendary. To my amusement, I noted that one of the contributors to that thread was Ray Winninger.

"Compatible with the world's most litigious roleplaying game"

edit: Was the following written 30 years ago, or 3 days ago?
"Terms like Armor Class, Round, Turn etc. are completly save. As far as I know <owners of DnD IP> has got some kind of legal claim on the term "saving throw", but I do not remember the particulars. Remember, game systems are not copyrightable. They might be patentable (Parker has a patent on Monopoly, as far as I know), but no RPG has been patented yet. Given the state of the hobby, with any number of commercial and free systems sharing any number of mechanics it would be very hard to defend the patent against "prior art" claims."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

"Linus Torrovald has the right to change the license to the Linux core and demand royalties for every Mac, smarphone, android device and game console ever sold. I'm not convinced he has an obligation to keep the license in perpetuity"

Lots of people contributed to the OGC-included your truly- in good faith under the promise that it was a perpetual thing. Now WotC wants to renege on that promise and privatize all of the OGC for its own use while negating us access to the content we created unless we agree to draconian terms that still prevent us from giving ongoing support to games already existing. This affects a lot of people, including Paizo and the publishers running this very site.

the people effected I feel sorry for. BUt mind you those people are the ones that are in the field writing and being paid.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Someone on Reddit recently pointed out that a lot of this is mirroring the events in '93/'94, when TSR tried to claim everything concerning D&D online was theirs, and pointed to the old rec.games.frp.dnd from the UseNet days. The flame wars were legendary. To my amusement, I noted that one of the contributors to that thread was Ray Winninger.

I definitely feel like the people making these decisions don't have the fan memory of why we have the OGL and what could go wrong if they try to change it.

This might be a sign we are not going to get any movement. If they were willing to let Ray Winninger go over this issue, junior design staff aren't going to step out of line seeing what happened to Ray. I imagine many have polished up their resumes even if it means leaving the industry.

Sad times.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I definitely feel like the people making these decisions don't have the fan memory of why we have the OGL and what could go wrong if they try to change it.

This might be a sign we are not going to get any movement. If they were willing to let Ray Winninger go over this issue, junior design staff aren't going to step out of line seeing what happened to Ray. I imagine many have polished up their resumes even if it means leaving the industry.

Sad times.

at times like this I think of getting on an airplane.

Everytime you fly in the states they tell you if you have a child with you and the breathing masks are needed affix your first... you can't help them if you can't breathe.

People getting fired form WotC wont help. People quitting WotC wont help.