So how do we respond?

[Yaarel]

If I do an oil painting of an Elf Wizard. That is my artwork. I own the painting. Not Hasbro corporate executives.

Even if I am portraying SRD content, such as a High Elf Evocation Wizard . It is still my artwork. I have the legal right. It is part of "folk D&D" as a community tradition, a subculture, a sport like tennis or football.

This is Intellectual Property that the OGL licenses to the living tradition.

The oil painting is mine.

If my artistic medium is computer digital art, including 3d portraits of an Elf Wizard, that is my artwork, I own it.

And if I make an NFT out of it − or a videogame out of it − or a digital character portrait builder for others to create portraits of their own characters, it is my property. Hasbro lacks a claim on it.

 

[Guest 7034872]

Wait until Matt Colville comes out against it. Wait until Paizo comes out against it. Wait until Matt Mercer and Critical Role come out against it.
If it's as draconian and terrible of a contract as it seems - it will impact 3PPs (of course), but also merchandise, live streams, YouTube, wikis - a lot of stuff.
This is going to kill their brand if they don't change it.

I think that's right. Angry boycotts, Gofundmes, and Twitter posts from regular Janes and Joes like us won't do much unless they groundswell to the point of significantly damaging Hasbro's revenue from D&D, which I think unlikely, but what would cause a major about-face is sustained bad press from the major online popularizers of D&D. Over on Youtube, Dungeon Craft/Professor Dungeon Master has discussed this in guarded terms, and Questing Beast has been slightly sharper in his words (still careful, though). But imagine the following strictly hypothetical scenario of Matt Mercer speaking openly right during the intro to Critical Role's weekly session:

Mercer: The new OGL rules are absurd. If WotC and Hasbro honestly expect that much control and money, we'll have to re-evaluate our relationship with them.
Riegel: Are they seriously expecting people to go along with this, though??
Ray: Looks like.
Mercer: I mean, there's always OSR.

That would be something Hasbro would not have the luxury to ignore. Ditto for Matt Colville and a few others. Hasbro is a service industry corporation, after all; there is a certain amount of bad press they cannot afford to receive and they know it.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

In another thread someone said something to me I will share here:

Go buy 3pp books, especially starter sets (like paizo.com - Pathfinder Beginner Box) and donate them to churchs, schools and libraries.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I've been excited about the 50th anniversary, but I've been dreading switching to a new edition. I like 5th but I haven't had enough time with it. Due to a long standing Pathfinder campaign my Table didn't switch to 5th edition till 2018. Then we lost 2 years during the Pandemic.

I expect to stick with 5th edition like I did with 3rd edition. I've already stopped buying new 5th edition products because the game has moved into a space where I don't feel comfortable or safe. Plus, there is plenty of 5th edition material to keep me occupied till I die.

I know that's overstating things a bit. The temptation will be great, and I will probably end up buying an occasional book from Wizards.

 

[Nadan]

In another thread someone said something to me I will share here:

Go buy 3pp books, especially starter sets (like paizo.com - Pathfinder Beginner Box) and donate them to churchs, schools and libraries.

Kid this day are raise with smart phones, I really doubt they will play them instead watch more brain-rotting TikTok

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Kid this day are raise with smart phones, I really doubt they will play them instead watch more brain-rotting TikTok

my niece and nephew learned to play a bit as kids... now both in HS (god time flys) and the younger of them (niece) has started (helped really) a gaming club and has a dozen TTRPG players in a small town.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Keeping playing D&D but not spending any money on wotc products probably sends a stronger message than abandoning D&D completely. wotc will see that the game is still popular but earnings are still going down.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I have to imagine WotC has a freaking team plying the CR folks with the sweetest of sweetheart deals plus promising to bear their children to sign the OGL.

That or drunkenly berating them with 'I created you, therefor I will always be bigger than you' corpo rambling.

It's kind of amazing that Logal Paul is only the second biggest career sundering blunder of this week.

 

[TheSword]

So basically a thread where a lot of people who don’t spend much money with WOTC state how they aren’t going to spend any more money with WOTC, and explain why they don’t need to, urging other people to do the same…

… and we wonder why WOTC wants to revise the license situation?

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I have to imagine WotC has a freaking team plying the CR folks with the sweetest of sweetheart deals plus promising to bear their children to sign the OGL.

That or drunkenly berating them with 'I created you, therefor I will always be bigger than you' corpo rambling.

It's kind of amazing that Logal Paul is only the second biggest career sundering blunder of this week.

I can't wait to see a dramatic movie about this some day.