Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 8885588" data-attributes="member: 5948">That's a decision that everyone's going to have to make individually, both creators and customers.&nbsp; There's no good answer here.&nbsp; A 3pp creator who can't afford to fight WotC in court to try to keep 1.0a active has few attractive options.&nbsp; D&amp;D, like it or not, it where the money is, and the bigger 3pps have businesses, livelihoods, mortgages, employees depending on that money.&nbsp; It'd be easy for me, sitting on my comfy chair paid for by a good job in an industry where my skills are widely in demand, to point fingers and demand 3pps stand on principle and fight/defy WotCs appalling protection racket.&nbsp; But it ain't me who'll be going hungry or bankrupt or having to lay off employees if it all blows up in their face.&nbsp; And conversely, if they DO cave in to economic imperatives and sign, they risk becoming pariahs.&nbsp; OGL 1.1 ain't popular, to put it mildly, and the people who are most aware of and angry about the whole OGL business are the sort of customers who frequent places like this, and who are most likely to buy 3pp products in the first place - and nobody likes a sellout.&nbsp; It's a very ugly choice for a creator to have to make.I still believe that a LOT will hinge on the stance that Critical Role ends up taking.&nbsp; They have an audience reach in the literal millions and financial resources that dwarf anyone else in the industry other than WotC themselves.&nbsp; They are also successful in their own right, and have careers (both from the Vox Machina Amazon show and from their voice acting careers) that WotC cannot threaten even should things somehow go haywire with the streaming show (and in any case, if CR want to move away from D&amp;D every gaming company in the world will be salivating at the prospect of their system filling the gap).&nbsp; If there's anyone in the D&amp;D-adjacent ecosystem who can afford to stand up to WotC, then it's them.&nbsp; Should they sign on to 1.1 (or to some sweetheart private deal that WotC tailors especially for them) then I'll be deeply disappointed and cynical about them.&nbsp; But for someone like Kobold Press for instance, who don't really have a lot of non-D&amp;D options to fall back on, and who bring in orders of magnitude less money, I'll be more understanding if economic imperatives force them into compliance.&nbsp; I still won't like it, but it'd be hard to judge them as harshly.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="humble minion, post: 8885588, member: 5948"] That's a decision that everyone's going to have to make individually, both creators and customers. There's no good answer here. A 3pp creator who can't afford to fight WotC in court to try to keep 1.0a active has few attractive options. D&D, like it or not, it where the money is, and the bigger 3pps have businesses, livelihoods, mortgages, employees depending on that money. It'd be easy for me, sitting on my comfy chair paid for by a good job in an industry where my skills are widely in demand, to point fingers and demand 3pps stand on principle and fight/defy WotCs appalling protection racket. But it ain't me who'll be going hungry or bankrupt or having to lay off employees if it all blows up in their face. And conversely, if they DO cave in to economic imperatives and sign, they risk becoming pariahs. OGL 1.1 ain't popular, to put it mildly, and the people who are most aware of and angry about the whole OGL business are the sort of customers who frequent places like this, and who are most likely to buy 3pp products in the first place - and nobody likes a sellout. It's a very ugly choice for a creator to have to make. I still believe that a LOT will hinge on the stance that Critical Role ends up taking. They have an audience reach in the literal millions and financial resources that dwarf anyone else in the industry other than WotC themselves. They are also successful in their own right, and have careers (both from the Vox Machina Amazon show and from their voice acting careers) that WotC cannot threaten even should things somehow go haywire with the streaming show (and in any case, if CR want to move away from D&D every gaming company in the world will be salivating at the prospect of their system filling the gap). If there's anyone in the D&D-adjacent ecosystem who can afford to stand up to WotC, then it's them. Should they sign on to 1.1 (or to some sweetheart private deal that WotC tailors especially for them) then I'll be deeply disappointed and cynical about them. But for someone like Kobold Press for instance, who don't really have a lot of non-D&D options to fall back on, and who bring in orders of magnitude less money, I'll be more understanding if economic imperatives force them into compliance. I still won't like it, but it'd be hard to judge them as harshly. [/QUOTE]

Verification