Third Party Character Creation iOS App Removed

The d20 Fight Club for D&D 5th Edition iOS app has been removed from the Apple App Store by its creator at the request of WotC. The creator reports that he received a Cease & Desist demand (although it's worth noting that some supposed recent C&Ds appear to have turned out to be amicable requests). This follows on from the removal of the D&D Tools website and the more recent online character generator.

The creator reports that "I received a cease and desist order from Wizards of the Coast. All D&D apps will be removed from the App Store as they weren't compliant with WotC's copyrights and trademarks. Hopefully they'll be back in some form someday. Til then, thanks for all the support."

Nobody has actually shared one of these C&Ds yet, and others have indicated that what they actually received was simply a friendly email asking that they respect WotC's trademarks, so it's not entirely clear what is happening. Hopefully somebody will share one soon!

It does look like this particular app contained text and stat blocks copied directly from the D&D books. Below is the DM version of the app (the companion to the character creation app).

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[ren1999]

Wizards has the right to police its copy right and remove all products even though they don't have an official character generator.

Wizards also has the right to lose its entire fan base.

 

[delericho]

I'm now calling for a boycott of Wizards.
Let's make our own game.

Isn't it just more efficient to instead switch to one of the many other games that are out there already - be it Pathfinder, 13th Age, Firefly, or whatever else suits?

As for a boycott of Wizards, I'm not sure how that would work, since they stubbornly refuse to produce anything for us to buy.

 

[ren1999]

I'm considering those games, yes.

 

[Paraxis]

I'm considering those games, yes.

13th Age is wonderful, if I wasn't playing 5e I would be playing that.

Here is the Pelgrane Press licensing page http://www.pelgranepress.com/site/?tag=licensing&cat=248

Here is an online SRD site http://www.13thagesrd.com/

I have no issues with companies running themselves how they wish, WoTC will still get my business as long as I enjoy the game, but good gaming to you and your group.

 

[ExploderWizard]

This one was a for profit enterprise so I don't fault WOTC for shutting it down. Fan made stuff just to share with other fans is one thing, but setting up a business and profiting from it is a whole different bucket of worms. If it was popular, and worked well, then perhaps they should consider offering the creator a consultant job. After all, he not only demonstrated the ability to create a product, but get it to market successfully as well.

 

[Carl H]

There is lots of fantastic fantasy RPG's available from other companies. There is a lot of good reasons to play them instead of D&D.

WOTC defending it's copyright is not a very good reason to decide to stop playing a game you like.

My suspicion is that the people proclaiming that this is going to stop them from playing 5e were either not playing to begin with or already on their way out.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There is a right way and a wrong way when dealing with your customer base.

I've been dealing with multinationals in my sphere of influence. you NEVER piss off your customer base. Because the majority of the time you are not going to get them back.

Yes Hasbro is a huge company, but news does travel fast about anything perceived or not. It also helps their competition as well.
Any name brand can become toxic. Right now with their sub standard modules, their layoffs, and these robo C&D's sounds like to me that WotC has been given a quota to meet on a yearly basis.

Looks like to me another 4thED business fiasco in the making.

Finally it does NOT matter if Hasbro is right or wrong. It is HOW Hasbro is handling their IP's. And it looks like this is the standard heavy handed method. Quite frankly, at this moment this is the typical business tactic done by a souless organization.

Sorry dude... but the few people who have actually downloaded and used this app aren't their customer base. At best, it's a customer fringe. Their customer base are the tens of thousands of players who buy the books, play the game, and that's it. They NEVER go on message boards, they never pay attention to what is or isn't released until they see it on the shelves or on Amazon or the D&D website, and they never use anything other than whatever they have made for themselves.

So if they annoy the handful of players who actually give a rat's ass about Cease & Desist letters, then too bad for them. The other 98.5% of the player base will continue playing D&D the same way we always have, unconcerned and none's the wiser.

 

[Morrus]

Their customer base are the tens of thousands of players who buy the books, play the game, and that's it. They NEVER go on message boards

This 1990s dinosaur is a myth. 10 years ago it was true. Nowadays *everybody* goes on the internet to check out their hobbies, from grandmothers to children. If you're surrounded by people who don't do that, you're in a very unusual situation.

 

[BuddyRich]

Anyone know if the 5E DM Minion line on Android was also served with a cease and desist? I just bought d20 Fight Club and the DM tool for iPad and ito evaluate it, though decided to still stick with pencil and paper. If they shipped it without monsters and any trademarked references (such a D&D, etc.) they'd probably be OK. Actual rules crunchy bits cannot be copyrighted as far as I am aware. As it is they only included monster stats from the free Basic PDF, not the larger MM so I am not sure if that matters or not, but I don't think the free PDF was released under the OGL as such, but just a freebie with copyright still belonging to WotC.

 

[Toxic_Rat]

This 1990s dinosaur is a myth. 10 years ago it was true. Nowadays *everybody* goes on the internet to check out their hobbies, from grandmothers to children. If you're surrounded by people who don't do that, you're in a very unusual situation.

I doubt that either extreme is correct, as far as D&D goes. Of the six guys playing in my regular campaign, I'm the only one that follows D&D/WotC stuff online with any regularity. Now, they have all asked about digital tools, and when I tell them there are none available, they just shrug it off and pick up the pencil and we go on a playin'.

To be fair, I have been called unusual, so YMMV.