We All Won – The OGL Three Years Later

[GrimCo]

agreed, one or the other

Sad truth of it.

in that case you very well could have been affected by the results of WotC pushing through their new OGL, assuming you are taking about 3rd party D&D material, not unrelated TTRPGs

Probably, but not enough to really care. If one product is gone, i'll buy one that's available and does same job. What can i say? I'm filthy casual in that regard, but at least i pay for my game stuff (i'm from region where people pirate stuff all the time).

I don't know, as far as the TTRPG business goes, it probably was the most widely circulated / known story ever, it even made it into some business magazines, etc., rather than being limited to sites like this

Well, maybe in USA. I mostly follow business magazines from Italy, Adria and DACH regions of EU. If Hasbro ever comes up, it's more about stock, layoffs, profits, business models.

 

[TheSword]

No and no. And i would guess that majority of player base either didn't know or didn't care.

True.

I'm playing using stuff that's available and i find interesting or useful, regardless whose logo is on it. As i said, i'm glad for the people in industry whose livelihood was on the line. But from pure consumer stance and trough eyes of average casual player, OGL debacle was something that flew under the radar.

Of my 11 D&D players across 3 groups. Two of them were away of the OGL issue. Though it wasn’t a topic of conversation and wouldn’t have been mentioned I don’t think if I hadn’t asked them what they thought. They were ambivalent. These are 60% long term players, 40% recent (since covid) players.

 

[Reynard]

3 years later and in my social circle of gamers, no one even knows OGL debacle was a thing. Nor do they specially care about it. And these are people who play D&D 20-30 years, most of them also play other games too. They just don't care for industry, don't follow YT videos and social media.

Personally, i don't feel i won anything. Cool, they put rules in CC. I'm glad for people that make content based on that rule set. But as a player and customer, nothing really changed for me or my group.

Honestly, this is yhe same sentiment that will cede TTRPGs to AI: casual fans DO NOT CARE.

 

[TheSword]

Honestly, this is yhe same sentiment that will cede TTRPGs to AI: casual fans DO NOT CARE.

I think I may have made this point back at the time in a similar way. I think they care about things that affect them. They aren’t going to care if they never come across the problem in a meaningful way.

Remember most players of D&D don’t buy any products.
Of those that do most will only ever get core books.
Of those that get more than just the core books most will get official or possibly DMsGuild.
Of those that actually buy 3pp only some of those are likely aware of the details/ramifications particularly as they are likely still buying 3pp from the same companies.

In short a sliver of a slice of the fanbase. Probably the most dedicated and vocal sliver, but a sliver nonetheless. Even for those people, many will see the same 3pp delivering the same products (or very similar) under a slightly different licence that they don’t really understand anyway.

For many it doesn’t seem to be about the specific issue but rather the way it was approached by WotC that they find most offensive. In other words it’s a process story. It’s even harder to get excited or interested in a process story than it is about an direct live injustice.

I don’t think that’s the same as AI that is something that in theory at least could directly affect every player in time and that they can recognize even if they’re not sure how it will affect them.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't know, as far as the TTRPG business goes, it probably was the most widely circulated / known story ever, it even made it into some business magazines, etc., rather than being limited to sites like this

Well, maybe in USA. I mostly follow business magazines from Italy, Adria and DACH regions of EU. If Hasbro ever comes up, it's more about stock, layoffs, profits, business models.

Something else to consider: are the majority of DnD players actually reading business magazines? I know plenty of people who had no idea about the OGL kerfuffle. I'm representative of the majority of DnD, but if not for the fact that I come to ENworld daily, there's a good to fair chance that I'd have had no idea anything had even happened.

 

[mamba]

Something else to consider: are the majority of DnD players actually reading business magazines? I know plenty of people who had no idea about the OGL kerfuffle. I'm representative of the majority of DnD, but if not for the fact that I come to ENworld daily, there's a good to fair chance that I'd have had no idea anything had even happened.

it was also in games magazines, the point was it made it out of the usual TTRPG sphere into the wider public, that 'some' people are oblivious to it is true for just about any topic... I'd wager that 'some' is at least 50% for almost any given topic

 

[Corinnguard]

But people and companies now seeing essentially D&D clones suddenly as completely seperate I find dishonest at worst and a selfdeception at best.

I haven't heard anyone make the claim that Level Up was completely separate from 5e. They haven't fallen too far from the tree to be truly separate atm.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I haven't heard anyone make the claim that Level Up was completely separate from 5e. They haven't fallen too far from the tree to be truly separate atm.

Nope. Separate enough that I don't have to concern myself with WotC's product line anymore though.

 

[Corinnguard]

Nope. Separate enough that I don't have to concern myself with WotC's product line anymore though.

I have backed and bought books from Level Up for almost the last 5 years now. I have bought very few 2014 and 2024 D&D books during that same time period. Don't really need to when there are websites like Frontpage - DND 5th Edition to go to for any reference material on 2014 D&D. There's even a link on that website for 2024 D&D as well. Finally, I find Laser Llama's homebrewed takes on the 2014 classes to be better than the originals.