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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RareBreed" data-source="post: 8911591" data-attributes="member: 6945590">Pretty much 10x this.  I'm also old enough to remember those days, having first started AD&D back in the early 80s.  However, I left D&D even before they became the They Sue Regularly evil empire.  Why?Because I learned there was a vast treasure trove of other deserving TTRPG's and gaming companies that also deserved my dollars.  I posted a reply to someone who seemed very down about the fiasco, and that he felt like he could no longer trust WotC to be a good steward for the D&D community and game.  Worse, he felt like stopping role playing altogether...not just D&D but all role playing.My advice was that this is sort of like when you break up with your significant other in a relationship.  You think you will never find anyone like that again, and there will be a huge void in your heart for the rest of your life......until you find someone else.  I think a lot of folks here (including the OP possibly) are bemoaning that so many in the D&D community are mad enough that they are willing to burn everything down including Hasbro/WotC if need be.  This feels like a betrayal not just from WotC, but from the community too, because if enough of the community burns their bridges with WotC, then those who are strongly emotionally (or maybe financially) invested in D&D and WotC will be devastated if WotC and/or the larger D&D community becomes just another player in the TTRPG universe, rather than the dominant one.So I think there are two especially vulnerable victims here; the financially invested 3PP who made a living on the assumption of an irrevocable OGL, and the emotionally invested players who don't want harm to come to WotC for fear that their favorite playground will be torn asunder.  I do feel bad for those 3PP who have made their livelihoods by being able to find a living in this ecosystem, but I think there are ways for them to evolve.  For those who are emotionally rather than financially invested in compromising with WotC, my advice is simply that there are a lot of other fish in the sea.  Who knows, they might just find one that's better than D&D for them.For the emotionally invested, I also wouldn't worry about D&D going away.  Will it not be as dominant?  Time will tell, but a lot of damage has already been done.  I personally hope that gamers wake up and start supporting other game companies and game systems that are not D&D/5e.  I said before that I love pizza, but if it's all I ever ate, I'd get sick and tired of it.  It's frankly amazed me how many gaming groups only play D&D.  I hope this betrayal spurs at least some of those groups to try something new.But even if WotC is wounded, I doubt this will be its death knell.  5e rebounded after 4e, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people stopped being mad over time.  I also believe that the casual gaming crowd simply won't care as long as they get products they enjoy.  As others have mentioned, there's no reason OGL 2.0 and ORC can't live together, and let the industry and consumers let the chips fall where they may.</blockquote>

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