D&D (2024) WotC Announces 3rd Party Creator Partners

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This content will be coming to the D&D Beyond marketplace--the selected publishers are The Griffon's Saddlebag, MCDM, Ghostfire Gaming, Dungeon Dudes, Hit Point Press, Kobold Press, and Free League. Generally, these are creators who have achieved million-dollar Kickstarters with 5E compatible products.

Notably, this also includes the official Lord of the Rings roleplaying game from Free League, who also produce The One Ring, the non-D&D version of the game. WotC will be selling the official D&D compatible Lord of the Rings TTRPG on its primary platform. Back in 1992, TSR (the then-owners of D&D) nearly acquired the rights to JRR Tolkien's work, and then passed on it, then-CEO Lorraine Williams saying it was "not worth our while".

 

[Distracted DM]

I'm pretty sure this has happened elsewhere and the answer is your copy will go poof. I'd bet $10 it's in the EULA we sign with D&D Beyond that they can pull content any time with no recourse.

Buy the PDF.

You might be thinking of games on Steam and Xbox- iirc it depended on the instance, in some it meant that it couldn't be purchased by new folks but could still be downloaded by those that had already purchased it. In others, it meant even existing purchasers lost the ability to download the content again, so if you didn't have it on your hard drive you were SOL.

I don't recall which is which, I'm sure a google search would provide the info, but iirc the first Alan Wake game on xbox had this issue when the license to the music expired. I can't recall the specific instances on Steam off the top of my head though.

 

[delericho]

While I share your view that the D&D Beyond EULA I didn't read probably allows the content to be pulled without recourse, I'm less in agreement with the first part. When WotC's license for D&D vs. Rick and Morty expired, and they could no longer sell the print product they did not disable access to the D&D Beyond version; they only stopped selling access to new customers. So the precedent is that content won't vanish. Of course, precedent is not a guarantee.

I don't think precedent is a helpful guide here - it will vary on a case-by-case basis depending on what each individual license says. Sounds like the R&M license allowed them to keep the materials active; the LotR one may or may not do the same. (And, perhaps crucially, none of the parties involved will tell you.)

On this one I agree with @SlyFlourish : If you want to be sure of keeping the material, buy (and download, and backup) the PDF. But that's a good policy in general with electronic purchases - if they're not stored safely on your PC (along with whatever software is needed to access them), they are at best only provisionally yours.

 

[delericho]

Oh sure. I just don't expect it to be fixed unless fan anger demands it.

Even then, if the licensing agreement demands it be removed, fan anger may not be able to do anything useful.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I don't think precedent is a helpful guide here - it will vary on a case-by-case basis depending on what each individual license says. Sounds like the R&M license allowed them to keep the materials active; the LotR one may or may not do the same. (And, perhaps crucially, none of the parties involved will tell you.)

On this one I agree with @SlyFlourish : If you want to be sure of keeping the material, buy (and download, and backup) the PDF. But that's a good policy in general with electronic purchases - if they're not stored safely on your PC (along with whatever software is needed to access them), they are at best only provisionally yours.

And back them up! One local disconnected backup and one off-site!