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".

 

[mamba]

If we get to the point where any 5E compatible product needs WotC's blessing (by which I mean inclusion on D&D Beyond, as the post I was replying to indicated) to be viable, as consumers won't use it if it's not there, is that any different to their OGL 2.0 goals?

Depends on what those goals were, it certainly does not give them the protection from Facebook or Microsoft they supposedly sought

Did "we" win? I guess that depends on what we wanted! If we wanted a wide, robust, diverse, plethora of 5E compatible options free of WotC, I suggest that maybe we didn't

I consider that my goal, at a minimum ever since the OGL stunt

 

[Zaukrie]

Nm

 

[Scribe]

Haven't we had this conversation over and over?

No actually. This walled garden has been theorized but not widely discussed.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If you want D&D, you can't go to OBS.

There are tons of 5E modules and supplements there.

If you want most D&D branded stuff from WotC from the past 10 years, sure, it's not on OBS.

But, shhhh, those aren't even the best adventures or supplements for 5E anyway ...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And this is how WotC didn't need to break the OGL in the end. The carrot achieves the exact same goal as the stick, but with rapturous applause.

 

[OB1]

Hmm. By "we" I assume you mean customers, not third party publishers.

But... is WotC's virtual control of the third party market really in the interests of customers? If we get to the point where any 5E compatible product needs WotC's blessing (by which I mean inclusion on D&D Beyond, as the post I was replying to indicated) to be viable, as consumers won't use it if it's not there, is that any different to their OGL 2.0 goals? Did "we" win?

I guess that depends on what we wanted! If we wanted a wide, robust, diverse, plethora of hundreds of 5E compatible options free of WotC, I suggest that maybe we didn't--those products will struggle to be viable, and I submit that we'll be poorer for it. If we wanted the third-party 5E market reduced to a small handful of third party publishers working directly with WotC, then I guess we 'won'--and so did WotC!

Then again, maybe the result will be that those not chosen, who would have made third-party 5E material, will be forced to make their own systems instead, and the current 5E-ification of the market will become more diverse again, and not every TTRPG Kickstarter will be 5E-powered. Who knows? I certainly don't!

Perhaps Demiplane becomes the Android of WotC's Apple? If this new marketplace is as successful for WotC as they hope, there will almost certainly be a competitor who enters the market to provide an alternative, and Demiplane is already supporting non-d20 based systems. If they could land an exclusive with Sanderson's TTRPG to go along with Daggerheart, that might give them enough of a base to really start growing into their own thing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And this is how WotC didn't need to break the OGL in the end. The carrot achieves the exact same goal as the stick, but with rapturous applause.

How very Episode III of them.

"So this is how democracy dies. With thunderous applause".

 

[JEB]

I will be very interested to see what happens to the DDB version when Lord of the Rings 5e's license expires. Obviously Wizards would at least be obliged to Legacy Content the material, but I wonder if they'd even be allowed to keep it available to those that bought it? Guess it'll depend on whether Wizards thinks of that while drawing up the sub-licensing agreement (or if they care what happens that far down the line).

 

[Micah Sweet]

I will be very interested to see what happens to the DDB version when Lord of the Rings 5e's license expires. Obviously Wizards would at least be obliged to Legacy Content the material, but I wonder if they'd even be allowed to keep it available to those that bought it? Guess it'll depend on whether Wizards thinks of that while drawing up the sub-licensing agreement (or if they care what happens that far down the line).

Sounds like a problem for Future WotC.

 

[rharding]

But, shhhh, those aren't even the best adventures or supplements for 5E anyway ...

Oh, what are then pray tell?