Hey all I am looking to see if we are being silenced for our outrage over the OGL.
While i usually dont like online outrage i think that the possibility of Wizards taking this route to be highly problematic. If they do not great. If they do then the hell is wrong with them
If Hasbro continues down this path it may be time for a community of like minded TTRPG fans to come together like Voltron and create a new, open source fantasy TTRPG.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Everyone supports OGL 1.0. Everyone. Even WotC. It's the only one that exists, currently, and until another one is officially released there is nothing to discuss other than what-ifs.
Everyone supports OGL 1.0. Everyone. Even WotC. It's the only one that exists, currently, and until another one is officially released there is nothing to discuss other than what-ifs.
WotC/Hasbro has yet to deny the leaked version is real, despite being asked. So...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing) You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
This is definition of false outrage, we as of yet have no official info on what will or will not be in 1.1. Most of the outrage is coming from Youtube channels , and they are acting like it will affect them. Hint it wont. "OMG I have to change my format because the OGL is changing." Not even Pointy hat who publishes homebrew content through his channel would have to change. Because fair use protects most content on Youtube, reviewing rules, lore, and other material is also covered under fair use in the USA (Hint Disney is super sue happy over copyright, look at all the Star Wars and MCU channels). Advertising and selling OGL kickstarter on Youtube might be a grey area, but I doubt that will be affected.
Who's affected? Big name competitors. ie Pathfinder may have to pay WotC money for OGL use, and a few other big game companies. Solestra... might be affected (Doubt it though) I see no issue with WotC making money from their content, and I don't have an issue with them charging other game companies for the use of their material, which is what they are doing.
This crying about Capitalism is dumb, hint, Capitalism is why we have gaming at all.
Hey all I am looking to see if we are being silenced for our outrage over the OGL.
Well, there's already a 5-page discussion about it that started in December that's largely negative, so if they are silencing it they haven't gotten around to doing so on DnD Beyond yet.
Unless they change their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Register with Wizards regardless of size
Report their income if they make the equivalent to a single persons income from their content
Pay royalties if they make enough
Those are not what ifs
TSR went bankrupt in part because of how lawsuit happy the were about 3rd party content (TSR even sued Wizards at one point)
4e failed in part because of the lack of 3rd party content and engagement
Wizards is had record profits the last few years due to the rise in D&Ds popularity and are now looking at restricting they way a lot of people engage with the game
This is a what if but I know that if some of the leaked OGL 1.1 does come to pass I know I have ZERO plans to buy any 1D&D content
This crying about Capitalism is dumb, hint, Capitalism is why we have gaming at all.
Allow me to correct you. Boredom is why we have gaming. Capitalism might help, theoretically, with innovation, but the 1.1 changes are anti-innovation at best, and tone-deaf anti-hobby at worst.
How is this a test about being silenced? Because them removing this nonsense post when there is already an ongoing thread two posts above it is what you define as silencing you?
Unless they change their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Register with Wizards regardless of size
Report their income if they make the equivalent to a single persons income from their content
Pay royalties if they make enough
Those are not what ifs
TSR went bankrupt in part because of how lawsuit happy the were about 3rd party content (TSR even sued Wizards at one point)
4e failed in part because of the lack of 3rd party content and engagement
Wizards is had record profits the last few years due to the rise in D&Ds popularity and are now looking at restricting they way a lot of people engage with the game
This is a what if but I know that if some of the leaked OGL 1.1 does come to pass I know I have ZERO plans to buy any 1D&D content
Firstly, people are talking about a leak of a draft document. That is practically the definition of a what if.
Tsr’s failure had nothing to with suing over 3rd party content. They screwed up a lot of things, but enforcing their copyright was not one of them. Tryin to make buck rogers happen and a corporate pissing war forcing Gary out had more to do with the failure. Moreover, there weren’t really any 3rd party publishers to speak of in 1 and 2 e — at least not making D&D supplements. Those that did exist were making their own games. This was pre-internet. Pre-desktop publishing, it took more than a cable modem and a indesign license to make a book. There was a high barrier to entry for publishing a game supplement. 4e lackluster performance had very little to do with a lack of 3rd party content, and a lot to do with people just not enjoying the game.
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
You want to sit out of 5.5, for any reason, that’s unquestionably your right. But don’t make false assertions.
Quote from Xalthu>>hange their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
But... Why should consumers want WotC to gouge more money out of third parties and competitors? That'd be backing anti-competition practices. From a consumer perspective one company gaining more money from the marketplace by siphoning off competitors and third parties- all without actually producing anything extra themselves is a net negative.
Especially when there's a clause in there that says WotC reserve the right to amend the royalty amount and threshold within 30 days for any reason. So will very likely be gouging more and more money out of third parties as time goes on.
Quote from Xalthu>>hange their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
But... Why should consumers want WotC to gouge more money out of third parties and competitors? That'd be backing anti-competition practices. From a consumer perspective one company gaining more money from the marketplace by siphoning off competitors and third parties- all without actually producing anything extra themselves is a net negative.
Especially when there's a clause in there that says WotC reserve the right to amend the royalty amount and threshold within 30 days for any reason. So will very likely be gouging more and more money out of third parties as time goes on.
Gouging is a quite alarmist when none of know the terms.
It’s hardly anti-competitive. Wizards made the rule set. They own it. They are letting other people use their product. Their competition is paizo and shadowrun, not people making a supplement for their game, which they invested in the creation of. Wizards are the ones who paid Crawford and company to make these rules, and then paid for the marketing, advertising and distribution of them. And now unless they give it away, they’re anti-competitive? That makes no sense.
So my reply would be, why should consumers care about the business arrangement between two large companies? How would you even notice if 2 of the dollars you spend on a darrington press product goes to wizards? This is one company is charging another company for the use of their product. It happens all the time. This isn’t going to impact Bob and Sarah in their basement posting stuff on dmsguild.
And people like critical role are almost certainly going to cut their own deal outside of the ogl. Matt Mercer and company will be just fine.
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
It will place a barrier to entry (having to register with Wizards) which I have heard with the GSL for 4e was terrible, and would be hopefully improved by technology.
And with the large scale royalty at the percentage that was leaked (25%) is insane so what are large publishers like Kobold Press just going to pass on that to consumers making their books 25% more expensive.
Are people going to make their kickstarters cap off at at 750K just so they don't have to deal with wizards royalty?
I want to know how you think this is good for us the consumers who give wizards their money.
I understand Wizards/Hasbro is a business but they are alienating the consumers of their products (Magic the Gathering has also had issues in 2022).
Firstly, people are talking about a leak of a draft document. That is practically the definition of a what if.
It's far from pure speculation. Assuming it's real, it says a lot about what they recently intended. Of course, interpreting legalese is difficult, and it's easy to read things in the worst light, especially when you've already been primed to expect it, but it's certainly cause for real concern.
Tsr’s failure had nothing to with suing over 3rd party content. They screwed up a lot of things, but enforcing their copyright was not one of them. Tryin to make buck rogers happen and a corporate pissing war forcing Gary out had more to do with the failure.
Probably true, though it was my understanding that Dragon Dice and flooding the bookseller market with product and having to eat returns were also a big factor.
Moreover, there weren’t really any 3rd party publishers to speak of in 1 and 2 e — at least not making D&D supplements. Those that did exist were making their own games. This was pre-internet. Pre-desktop publishing, it took more than a cable modem and a indesign license to make a book. There was a high barrier to entry for publishing a game supplement.
There were quite a few as I recall it. Judges Guild and Role Aids are names that comes to mind, and I think both Mayfair and Games Workshop were doing it early on. (The original Fiend Folio came at least mostly from the pages of White Dwarf magazine.)
They may have been doing it with permission, but there was definitely a market, and TSR were infamously prickly about third-party supplements. (That may have been more during the 2nd edition days. That was a long time ago, and industry news and rumors were far less circulated in public.)
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
It will, just by being more restrictive. People who've tied their livelihood to this are understandably nervous.
And yes, they didn't create the rules or the "brand". But the "brand" didn't create itself, either. Nobody who plays D&D is just a passive consumer of media. The "brand" is ultimately built out of all the bits and pieces people put back into it. D&D taps into the same well as open-source, remix, and fanfic cultures, and the OGL was a conscious decision to embrace that.
And everyone who took that decision and ran with it is now looking back over their shoulders at the 800-pound gorilla who now seems to be yelling "No! Not like that!" and threatening to yank them back in to a much more constrained playground. And maybe it's just going to apply to the new stuff, and that's WotC's right, but it's still seen as a betrayal of the spirit of the decision to open things up.
But it's also possible they're going to try to retroactively apply it to everything. It's hard to say how likely, but people don't trust them. And if they do, even if they legally can't, nobody wants to have to fight them over it.
Allow me to correct you. Boredom is why we have gaming. Capitalism might help, theoretically, with innovation, but the 1.1 changes are anti-innovation at best, and tone-deaf anti-hobby at worst.
Allow me to correct you, Gaming as in Organized play that follows a specific set of rules exists because Humans have a brain, and make rules as a species, boredom is not the reason organized play exists, and play exists because we learn, and all creatures that learn, have play.
We are human, we make rules, we are creatures that learn we have play, as creatures who both play and make rules we have games.
D&D exists because of Wargaming and Lord of the Rings, and because in a Capitalistic society people are encouraged to build new industry and businesses for profit. D&D Exists because of Capitalism, D&D is popular because of Capitalism, you play D&D because someone somewhere made a product which someone purchased. This Website exists because of Capitalism, Critical Role and other streamed games exist because of capitalism, D&D survived to 2023 because Hasbro purchased Wizards of the Coast, and Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR, and TSR formed to make money. No where in the chain of events that lead to you playing D&D was a situation that did not involve capitalism. In fact the people making the biggest ruckus are businesses and youtubers who sell games for D&D without having to pay any royalties, and from what I see, that is the only thing changing, You want to make money off of D&D, than D&D should get a percentage. WotC set a high bar for when they require royalties, much fairer than say Disney would do. ie you make no money from a thing, and sell it on Esty but it includes a Disney character, be prepared to be sued homeless.
___
edit: Observation, I think I might be the only poor Trans woman who hates Communism and loves Capitalism. Although I am a Social Democrat, I think Capitalism as long as it is regulated is required to maintain freedom.
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
It will place a barrier to entry (having to register with Wizards) which I have heard with the GSL for 4e was terrible, and would be hopefully improved by technology.
And with the large scale royalty at the percentage that was leaked (25%) is insane so what are large publishers like Kobold Press just going to pass on that to consumers making their books 25% more expensive.
Are people going to make their kickstarters cap off at at 750K just so they don't have to deal with wizards royalty?
I want to know how you think this is good for us the consumers who give wizards their money.
I understand Wizards/Hasbro is a business but they are alienating the consumers of their products (Magic the Gathering has also had issues in 2022).
Again, leaks based on drafts aren’t the same as facts. Could be the number they settle on, could be not.
They only need to register if they make 50k. At that point, these people are doing well enough to spend a little time sending an email or whatever. And for the royalty threshold, if a company has already made 3/4 of a million dollars, they’ve more than recouped their costs. Why should they keep getting a free ride on someone else’s work? And if we believe wizard’s initial statement, it will apply to maybe 20 companies. The vast majority won’t need to deal with it, and the ones that do have an account or lawyer or both to handle this sort of thing.
A 25% royalty (which may or may not be the actual number, again, this is a leak of a draft) will not necessarily make the book 25% more expensive. It will depend on the structure of the royalty payments, which no one knows, and how much cost the market will bear in terms of price. Additionally, if it is true, it’s probably a starting point for a negotiation, and some companies will be able to cut their own deals.
People, jeez, stop taking the word of YouTubers and clickbait websites as the gospel. They may be true, they may not. It’s way too early to say the sky is falling. And even if all the terms turn out to be true, this is what business looks like. Wizards doesn’t exist to make sure kobold press survives as a going concern. They need to make sure they do. Why should they keep letting others profit from their work? They don’t owe other publishers anything.
As for alienating consumers, I agree they are pissing off some people. And really, the people they’re upsetting are among the most passionate players. It absolutely a PR failure. But the number of D&D players who are buying stuff from 3pp is very small compared to the player base. I’d wager most people who play D&D don’t know kobold press, Goodman games and mcdm even exist. Parents will still pick up starter sets at target for their kids, and won’t know or care about this at all.
Quote from Xalthu>>hange their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
But... Why should consumers want WotC to gouge more money out of third parties and competitors? That'd be backing anti-competition practices. From a consumer perspective one company gaining more money from the marketplace by siphoning off competitors and third parties- all without actually producing anything extra themselves is a net negative.
Especially when there's a clause in there that says WotC reserve the right to amend the royalty amount and threshold within 30 days for any reason. So will very likely be gouging more and more money out of third parties as time goes on.
Gouging is a quite alarmist when none of know the terms.
It’s hardly anti-competitive. Wizards made the rule set. They own it. They are letting other people use their product. Their competition is paizo and shadowrun, not people making a supplement for their game, which they invested in the creation of. Wizards are the ones who paid Crawford and company to make these rules, and then paid for the marketing, advertising and distribution of them. And now unless they give it away, they’re anti-competitive? That makes no sense.
So my reply would be, why should consumers care about the business arrangement between two large companies? How would you even notice if 2 of the dollars you spend on a darrington press product goes to wizards? This is one company is charging another company for the use of their product. It happens all the time. This isn’t going to impact Bob and Sarah in their basement posting stuff on dmsguild.
And people like critical role are almost certainly going to cut their own deal outside of the ogl. Matt Mercer and company will be just fine.
Although I agree with what you said, you made a slight error. Shadowrun does not use the D20 system, or any form of the OGL/SRD. Shadowrun has always been a D6 based game, and it's honestly the biggest thing holding that game world back, as D20 Shadowrun would do well. People have cloned Shadowrun in D20, and it's a very common homebrew set up, but the actual game called Shadowrun has always had it's own system. It was a competitor until the 1st OGL in 3rd edition, and has lost a ton of market share since 2002, I think D20 modern almost sank them, as d20 Modern basically made it possible to run Shadowrun in D20.
I'd like to mention that rulesets are legally algorithms and therefore cannot be legally owned or copyrighted
Which is why OGL1.1 is not a big deal, D&D owns Settings, and some monsters (not as many as you would think) They don't even own the names of most spells, classes, species. What the OGL offers is prewritten content and rules, and a limited use of things WotC owns. And in the future, if you want to use those to make money, WotC wants a share based on you using their property.
Ironically if you make a Marvel RPG without Disney licensing it, you will be sued poor.
Hey all I am looking to see if we are being silenced for our outrage over the OGL.
While i usually dont like online outrage i think that the possibility of Wizards taking this route to be highly problematic. If they do not great. If they do then the hell is wrong with them
Thanks for readings this
I support OGL 1.0
I support OGL 1.0.
If Hasbro continues down this path it may be time for a community of like minded TTRPG fans to come together like Voltron and create a new, open source fantasy TTRPG.
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
Everyone supports OGL 1.0. Everyone. Even WotC. It's the only one that exists, currently, and until another one is officially released there is nothing to discuss other than what-ifs.
WotC/Hasbro has yet to deny the leaked version is real, despite being asked. So...
"Orcs are savage raiders and pillagers with stooped postures, low foreheads, and piggish faces with prominent lower canines that resemble tusks." MM p245 (original printing)
You don't OWN your books on DDB: WotC can change them any time. What do you think will happen when OneD&D comes out?
This is definition of false outrage, we as of yet have no official info on what will or will not be in 1.1. Most of the outrage is coming from Youtube channels , and they are acting like it will affect them. Hint it wont. "OMG I have to change my format because the OGL is changing." Not even Pointy hat who publishes homebrew content through his channel would have to change. Because fair use protects most content on Youtube, reviewing rules, lore, and other material is also covered under fair use in the USA (Hint Disney is super sue happy over copyright, look at all the Star Wars and MCU channels). Advertising and selling OGL kickstarter on Youtube might be a grey area, but I doubt that will be affected.
Who's affected? Big name competitors. ie Pathfinder may have to pay WotC money for OGL use, and a few other big game companies. Solestra... might be affected (Doubt it though) I see no issue with WotC making money from their content, and I don't have an issue with them charging other game companies for the use of their material, which is what they are doing.
This crying about Capitalism is dumb, hint, Capitalism is why we have gaming at all.
Well, there's already a 5-page discussion about it that started in December that's largely negative, so if they are silencing it they haven't gotten around to doing so on DnD Beyond yet.
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Unless they change their plans from official statements here on dndbeyond they are going to use OGL 1.1 require content creators to:
Those are not what ifs
TSR went bankrupt in part because of how lawsuit happy the were about 3rd party content (TSR even sued Wizards at one point)
4e failed in part because of the lack of 3rd party content and engagement
Wizards is had record profits the last few years due to the rise in D&Ds popularity and are now looking at restricting they way a lot of people engage with the game
This is a what if but I know that if some of the leaked OGL 1.1 does come to pass I know I have ZERO plans to buy any 1D&D content
Allow me to correct you. Boredom is why we have gaming. Capitalism might help, theoretically, with innovation, but the 1.1 changes are anti-innovation at best, and tone-deaf anti-hobby at worst.
How is this a test about being silenced? Because them removing this nonsense post when there is already an ongoing thread two posts above it is what you define as silencing you?
Firstly, people are talking about a leak of a draft document. That is practically the definition of a what if.
Tsr’s failure had nothing to with suing over 3rd party content. They screwed up a lot of things, but enforcing their copyright was not one of them. Tryin to make buck rogers happen and a corporate pissing war forcing Gary out had more to do with the failure. Moreover, there weren’t really any 3rd party publishers to speak of in 1 and 2 e — at least not making D&D supplements. Those that did exist were making their own games. This was pre-internet. Pre-desktop publishing, it took more than a cable modem and a indesign license to make a book. There was a high barrier to entry for publishing a game supplement.
4e lackluster performance had very little to do with a lack of 3rd party content, and a lot to do with people just not enjoying the game.
Even if the ogl gets printed exactly as leaked, it won’t restrict 3rd party creators from doing their thing. It will simply make them, at worst, pay a little for the privilege of piggybacking off a rule system and brand they didn’t create.
You want to sit out of 5.5, for any reason, that’s unquestionably your right. But don’t make false assertions.
But... Why should consumers want WotC to gouge more money out of third parties and competitors? That'd be backing anti-competition practices. From a consumer perspective one company gaining more money from the marketplace by siphoning off competitors and third parties- all without actually producing anything extra themselves is a net negative.
Especially when there's a clause in there that says WotC reserve the right to amend the royalty amount and threshold within 30 days for any reason. So will very likely be gouging more and more money out of third parties as time goes on.
Gouging is a quite alarmist when none of know the terms.
It’s hardly anti-competitive. Wizards made the rule set. They own it. They are letting other people use their product. Their competition is paizo and shadowrun, not people making a supplement for their game, which they invested in the creation of. Wizards are the ones who paid Crawford and company to make these rules, and then paid for the marketing, advertising and distribution of them. And now unless they give it away, they’re anti-competitive? That makes no sense.
So my reply would be, why should consumers care about the business arrangement between two large companies? How would you even notice if 2 of the dollars you spend on a darrington press product goes to wizards? This is one company is charging another company for the use of their product. It happens all the time. This isn’t going to impact Bob and Sarah in their basement posting stuff on dmsguild.
And people like critical role are almost certainly going to cut their own deal outside of the ogl. Matt Mercer and company will be just fine.
It will place a barrier to entry (having to register with Wizards) which I have heard with the GSL for 4e was terrible, and would be hopefully improved by technology.
And with the large scale royalty at the percentage that was leaked (25%) is insane so what are large publishers like Kobold Press just going to pass on that to consumers making their books 25% more expensive.
Are people going to make their kickstarters cap off at at 750K just so they don't have to deal with wizards royalty?
I want to know how you think this is good for us the consumers who give wizards their money.
I understand Wizards/Hasbro is a business but they are alienating the consumers of their products (Magic the Gathering has also had issues in 2022).
It's far from pure speculation. Assuming it's real, it says a lot about what they recently intended. Of course, interpreting legalese is difficult, and it's easy to read things in the worst light, especially when you've already been primed to expect it, but it's certainly cause for real concern.
Probably true, though it was my understanding that Dragon Dice and flooding the bookseller market with product and having to eat returns were also a big factor.
There were quite a few as I recall it. Judges Guild and Role Aids are names that comes to mind, and I think both Mayfair and Games Workshop were doing it early on. (The original Fiend Folio came at least mostly from the pages of White Dwarf magazine.)
They may have been doing it with permission, but there was definitely a market, and TSR were infamously prickly about third-party supplements. (That may have been more during the 2nd edition days. That was a long time ago, and industry news and rumors were far less circulated in public.)
It will, just by being more restrictive. People who've tied their livelihood to this are understandably nervous.
And yes, they didn't create the rules or the "brand". But the "brand" didn't create itself, either. Nobody who plays D&D is just a passive consumer of media. The "brand" is ultimately built out of all the bits and pieces people put back into it. D&D taps into the same well as open-source, remix, and fanfic cultures, and the OGL was a conscious decision to embrace that.
And everyone who took that decision and ran with it is now looking back over their shoulders at the 800-pound gorilla who now seems to be yelling "No! Not like that!" and threatening to yank them back in to a much more constrained playground. And maybe it's just going to apply to the new stuff, and that's WotC's right, but it's still seen as a betrayal of the spirit of the decision to open things up.
But it's also possible they're going to try to retroactively apply it to everything. It's hard to say how likely, but people don't trust them. And if they do, even if they legally can't, nobody wants to have to fight them over it.
I'd like to mention that rulesets are legally algorithms and therefore cannot be legally owned or copyrighted
[REDACTED]
The demand for infinite growth rears its ugly head again.
Allow me to correct you, Gaming as in Organized play that follows a specific set of rules exists because Humans have a brain, and make rules as a species, boredom is not the reason organized play exists, and play exists because we learn, and all creatures that learn, have play.
We are human, we make rules, we are creatures that learn we have play, as creatures who both play and make rules we have games.
D&D exists because of Wargaming and Lord of the Rings, and because in a Capitalistic society people are encouraged to build new industry and businesses for profit. D&D Exists because of Capitalism, D&D is popular because of Capitalism, you play D&D because someone somewhere made a product which someone purchased. This Website exists because of Capitalism, Critical Role and other streamed games exist because of capitalism, D&D survived to 2023 because Hasbro purchased Wizards of the Coast, and Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR, and TSR formed to make money. No where in the chain of events that lead to you playing D&D was a situation that did not involve capitalism. In fact the people making the biggest ruckus are businesses and youtubers who sell games for D&D without having to pay any royalties, and from what I see, that is the only thing changing, You want to make money off of D&D, than D&D should get a percentage. WotC set a high bar for when they require royalties, much fairer than say Disney would do. ie you make no money from a thing, and sell it on Esty but it includes a Disney character, be prepared to be sued homeless.
___
edit: Observation, I think I might be the only poor Trans woman who hates Communism and loves Capitalism. Although I am a Social Democrat, I think Capitalism as long as it is regulated is required to maintain freedom.
Again, leaks based on drafts aren’t the same as facts. Could be the number they settle on, could be not.
They only need to register if they make 50k. At that point, these people are doing well enough to spend a little time sending an email or whatever. And for the royalty threshold, if a company has already made 3/4 of a million dollars, they’ve more than recouped their costs. Why should they keep getting a free ride on someone else’s work? And if we believe wizard’s initial statement, it will apply to maybe 20 companies. The vast majority won’t need to deal with it, and the ones that do have an account or lawyer or both to handle this sort of thing.
A 25% royalty (which may or may not be the actual number, again, this is a leak of a draft) will not necessarily make the book 25% more expensive. It will depend on the structure of the royalty payments, which no one knows, and how much cost the market will bear in terms of price. Additionally, if it is true, it’s probably a starting point for a negotiation, and some companies will be able to cut their own deals.
People, jeez, stop taking the word of YouTubers and clickbait websites as the gospel. They may be true, they may not. It’s way too early to say the sky is falling. And even if all the terms turn out to be true, this is what business looks like. Wizards doesn’t exist to make sure kobold press survives as a going concern. They need to make sure they do. Why should they keep letting others profit from their work? They don’t owe other publishers anything.
As for alienating consumers, I agree they are pissing off some people. And really, the people they’re upsetting are among the most passionate players. It absolutely a PR failure. But the number of D&D players who are buying stuff from 3pp is very small compared to the player base. I’d wager most people who play D&D don’t know kobold press, Goodman games and mcdm even exist. Parents will still pick up starter sets at target for their kids, and won’t know or care about this at all.
Although I agree with what you said, you made a slight error. Shadowrun does not use the D20 system, or any form of the OGL/SRD. Shadowrun has always been a D6 based game, and it's honestly the biggest thing holding that game world back, as D20 Shadowrun would do well. People have cloned Shadowrun in D20, and it's a very common homebrew set up, but the actual game called Shadowrun has always had it's own system. It was a competitor until the 1st OGL in 3rd edition, and has lost a ton of market share since 2002, I think D20 modern almost sank them, as d20 Modern basically made it possible to run Shadowrun in D20.
Which is why OGL1.1 is not a big deal, D&D owns Settings, and some monsters (not as many as you would think) They don't even own the names of most spells, classes, species. What the OGL offers is prewritten content and rules, and a limited use of things WotC owns. And in the future, if you want to use those to make money, WotC wants a share based on you using their property.
Ironically if you make a Marvel RPG without Disney licensing it, you will be sued poor.