I have a hero tier sub and a bunch of core books on the platform, but I cancelled my subscription two days ago.
I can't in good conscience continue to spend money on this platform, while something as restrictive, exploitative and outright damaging to third party creators has been pitched, and even if the revised version is "less" exploitative, there's no way to whitewash that the intention from day 1 was to salt the earth for everyone else.
There's other systems, other games. Good luck to all fellow players, DMs, and worldbuilders.
Wizards cannot simply take control of Critical Role unless Mercer agrees to the new OGL.
Wizards is not going to "take control" of Critical Role under any OGL. This is the kind of absurdity that's made discussion of what's actually happening almost impossible
I agree. They are obviously not going to just take control over Critical Role. But even if Wizards is as evil as some people claim them to be, all Mercer and everyone else has to do is to simply not use any OGLs anymore to keep their own IPs safe.
Discussion is possible, you just got to find calmer heads and ignore the outragers. Think of the bright side. If people really put money where their mouth is, then after the dust has settled, maybe most of the absurdity and ignorance will leave the community permanently.
If you agreed to OGL1.0a but not the new leaked one, that does not mean Wizards can simply take your work that is already published and claim past revenue that have already accrued. If you agree to the new one, then that does mean you agree to let Wizards take your stuff. If you do not want Wizards to take your stuff, then stop using OGL1.0a because it will be revoked, and do not use the new OGL. If you worked on a new world, you can just make it system agnostic. If you worked on a subclass, that is a bit more difficult separate your IP from Wizards IP, but you can still take your flavor and mechanics away and separate it from the class, and say your stuff applies to people with and/or without access to magic, and let the reader decide how to apply and homebrew those flavor and mechanics.
Wizards cannot simply take control of Critical Role unless Mercer agrees to the new OGL. All Mercer had to do is to not agree to the new OGL and stop using the old one, and Critical Role will be fine. Mercer can still publish Critical Role books, he just have to divorce his IP from Wizards' IP.
Yeah, I really do not care because it does not affect me. For third party materials that I do use, mainly GM books, minis, and maps, they work with any game system and not just D&D, so I am not worried about them being out of business. No one is entitled to Wizards' IP, and Wizards is not entitled to anyone else's IP either.
Yeah? They most certainly CAN take control of CR. Critical Role has published scads of material under the OGL, as well as material published by Wizards itself. They would immediately switch systems, CHANGE CHARACTERS, and likely change Matt's entire campaign world. It's not as simple as it would be for a DM to just stop playing a game and switch to a different one. You're basically shrugging and ignoring the complexity of if... because you don't care.
You do not understand how contract law and business work. I am not a lawyer, but from my basic understanding of law, just because a contract says so does not make it legal nor enforceable. For example, just because an employee signs a contract with their employer and agrees to work for $1 an hour does not make that contract legal. Wizards also cannot unilaterally create a new contract and expect the new contract to apply to people who agreed to the old contract. Wizards, no matter how evil they are, cannot take over others' IP and revenue like that.
Yeah, I really do not care. I am shrugging and ignoring the complexity because it is just not real nor relevant.
Thing is, I don't see people even mentioning part "14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable." Look at how balanced and unbiased it is, it doesn't say unenforceable by wizards, it says unenforceable period. So part 14 is available to both sides.
If I were to boil down the series of events into a short conversation, it could go like:
Everyone: "Hey, you can't junk this license, we have rights under it that we want to enforce. In part 4 it states perpetual. Perpetual means never ending. You can't end the license summarily for everyone, you can only terminate one by one using the existing termination. So, we want that word enforced."
Wotc: "Well go suck a lemon and pray for rain, see that part 9 where it talks about authorized versions? Yeah, your perpetual rights are getting flushed because pulling the authorization mentioned in part 9 means shredding the entire thing. We're pushing the lever. *FLUSH* Mwahahahahahaha, Now hand over all you got and go back to your mom's basement, we're the big dogs here."
Everyone: "Well, good thing that part 14 has a trigger that activates if anything in the license is unenforceable. Since that trigger is now active, the bare minimum change required to reform the license back into enforceability would be to cross out that word 'authorized' from part 9. And with that, we're done here, in plenty of time to put out a victory stream."
OR, because out of everyone on the planet lawyers are the most hated pedantic creatures...
Everyone: "Well, good thing that part 14 has a trigger that activates if anything in the license is unenforceable. Since that trigger is now active due to the unenforceability of the word 'perpetual' in part 4, the bare minimum required to reform part 4 is to add the world 'irrevocable'. Too bad the reformation provision only allows the minimum because it would be fun to clarify it with a few more terms like 'eternal' and 'forever under all scenarios until the sun goes nova'. And with that, we're done here, in plenty of time to put out a victory stream."
The reason for the lack of a response is clear, Wotc released a statement on their position with regards to whatever the OGl v1.1[ or whatever it will be deemed ] in the DDBeyond article https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d
The fact that an internal initial draft of the supposed OGL 1.1 leaked, with the aforementioned statement, means that Wotc had anticipated this measure of backlash.
Will there be enough pressure from the community to force Hasbro/Wotc to reconsider? The pressure behind this wall of unity and the cracks and leaks that will only continue to grow with time looks like it's taking its toll on the company's PR dam.
Till an official game license is released 3rdPP may be held back by an NDA, but strain is showing.
My thoughts exactly. This "leak" was a test balloon. They were wondering if it would get them screwered.... I think they have their answer.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Come watch us save the multiverse in "The Lost Dragons of Phandelver" - a homebrew based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, and They Tyranny of Dragons. https://www.twitch.tv/kdinla The Gatewalker Saga - Dragons Beware
Why would anyone ever assume "everyone" is going to play fair?
If we're entering contract dispute territory, the party with the better paid lawyers will have more time and resources. The scale at which WoTC / Hasbro operate, they can quite easily afford to outspend any smaller third party creators who try to take them to court, if it even gets that far.
Why would anyone ever assume "everyone" is going to play fair?
If we're entering contract dispute territory, the party with the better paid lawyers will have more time and resources. The scale at which WoTC / Hasbro operate, they can quite easily afford to outspend any smaller third party creators who try to take them to court, if it even gets that far.
I've been pointing this out since the trash fire started: WOTC/Hasbro might as well have infinite legal funds compared to your average third party publisher. The amrgins on RPG supplements are NOG very high, and Hasbro is a fortune 500 corporation. Furthermore; the OGL 1.1 basically forbids you from having legal actions against WOTC, and even if you manage to do one; it has to be on their terms. They might as well replace entire chunks of the document with a photo of one of their lawyers with the "trollface" meme.
We; the TTRPG hobby writ-large don't ahve the luxury of "just wait and hope for the best". This gets pushed back, HARD, right now; or it will never get better. Corporations are NOT your friends; they are not "friendly"; they are amoral money machines. Treat them accordingly.
I am not hopeful for the future after this, but it is worth noticing that the open letter to WoTC now has over 43,000 people signing.
That's more than what they called "a really impressive number" for people responding to the first OneDnD playtest.
So, I think the scale of the response to changes is strong enough to demonstrate how passionate many of us are about this being a community driven hobby rather than a corporate walled garden.
I'm less certain about whether it will make a change, but there's a small kindling of hope in me still that there is a way forward.
I am not hopeful for the future after this, but it is worth noticing that the open letter to WoTC now has over 43,000 people signing.
That's more than what they called "a really impressive number" for people responding to the first OneDnD playtest.
So, I think the scale of the response to changes is strong enough to demonstrate how passionate many of us are about this being a community driven hobby rather than a corporate walled garden.
I'm less certain about whether it will make a change, but there's a small kindling of hope in me still that there is a way forward.
I Really hope that is enough.
On another note...eh is this system safe? I fear that doubles are allowed - you can use the same E Mail Adress twice it seems.
WotC are on record stating they want to increase their ability to monetize D&D with repeating transactions like subs. They paid 146 million to get DNDBeyond's subs. If those subs suffer a dramatic drop, WotC will have to explain themselves to Hasbro shareholders why their little OGL change caused a drop in the very revenue stream they spent so much money to acquire.
a short and dramatic drop in revenue might help change minds and it's less damaging than all of the third party creators quitting and causing the game to diminish over the long term. Basically it's like they hired Lorraine to run the company into the ground (again).
For those concerned with 3rd-party publishers who could see this leaked OGL as a dramatic setback to their plans, decrying the employees whom this will impact, please keep one thing in mind: although most people are saddened for a moment by "mom & pop shops" going out of business because they cannot compete with big box stores, it's only for a moment, and then we move on and go to Walmart. It's business... it's the way of the world.
These 3rd-party publishers had a great run, but now they're being presented with a new opportunity. Think of how skilled these folks are... I've seen some top-notch content! They've honed skills that can get them jobs in the creative world! Sure, they'll no longer be working for themselves, but new horizons are now open to them... they'll need to seek them out. Will it be difficult? Sure. But anything worth doing is. I would not be surprised if we see some of these creatives working on projects for Disney in the future!
As an aside, the employees of these 3rd-party publishers I see people discussing are mostly made up of freelancers. The publishers may have a very small administrative staff to run the business, but the artists and other creatives are working individually contracted jobs... there's other work out there for them, lots of it. The work available may be outside of TTRPGs, but there is a demand for their creative talents elsewhere.
I guess all I'm trying to say is that things are not as grim as a select few believe.
For those concerned with 3rd-party publishers who could see this leaked OGL as a dramatic setback to their plans, decrying the employees whom this will impact, please keep one thing in mind. Although most people are saddened for a moment by "mom & pop shops" going out of business because they cannot compete with big box stores, it's only for a moment, and then we move on and go to Walmart. It's business... it's the way of the world.
These 3rd-party publishers had a great run, but now they're being presented with a new opportunity. Think of how skilled these folks are... I've seen some top-notch content! They've honed skills that can get them jobs in the creative world! Sure, they'll no longer be working for themselves, but new horizons are now open to them... they'll need to seek them out. Will it be difficult? Sure. But anything worth doing is. I would not be surprised if we see some of these creatives working on projects for Disney in the future!
As an aside, the employees of these 3rd-party publishers I see people discussing are mostly made up of freelancers. The publishers may have a very small administrative staff to run the business, but the artists and other creatives are working individually contracted jobs... there's other work out there for them, lots of it. The work available may be outside of TTRPGs, but there is a demand for their creative talents elsewhere.
Everything is "the way of the world" if people shrug their shoulders and do nothing. That might be ok with you, but it is not with me - that's a personal choice, and many are making that choice now. The analogy holds up in some areas of business, and not in others - technology is a broad mix of large providers and extensive open source communities that run successful businesses, so it's not always "the way of the world".
And you are right, there are a lot of skilled 3rd party content creators out there, who are potentially now turning their attention to other systems, or even the creation of new an more open systems. D&D will be poorer for it, and real people will lose their real income if this license change/monopoly attempt is brought to light. Some people surprisingly seem fine and relaxed with that - but that is of course their choice. However, many of us find that the game is greatly enriched by having a wider community providing content and extensions to the game. For me, that part of the community of developers is as important or even more important than the explicit ruleset - and it greatly saddens me to see it potentially disappear.
Your comment about contractors just being able to go somewhere else is.....well pretty insensitive! There are many people who love working on this type of content - and simply telling them that they can go do something else is not really helpful or a consolation for people who are passionate about their job.
Your comment about contractors just being able to go somewhere else is.....well pretty insensitive! There are many people who love working on this type of content - and simply telling them that they can go do something else is not really helpful or a consolation for people who are passionate about their job.
Overchord, we all need to put our "big boy" pants on here. Take me, for example. I'm an orchestral composer. For years I wanted to write for movies. I wanted it so bad I could taste it! But, after twenty years of beating my head against the wall, I realized I had to face reality. I even had to ask the question: was I any good as a composer? The answer to that last question is: yes. But what about movies... would I ever be a movie composer? It took someone being "real" with me, forcing me to dig deep and discover what I truly loved: I found that it was writing music that brought people together, challenged them, and created an environment of teamwork (and performing musicians are, in large part, great at teamwork... they have to be!). So, what to do...
Once I accepted the reality of my situation, I found doors opening that I never saw before. I now write/arrange music for community choirs and orchestras. I love what I do! I sometimes wish I could write for the movies, but I am so glad I found other opportunities for my talents. And I am glad for the person who told me not to put all my hopes & dreams (my "eggs") into one "basket."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Overchord, we all need to put our "big boy" pants on here. Take me, for example. I'm an orchestral composer. For years I wanted to write for movies. I wanted it so bad I could taste it! But, after twenty years of beating my head against the wall, I realized I had to face reality. I even had to ask the question: was I any good as a composer? The answer to that last question is: yes. But what about movies... would I ever be a movie composer? It took someone being "real" with me, forcing me to dig deep and discover what I truly loved: I found that it was writing music that brought people together, challenged them, and created an environment of teamwork (and performing musicians are, in large part, great at teamwork... they have to be!). So, what to do...
Once I accepted the reality of my situation, I found doors opening that I never saw before. I now write/arrange music for community choirs and orchestras. I love what I do! I sometimes wish I could write for the movies, but I am so glad I found other opportunities for my talents. And I am glad for the person who told me not to put all my hopes & dreams (my "eggs") into one "basket."
I appreciate what you are trying to say - which I think is that they might land on their feet given that they have talents. However, there is a difference - this isn't a discussion about what could have been or might have been for these creators. It's about what IS, and what their jobs currently are. You were not a movie composer who found yourself waking up one morning and found that movies were simply not there any more to compose for. I am happy for you that you found something that you are passionate about as well, and I do agree that life often throw curveballs that can take us in unexpected directions that sometimes work out well.
But, for me, this isn't about patting them on the shoulder and saying "Sorry you lost your livelihood - I'm sure you will be fine". It is about the action by a company to cause that livelihood to disappear (or become so restrictive in terms of rights that no sane person would base their livelihood on it). That is the action I am writing about, and I don't need any "big boy pants" or to face a grim reality of disappointment. I am not personally the one being squeezed here. I am a customer of both businesses who is expressing disappointment with the direction of things, and think that the hobby we all enjoy will be much much poorer in terms of choice and diversity of content.
Yeah, I really do not care. I am shrugging and ignoring the complexity because it is just not real nor relevant.
Then there is no point in discussing this any further with you.
There is no point, because we are talking past each. You do not want to understand how law and business works. I do not care if people who want to leave D&D do it over conspiracy theories.
Yeah, I really do not care. I am shrugging and ignoring the complexity because it is just not real nor relevant.
Then there is no point in discussing this any further with you.
There is a certain irony—if not hypocrisy—to those who can just say "I really do not care," can show zero regard for publishers and the people in their employ who could lose everything, when if "I really do not care" were the response from those of us who neither share nor welcome their agreement with decisions the company has made to satisfy the consciences of "woke" customers, they would likely be thrown into fits about how insensitive we are.
For businesses, it is never a good idea to be overly reliant on an IP that belongs to another entity. Publishers can still publish things without touching the OGL. Lore, setting, and flavor are completely system agnostic. Monsters can be descriptively written out, so readers can make their own statblocks for whatever system they are using; publishers can also just make up their own statblock format to make it easier for readers to convert it to another system's format. Subclasses based on D&D's classes and rules are more difficult to separate out, but it is not impossible, since you can just turn them into skill trees or collection of effects, and you will need to reword some of the mechanics or make it more vague; it is harder on the reader, but keep in mind the average reader who buys this stuff is most likely a TTRPG veteran rather than some D&D newbie, so homebrewing is not something out of the blue for them, just a pain in the ass if they do not enjoy the process. If a publisher really made some good shit and is savvy with their IP, then it does not matter if the OGL blows up since they can simply pivot their homebrew to another system, or just make it system agnostic like I mentioned, because they have a customer base that is loyal to them. These publishers are appealing to a very niche market, they are not Wizards who is trying mass market appeal and who is actually trying to grow the market.
And yeah, I am not too sympathetic to businesses who does not have a decent business plan and cannot handle something as simple as mitigating IP issues. If you are a teacher, are you really going to blame the smartest kid in the class if the rest of the class fails because the smartest kid in the class does not want the rest of the class to copy their homework and tests anymore? If other publisher's IP cannot stand on its own without relying on Wizard's IP, then that probably means the publisher's IP is not worth much in the first place.
I do not care if you think this is about wokeness. If we are really bringing politics into the discussion, then I am glad people who are complaining about wokeness are putting money where their mouth is and leaving the D&D community, hopefully permanently. I want affordable and good quality healthcare, housing, public transportation, etc. (you know, the necessities of modern life) for everyone in America, that is offset with higher progressive taxes. D&D is a hobby, not a necessity, and I am glad my spending on D&D is contributing less and less to the entertainment of those who think wokeness is some kind of boogeyman out to get them.
I have a hero tier sub and a bunch of core books on the platform, but I cancelled my subscription two days ago.
I can't in good conscience continue to spend money on this platform, while something as restrictive, exploitative and outright damaging to third party creators has been pitched, and even if the revised version is "less" exploitative, there's no way to whitewash that the intention from day 1 was to salt the earth for everyone else.
There's other systems, other games. Good luck to all fellow players, DMs, and worldbuilders.
>> #OpenDND
I agree. They are obviously not going to just take control over Critical Role. But even if Wizards is as evil as some people claim them to be, all Mercer and everyone else has to do is to simply not use any OGLs anymore to keep their own IPs safe.
Discussion is possible, you just got to find calmer heads and ignore the outragers. Think of the bright side. If people really put money where their mouth is, then after the dust has settled, maybe most of the absurdity and ignorance will leave the community permanently.
You do not understand how contract law and business work. I am not a lawyer, but from my basic understanding of law, just because a contract says so does not make it legal nor enforceable. For example, just because an employee signs a contract with their employer and agrees to work for $1 an hour does not make that contract legal. Wizards also cannot unilaterally create a new contract and expect the new contract to apply to people who agreed to the old contract. Wizards, no matter how evil they are, cannot take over others' IP and revenue like that.
Yeah, I really do not care. I am shrugging and ignoring the complexity because it is just not real nor relevant.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I own every single book for 5th. All if them. I will not spend another nickel until I feel confident that DND is not hostile to small creators.
Thing is, I don't see people even mentioning part "14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable." Look at how balanced and unbiased it is, it doesn't say unenforceable by wizards, it says unenforceable period. So part 14 is available to both sides.
If I were to boil down the series of events into a short conversation, it could go like:
Everyone: "Hey, you can't junk this license, we have rights under it that we want to enforce. In part 4 it states perpetual. Perpetual means never ending. You can't end the license summarily for everyone, you can only terminate one by one using the existing termination. So, we want that word enforced."
Wotc: "Well go suck a lemon and pray for rain, see that part 9 where it talks about authorized versions? Yeah, your perpetual rights are getting flushed because pulling the authorization mentioned in part 9 means shredding the entire thing. We're pushing the lever. *FLUSH* Mwahahahahahaha, Now hand over all you got and go back to your mom's basement, we're the big dogs here."
Everyone: "Well, good thing that part 14 has a trigger that activates if anything in the license is unenforceable. Since that trigger is now active, the bare minimum change required to reform the license back into enforceability would be to cross out that word 'authorized' from part 9. And with that, we're done here, in plenty of time to put out a victory stream."
OR, because out of everyone on the planet lawyers are the most hated pedantic creatures...
Everyone: "Well, good thing that part 14 has a trigger that activates if anything in the license is unenforceable. Since that trigger is now active due to the unenforceability of the word 'perpetual' in part 4, the bare minimum required to reform part 4 is to add the world 'irrevocable'. Too bad the reformation provision only allows the minimum because it would be fun to clarify it with a few more terms like 'eternal' and 'forever under all scenarios until the sun goes nova'. And with that, we're done here, in plenty of time to put out a victory stream."
My thoughts exactly. This "leak" was a test balloon. They were wondering if it would get them screwered.... I think they have their answer.
Come watch us save the multiverse in "The Lost Dragons of Phandelver" - a homebrew based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak, and They Tyranny of Dragons.
https://www.twitch.tv/kdinla
The Gatewalker Saga - Dragons Beware
Why would anyone ever assume "everyone" is going to play fair?
If we're entering contract dispute territory, the party with the better paid lawyers will have more time and resources. The scale at which WoTC / Hasbro operate, they can quite easily afford to outspend any smaller third party creators who try to take them to court, if it even gets that far.
>> #OpenDND
I've been pointing this out since the trash fire started: WOTC/Hasbro might as well have infinite legal funds compared to your average third party publisher. The amrgins on RPG supplements are NOG very high, and Hasbro is a fortune 500 corporation. Furthermore; the OGL 1.1 basically forbids you from having legal actions against WOTC, and even if you manage to do one; it has to be on their terms. They might as well replace entire chunks of the document with a photo of one of their lawyers with the "trollface" meme.
We; the TTRPG hobby writ-large don't ahve the luxury of "just wait and hope for the best". This gets pushed back, HARD, right now; or it will never get better. Corporations are NOT your friends; they are not "friendly"; they are amoral money machines. Treat them accordingly.
I am not hopeful for the future after this, but it is worth noticing that the open letter to WoTC now has over 43,000 people signing.
That's more than what they called "a really impressive number" for people responding to the first OneDnD playtest.
So, I think the scale of the response to changes is strong enough to demonstrate how passionate many of us are about this being a community driven hobby rather than a corporate walled garden.
I'm less certain about whether it will make a change, but there's a small kindling of hope in me still that there is a way forward.
Then there is no point in discussing this any further with you.
I Really hope that is enough.
On another note...eh is this system safe? I fear that doubles are allowed - you can use the same E Mail Adress twice it seems.
I cancelled a few days ago. If they get the message, maybe I return but I'm not sure even that will help.
WotC are on record stating they want to increase their ability to monetize D&D with repeating transactions like subs. They paid 146 million to get DNDBeyond's subs. If those subs suffer a dramatic drop, WotC will have to explain themselves to Hasbro shareholders why their little OGL change caused a drop in the very revenue stream they spent so much money to acquire.
a short and dramatic drop in revenue might help change minds and it's less damaging than all of the third party creators quitting and causing the game to diminish over the long term. Basically it's like they hired Lorraine to run the company into the ground (again).
Already canceled my Master subscription. I can always resubscribe if Wizards reverses course; if they don't, well, time to delete my account, I guess.
For those concerned with 3rd-party publishers who could see this leaked OGL as a dramatic setback to their plans, decrying the employees whom this will impact, please keep one thing in mind: although most people are saddened for a moment by "mom & pop shops" going out of business because they cannot compete with big box stores, it's only for a moment, and then we move on and go to Walmart. It's business... it's the way of the world.
These 3rd-party publishers had a great run, but now they're being presented with a new opportunity. Think of how skilled these folks are... I've seen some top-notch content! They've honed skills that can get them jobs in the creative world! Sure, they'll no longer be working for themselves, but new horizons are now open to them... they'll need to seek them out. Will it be difficult? Sure. But anything worth doing is. I would not be surprised if we see some of these creatives working on projects for Disney in the future!
As an aside, the employees of these 3rd-party publishers I see people discussing are mostly made up of freelancers. The publishers may have a very small administrative staff to run the business, but the artists and other creatives are working individually contracted jobs... there's other work out there for them, lots of it. The work available may be outside of TTRPGs, but there is a demand for their creative talents elsewhere.
I guess all I'm trying to say is that things are not as grim as a select few believe.
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Everything is "the way of the world" if people shrug their shoulders and do nothing. That might be ok with you, but it is not with me - that's a personal choice, and many are making that choice now. The analogy holds up in some areas of business, and not in others - technology is a broad mix of large providers and extensive open source communities that run successful businesses, so it's not always "the way of the world".
And you are right, there are a lot of skilled 3rd party content creators out there, who are potentially now turning their attention to other systems, or even the creation of new an more open systems. D&D will be poorer for it, and real people will lose their real income if this license change/monopoly attempt is brought to light. Some people surprisingly seem fine and relaxed with that - but that is of course their choice. However, many of us find that the game is greatly enriched by having a wider community providing content and extensions to the game. For me, that part of the community of developers is as important or even more important than the explicit ruleset - and it greatly saddens me to see it potentially disappear.
Your comment about contractors just being able to go somewhere else is.....well pretty insensitive! There are many people who love working on this type of content - and simply telling them that they can go do something else is not really helpful or a consolation for people who are passionate about their job.
Overchord, we all need to put our "big boy" pants on here. Take me, for example. I'm an orchestral composer. For years I wanted to write for movies. I wanted it so bad I could taste it! But, after twenty years of beating my head against the wall, I realized I had to face reality. I even had to ask the question: was I any good as a composer? The answer to that last question is: yes. But what about movies... would I ever be a movie composer? It took someone being "real" with me, forcing me to dig deep and discover what I truly loved: I found that it was writing music that brought people together, challenged them, and created an environment of teamwork (and performing musicians are, in large part, great at teamwork... they have to be!). So, what to do...
Once I accepted the reality of my situation, I found doors opening that I never saw before. I now write/arrange music for community choirs and orchestras. I love what I do! I sometimes wish I could write for the movies, but I am so glad I found other opportunities for my talents. And I am glad for the person who told me not to put all my hopes & dreams (my "eggs") into one "basket."
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
No, they aren't. All the opportunities you list off are opportunities they already had. And they chose not to pursue them.
I appreciate what you are trying to say - which I think is that they might land on their feet given that they have talents. However, there is a difference - this isn't a discussion about what could have been or might have been for these creators. It's about what IS, and what their jobs currently are. You were not a movie composer who found yourself waking up one morning and found that movies were simply not there any more to compose for.
I am happy for you that you found something that you are passionate about as well, and I do agree that life often throw curveballs that can take us in unexpected directions that sometimes work out well.
But, for me, this isn't about patting them on the shoulder and saying "Sorry you lost your livelihood - I'm sure you will be fine". It is about the action by a company to cause that livelihood to disappear (or become so restrictive in terms of rights that no sane person would base their livelihood on it). That is the action I am writing about, and I don't need any "big boy pants" or to face a grim reality of disappointment. I am not personally the one being squeezed here. I am a customer of both businesses who is expressing disappointment with the direction of things, and think that the hobby we all enjoy will be much much poorer in terms of choice and diversity of content.
There is no point, because we are talking past each. You do not want to understand how law and business works. I do not care if people who want to leave D&D do it over conspiracy theories.
For businesses, it is never a good idea to be overly reliant on an IP that belongs to another entity. Publishers can still publish things without touching the OGL. Lore, setting, and flavor are completely system agnostic. Monsters can be descriptively written out, so readers can make their own statblocks for whatever system they are using; publishers can also just make up their own statblock format to make it easier for readers to convert it to another system's format. Subclasses based on D&D's classes and rules are more difficult to separate out, but it is not impossible, since you can just turn them into skill trees or collection of effects, and you will need to reword some of the mechanics or make it more vague; it is harder on the reader, but keep in mind the average reader who buys this stuff is most likely a TTRPG veteran rather than some D&D newbie, so homebrewing is not something out of the blue for them, just a pain in the ass if they do not enjoy the process. If a publisher really made some good shit and is savvy with their IP, then it does not matter if the OGL blows up since they can simply pivot their homebrew to another system, or just make it system agnostic like I mentioned, because they have a customer base that is loyal to them. These publishers are appealing to a very niche market, they are not Wizards who is trying mass market appeal and who is actually trying to grow the market.
And yeah, I am not too sympathetic to businesses who does not have a decent business plan and cannot handle something as simple as mitigating IP issues. If you are a teacher, are you really going to blame the smartest kid in the class if the rest of the class fails because the smartest kid in the class does not want the rest of the class to copy their homework and tests anymore? If other publisher's IP cannot stand on its own without relying on Wizard's IP, then that probably means the publisher's IP is not worth much in the first place.
I do not care if you think this is about wokeness. If we are really bringing politics into the discussion, then I am glad people who are complaining about wokeness are putting money where their mouth is and leaving the D&D community, hopefully permanently. I want affordable and good quality healthcare, housing, public transportation, etc. (you know, the necessities of modern life) for everyone in America, that is offset with higher progressive taxes. D&D is a hobby, not a necessity, and I am glad my spending on D&D is contributing less and less to the entertainment of those who think wokeness is some kind of boogeyman out to get them.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >