Yeah, I was thinking of items when I wrote that, and I don't know if homebrew spells/etc. (all the stuff that does get cited if it's official) pops up as homebrew or not. It'd be wonderful for DDB to actually have these sorts of settings available (and the sliders in the character maker sort of make that gesture but don't go as deep as DMs and some players would want), but I think it'd be more likely to see this as something that will aid the DM in character sheet review. If more content on the site is "outsourced" to third party, it would be of great benefit to most tables to have something like being able to at least enable/disable certain publishers (which the sliders I think currently sort of do).
Back to the layoffs, next year is going to be interesting for WotC and players. It seems they have painted themselves in a corner with upcoming books, the VTT and profits for Hasbro. I hope it works out, but I will keep the popcorn close.
Those release date leaks a couple of weeks ago, and upcoming book leaks are making a little more sense after the layoffs were announced.
This has the latest I know of, some have been walked back I believe.
They released some graphics with a May 21 date on them for the core books and a vecna adventure book. They then removed the dates from the graphics about the core books, but it stayed on the vecna book. So, read into that what you will.
This has the latest I know of, some have been walked back I believe.
They released some graphics with a May 21 date on them for the core books and a vecna adventure book. They then removed the dates from the graphics about the core books, but it stayed on the vecna book. So, read into that what you will.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
The age of OGL is over. The Time of the ORC has come!
The moment that WotC declares OGL 1.0a "de-authorized", "revoked" or any such nonsense is the moment I release as much content as possible under OGL 1.0a and say, "Sue me WotC". OGL1.0a cannot be revoked. If thousands of us do it, the countersuit will be a class action suit.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
I rather doubt the date truly would influence attitudes much; for better or worse, everything I’ve seen over the past year suggests few people are inclined to give them any slack and many are ready to very vocally paint everything they do in the worst possible light.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
Hasbro likely had very little choice in the timing—the timing is decided based on various requirements for fiscal reporting and tax reporting purposes. They do not get to really choose that the tax and fiscal year are ending right around Christmas—which means that they have very limited options when it comes to how they do severance. If they delayed, they would not be able to write the severance packages off as a financial cost for 2023. That means they cannot claim those losses on their taxes for this year and cannot put it down as a failure in this already bad fiscal year.
For a company doing as badly as Hasbro, they need the extra cash on hand that deducting severance on their taxes will give them—time value of money and all that says that the money is more valuable if you get it in 2023 tax season than if you got the same numerical value in 2024 tax season. For a company that wants to show growth to survive, they want to be able to say “look, we had all sorts of problems, such as a big severance package in 2023, but we don’t have those in our 2024 reporting, so things are looking up!”
All of that is an unfortunate side effect of how reporting is done, and it isn’t really fair to blame Hasbro for how our financial system and tax code kind of force these Christmas layoffs to occur.
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
Hasbro likely had very little choice in the timing—the timing is decided based on various requirements for fiscal reporting and tax reporting purposes. They do not get to really choose that the tax and fiscal year are ending right around Christmas—which means that they have very limited options when it comes to how they do severance. If they delayed, they would not be able to write the severance packages off as a financial cost for 2023. That means they cannot claim those losses on their taxes for this year and cannot put it down as a failure in this already bad fiscal year.
For a company doing as badly as Hasbro, they need the extra cash on hand that deducting severance on their taxes will give them—time value of money and all that says that the money is more valuable if you get it in 2023 tax season than if you got the same numerical value in 2024 tax season. For a company that wants to show growth to survive, they want to be able to say “look, we had all sorts of problems, such as a big severance package in 2023, but we don’t have those in our 2024 reporting, so things are looking up!”
All of that is an unfortunate side effect of how reporting is done, and it isn’t really fair to blame Hasbro for how our financial system and tax code kind of force these Christmas layoffs to occur.
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I rather doubt the date truly would influence attitudes much; for better or worse, everything I’ve seen over the past year suggests few people are inclined to give them any slack and many are ready to very vocally paint everything they do in the worst possible light.
I agree. I also find it interesting that no one has mentioned any of this year's PR mishaps at my two tables, nor in the Discords of a couple of Twitch streams I follow. It would seem that many of us are just happily playing the game. A game that remains enjoyable despite its rich history of controversies. I'm no WotC or Hasbro apologist, but I am for D&D.
I also find it hilarious that the D&D-specific subReddits are infested with alternative TTRPG cultists who, on an almost daily basis, clutch their pearls, blast WotC, and attempt to lure converts. No thanks. I'm happy where I'm at.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
Hasbro likely had very little choice in the timing—the timing is decided based on various requirements for fiscal reporting and tax reporting purposes. They do not get to really choose that the tax and fiscal year are ending right around Christmas—which means that they have very limited options when it comes to how they do severance. If they delayed, they would not be able to write the severance packages off as a financial cost for 2023. That means they cannot claim those losses on their taxes for this year and cannot put it down as a failure in this already bad fiscal year.
For a company doing as badly as Hasbro, they need the extra cash on hand that deducting severance on their taxes will give them—time value of money and all that says that the money is more valuable if you get it in 2023 tax season than if you got the same numerical value in 2024 tax season. For a company that wants to show growth to survive, they want to be able to say “look, we had all sorts of problems, such as a big severance package in 2023, but we don’t have those in our 2024 reporting, so things are looking up!”
All of that is an unfortunate side effect of how reporting is done, and it isn’t really fair to blame Hasbro for how our financial system and tax code kind of force these Christmas layoffs to occur.
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
Tax law is complicated, so no need to feel bad that you’re “fact checking” and citation are not the most helpful and miss a number of important realities. I’ve done my fair share of tax law over the course of my legal practice, and I hate it every time I have to deal with it.
The citation you provide is talking about two different accounting methods you can use—fiscal year or calendar year accounting. Hasbro has locked themselves into a tax period that ends on December 31st—that is why they are currently in their Q4 period of the year.
Changing that is possible, but it is really, really hard to do—much harder to do than the little “may have to get IRS approval” bit on the IRS website you cited makes it seem. The IRS is not really fond of “hey, we’re a multi billion dollar company, can you please let us mess with our tax season to better facilitate layoffs so we can pay the government less?” as a reason for changing.
And, even if you do get permission to change, it is a logistical nightmare to get things switched over—suddenly all your books, all your quarters, all your old financial reporting is out of whack not only with your own company’s history, but with the expectations of anyone expecting your fiscal quarters to match the standard Q1-Q4 tracking the calendar year. Suddenly you have issues where your corporate tax period is different from your employees’ salary tax years (not an insurmountable problem, but it is an inconvenience when trying to calculate things like bonuses). And plenty of other issues that come up both from changing your status quo and suddenly being on your own, unique, non-industry-standard schedule.
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
Hasbro likely had very little choice in the timing—the timing is decided based on various requirements for fiscal reporting and tax reporting purposes. They do not get to really choose that the tax and fiscal year are ending right around Christmas—which means that they have very limited options when it comes to how they do severance. If they delayed, they would not be able to write the severance packages off as a financial cost for 2023. That means they cannot claim those losses on their taxes for this year and cannot put it down as a failure in this already bad fiscal year.
For a company doing as badly as Hasbro, they need the extra cash on hand that deducting severance on their taxes will give them—time value of money and all that says that the money is more valuable if you get it in 2023 tax season than if you got the same numerical value in 2024 tax season. For a company that wants to show growth to survive, they want to be able to say “look, we had all sorts of problems, such as a big severance package in 2023, but we don’t have those in our 2024 reporting, so things are looking up!”
All of that is an unfortunate side effect of how reporting is done, and it isn’t really fair to blame Hasbro for how our financial system and tax code kind of force these Christmas layoffs to occur.
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
Tax law is complicated, so no need to feel bad that you’re “fact checking” and citation are not the most helpful and miss a number of important realities. I’ve done my fair share of tax law over the course of my legal practice, and I hate it every time I have to deal with it.
The citation you provide is talking about two different accounting methods you can use—fiscal year or calendar year accounting. Hasbro has locked themselves into a tax period that ends on December 31st—that is why they are currently in their Q4 period of the year.
Changing that is possible, but it is really, really hard to do—much harder to do than the little “may have to get IRS approval” bit on the IRS website you cited makes it seem. The IRS is not really fond of “hey, we’re a multi billion dollar company, can you please let us mess with our tax season to better facilitate layoffs so we can pay the government less?” as a reason for changing.
And, even if you do get permission to change, it is a logistical nightmare to get things switched over—suddenly all your books, all your quarters, all your old financial reporting is out of whack not only with your own company’s history, but with the expectations of anyone expecting your fiscal quarters to match the standard Q1-Q4 tracking the calendar year. Suddenly you have issues where your corporate tax period is different from your employees’ salary tax years (not an insurmountable problem, but it is an inconvenience when trying to calculate things like bonuses). And plenty of other issues that come up both from changing your status quo and suddenly being on your own, unique, non-industry-standard schedule.
You stated they had little choice, they have THE choice. That was the fact check.
They can also change it. It might not be easy but it can be done.
I am not pretending to be a tax expert or to know the ins and outs of Hasbro/WotC's business, but I can look up things like this.
I am not against Hasbro/WotC, but after the last 12-18 months I am just over giving them the benefit of doubt, everything they have botched could have been handled way better.
Either they need more direction and supervision before creating these PR nightmares, or they simply do not care about the fallout from them.
I am excited to see the next hold my beer moment from them, but deep down I wish they would stop shooting themselves in the foot and get back to making a game that makes money instead of trying to wring every cent from the game they can. I understand they need to make money, but there are many ways to do it and many examples of how it can be done this is one of them but it has the cost of PR.
Side note do you work for Hasbro/Wotc?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Either they need more direction and supervision before creating these PR nightmares, or they simply do not care about the fallout from them.
Both. The community can scream until our lungs burst, but as long as they have customers who line up and continue to buy their products, they'll continue not giving a damn. Forget the facts, the bottom line is all the bean counters are checking.
Either they need more direction and supervision before creating these PR nightmares, or they simply do not care about the fallout from them.
Both. The community can scream until our lungs burst, but as long as they have customers who line up and continue to buy their products, they'll continue not giving a damn. Forget the facts, the bottom line is all the bean counters are checking.
Guilty as charged! Just hoping for a sale on a few physical books in the next few months.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
No matter how you feel about WotC's last ~18 months I hope this makes you smile, I know there has to be someone at WotC that feels like the character behind this desk.
No matter how you feel about WotC's last ~18 months I hope this makes you smile, I know there has to be someone at WotC that feels like the character behind this desk.
I smiled, although somewhat sadly.
That said, I'm fairly certain that I have a nasty BBEG challenge tomorrow afternoon which, no matter the outcome, reminds me of why I play this game.
No matter how you feel about WotC's last ~18 months I hope this makes you smile, I know there has to be someone at WotC that feels like the character behind this desk.
I smiled, although somewhat sadly.
That said, I'm fairly certain that I have a nasty BBEG challenge tomorrow afternoon which, no matter the outcome, reminds me of why I play this game.
There are plenty of the "cultist" that are sad about this too.
Yeah, I was thinking of items when I wrote that, and I don't know if homebrew spells/etc. (all the stuff that does get cited if it's official) pops up as homebrew or not. It'd be wonderful for DDB to actually have these sorts of settings available (and the sliders in the character maker sort of make that gesture but don't go as deep as DMs and some players would want), but I think it'd be more likely to see this as something that will aid the DM in character sheet review. If more content on the site is "outsourced" to third party, it would be of great benefit to most tables to have something like being able to at least enable/disable certain publishers (which the sliders I think currently sort of do).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Back to the layoffs, next year is going to be interesting for WotC and players. It seems they have painted themselves in a corner with upcoming books, the VTT and profits for Hasbro. I hope it works out, but I will keep the popcorn close.
Those release date leaks a couple of weeks ago, and upcoming book leaks are making a little more sense after the layoffs were announced.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I’ve been a little out of the loop. Can anyone tell me when we’re expecting the 2024 revisions to release?
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
2024-5-5e-release-date-announced
This has the latest I know of, some have been walked back I believe.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
They released some graphics with a May 21 date on them for the core books and a vecna adventure book. They then removed the dates from the graphics about the core books, but it stayed on the vecna book. So, read into that what you will.
Thanks to both of you.
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
I would note that Hasbro spent all year trying to rebuild trust and goodwill over the debacle at the beginning of the year, and then to do this right before Christmas?
I mean, they could have waited a few weeks and kept a lot of the goodwill and trust they had gained back.
The age of OGL is over. The Time of the ORC has come!
The moment that WotC declares OGL 1.0a "de-authorized", "revoked" or any such nonsense is the moment I release as much content as possible under OGL 1.0a and say, "Sue me WotC". OGL1.0a cannot be revoked. If thousands of us do it, the countersuit will be a class action suit.
I rather doubt the date truly would influence attitudes much; for better or worse, everything I’ve seen over the past year suggests few people are inclined to give them any slack and many are ready to very vocally paint everything they do in the worst possible light.
With any luck a pair of rose colored glasses will be part of the severance package.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Hasbro likely had very little choice in the timing—the timing is decided based on various requirements for fiscal reporting and tax reporting purposes. They do not get to really choose that the tax and fiscal year are ending right around Christmas—which means that they have very limited options when it comes to how they do severance. If they delayed, they would not be able to write the severance packages off as a financial cost for 2023. That means they cannot claim those losses on their taxes for this year and cannot put it down as a failure in this already bad fiscal year.
For a company doing as badly as Hasbro, they need the extra cash on hand that deducting severance on their taxes will give them—time value of money and all that says that the money is more valuable if you get it in 2023 tax season than if you got the same numerical value in 2024 tax season. For a company that wants to show growth to survive, they want to be able to say “look, we had all sorts of problems, such as a big severance package in 2023, but we don’t have those in our 2024 reporting, so things are looking up!”
All of that is an unfortunate side effect of how reporting is done, and it isn’t really fair to blame Hasbro for how our financial system and tax code kind of force these Christmas layoffs to occur.
From the IRS
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Fact check:
From the IRS
"Fiscal year – 12 consecutive months ending on the last day of any month except December. A 52-53-week tax year is a fiscal tax year that varies from 52 to 53 weeks but does not have to end on the last day of a month.
Changing your tax year
Once you have adopted your tax year, you may have to get IRS approval to change it. "
A company that big knows they will inevitably lay people off, choosing when based off fiscal year end is one thing, but they get to choose that fiscal year end date and can change it.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I agree. I also find it interesting that no one has mentioned any of this year's PR mishaps at my two tables, nor in the Discords of a couple of Twitch streams I follow. It would seem that many of us are just happily playing the game. A game that remains enjoyable despite its rich history of controversies. I'm no WotC or Hasbro apologist, but I am for D&D.
I also find it hilarious that the D&D-specific subReddits are infested with alternative TTRPG cultists who, on an almost daily basis, clutch their pearls, blast WotC, and attempt to lure converts. No thanks. I'm happy where I'm at.
Neutral Good
Characters in active campaigns:
Rowan Wood elf, 10 Circle of Stars Druid
Wyll Forest Gnome, 4 Divination Wizard
Tax law is complicated, so no need to feel bad that you’re “fact checking” and citation are not the most helpful and miss a number of important realities. I’ve done my fair share of tax law over the course of my legal practice, and I hate it every time I have to deal with it.
The citation you provide is talking about two different accounting methods you can use—fiscal year or calendar year accounting. Hasbro has locked themselves into a tax period that ends on December 31st—that is why they are currently in their Q4 period of the year.
Changing that is possible, but it is really, really hard to do—much harder to do than the little “may have to get IRS approval” bit on the IRS website you cited makes it seem. The IRS is not really fond of “hey, we’re a multi billion dollar company, can you please let us mess with our tax season to better facilitate layoffs so we can pay the government less?” as a reason for changing.
And, even if you do get permission to change, it is a logistical nightmare to get things switched over—suddenly all your books, all your quarters, all your old financial reporting is out of whack not only with your own company’s history, but with the expectations of anyone expecting your fiscal quarters to match the standard Q1-Q4 tracking the calendar year. Suddenly you have issues where your corporate tax period is different from your employees’ salary tax years (not an insurmountable problem, but it is an inconvenience when trying to calculate things like bonuses). And plenty of other issues that come up both from changing your status quo and suddenly being on your own, unique, non-industry-standard schedule.
You stated they had little choice, they have THE choice. That was the fact check.
They can also change it. It might not be easy but it can be done.
I am not pretending to be a tax expert or to know the ins and outs of Hasbro/WotC's business, but I can look up things like this.
I am not against Hasbro/WotC, but after the last 12-18 months I am just over giving them the benefit of doubt, everything they have botched could have been handled way better.
Either they need more direction and supervision before creating these PR nightmares, or they simply do not care about the fallout from them.
I am excited to see the next hold my beer moment from them, but deep down I wish they would stop shooting themselves in the foot and get back to making a game that makes money instead of trying to wring every cent from the game they can. I understand they need to make money, but there are many ways to do it and many examples of how it can be done this is one of them but it has the cost of PR.
Side note do you work for Hasbro/Wotc?
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
Both. The community can scream until our lungs burst, but as long as they have customers who line up and continue to buy their products, they'll continue not giving a damn. Forget the facts, the bottom line is all the bean counters are checking.
Free Content: [Basic Rules],
[Phandelver],[Frozen Sick],[Acquisitions Inc.],[Vecna Dossier],[Radiant Citadel], [Spelljammer],[Dragonlance], [Prisoner 13],[Minecraft],[Star Forge], [Baldur’s Gate], [Lightning Keep], [Stormwreck Isle], [Pinebrook], [Caverns of Tsojcanth], [The Lost Horn], [Elemental Evil].Free Dice: [Frostmaiden],
[Flourishing], [Sanguine],[Themberchaud], [Baldur's Gate 3], [Lego].Guilty as charged! Just hoping for a sale on a few physical books in the next few months.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
No matter how you feel about WotC's last ~18 months I hope this makes you smile, I know there has to be someone at WotC that feels like the character behind this desk.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I smiled, although somewhat sadly.
That said, I'm fairly certain that I have a nasty BBEG challenge tomorrow afternoon which, no matter the outcome, reminds me of why I play this game.
Neutral Good
Characters in active campaigns:
Rowan Wood elf, 10 Circle of Stars Druid
Wyll Forest Gnome, 4 Divination Wizard
There are plenty of the "cultist" that are sad about this too.
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.