Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Given WotC's focus on hosting / selling 3rd party content - which is a good strategy to become / remain more central in the ecosystem of VTTs - do you think that approved 3rd party content creators should be able to access this community for feedback and playtesting (by publishing UA's)?
Given the mixed reviews (both related to quality and power) I have seen for recently published material on DNDBeyond, I think this would help improve the quality of 3rd party content published here. What does folks think?
While you are correct, there are so many other factors to consider. If company A submits a UA review, can company B see that then publish something and steal the "idea" and get people to buy their product?
What if the stealing of "ideas" is not allowed, but Company A post something, then realize it is not a large enough money maker for them and therefore has the "publishing" rights for a class, and therefore no one else can create a better one. Company A is not moving forward with that Class.
What if Company A does......
This can go on and on. Having the UA open to the 3rd party is a great and noble endeavor, the execution and legal ramifications however, can be daunting, even making it worse then it already is.
All good points.
In the "Digital First" era, I think IP is going to be paying for the convenience of using components on the integrated VTT of DNDBeyond. This makes it potentially more manageable. However, you are absolutely correct that the licensing and protection needs to start earlier if UAs (or any draft content) is going to be produced. Most manufacturers already playtest content elsewhere so putting it here is not radically different.
Wizards and ranger and fighters and elves and dwarves and goblins and dragons are all public domain, Hobbits would not be and true or not that is why there are halflings. You can steal the framework of a hobbit, but call it something totally different and probably skate by license laws.
This is a big reason (I assume) why the positioning of WotC is to focus on getting people onto the digital platform / VTT of DNDBeyond - recurring revenue / monetization of IP.
Normally, digital content gets pirated very quickly (PDFs of published books are everywhere). In the past, people paid for books since they wanted to have a physical book (and this is still the case older people), younger people may not value a physical book as highly.