If Hasbro wants to get salty about the usage of "hit points", they're going to have to explain to a judge why they never tried to sue SquareEnix, or several other large video game companies.

It wasn't Hasbro I was talking about. It's all the people on this forum shaking in their boots, afraid of facing a lawsuit. As if their indy game that might sell a hundred copies is even going to show up on Hasbro's radar when companies like Kobold Press are firing warning shots across their bow.

An official post from Wotc has landed.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d

Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:13:26 PM

An official post from Wotc has landed.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d

On December 21st 2022.

Oops, lol.  Should of read the date.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on January 11, 2023, 11:30:17 PM

Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:13:26 PM

An official post from Wotc has landed.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d

On December 21st 2022.

Oops, lol.  Should of read the date.

Yup. That was their sugarcoated sales pitch before news of the content dropped and well before the full text of the leaded document was released.

As of a few minutes from now it will officially have been a week since the full text leaked. WotC's only reply was now two days ago by the time most people will read this and was a grand total of "We know you have questions about the OGL. Please stand by."

And every day since the full leaked document release has had new announcements of third party creators and fans abandoning the WotC ship and the news has spread well beyond the ttrpg blogosphere and even the EFF has weighed in on 1.1 being a bad deal and potential threat to other open licenses.

It's NOT getting better for WotC the longer they stay silent. They have to realize that.

Then again maybe the scale of the catastrophe is just that overwhelming and the compounding nature of it is outpacing their PR department's spin machine. Like day one it would have been "well its out there, prepare a statement of our inevitable victory" and day two is "crap, some mid-sized names are jumping ship, make a statement about how the small companies will have to capitulate eventually" then "crap, a bunch of big names are stating they're pivoting to release their own non-OGL systems" then "crap, almost every 3pp is GONE!" then "crap, a bunch of DDB subs are cancelling and saying OGL1.1 is the reason."

My feeling is they have no idea what to do. They literally never expected this degree of backlash because it just doesn't happen in the Microsoft ecosystem they previously operated in... third parties couldn't just walk away and create their own operating system in a matter of weeks to run their programs on.

So my gut says they are just bunkering down right now (and maybe decides whose head(s) should roll) until they think the peak backlash has passed so they can finally make a statement when conditions aren't changing for them by the hour.

Even the Libertarians are weighing in...

quote: Why the Tabletop Role-Playing World Is Furious About Changes to Dungeons & Dragons' Open Game License

https://reason.com/2023/01/12/why-the-tabletop-role-playing-world-is-furious-about-changes-to-dungeons-dragons-open-game-license/

I doubt the OGL kerfluffle can affect Hasbro's stock long term.

According to WotC's early announcements, 6e will be a "walled garden" and investors love that. The more the company can control their customer base, the more profits. Also, the promise of more "digital" focus always makes investors tingle.

As for the Woke D&D movie, we'll see how the audience responds, but the real money would be made on streaming since theater attendance was killed by the shamdemic.

Also, you'll see the 3PP signing the OGL for 6e...but via new subsidiaries. Too much money on the table for small press publishers, especially those who have 100s of 3e & OSR & 5e titles that could easily be tweaked during the 6e playtest and launched during the first weeks of 6e's launch. 

Do you understand they could just talk to KS, DTTRPG, etc and have it so you can't fund/sell your shit?

KS has a problem. If KS becomes the bulldog for WotC, then Gamefound becomes the new kewl hotspot for RPGs.

Same issue for DTTRPG. They already have the DM's Guild as their "Official" D&D area separate from OGL products. If DriveThru becomes a bulldog, then you'll see a new PDF / POD site rise.

Personally, I hope KS and DT go full bitch for WotC.

Let it all burn.

Even The Guardian is reporting on the D&D debacle (and it's the 6th most read article today):

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/jan/12/dungeons-and-dragons-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl

The headline (‘People are leaving the game’: Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions) will probably scare someone at Hasbro.

And mind you, they're not leaving RPGs -- they've leaving for competitors.

Paizo's website actually crashed the other night from all the traffic.

This is fucking hilarious and I am so glad we have ringside seats.

If Hasbro wants to get salty about the usage of "hit points", they're going to have to explain to a judge why they never tried to sue SquareEnix, or several other large video game companies.

Hit Points came from a navy war-game according to legend. If anyone finds such a gam, combined with the use of hit points throughout the hobby (including the computer side) for half a century, well it doesn't seem they'd have much of a case.