Current Events > seems wizards of the cost have pissed off the entire D & D community

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not watching a long video. What are they pissed off about this time?

https://medium.com/@MyLawyerFriend/lets-take-a-minute-to-talk-about-d-d-s-open-gaming-license-ogl-581312d48e2f

read this:

Am I wrong in this thought: You can't copyright game systems, just proper names for things, so you can basically Xerox 5e and change things like Tasha's Hideous Laughter to Hideous Laughter and call it a new system? They certainly don't own Elf or Dwarf or fireball.

That's a 25 minute video dog

Can we get a tl;dw

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/9/5/AAA_aCAAEFTX.jpg

If the result is to stop playing D N D and Magic then all that will happen is they will get more anti-consumer and never return.

This is terrible advice

See loot-boxes and mobile gaming.

There really isn't a good solution (short of everyone going around and taking the whales' credit cards away).

If the result is to stop playing D N D then all that will happen is they will get more anti-consumer and never return.

Sometimes, the Internet Rage Machine actually accomplishes something useful:
https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-ogl-announcement-wizards-of-the-coast-1849981365

Remember when they messed with the race skills because people equated orcs to minority groups? So now it's problematic for an orc to have -2 intelligence

Remember when they messed with the race skills because people equated orcs to minority groups? So now it's problematic for an orc to have -2 intelligence

Bear in mind that this isn't them canceling the new OGL rollout. They're just delaying it and hoping that things cool down enough that they can do it in a month or so.

Remember when they messed with the race skills because people equated orcs to minority groups? So now it's problematic for an orc to have -2 intelligence

This was a good change though. Not just because of the racist implications, but because it also opens up so many more creative build options rather than pigeonholing specific race/class combinations as "viable", "unviable", and "the only one that's viable".

similar to the way STR worked in 2E.

its literally an adaption of DnD campaign

Sounds like they are exploring other game systems without flat out saying it, for legal reasons.

They've worked very closely with the company for a few years now, having D&D Beyond as a sponsor since C2 and releasing an official guide, so there's probably non-disparaging clauses in their contract.

they thought it would work better on stream

though god have mercy on Ashley Johnson's soul.

It makes me wonder how she ever played it in the first place! She struggles... often :(

Its amazing how I know your not joking and you always have the weirdest takes on things. I guess all life has to be miserable?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/9/5/AAA_aCAAEFTX.jpg

Even before the show, when Matt released his Tal'dorei campaign guide, he was very, very careful to strip anything that's actually copyrighted by WotC out of it. The show is the same. Pelor is only ever called the Dawnfather, Vecna is only ever called the Whispered One, Bigby has nothing to do with Scanlan's Hand, etc.

First, this technically isn't true.

First, this technically isn't true. They tended to use the official god names in the show until after the campaign book was released (much later in the campaign, not before the show) - it wasn't really until the second campaign that Matt really started putting emphasis on exclusively using the titles rather than the names. Something that was even more complicated by them using Sarenrae (who was Paizo/Pathfinder IP rather than WotC/D&D IP).

And they've used copyrighted spell names pretty consistently in the show (Sam literally used to sing "BIGBY'S HAND!" when casting it, for example). Even if they never once said they were using D&D rules, it would be very obvious to people who know D&D what system they were using.

Even beyond that, the book explicitly cited the OGL, and clearly fell under it. It included game mechanics, stat blocks, terms, and other elements which fall directly under the OGL - it absolutely wasn't a system-agnostic sourcebook. Which would mean that WotC would technically have grounds to claim literally everything in the book as their own intellectual property under the new OGL (as well as have right-of-refusal to prevent Critical Role to print anything they didn't want them to). Which is a large part of why most creators see the new OGL as utterly unacceptable on any level.

Interesting take from an actual lawyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZQJQYqhAgY

TL;DW WOTC may not have a fucking leg to stand on. They can trademark certain things, like specific monsters they created that were not part of common mythology and specific character names, BUT they flat out cannot copyright ANYTHING in regards to the actual rules of the game. Period. If I wanted to take the 5E DMG and Player's handbook, rewrite them but keep the systems intact, and then re-release them as my own sci-fi themed TTRPG I could. I'd just need to mix up the chapter order and make sure the wording is different enough.

Just play AD&D 2nd Edition.

That's the only real D&D, you know.