This community is amazing, and it shows. WotC already delayed this announcement because they are terrified of you. We know what they think of us now, we're in the driving seat. We have more information, but I'm not posting anything I can't verify to be real. All the info in this video was checked over and discussed with lawyers, but keep in mind WotC may change the OGL wording between versions they try to push through. At the moment, this FAQ and the leaked OGL is the most up to date information I can verify. Remember to cancel on D&D Beyond!
Honestly, after listening to the podcast Opening Arguments episode 675 with Lawyer Andrew Torrez, I feel I'm getting a more nuanced opinion on the necessity of the new OGL!!! I highly recommend that people listen to his take on the situation!
Personally I want to see an Open TTRPG Alliance formed. Basically a non-profit organization staffed by various publishers, creators, and DMs from the TTRPG community tasked with creating a core set of rules and content that everyone in the TTRPG community could build upon. The core rules and content would be released under an open license like the Creative Commons BY license (the one that allows for commercial use). This would prevent the current situation from ever happening again as no one publisher would control the system.
gaslighting is a weak thing to say. i have held off on commenting. but lets be real. they have a legit claim. now is it fucked up. it sure is. but critical roll, and all the other things like that, that make people thousands and thousands of dollars, would no be possible withouth the entire game of dnd. and you all know this. that has always been the funniest thing to me with content creators. like bro i love your channel. its lit. BUT. they own DND. and if ur gonna take their product, which they inviented, and make money off of it, while not having to pay them anything. its just like how u cant use copyrighted music in your youtube videos. no one complains about that. but DND is a copyrighted game. they own it. if they want their cut, u give it to them. or find another system. is it greedy. sure. but do they got the right to be this greedy. they sure do. its theirs. what if i decided to just "react" to all of your videos as my youtube channel and i blew up. 500k subs. off of your work. im sure u would feel some sort of way. not a single dnd content creator, created dnd. u dont get to complain like they owe u something. buys their game doesnt give u the creative freedom to do as you please. you guys are just making it harder on yourselves. all this negative backlash isnt going to effect them. ur still gonna play dnd. and they sill gonna make money. anyways. bring on the hate lol.
Given this is the game that literally inspired the term "rules lawyer", I don't think WoTC quite realises just how much we are willing to read and rip apart every part of their bollocks.
It's almost as if WotC doesn't realize that this game specifically attracts people who are fiendishly detail-oriented readers and actively encourages players to become loophole- and trap-detection bloodhounds.
meta gamers: reading through 2.0 "lawsuit lawsuit lawsuit, blabla, contradicting sections" looks at dndb "no manage account button, hmmmmmm..... larceny"
They set out a line of rakes expecting the community to just march onto them and forgetting it's a community known to spend hours poking an imagined door because the DM sounded like they put too much time describing it FOR FUN!
WotC: "The average customer won't read, or even understand the new OGL. We'll be fine." Their average player: "I can create 10 different character sheets with pen and paper, and fill them in with 10,000 memorized feats and traits, then recall the exact grapple rules from 3.0." This is a hobby that's dear to a very large number of very fanatical, very intelligent, and very CREATIVE people.
IMPORTANT: At 9:32 refer to this document as a "leaked draft". I mispoke, it isn't a "draft", it is a finished statement intended for release alongside an updated OGL. This is an example of the power of messaging by WotC, they keep referring to "drafts" to distance themselves from the terrible things they try and do. Don't fall for it like I did when communicating this information!
I suspect there will be a good sized queue when you have gathered sufficient pitchforks and torches (and we're both British we'll love a bloody queue!)
A Cold Draft issued from the Necromancers hand as it tried to take me to it's side, the side of death, once there you cannot pass, it was made by the dead, & is kept by the dead!
I don’t have a DnD Beyond subscription, how else can I help? I’ve been subscribing to every creator I have found that is talking about this and I certainly won’t be buying any more products from WotC.
I have a nearly 400-page doc full of reworks and homebrew all of my own creation. For a while, I considered sending it as an application to wotc thinking "What's the worst that could happen?" I'm so glad I never did.
That’s the thing. They don’t see us as those who feed it. They see us as food. And we have to show them that they can’t take a bite out of us without us biting back.
I'd argue that, given how apparently there are so many jokes about how few people have actually read the 5e rules, they may have been hoping to get that past them. However, that would mean these chuckle fucks were actually paying attention to the community, so never mind.
It's important to remember that WotC has actually attempted this in the past with the release of 4th Edition which in turn led to the creation of Paizo and their largest competitor at the time. Who's to say that won't happen again.
Minor correction cause I see this a lot: Paizo existed long before 4th edition. They were there since basically the inception of 3rd edition, and took over running Dungeon and Dragon magazine. If anyone played back then, I don't think they'd argue its a stretch to say that those magazines were THE community back then when the only other place to find community content was disparate internet forums. The content they helped publish was equivalent to the amazing kickstarters we have in the 5e sphere today. They only broke off to form their own RPG after WoTC effectively cancelled the magazines leading up to the start of 4e. But yes, the GSL and WoTC's blunders with community outreach were a huge contributor to the success of the Pathfinder RPG they would go on to make (which lets not forget was made as spiritual successor to the things people adored about 3rd edition)
The fact that their employees are leaking like MAD right now, like every single PR response they prepare is undermined by someone in their company, says a lot. I've never seen leaks to this degree before.
Because the creators working there are just as much fans of the game as we are. ONE OF US! ONE OF US! They love the game, they want to see it prosper, and they get absolutely fucked by the execs. This is the only way of fighting back available to them. So leak away, please!
@@ArDeeMee Was coming here to say this. There may be a lot of people working for WOTC that aren't gamers, but I simply can't imagine the company that MAKES Dungeons and Dragons not having a bunch of gamers as a part of it! Don't makes nerds angry, Hasbro. You wouldn't like us when we're angry.
@@ArDeeMee Not only that but many of them came to the attention of WOTC through the OGL. They know how important it is to the future of D+D because they have a job through it. Unlike the execs at the top they are not just then gamers but they are people who the OGL has directly helped, and they rightly, want to make sure it is around to help others.
It's like working in a large corporation or government. The administration and worker bees know what's going on with the community, and probably warn management of any stupid decisions, but management is like FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! As someone who works in government, I can tell you with certainty, no one listens to the public service, lol. ;)
I'm impressed. For a channel that leaned into quick hits, humor and cheese, DnD Shorts has become one of the loudest and most effective rabble rousers in the OGL 1.1 crisis. Keep it up!
I think the thing that amazes me most about this whole situation is that the higher ups at Wizards are so disconnected from the community that they didn't think for a second that a community filled with nerds who have dedicated decades into the art of arguing with each other about rules, wording, interpretation and detecting bullshit *wouldn't* immediately curbstomp any attempt they try at pulling this shit in the first place
@@deettee6794 DnD's content is far more community driven than MtG, that's why Hasbro and WotC's greed play here is hitting a lot more issues than their greed play in MtG. I do think they will eventually get what they want though sadly, that is more money, but it will cost them a large section of the market to do so. But that just means a huge opportunity for other TRPGs like pathfinder, call of cthulu, or the warhammer TTRPGs to grow and eat into DnD's market share. About time honestly.
I cant believe they expected us to just sit down and take it. It fills me with a level of pride seeing a whole community band together and refuse corporate greed at this scale.
@@JMD031 exactly this, they managed to mug off mtg fans because they kept buying the new sets and pre cons even after the 30th anniversary debacle But dnd fans have just gone, nah fuck ya Wish MTG fans did the same
@@TimStamper89 Not to say that mtg is small by any means, but compared to dnd, it kind of is. They've been able to fly under the radar with mtg and will probably continue to do so.
Wizards can’t kill D&D. Your DM may become a GM and the games may take a different name. I just hope we can find a big enough umbrella that our beloved creators can keep getting their content out there to the same number of eyeballs
I mean, there's enough content to keep playing for years without giving any more money to WOTC. And after that, there's literally dozens of other great fantasy ttrpgs. I hear pathfinder is pretty nice.
@@jonassanoj3045 I’m hyped for what Kobold Press is putting together. I own most of the 5e books in physical copies and, yeah, I could just work off those to DM. What this honestly hurts is the optimization channels. WOTC provided a universal language for optimancers at every table. If D&D sinks those channels are going to have to find a new, popular system to keep producing content that’s as wide-reaching.
@@deschaingames1851 That's true, I hadn't considered that! On the other hand, if they DO find a common new system that might bring new life to the optimization scene; a fresh start, almost.
@@yaelz6043 Maybe. Some Beholders are cool and comment under UA-cam videos. Not that I’ve ever seen one with my two human eyes that are both firmly planted in my skull bone.
It sounds like they really thought people would just sign a contract saying they can steal all your stuff and that you can't do anything about it. That's not a contract, that's robbery.
@@Talatharas Yeah. I noped out of Blizzard games after they gave me a "complimentary" update that includes a line to steal all of the creative content of custom games. Screw that. No amount of "b-but muh shareholders" can justify it.
@@Talatharas Warcraft 3 Reforged. The original didn't have it and they went to court over who owned DotA, since Valve all of the sudden did DotA 2 haha. Blizz lost.
WOTC: could've used the DND IP to create their own orginal content and make money off of that Also WOTC: we suck at making content so let's just milk and gaslight the community
i mean anytime they try it gets stuck in development hell or ends up not great like the mtg mmo, the recent dnd game, the dnd movie was in hell for a bit, and the mtg anime has been "coming soon" since like 2019
You love to see it. It's like all the employees fleeing Activision/Blizzard and EA to go do their own thing. Evil can only corrupt, but boy howdy can good create. History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure as hell rhymes.
We need to make sure they take it ALL back, not just take some of it back. These guys will make you think it's a win, if they get rid of some of the things they said, due to backlash, but they can still win unless you have them take everything back to the way it was.
👧: Daddy, I want a pony! 👨: No. 👧: Daddy, I really really want a pony! 👨: No. 👧: Daddy, *_I want a pony!_* 👨: [sigh] You can't have a pony, but if I get you a puppy will you shut up? 👧: [pouting] Oh, fine! 👧: [secretly] Easiest puppy ever!
@cyotee doge this would be a really good time for some of these other table top games to up their advertising spending and play off of wotc being on bullshit.
I do love how this backfired in such a spectacular way. It burned WotC and galvanized the community to make fundamental change. I can't wait to what comes of the Open RPG Creative License (ORC) (great anagram).
I cancelled my recurring subscription today. I intentionally waited for the 13th to do it. I wrote to them how I've been playing D&D since I was 7 (and I'm 48 now) and that as a parent I'll be avoiding the Hasbro brand when I purchase toys for my children. The damage to the goodwill they've generated over the decades will be hard to recover from, but I sincerely hope they'll fix what they've done.
I haven't been in as long as you but I've got a solid 15 years behind me and I just went ahead and submitted the request to cancel my DnDBeyond account. Unfortunately, even if they straighten up, how long before they do it again? Once you bite the hand that feeds, you know they're hungry. So sticking your hand in the cage again is just asking for it to be bitten again.
That's the thing about this whole ordeal. I shall explain with a poker analogy. If you show everyone your biggest tell, you have a ton more work ahead of you in order to win the hand. They might as well fold at this point.
"We never said that, and even if we said that, we didn't mean it and even if we meant it, you just misunderstood it and even if you did understand it, it's no big deal and even if it is a big deal, other companies are worse." -Wizards Of The Coast, 1/13/2023
Only bad part of this whole situation is that the people that are in long term contracts with WOTC are going to be accused of being sellouts or just as greedy. They're going to be some of the biggest victims of this nightmare and may not be able to say or do anything until their contracts expire, WOTC goes under, or WOTC is forced to back down. Hopefully when the ORC is finished it will give those creators the out they need and prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
Hopefully those in long term contracts have a clause about ‘damage to their brand as a result of this agreement’ and can find a way out of those agreements if they feel the need to do so.
@@orangutantapioca1530 I'd argue right now WotC may be liable even to people it isn't directly contracted with for the damage this causes. If an advertiser cancels a relationship with a content producer over the claims made by them this may amount to tortious interference if they can prove knowledge on the business relationship...
I was literally going to say this, like critical role are 100% in a long term contract with them, and everyone is like “why are critical role not saying anything! It must mean they agree with WoTC.” When their silence is them freaking out and trying to figure out how tf this wont hurt their company. People forget they have been tied to dndbeyond before WotC bought dndbeyond and especially after its not that easy to just get out of a contract, and they cant say anything against them because of it. Essentially their hands are tied unless they can get out of that contract.
People are already starting to talk bad about Critical Role. CR LLC has their own license with WOTC, and wouldn't be affected by the OGL. It would probably violate their contract by speaking ill of WOTC. It is financial suicide for them to come out against WOTC, so their only choice is to remain silent. Even though Matthew Mercer has liked Anti-OGL posts on Twitter, I doubt it will be enough for the "You're either with me, or against me" crowd.
@@Dakarn A damned if you do and damned if you don't situation if there ever was one, which really sucks cause those people won't let things go even if the stars do align and CR can get out of whatever contracts bind them and finally get the the chance to speak out against it.
You know who isn't going to struggle with that in the future? Paizo. I didn't even use their 25% discount. I was happy to pay full price on their core books as I want to support them. Fuck Hasbro.
@@kelly4187 I am very happy more people are trying new systems after all of this bullshit... So many people get this entrenched prior investment bias and do not like trying new things...this broke the consumers to the point they are WILLING and HAPPY to try new things.
This is beautiful. Suddenly, across the world, across cultures, generations, as varied as the lands we've walked together in our minds... a lot of very quiet people SUDDENLY all stood up, at once, together, and said 'No.' We are family. We are kin. There are more of us than we thought.
I think my favorite thing about this whole backlash, is how Wizards thought they could graze all of their shady b*ll sh*t under the gamers noses by just using legal jargon and big words that they figured the general consumer wouldn’t understand or care about…without even considering HOW MANY LAWYERS might play D&D recreationally, get REALLY pissed off and pull the whole thing apart for us normal humans to understand! Not to mention the number of D&D party players who’ve had to deal with a DM offering them a very sus contract given to them by a totally not corrupt or shady NPC 🤣
@@phoxpharms I rolled a 3 on my Insight check and the DM said they seemed trustworthy... so now I'm not taking any chances. Prep a short rest everybody, I'm taking 20 on this one!
I love how they completely changed their stance again after you released this. Keep holding their feet to the fire-you and the rest of the D&D community are doing great work. It's important to document the changing stances Wizards tries to hide behind to show people they cannot be trusted.
I wonder if the term “Rules Lawyers” never made it to their ears. So many players read the fine print in their own campaign, what made them think that they wouldn’t do it to them?
I’m gonna miss my dnd beyond subscription. Legal eagle, super UA-cam lawyer, slated to release an OGL video and I’m excited to see his take on it. If there’s any silver lining it’s seeing the community almost universally stating “we made you, we can unmake you” Finally I’ll reiterate your final point. The regular people at WotC, the ones who are our immediate contacts, are on our side. Treat them well, their suffering with us.
Legal eagle. That's the shit I'm talking about. I truly think hasbro does not understand how interconnected internet communities are. This stuff isn't even staying within tabletop gaming circles.
Not particularly a big fan of legal eagle but at least he's trying to help. The guy is fairly smart, but very often is quick to say ridiculous things about subjects he knows essentially nothing about so long as he thinks saying these ridiculous things will make his fans happy.
You have to separate the "they" who work at D&D and the "they" who run WotC. The upper management is who's making all these horrific changes after Hasbro came and told them to start making money. At least some people who work at D&D have been brave enough to supply us with info even though it would most likely cost them their job if they were found out. Besides, D&D was never about the books or lore or any of that. It was about the adventures we had with our friends. Take heart, those friends and those stories will be there whatever happens.
They are stimulating an evolution - it *is* heart breaking, I've played since the very early 1980s...it's hard to disconnect the warm feelings from the shiv in the back...but, all things change. In the medium term and beyond it'll be great for us and not so much for them.
They are doing the same thing that is/was done to Tolkien's work, Stan Lee's ( and many other's) work. The amount of popular IP's that have been defiled, grows larger by the day. Sadly I cannot say that it surprises me that they are doing the D&D community dirty. Look what they did to Starwars fans.
Nicely done on your lawyers part. The canary trap is a classic in the counter-intelligence community. They use flashy wording or changes in word order to identify leaks.
Love your stance! It’s like WotC and Hasbro have forgotten that D&D is a game about people banding together to take down a BBEG; if they didn’t want this backlash then they shouldn’t have BECOME the BBEG!
Glad to see the regular staff at WOTC are on our side. It seems like the execs can't even breathe without shit getting leaked which has got to be frustrating for them. I'm guessing they feel like there's a hoard of sweating, screaming barbarians at their gates and traitors on the inside waiting to stab them in the back.
And honestly, it is through those very people that can save the company. If the execs are taken out and disposed of by the very employees they pissed on, then WotC will be able to salvage relations with the community again, and that is because it is clear the employees stand with us. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hasbro laid off some of these execs due to the backlash, and more importantly, the bottom line going under. I just hope that whoever is put in charge of WotC actually cares about the community, but let’s be honest, it will be another corporate puppet like always.
@@troybaxter I’m more worried that the people that will be fired are the employees leaking information. So far, WotC hasn’t made a competent decision during this whole affair, and firing the execs seems too intelligent to follow this trend.
@@Razshagaul I don’t know wha state they are in, but they will be protected by Whistleblower laws. If they are fired, they can and rightfully should file a wrongful termination lawsuit,
@@troybaxter I hope so; these guys want what’s best for the game far more than their bosses. I sincerely hope they win the internal war going on in WotC.
I especially like how they try to walk it back with language like, "it was only a draft that was never meant to be final" despite the fact that they already met with companies like kickstarter and negotiated deals with them based on the 1.1 ogl. They think we're all stupid.
@@rowlandp6314 i was discussing this yesterday and said i would like to be able to proudly state that i haven't paid for a dnd book since the '90s, but unfortunately the money i've spent on MtG over the years i played/collected (and i've been out of it since ToE) could probably keep the company floating until this whole thing settles down. : / that's the problem with MtG. the community can boycott, but they've already milked us for so much over the years it doesn't matter.
"Loud Voices" reminds me a lot of what companies called the opinions of heartfelt fans of other franchises when they disagreed with the direction their beloved stories were being taken. I pray that here is the turnaround. The most important thing is that people aren't just heated for a moment before getting bored, don't let them stall it out. Drive on in all of the numbers, and not stop until change is made.
I just wanna say, @DnD Shorts, thank you for all you are doing to try and keep us all informed about this, man. You are doing good work and I am sure I speak for the community when I say we greatly appreciate it
This feels like that one part of Persona 5 where the mob boss sees everyone else as just walking talking ATMs to take money from. That much be WotC's and Hasbro's cognition of us these days.
Research Antisocial personality disorders... Realize that is who is running the company... And that they, in their minds, are never wrong and are entitled to you and your money, and in their minds you are the Villains... Also, research the origin of the word Villain... That's basically what the show was trying to illustrate.
I'm so glad l never bought anything from beyond. It felt shady that they didn't honor physical purchases to begin with, and l wanted to have the physical books. This needs to be pushed all the way to their parent company, bring pressure from above and below. WotC is owned by Hasbro, symbol HAS. Keep an eye out for them dropping like a stone as these multiple lawsuits are felt, and keep pushing to be heard!
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind them charging for use if there was some way to register that you have the physical books. Like, “OK, normally it’s $29.99, but since you bought the book, it’s now $2.99.” Something like that would still make them money, but show the fans that their physical books aren’t useless.
Even though you have a lot of reasons to worry about your career right now, your fearlessness in giving Wizards the finger is nothing short of inspiring. Thank you for taking up the fight on behalf of this whole community. It's clear that you truly care. You have my sword. 🗡️
At least Calypso gave you what you asked for. Sure, if you say something like "I want people to see my face all around the world!" He'd just stretch your face across the earth, but it's the thought that counts
so proud of our community right now. part of me feared that we would be in the loud minority when this whole thing started, but we're going strong! thanks for making these videos. and know that we will keep watching your content no matter which ttrpg you move onto!
I've heard their Pathfinder 2e sales are doing pretty well. Oh, and they've offered a 25% discount to all of their books. That's what a big-dick giga Chad looks like :P
Well Paizo has already announced that they are making their own Open RPG Creative (ORC) License together with other publishers and creators which will be irrevocable and give it to a non-profit organization once it is finished so a future Paizo cannot mess with it.
I just bought the Pathfinder core rules, bestiary 1, gm guide, and lost omens world guide myself. I barely touch third party content in general but I appreciate its existence and find this new OGL to be unacceptable. I'm more than happy to support Paizo, even if I can't convince my table to convert to a more rules heavy system. I just won't buy any more D&D books for the foreseeable future when running my game.
8:53: "This community made you, not the other way around." A lesson that community-based companies always seem to forget, over and over and over again..
I think there are very few things more paaaaathetic and telling than, "NOT BECAUSE LOUD VOICES MADE US! TRUST US, WE'RE REALLY TOUGH AND STRONG. WE WERE ALWAYS WILLING TO CHANGE AND GROW 😬" Edit: you said it yourself. They have some intense SDE
his analysis was mostly talking points from Paizo's lawyers and sophistry. All the rending of garments over the OGL and half these streamers don't realize the exact same terms are in twich and youtubes TOS and have brought about no apocalypse in the gaming or streaming world. License to UA-cam: By providing Content to the Service, you grant to UA-cam a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license to use that Content (including to reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works, display and perform it) in connection with the Service and UA-cam’s (and its successors' and Affiliates') business, including for the purpose of promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service. License to Twitch: You grant Twitch a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to reproduce, store, distribute, perform, display, modify, and use Your Services for the purpose of operating Twitch Extensions, including marketing, branding, and promoting Twitch Extensions. You may terminate the license you grant Twitch in connection with Your Services, however, Twitch may continue to retain an Extension, and associated content, on its systems for archival purposes.
@@AldousBrave Your reply doesn't actually address anything they said in response in the FAQ, such as the traps in the language used in the FAQ. And even if we account for the vague similarity in these portions you quote, they TOS don't try to claim percentages of your profits, etc. The two are not even close to the same documents or with the same intent. Full stop.
@@danabenson8932 First unless you're literally a mind reader, you can make any claims about WotC's intent. WotC and others have rightly pointed out that the language granting that world wide license is standard boilerplate used by NUMEROUS companies at a global level, who are not just stealing content from their users, and that the intent of such language was to prevent being pulled in a case of 'you stole my work!' for publishing something similar to another's work. Secondly I'm not addressing their FAQ, I'm addressing the insane level of self-serving bad faith arguments I'm seeing from the community at large, as they just echo with no understanding. At the end of the day this whole debacle is fans being mobilized by a handful of million dollar companies who are bickering with a multimillion dollar company.
@@AldousBrave I can tell what their intent is by their actions and I was addressing the FAQ. What you're doing is avoiding addressing any points made in the video or that I agreed to and simply marching off on tangents of your own. Please feel free, but it doesn't disprove anything said by the video or my comment. As to intent? Retroactively taking percentages of other peoples profits made on products they created legally under an OGL that WoTC originally agreed to (company size be damned) tells me all I need to about their intent. It speaks volumes of truth without saying a word. Your allegiance is clear and I welcome you to it. But I refuse to any longer support a company that would take such actions against their community, contributors and fan base. They've proven to be a huge disappointment. And no fit stewards of the legacy of the product and brand they hold. Good day to you.
On a related note I'm hoping that the disgust towards the ogl debacle inspires those effected to look into other systems so they can flourish too. Pathfinder, starfinder, blades in the dark, world of darkness, etc all have in comparison tragically small communities and I would love to see wotc watch them grow as their stock plumets.
As a storyteller for only small systems, I can confirm that the communities are very small and need some new people coming in, It's very difficult to find new players for those systems and every time I post an ad looking for new players it quickly gets swallowed up by dozens and dozens of D&D ad's and ignored. D&D is such a massive thing on the TTRPG industry that, I was honestly happy when this whole drama started so smaller systems could potentially get a new flux of people looking for new systems to play. I hope D&D don't meet their end here, since the lives of many, many people depends on the game, but I do hope that their massive "monopoly" get desmantled and a bit of the comunnity find a new place in new systems.
MASSIVE respect to creators like you who put yourselves in the crosshair of Hasbro. I hope the bigger creators speak up soon, looking at you Critical Role and Dimension 20
would not surprise me if they stay in a neutral position, as to not cause flames from either fans or wotc, and most likely waiting to see the final result, although since they both have special contracts with wotc, i dont think they will release any kind of response at all, as either way their brands will continue since that is really what they care about the most
Critical Role/Matt Mercer probably won't be able to comment on it cause they have officially published stuff that they definitely had to sign a contract for
They most likely are under contractual obligations not to speak up/act upon any of these leaks, they probably will have something to say after the official release of the new OGL, and I hope that response is that they are cutting ties with WotC
@@gabrielbustamante3167 They probably won't cut any ties, because their own cash flow is dependent on these ties (as they produce original content based on DND).
Good job pointing out usage rights as being of utmost importance for creators. It's big in the entertainment industry at large so if you are a creative, always read through your contracts thoroughly for usage rights! Many include perpetual rights forever and include any new or yet to be invented media types.
WOTC has pissed on the wrong community, which I am incredibly proud to be a part of. They have gravely underestimated the intelligence, loyalty, passion & persistence of this wonderful group of people that has banned together. Thank you for all that you do and for sharing!
@@enforcer0175 the difference is they've been pissing on MtG'ers for years and have learned they can get away with it, and they assumed the DnD community would roll over and take it just the same. but apparently, they were mistaken.
I love how Dnd shorts keeps up high energy and happy music in the background despite the entire game he's built his account around is crumbling into ash. this kind of beautiful content is what makes Dnd what it is, not Hasbro or WOTC
There has been a statement released after this video was recoreded/released on the dnd beyond website saying they're pulling back on the ogl, however, They're still going to change the OGL so keep you're torches and pitchforks at the ready for the shady stuff they'll inevitably put in the actual release
I really shouldn't be surprised that they're doubling down, but holy hell they're actually doubling down!? lol I really hope that we as a community manage to keep the pressure up for as long as possible!
@@AldousBrave Most of WoTC's revenue is from D&D beyond subscription fees and digital products. There's already been a mass cancellation of subscriptions with more piling up each day. And we are absolutely going to keep this as public as possible and try to keep people from D&D beyond. That's how we keep up pressure.
@@AldousBrave They're going to try and get us to forget about this in 6 months. I'd rather that didn't happen. Besides, this is about more than just the OGL to me. WotC hasn't exactly been consistent when it comes to the quality of their material. Plus, just because they might 180 on the OGL, doesn't mean they're going to 180 on the egregious monetisation they have planned. More pressure now means they'll have to earn back more good will by not being scummy.
I have watched over 1000 hours of DnD videos over a few years and now I just started my first campaign with my friends. Didn't think my first campaign would be my last. All the hours of watching min maxing videos feel like a such a waste. Thanks for keeping us informed DnD Shorts.
In a similar boat- spent countless hours watching great UA-camrs explain DM tutorials, was teeing up my first game - and blammmo ! This happens. I think Piazos Pathfinder is a similar system so I’m hoping it’s all transferable skills, coz that’s where I’m going ! Good luck 👍
Don't let WotC determine if you play RPGs or not. Personally I will still be playing 5e but will not be supporting or purchasing any more content from WotC
We need to keep strong and not back down. Cancellations for DnD Beyond need to continue, even as they hide the cancellation button. We need to refuse to sign the new OGL. The big wigs in charge need to know that this community won’t fall for their scams. They need to feel the wrath of a united community that has supported them for decades and one who will not take this.
To think, I started watching you with your first shorts. That beautiful goofy man has become a centrepiece of the community I love so much. Thank you for your updates my dude, we are all super grateful for you 🙏🏼
I’ll add this here, WotC says they are doing this to protect their IP. Except! In the current OGL 1.0a you already cannot use their IP, it’s the very first paragraph!
The D&D community backlash on this stupidly bad attempt at basically throwing shit at your customers and see if they just take it, makes me proud to be part of it. As much as it did when the MtG community rallied in a similar way to the anniversary product released very recently. And wow, now that I think of it, those are some big, bad decisions regarding your biggest money makers in a short time!... Thanks for the video and stand strong.🙂❤️
My gods. I'd expect contracts like this to come from archdevils of the nine hells with how they are trying to mess you over. I think even Asmodeus would be slightly impressed by their gall.
At least you get a benefit to sign a contract with a devil, even better, a devil wouldn't lie but will try to deceive you with clever words. Woth WotC you don't get any better benefit from them.
@@AGrumpyPanda Yeah, I have a feeling Asmodeus would be shaking his head and sighing at the lack of thought that went into this contract and use it as a training tool to teach imps how to NOT make contracts. Know your target!
Man does it always go to shit when I join a community 😭 I just bought three books and now I feel bad because I was only feeding their greed. Hopefully this gets better. Just got into DND and I don’t want to leave so soon.
Don’t leave dnd just don’t support wotc they can’t stop you from playing and using what you want and for books you can always buy used so it only supports the actual store not wotc
Everyone can still play with the books they own. D&D, the game, has been around since the 1970's. It has survived a number of ups and downs and changes. It will survive this fiasco as well. The community will band together and keep it alive without supporting Hasbro and WotC. What the game looks like in another 10 years remains to be seen.
Support 3rd parties who re-sell theirs online, but you can always take the dangerous route and pirate through books via pdf, though for legal reasons I cannot suggest that.
We aren't the biggest obstacle to "their" money they are. I wish companies like them would realize they only exist today because of us because we cared about the stuff they made but now since they've decided to destroy our trust with them they deserve every bit of financial lost they get. As far as I'm concerned they only way they could potentially fix this is if they cancel their plans to release the new ogl and stay with the original ogl but even then damage has been done.
Exactly. We are like train track builders. Yeah they may make the core of the train but we allow it to move forward with the support of the community. If a train company decides to be greedy and make contracts like wizards of the coast the builders will leave and find a better employer.
Nerd power baby!! The community is the best part of DnD. In our campaigns we also try to defeat the big bad at the end... looks like we now know who that is!! I hope this channel keeps doing what it does your stuff is awesome chap!!
It would be really awesome if Paizo and the others came together to create not only a common license, but an open-source RPG ruleset, akin to GNU/Linux that the community could gather around.
Have to say your level headed, but passionate and thorough breakdowns of this topic have been a light in this hellscape. As a MTG player and someone who just got back into in person D&D in the last 2 years i am really disappointed in WoTC .This has been a nightmare but realy have always appreciated your vids and take on the situation.
This is the exact reason I like having hard copies to my source books; no need for the subscription. If you do want the books available online, there are other ways. For legal reasons, I'm not referring to piracy and am in no way suggesting you should go to a website that has the rules available and download a PDF containing all of the sourcebooks and supplementary content.
Its kinda heartwarming to see the community so united. But i wish it wasnt because of this. I am fully ready to just play anything but DnD if thats what it comes to
Apparently Wotc has hidden the unsubscribe button on D&DB. Since they can't legally stop you from unsubbing, they just removed the button and replaced it with a hard to find link to a website instead.
Was it...? For me it was just at the Subscription tab of the account, I could cancel the subscription fairly easily. Sure, i have not deleted my account, but that's something else entirely. Hell, Facebook made it MUCH more difficult to delete the account.
I love how like every statement i read i immediately found their legal loophole, like with contract signing they are able to copy your stuff. Its like they are not even hiding it well its just so on the nose and they still think they can pull it off.
Be sure to like, comment, and share, y'all! That's the way to get the algorithm to show this to more people so we can make our voice as a community heard!
I've just now gotten into D&D. Have not had my first play session, yet, but me and my friends have been preparing. One of them has the books and an Adventure ready to go. Hearing about D&D all these years, I always thought it was a community driven thing. Sure, official books come out to help players. The amount of creativity I've seen in this community is nothing short of astounding. Now a company I've never heard of and HASBRO of all companies (didnt know they had a hold on D&D) are wanting to take that away. How long has D&D been around? I remember my Mom telling me about it when she was a kid. It's awesome the community is banding together in these troubling times. As a newbie, I'm here too. 👍
The first edition of D&D was released in 1974, so D&D is coming up on 50 years. The community was very slowly built-up over time and all of the earliest fans were likely bullied relentlessly for even talking about it. WotC has vastly underestimated how passionate people are for the franchise.
I played my 1st game in 1979 and am glad you and your friends have found the community. Go ahead and play for a bit while things settle, i will still be playing with my friends. Look for some great role playing content coming from other sources. :)
@@Tawleyn Bullied relentlessly doesn't even properly express it. It was called the satanic panic for a reason. There were people who were murdered who's only crime was they played a board game during that period.
@@Tawleyn truth is the older fans are still bullied today. just for playing and seeing the game in a different way by the younger generation and WOTC. but what is interesting the old fan will play there game the way they want inspite of all this. what nice is that even the older fans are standing with younger against WOTC right now on this issue. i started playing D&D when i was 7 and that was 40 years ago
It's important to remember that D&D is not the company that sells it, D&D is the wonderful community and amazing communities that make the system what it is. Rally against the people trying to take this awesome game from us, but don't abandon it. There are plenty of 3rd party channels and resources when it comes to D&D.
@@hopelives7469 There already is a replacement (in the making). Paizo has announced working on the ORC Licence which is exactly what the OGL was, just broader and free from company greed. Many other publishers like Green Ronin, Legendary Games and Kobold Press already subscribed to that.
@@mikaeru2079 Exciting times! WotC will try to make the community believe everyone is staying with D&D, I hope the community doesn't fall for that! Let's go!
Sometimes just interacting with the video is enough, your pushing it further up youtubes algorithm so kore people see it! Continue to kick up a stink! ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN OGL 1.0!
Normally the company waiting for people to forget would worry me but at this point I see this only getting worse for wizards as all of the most popular streamers and creators migrate away from the game.
The fact that WOTC thought that the DND community, which is legendary for RULES LAWYERING would take their FAQ at face value is hilarious. It's a good thing they didn't go through with the public announcement of this, I hope they realized just how much worse it would make it and are fundamentally reconsidering things.
Warning to anyone trying to cancel their account on DDB: if you attempt to cancel it , it will result in an error message and you wont be able to delete it, same goes for the DDB, they deleted the manage account button.
This is SOOOO SAD, i feel bad for the DnD community. I never got into DnD but i JUST NOW started to grow in interest (thanks to Viva la dirt DnD sessions) and was talking to my g/f and friend and we as interested in trying to do a DnD session (finding a experience DM so we don't screw it up too much as noobs) We even made character sheets and backstories to get ready for when we plan on playing and this happens :(. I hope this is resolved quickly and hopefully this terrible move will stop WotC from making another terrible move for awhile.
Personally I want to see an Open TTRPG Alliance formed. Basically a non-profit organization staffed by various publishers, creators, and DMs from the TTRPG community tasked with creating a core set of rules and content that everyone in the TTRPG community could build upon. The core rules and content would be released under an open license like the Creative Commons BY license (the one that allows for commercial use). This would prevent the current situation from ever happening again as no one publisher would control the system.
⚔️ Thanks for Rallying the Troops! Amazing creators like you are who inspired me to start creating D&D content in the first place and seeing you all take the lead in the battle against this oppressive company has really given me the motivation to do what I can as well. Keep being awesome, you always have my support!
WOTC lost me at "micro transaction" but the OGL firmly planted me in their competitors camps. It is so much easier to get a Rolemaster group together now than it has been since the 90's so ....thanks Hasbro!
We have to stick together against this money grubbing tyranny. Im so irritated that we have to discuss this crap instead of getting new homebrew content we all love learning. Now, all lore videos by people I won't mention out of channel respect have slowed or haulted since this garbage... Glad to see some more light ahead for us. As a small member of the community, I fear all I can do is eSign anything that helps us, and cast "Wish" consistently. Thank you again for everything you and your peepz do including keeping us updated. Stand up, stand strong, stand together!
@@kalashnikovdevil Don't get mixed up my friend, it's WOTC that's the issue. D&D has a great community but the hours and money I spent on WOTC product for someone trying to market the communities imagination as commercialized property for as many more bucks they can get. They are taxing our the imagination of the D&D community. I won't give up on us but I don't like WOTC's bs.
This community is amazing, and it shows. WotC already delayed this announcement because they are terrified of you. We know what they think of us now, we're in the driving seat.
We have more information, but I'm not posting anything I can't verify to be real.
All the info in this video was checked over and discussed with lawyers, but keep in mind WotC may change the OGL wording between versions they try to push through. At the moment, this FAQ and the leaked OGL is the most up to date information I can verify. Remember to cancel on D&D Beyond!
Wizards of the Coast & Hasbro somehow forgot they make games with passionate fans that use stacks of textbook sized rule books.
Do you burry your mic in your beard? 0-0 I wouldn't be able to ignore the rustling in my face fuzz.
Honestly, after listening to the podcast Opening Arguments episode 675 with Lawyer Andrew Torrez, I feel I'm getting a more nuanced opinion on the necessity of the new OGL!!!
I highly recommend that people listen to his take on the situation!
Personally I want to see an Open TTRPG Alliance formed. Basically a non-profit organization staffed by various publishers, creators, and DMs from the TTRPG community tasked with creating a core set of rules and content that everyone in the TTRPG community could build upon. The core rules and content would be released under an open license like the Creative Commons BY license (the one that allows for commercial use). This would prevent the current situation from ever happening again as no one publisher would control the system.
gaslighting is a weak thing to say. i have held off on commenting. but lets be real. they have a legit claim. now is it fucked up. it sure is. but critical roll, and all the other things like that, that make people thousands and thousands of dollars, would no be possible withouth the entire game of dnd. and you all know this. that has always been the funniest thing to me with content creators. like bro i love your channel. its lit. BUT. they own DND. and if ur gonna take their product, which they inviented, and make money off of it, while not having to pay them anything. its just like how u cant use copyrighted music in your youtube videos. no one complains about that. but DND is a copyrighted game. they own it. if they want their cut, u give it to them. or find another system. is it greedy. sure. but do they got the right to be this greedy. they sure do. its theirs. what if i decided to just "react" to all of your videos as my youtube channel and i blew up. 500k subs. off of your work. im sure u would feel some sort of way. not a single dnd content creator, created dnd. u dont get to complain like they owe u something. buys their game doesnt give u the creative freedom to do as you please. you guys are just making it harder on yourselves. all this negative backlash isnt going to effect them. ur still gonna play dnd. and they sill gonna make money. anyways. bring on the hate lol.
Given this is the game that literally inspired the term "rules lawyer", I don't think WoTC quite realises just how much we are willing to read and rip apart every part of their bollocks.
Please don’t use the word bollocks concerning the OGL 2.0. It’s an insult to bollocks.
@@LocalMaple please don't use the acronym OGL when referring to OGL 2.0
It's an insult to OGL's
@@lesouth0348exactly the correct term Is GGL, greedy gremlin lisence
@@Zankyo137 Gremlins are fun; this is rubbish.
Let's go with CHL, Content Hoarding License!
@@Zankyo137 NOGL (not open gaming licence), pronounced "no gee el"
It's almost as if WotC doesn't realize that this game specifically attracts people who are fiendishly detail-oriented readers and actively encourages players to become loophole- and trap-detection bloodhounds.
meta gamers: reading through 2.0 "lawsuit lawsuit lawsuit, blabla, contradicting sections" looks at dndb "no manage account button, hmmmmmm..... larceny"
Totally
They set out a line of rakes expecting the community to just march onto them and forgetting it's a community known to spend hours poking an imagined door because the DM sounded like they put too much time describing it FOR FUN!
yeah ....do they even know what game this is
@@UlshaRS XD your example is not just "too real" it's "Fact".
WotC: "The average customer won't read, or even understand the new OGL. We'll be fine."
Their average player: "I can create 10 different character sheets with pen and paper, and fill them in with 10,000 memorized feats and traits, then recall the exact grapple rules from 3.0."
This is a hobby that's dear to a very large number of very fanatical, very intelligent, and very CREATIVE people.
Exactly…
IMPORTANT: At 9:32 refer to this document as a "leaked draft". I mispoke, it isn't a "draft", it is a finished statement intended for release alongside an updated OGL.
This is an example of the power of messaging by WotC, they keep referring to "drafts" to distance themselves from the terrible things they try and do. Don't fall for it like I did when communicating this information!
I suspect there will be a good sized queue when you have gathered sufficient pitchforks and torches (and we're both British we'll love a bloody queue!)
Should probably pin this comment
A Cold Draft issued from the Necromancers hand as it tried to take me to it's side, the side of death, once there you cannot pass, it was made by the dead, & is kept by the dead!
might want to add this to the pinned comment
I don’t have a DnD Beyond subscription, how else can I help? I’ve been subscribing to every creator I have found that is talking about this and I certainly won’t be buying any more products from WotC.
Don't know if I was expecting Shorts to emerge as the General in this war, but shit, I'm here for it.
Dude same
Lead me warleader!
Him and Crabby are wild
Shorts, you have my sword
@@lejandario7779 And my bow!
I have a nearly 400-page doc full of reworks and homebrew all of my own creation. For a while, I considered sending it as an application to wotc thinking "What's the worst that could happen?" I'm so glad I never did.
Publish it under ORC in some form.
It's rather hilarious how much Wizards has never taken to heart the phrase "don't bite the hand that feeds you."
Like Trying to fight Vecna at LvL 1
They’ve probably been imagining that they were the feeding hand, blinded by megalomania
@@knuckles543 vecna cant use a staff of the magi and it irritates me
That’s the thing. They don’t see us as those who feed it. They see us as food. And we have to show them that they can’t take a bite out of us without us biting back.
Wizards is the hand though...
With a community that loves to obsess over the exact wordage of RAW, I can't believe they thought they could slip a bad contract past us.
I'd argue that, given how apparently there are so many jokes about how few people have actually read the 5e rules, they may have been hoping to get that past them. However, that would mean these chuckle fucks were actually paying attention to the community, so never mind.
Never mess with a warlock over contracts, they've had to learn how to loophole like their life depended on it
Yup, further proof that they don't know the community and under estimate us.
It's important to remember that WotC has actually attempted this in the past with the release of 4th Edition which in turn led to the creation of Paizo and their largest competitor at the time. Who's to say that won't happen again.
It's already happening. Search up Kobold Press, MCDM, Green Ronin, Legendary Games, Roll for Combat and Rogue Genius Games, to name a few
And once again Paizo steps up saying "You didn't learn the lesson old man".
Long live the age of pathfinder.
Minor correction cause I see this a lot: Paizo existed long before 4th edition. They were there since basically the inception of 3rd edition, and took over running Dungeon and Dragon magazine. If anyone played back then, I don't think they'd argue its a stretch to say that those magazines were THE community back then when the only other place to find community content was disparate internet forums. The content they helped publish was equivalent to the amazing kickstarters we have in the 5e sphere today. They only broke off to form their own RPG after WoTC effectively cancelled the magazines leading up to the start of 4e. But yes, the GSL and WoTC's blunders with community outreach were a huge contributor to the success of the Pathfinder RPG they would go on to make (which lets not forget was made as spiritual successor to the things people adored about 3rd edition)
@@PlatonicLiquid my bad, thanks
Never heard of Paizo before...
The fact that their employees are leaking like MAD right now, like every single PR response they prepare is undermined by someone in their company, says a lot. I've never seen leaks to this degree before.
Because the creators working there are just as much fans of the game as we are.
ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
They love the game, they want to see it prosper, and they get absolutely fucked by the execs. This is the only way of fighting back available to them. So leak away, please!
@@ArDeeMee Was coming here to say this. There may be a lot of people working for WOTC that aren't gamers, but I simply can't imagine the company that MAKES Dungeons and Dragons not having a bunch of gamers as a part of it!
Don't makes nerds angry, Hasbro.
You wouldn't like us when we're angry.
@@ArDeeMee Not only that but many of them came to the attention of WOTC through the OGL. They know how important it is to the future of D+D because they have a job through it. Unlike the execs at the top they are not just then gamers but they are people who the OGL has directly helped, and they rightly, want to make sure it is around to help others.
Those who are leaking it want the best for the game because they are one of us
It's like working in a large corporation or government. The administration and worker bees know what's going on with the community, and probably warn management of any stupid decisions, but management is like FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! As someone who works in government, I can tell you with certainty, no one listens to the public service, lol. ;)
I'm impressed. For a channel that leaned into quick hits, humor and cheese, DnD Shorts has become one of the loudest and most effective rabble rousers in the OGL 1.1 crisis. Keep it up!
One word: passion
Or greed?
Don't mess with the Bald Bearded Barbarian!!!
Because the passion is there, and it HITS LIKE A TRUCK
LIKE A TRUCK 🚚 🛻
DnD Community normally: *Arguing about snake boobs*
DnD Community now: *United against WotC*
Good job WotC, you managed to unite the community!
They have done what pineapple on pizza could not
errr... when did snakes get boobs? Did I miss something? 😅
I think the thing that amazes me most about this whole situation is that the higher ups at Wizards are so disconnected from the community that they didn't think for a second that a community filled with nerds who have dedicated decades into the art of arguing with each other about rules, wording, interpretation and detecting bullshit *wouldn't* immediately curbstomp any attempt they try at pulling this shit in the first place
it worked before with a community that are even more filled with nerds *points at mtg*.
It's honestly inspiring
Most heads of department/ ceo don't care about the product they sell. They only care about profits
@@deettee6794 DnD's content is far more community driven than MtG, that's why Hasbro and WotC's greed play here is hitting a lot more issues than their greed play in MtG. I do think they will eventually get what they want though sadly, that is more money, but it will cost them a large section of the market to do so. But that just means a huge opportunity for other TRPGs like pathfinder, call of cthulu, or the warhammer TTRPGs to grow and eat into DnD's market share. About time honestly.
Damn good point.
I cant believe they expected us to just sit down and take it. It fills me with a level of pride seeing a whole community band together and refuse corporate greed at this scale.
It has worked for MtG for years.
Fighting the BBEG by getting together and carefully reading things is what we do.
@@JMD031 exactly this, they managed to mug off mtg fans because they kept buying the new sets and pre cons even after the 30th anniversary debacle
But dnd fans have just gone, nah fuck ya
Wish MTG fans did the same
Mr Krabs: Hello, I like money.
@@TimStamper89 Not to say that mtg is small by any means, but compared to dnd, it kind of is. They've been able to fly under the radar with mtg and will probably continue to do so.
Wizards can’t kill D&D. Your DM may become a GM and the games may take a different name. I just hope we can find a big enough umbrella that our beloved creators can keep getting their content out there to the same number of eyeballs
I mean, there's enough content to keep playing for years without giving any more money to WOTC. And after that, there's literally dozens of other great fantasy ttrpgs. I hear pathfinder is pretty nice.
@@jonassanoj3045 I’m hyped for what Kobold Press is putting together. I own most of the 5e books in physical copies and, yeah, I could just work off those to DM. What this honestly hurts is the optimization channels. WOTC provided a universal language for optimancers at every table. If D&D sinks those channels are going to have to find a new, popular system to keep producing content that’s as wide-reaching.
@@deschaingames1851 That's true, I hadn't considered that! On the other hand, if they DO find a common new system that might bring new life to the optimization scene; a fresh start, almost.
Are you implying that you hope content starts to be marketed to beholders?
@@yaelz6043 Maybe. Some Beholders are cool and comment under UA-cam videos. Not that I’ve ever seen one with my two human eyes that are both firmly planted in my skull bone.
I love the way Shorts is going full balls to the wall and burning all WotC bridges. Way to go you beatiful bearded British man.
I think he is from Brazil, agree otherwise!
@@simolinno4362 with that accent? And just look at his beard.
@Simo Linno No he's very British and has said so
@@JodieAdam "I turned D&D into a game show..." Blaine Simple video 17:35 mabye he just lives there, dunno
Continue the onslaught! Destroy them all!
It sounds like they really thought people would just sign a contract saying they can steal all your stuff and that you can't do anything about it. That's not a contract, that's robbery.
Worked for a lot of video game companies.
Taxes.
blizzard, warcraft 3. 'any mod/game mode you make, is ours' :D because dota and LoL :D
@@Talatharas Yeah. I noped out of Blizzard games after they gave me a "complimentary" update that includes a line to steal all of the creative content of custom games.
Screw that. No amount of "b-but muh shareholders" can justify it.
@@Talatharas Warcraft 3 Reforged. The original didn't have it and they went to court over who owned DotA, since Valve all of the sudden did DotA 2 haha. Blizz lost.
WOTC: could've used the DND IP to create their own orginal content and make money off of that
Also WOTC: we suck at making content so let's just milk and gaslight the community
i mean anytime they try it gets stuck in development hell or ends up not great like the mtg mmo, the recent dnd game, the dnd movie was in hell for a bit, and the mtg anime has been "coming soon" since like 2019
Sega: oh did you take my ip and make an awesome game out of it? You're hired
We want new people to trick because veteran writers like Weis and Hickman already knew our tricks.
@@shealupkes Sega does what nintendont
They Sue Regularly......
As a 52 year old Grognard, I can only shake my head and laugh at how companies never learn from their own histories and mistakes.
TSR danced part of this back in the day and lost even.
You love to see it. It's like all the employees fleeing Activision/Blizzard and EA to go do their own thing. Evil can only corrupt, but boy howdy can good create.
History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure as hell rhymes.
Same age, gaming since 1980, and yeah -- I'm having the same laugh. Those who don't know their game industry history are doomed, etc etc.
What's a Grognard?
It’s because a new generation of MBA grads doesn’t know that history
We need to make sure they take it ALL back, not just take some of it back. These guys will make you think it's a win, if they get rid of some of the things they said, due to backlash, but they can still win unless you have them take everything back to the way it was.
👧: Daddy, I want a pony!
👨: No.
👧: Daddy, I really really want a pony!
👨: No.
👧: Daddy, *_I want a pony!_*
👨: [sigh] You can't have a pony, but if I get you a puppy will you shut up?
👧: [pouting] Oh, fine!
👧: [secretly] Easiest puppy ever!
I don’t care if they ever take it back. The fact this was on the table in the first place should be enough for everyone to leave WotC behind.
@cyotee doge this would be a really good time for some of these other table top games to up their advertising spending and play off of wotc being on bullshit.
It's like a whole guild of adventurers are literally gearing up for a boss fight. 🥰
when the dust clears it turns out its one goblin, trying to puff itself up and look vicious, against people who have fought GODS. lol
LETS GGGOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
At this point I think it’s more apt to say that we are all gearing up for war then just a simple bbeg fight.
@@PartytimeYOLO puny gods^^
Against the guild leader.
For as upsetting as this is I am incredibly proud of how the community is standing up for itself.
they forgot we could use pack tactics
Wow, the gaslighting with that "we've always been looking out for the community" line.
Naw, they were looking out for A community. Just not OUR community.
I do love how this backfired in such a spectacular way. It burned WotC and galvanized the community to make fundamental change. I can't wait to what comes of the Open RPG Creative License (ORC) (great anagram).
Acronym, friend. Fully agree with you on all counts, though.
Nothing has "Backfire" HAS stock is up. That is the only score board.
I cancelled my recurring subscription today. I intentionally waited for the 13th to do it. I wrote to them how I've been playing D&D since I was 7 (and I'm 48 now) and that as a parent I'll be avoiding the Hasbro brand when I purchase toys for my children. The damage to the goodwill they've generated over the decades will be hard to recover from, but I sincerely hope they'll fix what they've done.
I haven't been in as long as you but I've got a solid 15 years behind me and I just went ahead and submitted the request to cancel my DnDBeyond account. Unfortunately, even if they straighten up, how long before they do it again? Once you bite the hand that feeds, you know they're hungry. So sticking your hand in the cage again is just asking for it to be bitten again.
@@PandaBuddy19 I agree. The risk now is on the table and is still there even if they rescind everything from the last month.
That's the thing about this whole ordeal. I shall explain with a poker analogy. If you show everyone your biggest tell, you have a ton more work ahead of you in order to win the hand. They might as well fold at this point.
"We never said that,
and even if we said that, we didn't mean it
and even if we meant it, you just misunderstood it
and even if you did understand it, it's no big deal
and even if it is a big deal, other companies are worse."
-Wizards Of The Coast, 1/13/2023
Only bad part of this whole situation is that the people that are in long term contracts with WOTC are going to be accused of being sellouts or just as greedy. They're going to be some of the biggest victims of this nightmare and may not be able to say or do anything until their contracts expire, WOTC goes under, or WOTC is forced to back down.
Hopefully when the ORC is finished it will give those creators the out they need and prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
Hopefully those in long term contracts have a clause about ‘damage to their brand as a result of this agreement’ and can find a way out of those agreements if they feel the need to do so.
@@orangutantapioca1530 I'd argue right now WotC may be liable even to people it isn't directly contracted with for the damage this causes. If an advertiser cancels a relationship with a content producer over the claims made by them this may amount to tortious interference if they can prove knowledge on the business relationship...
I was literally going to say this, like critical role are 100% in a long term contract with them, and everyone is like “why are critical role not saying anything! It must mean they agree with WoTC.” When their silence is them freaking out and trying to figure out how tf this wont hurt their company. People forget they have been tied to dndbeyond before WotC bought dndbeyond and especially after its not that easy to just get out of a contract, and they cant say anything against them because of it. Essentially their hands are tied unless they can get out of that contract.
People are already starting to talk bad about Critical Role. CR LLC has their own license with WOTC, and wouldn't be affected by the OGL. It would probably violate their contract by speaking ill of WOTC. It is financial suicide for them to come out against WOTC, so their only choice is to remain silent. Even though Matthew Mercer has liked Anti-OGL posts on Twitter, I doubt it will be enough for the "You're either with me, or against me" crowd.
@@Dakarn A damned if you do and damned if you don't situation if there ever was one, which really sucks cause those people won't let things go even if the stars do align and CR can get out of whatever contracts bind them and finally get the the chance to speak out against it.
WotC & Hasbro thought DnD was under monetized before… their response has been the most “hold my beer” moment anyone has seen in ages!
You know who isn't going to struggle with that in the future? Paizo.
I didn't even use their 25% discount. I was happy to pay full price on their core books as I want to support them. Fuck Hasbro.
@@kelly4187 I am very happy more people are trying new systems after all of this bullshit... So many people get this entrenched prior investment bias and do not like trying new things...this broke the consumers to the point they are WILLING and HAPPY to try new things.
This is beautiful. Suddenly, across the world, across cultures, generations, as varied as the lands we've walked together in our minds... a lot of very quiet people SUDDENLY all stood up, at once, together, and said 'No.'
We are family. We are kin. There are more of us than we thought.
i just love this
Chaotic good Human here saying F your laws! For the good of creativity!!! For freedom!
It’s a game dude
@@JoeyBilbo That's the problem. To them it is just a game. To us, it is _our_ game. _Our_ beloved treasure. To us, it is _so_ much more.
Amen!
I think my favorite thing about this whole backlash, is how Wizards thought they could graze all of their shady b*ll sh*t under the gamers noses by just using legal jargon and big words that they figured the general consumer wouldn’t understand or care about…without even considering HOW MANY LAWYERS might play D&D recreationally, get REALLY pissed off and pull the whole thing apart for us normal humans to understand! Not to mention the number of D&D party players who’ve had to deal with a DM offering them a very sus contract given to them by a totally not corrupt or shady NPC 🤣
Roll for Sense Motive and the entire community rolls Nat 20s
insight check time. this is the moment all us people with those kinds of DMs have literally been training for
They literally prepared us for this! 🤣🤣
@@phoxpharms I rolled a 3 on my Insight check and the DM said they seemed trustworthy... so now I'm not taking any chances. Prep a short rest everybody, I'm taking 20 on this one!
Trooff
Another masterpiece! Thank you for what you're doing to support this movement!
Hi, didn't expect you here!
whats up luke?
I love how they completely changed their stance again after you released this. Keep holding their feet to the fire-you and the rest of the D&D community are doing great work. It's important to document the changing stances Wizards tries to hide behind to show people they cannot be trusted.
I wonder if the term “Rules Lawyers” never made it to their ears. So many players read the fine print in their own campaign, what made them think that they wouldn’t do it to them?
I read their official release from a couple hours ago. It IS gaslighting at its finest
Na gaslighting "at its finest" is extremely hard to notice. This is gaslighting at its weakest.
I’m gonna miss my dnd beyond subscription.
Legal eagle, super UA-cam lawyer, slated to release an OGL video and I’m excited to see his take on it.
If there’s any silver lining it’s seeing the community almost universally stating “we made you, we can unmake you”
Finally I’ll reiterate your final point. The regular people at WotC, the ones who are our immediate contacts, are on our side. Treat them well, their suffering with us.
Legal eagle. That's the shit I'm talking about.
I truly think hasbro does not understand how interconnected internet communities are. This stuff isn't even staying within tabletop gaming circles.
WotC is gunna go out not with a shout but with a whimper as the community sinks the company.
It's too bad that Legal Eagle is a shitty lawyer. But every hand can help.
Not particularly a big fan of legal eagle but at least he's trying to help. The guy is fairly smart, but very often is quick to say ridiculous things about subjects he knows essentially nothing about so long as he thinks saying these ridiculous things will make his fans happy.
100%!
Everything they do and say just continues to break my heart into smaller and smaller pieces... What the hell are they doing to D&D
Mr hasbro, whose decision caused 40% dip in the company is in panic to get more money (look at the game illegal 1k$ MTG anniversary cards)
You have to separate the "they" who work at D&D and the "they" who run WotC. The upper management is who's making all these horrific changes after Hasbro came and told them to start making money. At least some people who work at D&D have been brave enough to supply us with info even though it would most likely cost them their job if they were found out.
Besides, D&D was never about the books or lore or any of that. It was about the adventures we had with our friends. Take heart, those friends and those stories will be there whatever happens.
The Might of Greed is Something very Ugly!
They are stimulating an evolution - it *is* heart breaking, I've played since the very early 1980s...it's hard to disconnect the warm feelings from the shiv in the back...but, all things change. In the medium term and beyond it'll be great for us and not so much for them.
They are doing the same thing that is/was done to Tolkien's work, Stan Lee's ( and many other's) work. The amount of popular IP's that have been defiled, grows larger by the day.
Sadly I cannot say that it surprises me that they are doing the D&D community dirty. Look what they did to Starwars fans.
Paizo volunteered to take the ring to Mordor, Kobold Press, Chaosium, and Green Ronin offered their sword, bow and axe.
Nicely done on your lawyers part. The canary trap is a classic in the counter-intelligence community. They use flashy wording or changes in word order to identify leaks.
Love your stance! It’s like WotC and Hasbro have forgotten that D&D is a game about people banding together to take down a BBEG; if they didn’t want this backlash then they shouldn’t have BECOME the BBEG!
Glad to see the regular staff at WOTC are on our side. It seems like the execs can't even breathe without shit getting leaked which has got to be frustrating for them. I'm guessing they feel like there's a hoard of sweating, screaming barbarians at their gates and traitors on the inside waiting to stab them in the back.
im pretty sure many of the staff at WOTC ARE part of the community and feels this even deeper then we do
And honestly, it is through those very people that can save the company. If the execs are taken out and disposed of by the very employees they pissed on, then WotC will be able to salvage relations with the community again, and that is because it is clear the employees stand with us.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hasbro laid off some of these execs due to the backlash, and more importantly, the bottom line going under. I just hope that whoever is put in charge of WotC actually cares about the community, but let’s be honest, it will be another corporate puppet like always.
@@troybaxter I’m more worried that the people that will be fired are the employees leaking information. So far, WotC hasn’t made a competent decision during this whole affair, and firing the execs seems too intelligent to follow this trend.
@@Razshagaul I don’t know wha state they are in, but they will be protected by Whistleblower laws. If they are fired, they can and rightfully should file a wrongful termination lawsuit,
@@troybaxter I hope so; these guys want what’s best for the game far more than their bosses. I sincerely hope they win the internal war going on in WotC.
I especially like how they try to walk it back with language like, "it was only a draft that was never meant to be final" despite the fact that they already met with companies like kickstarter and negotiated deals with them based on the 1.1 ogl. They think we're all stupid.
I don't play DND but you guys have the support of the MTG community; we're all in this together
The mtg community has been getting screwed for years. Im ashamed to be a mtg player these days. Now dnd can join us lol.
Hear hear!
It's really a shame WotC is being such a pain in the neck right now. I was recently thinking about learning how to play Magic.
Feel sorry for those of us that play both .........
@@rowlandp6314 i was discussing this yesterday and said i would like to be able to proudly state that i haven't paid for a dnd book since the '90s, but unfortunately the money i've spent on MtG over the years i played/collected (and i've been out of it since ToE) could probably keep the company floating until this whole thing settles down. : /
that's the problem with MtG. the community can boycott, but they've already milked us for so much over the years it doesn't matter.
"Loud Voices" reminds me a lot of what companies called the opinions of heartfelt fans of other franchises when they disagreed with the direction their beloved stories were being taken.
I pray that here is the turnaround. The most important thing is that people aren't just heated for a moment before getting bored, don't let them stall it out. Drive on in all of the numbers, and not stop until change is made.
The great part about all of this is that our actions are very simple. Don’t give them a fucking dime and piss on the contract if you ever see it.
I just wanna say, @DnD Shorts, thank you for all you are doing to try and keep us all informed about this, man. You are doing good work and I am sure I speak for the community when I say we greatly appreciate it
This feels like that one part of Persona 5 where the mob boss sees everyone else as just walking talking ATMs to take money from. That much be WotC's and Hasbro's cognition of us these days.
I play magic and have been having this EXACT THOUGHT for about a year. Great minds!
Kaneshiro palace
Man Persona 5 (and really the Persona series in general) has always had some downright incredible symbolism.
Research Antisocial personality disorders... Realize that is who is running the company... And that they, in their minds, are never wrong and are entitled to you and your money, and in their minds you are the Villains...
Also, research the origin of the word Villain...
That's basically what the show was trying to illustrate.
It was until this little affair. Now we're angry fanged ATMs giving money to other people
I'm so glad l never bought anything from beyond. It felt shady that they didn't honor physical purchases to begin with, and l wanted to have the physical books. This needs to be pushed all the way to their parent company, bring pressure from above and below. WotC is owned by Hasbro, symbol HAS. Keep an eye out for them dropping like a stone as these multiple lawsuits are felt, and keep pushing to be heard!
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind them charging for use if there was some way to register that you have the physical books. Like, “OK, normally it’s $29.99, but since you bought the book, it’s now $2.99.” Something like that would still make them money, but show the fans that their physical books aren’t useless.
Even though you have a lot of reasons to worry about your career right now, your fearlessness in giving Wizards the finger is nothing short of inspiring. Thank you for taking up the fight on behalf of this whole community. It's clear that you truly care.
You have my sword. 🗡️
And my bow! 🏹
And my axe! 🪓
and my flail (out of the box ;) )
And my sandwich
@@wyattlohr8199 no, you stole mine , you rogue
These guys make Calypso from the Twisted Metal franchise look like a benevolent, honest businessman.
At least he thanks you for playing Twisted Metal. These fuckers actively hate us.
There are names that bring back memories.
At least Calypso gave you what you asked for.
Sure, if you say something like "I want people to see my face all around the world!" He'd just stretch your face across the earth, but it's the thought that counts
so proud of our community right now. part of me feared that we would be in the loud minority when this whole thing started, but we're going strong! thanks for making these videos. and know that we will keep watching your content no matter which ttrpg you move onto!
Well, Paizo is looking all the more tempting.
I've heard their Pathfinder 2e sales are doing pretty well. Oh, and they've offered a 25% discount to all of their books.
That's what a big-dick giga Chad looks like :P
Well Paizo has already announced that they are making their own Open RPG Creative (ORC) License together with other publishers and creators which will be irrevocable and give it to a non-profit organization once it is finished so a future Paizo cannot mess with it.
@@eyeli160 I already liked pathfinder more and now it looks like I'm sticking with it forever
@@user-svqmbiv Pathfinder is heavily based off of D&D, specifically made in response to how bad D&D 4 edition was, it would be subject to the ogl too
I just bought the Pathfinder core rules, bestiary 1, gm guide, and lost omens world guide myself. I barely touch third party content in general but I appreciate its existence and find this new OGL to be unacceptable. I'm more than happy to support Paizo, even if I can't convince my table to convert to a more rules heavy system. I just won't buy any more D&D books for the foreseeable future when running my game.
Seriously, I'm so proud of the community right now.
8:53: "This community made you, not the other way around."
A lesson that community-based companies always seem to forget, over and over and over again..
I think there are very few things more paaaaathetic and telling than, "NOT BECAUSE LOUD VOICES MADE US! TRUST US, WE'RE REALLY TOUGH AND STRONG. WE WERE ALWAYS WILLING TO CHANGE AND GROW 😬" Edit: you said it yourself. They have some intense SDE
I saw this reaction to their "statement" somewhere on social media: "If your statement sounds like a BBEG's monologue, try not publishing it."
A better example of Faustian double speak I've not seen in an age. Thank you for diving into the details for us. It's appreciated.
Conspiracy theory: Asmodeus is real and he’s taken over WOTC. He’s smiling up from the Nine Hells as we speak.
his analysis was mostly talking points from Paizo's lawyers and sophistry. All the rending of garments over the OGL and half these streamers don't realize the exact same terms are in twich and youtubes TOS and have brought about no apocalypse in the gaming or streaming world.
License to UA-cam:
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@@AldousBrave Your reply doesn't actually address anything they said in response in the FAQ, such as the traps in the language used in the FAQ. And even if we account for the vague similarity in these portions you quote, they TOS don't try to claim percentages of your profits, etc. The two are not even close to the same documents or with the same intent. Full stop.
@@danabenson8932 First unless you're literally a mind reader, you can make any claims about WotC's intent. WotC and others have rightly pointed out that the language granting that world wide license is standard boilerplate used by NUMEROUS companies at a global level, who are not just stealing content from their users, and that the intent of such language was to prevent being pulled in a case of 'you stole my work!' for publishing something similar to another's work.
Secondly I'm not addressing their FAQ, I'm addressing the insane level of self-serving bad faith arguments I'm seeing from the community at large, as they just echo with no understanding. At the end of the day this whole debacle is fans being mobilized by a handful of million dollar companies who are bickering with a multimillion dollar company.
@@AldousBrave I can tell what their intent is by their actions and I was addressing the FAQ. What you're doing is avoiding addressing any points made in the video or that I agreed to and simply marching off on tangents of your own. Please feel free, but it doesn't disprove anything said by the video or my comment. As to intent? Retroactively taking percentages of other peoples profits made on products they created legally under an OGL that WoTC originally agreed to (company size be damned) tells me all I need to about their intent. It speaks volumes of truth without saying a word.
Your allegiance is clear and I welcome you to it. But I refuse to any longer support a company that would take such actions against their community, contributors and fan base. They've proven to be a huge disappointment. And no fit stewards of the legacy of the product and brand they hold.
Good day to you.
On a related note I'm hoping that the disgust towards the ogl debacle inspires those effected to look into other systems so they can flourish too. Pathfinder, starfinder, blades in the dark, world of darkness, etc all have in comparison tragically small communities and I would love to see wotc watch them grow as their stock plumets.
As a storyteller for only small systems, I can confirm that the communities are very small and need some new people coming in, It's very difficult to find new players for those systems and every time I post an ad looking for new players it quickly gets swallowed up by dozens and dozens of D&D ad's and ignored. D&D is such a massive thing on the TTRPG industry that, I was honestly happy when this whole drama started so smaller systems could potentially get a new flux of people looking for new systems to play. I hope D&D don't meet their end here, since the lives of many, many people depends on the game, but I do hope that their massive "monopoly" get desmantled and a bit of the comunnity find a new place in new systems.
Don’t forget Invisible Sun! Fantastic game
Your efforts to pull the community together at an important moment in D&D's story are important and appreciated. Thank you. You're a legend.
MASSIVE respect to creators like you who put yourselves in the crosshair of Hasbro. I hope the bigger creators speak up soon, looking at you Critical Role and Dimension 20
would not surprise me if they stay in a neutral position, as to not cause flames from either fans or wotc, and most likely waiting to see the final result, although since they both have special contracts with wotc, i dont think they will release any kind of response at all, as either way their brands will continue since that is really what they care about the most
Critical Role/Matt Mercer probably won't be able to comment on it cause they have officially published stuff that they definitely had to sign a contract for
@@zachstone8721 exactly
They most likely are under contractual obligations not to speak up/act upon any of these leaks, they probably will have something to say after the official release of the new OGL, and I hope that response is that they are cutting ties with WotC
@@gabrielbustamante3167 They probably won't cut any ties, because their own cash flow is dependent on these ties (as they produce original content based on DND).
Good job pointing out usage rights as being of utmost importance for creators. It's big in the entertainment industry at large so if you are a creative, always read through your contracts thoroughly for usage rights! Many include perpetual rights forever and include any new or yet to be invented media types.
Disney and the smut vault:
WOTC has pissed on the wrong community, which I am incredibly proud to be a part of. They have gravely underestimated the intelligence, loyalty, passion & persistence of this wonderful group of people that has banned together. Thank you for all that you do and for sharing!
They're pissing on the MTG community at the same time, with plans to double the prices of cards this year too.
@@enforcer0175 the difference is they've been pissing on MtG'ers for years and have learned they can get away with it, and they assumed the DnD community would roll over and take it just the same. but apparently, they were mistaken.
I love how Dnd shorts keeps up high energy and happy music in the background despite the entire game he's built his account around is crumbling into ash. this kind of beautiful content is what makes Dnd what it is, not Hasbro or WOTC
There has been a statement released after this video was recoreded/released on the dnd beyond website saying they're pulling back on the ogl, however, They're still going to change the OGL so keep you're torches and pitchforks at the ready for the shady stuff they'll inevitably put in the actual release
I really shouldn't be surprised that they're doubling down, but holy hell they're actually doubling down!? lol I really hope that we as a community manage to keep the pressure up for as long as possible!
the pressure to what? not charge paizo royalty fees? what exactly do you think you're fighting for here?
@@AldousBrave Most of WoTC's revenue is from D&D beyond subscription fees and digital products. There's already been a mass cancellation of subscriptions with more piling up each day. And we are absolutely going to keep this as public as possible and try to keep people from D&D beyond. That's how we keep up pressure.
@@talleywa5772 the question was pressure to do what?
@@talleywa5772 to what end? All those outrage over what? A handful of publishers who do this for a living having to pay royalties?
@@AldousBrave They're going to try and get us to forget about this in 6 months. I'd rather that didn't happen.
Besides, this is about more than just the OGL to me. WotC hasn't exactly been consistent when it comes to the quality of their material.
Plus, just because they might 180 on the OGL, doesn't mean they're going to 180 on the egregious monetisation they have planned. More pressure now means they'll have to earn back more good will by not being scummy.
I have watched over 1000 hours of DnD videos over a few years and now I just started my first campaign with my friends. Didn't think my first campaign would be my last. All the hours of watching min maxing videos feel like a such a waste. Thanks for keeping us informed DnD Shorts.
Don’t give up, just transition out of your DnD campaign to another fantasy based RPG. DnD is just a brand name. TTRPG is the true game. 😊
Try Gurps fantasy way better system, for character creation and magic, than D&D.
Don't give up yet, try another system. DND is just a brand and other systems are far better, pathfinder would be my recommendation.
In a similar boat- spent countless hours watching great UA-camrs explain DM tutorials, was teeing up my first game - and blammmo ! This happens. I think Piazos Pathfinder is a similar system so I’m hoping it’s all transferable skills, coz that’s where I’m going ! Good luck 👍
Don't let WotC determine if you play RPGs or not. Personally I will still be playing 5e but will not be supporting or purchasing any more content from WotC
We need to keep strong and not back down. Cancellations for DnD Beyond need to continue, even as they hide the cancellation button. We need to refuse to sign the new OGL. The big wigs in charge need to know that this community won’t fall for their scams. They need to feel the wrath of a united community that has supported them for decades and one who will not take this.
To think, I started watching you with your first shorts. That beautiful goofy man has become a centrepiece of the community I love so much.
Thank you for your updates my dude, we are all super grateful for you 🙏🏼
I’ll add this here, WotC says they are doing this to protect their IP.
Except! In the current OGL 1.0a you already cannot use their IP, it’s the very first paragraph!
The D&D community backlash on this stupidly bad attempt at basically throwing shit at your customers and see if they just take it, makes me proud to be part of it.
As much as it did when the MtG community rallied in a similar way to the anniversary product released very recently.
And wow, now that I think of it, those are some big, bad decisions regarding your biggest money makers in a short time!...
Thanks for the video and stand strong.🙂❤️
My gods. I'd expect contracts like this to come from archdevils of the nine hells with how they are trying to mess you over.
I think even Asmodeus would be slightly impressed by their gall.
Nah, devils write contracts you'd actually *want* to sign.
At least you get a benefit to sign a contract with a devil, even better, a devil wouldn't lie but will try to deceive you with clever words.
Woth WotC you don't get any better benefit from them.
@@AGrumpyPanda Yeah, I have a feeling Asmodeus would be shaking his head and sighing at the lack of thought that went into this contract and use it as a training tool to teach imps how to NOT make contracts. Know your target!
Man does it always go to shit when I join a community 😭 I just bought three books and now I feel bad because I was only feeding their greed. Hopefully this gets better. Just got into DND and I don’t want to leave so soon.
Don’t leave dnd just don’t support wotc they can’t stop you from playing and using what you want and for books you can always buy used so it only supports the actual store not wotc
Everyone can still play with the books they own. D&D, the game, has been around since the 1970's. It has survived a number of ups and downs and changes. It will survive this fiasco as well. The community will band together and keep it alive without supporting Hasbro and WotC.
What the game looks like in another 10 years remains to be seen.
Support 3rd parties who re-sell theirs online, but you can always take the dangerous route and pirate through books via pdf, though for legal reasons I cannot suggest that.
If you want to keep playing just make sure to buy the books from second hand book stores. They all have multiple dnd books
Come to Paizo and PF2e. It's so much better, in my opinion :)
I’d love to hear some input from the Old Guard, those that worked at TSR before its acquisition by WotC, or shortly thereafter.
We aren't the biggest obstacle to "their" money they are. I wish companies like them would realize they only exist today because of us because we cared about the stuff they made but now since they've decided to destroy our trust with them they deserve every bit of financial lost they get. As far as I'm concerned they only way they could potentially fix this is if they cancel their plans to release the new ogl and stay with the original ogl but even then damage has been done.
Exactly. We are like train track builders. Yeah they may make the core of the train but we allow it to move forward with the support of the community. If a train company decides to be greedy and make contracts like wizards of the coast the builders will leave and find a better employer.
Nerd power baby!! The community is the best part of DnD. In our campaigns we also try to defeat the big bad at the end... looks like we now know who that is!! I hope this channel keeps doing what it does your stuff is awesome chap!!
It would be really awesome if Paizo and the others came together to create not only a common license, but an open-source RPG ruleset, akin to GNU/Linux that the community could gather around.
That's actually what Paizo is trying to do right now.
Have to say your level headed, but passionate and thorough breakdowns of this topic have been a light in this hellscape. As a MTG player and someone who just got back into in person D&D in the last 2 years i am really disappointed in WoTC .This has been a nightmare but realy have always appreciated your vids and take on the situation.
This is the exact reason I like having hard copies to my source books; no need for the subscription. If you do want the books available online, there are other ways. For legal reasons, I'm not referring to piracy and am in no way suggesting you should go to a website that has the rules available and download a PDF containing all of the sourcebooks and supplementary content.
There‘s also the secondhand market if you want to display the books. ;)
The trove
Its kinda heartwarming to see the community so united. But i wish it wasnt because of this.
I am fully ready to just play anything but DnD if thats what it comes to
You’re a legend for rallying the community my guy🙏 I wouldn’t have even known about all this if you hadn’t been making videos about it
Apparently Wotc has hidden the unsubscribe button on D&DB. Since they can't legally stop you from unsubbing, they just removed the button and replaced it with a hard to find link to a website instead.
Sounds about right lol
post the link in Every forum you can
Holy shit. In case you thought there was ANY part of this that was above board.
Haha 😄 that's such a scummy childish move it's hilarious. "Oh No! They're Unsubscribing 😱 Quick! HIDE It, Hide The Button, HIDE IT NOW😫!!"
Was it...? For me it was just at the Subscription tab of the account, I could cancel the subscription fairly easily.
Sure, i have not deleted my account, but that's something else entirely.
Hell, Facebook made it MUCH more difficult to delete the account.
I love how like every statement i read i immediately found their legal loophole, like with contract signing they are able to copy your stuff. Its like they are not even hiding it well its just so on the nose and they still think they can pull it off.
Ordered my Pathfinder Beginner Box and a copy of Monster of the Week. Thanks WotC for motivating me to expand my game library.
This man has gone from showing us how to break the game to showing us how wotc broke our trust. Good on you mate!
Be sure to like, comment, and share, y'all! That's the way to get the algorithm to show this to more people so we can make our voice as a community heard!
You know it’s a big deal when DND shorts is making DND Longs!
I've just now gotten into D&D. Have not had my first play session, yet, but me and my friends have been preparing. One of them has the books and an Adventure ready to go.
Hearing about D&D all these years, I always thought it was a community driven thing. Sure, official books come out to help players. The amount of creativity I've seen in this community is nothing short of astounding.
Now a company I've never heard of and HASBRO of all companies (didnt know they had a hold on D&D) are wanting to take that away.
How long has D&D been around? I remember my Mom telling me about it when she was a kid.
It's awesome the community is banding together in these troubling times.
As a newbie, I'm here too. 👍
D&D was originally published by TSR in 1974. Wizards of the Coast, aka WotC, purchased it after TSR went near-bankrupt in 1997.
The first edition of D&D was released in 1974, so D&D is coming up on 50 years. The community was very slowly built-up over time and all of the earliest fans were likely bullied relentlessly for even talking about it. WotC has vastly underestimated how passionate people are for the franchise.
I played my 1st game in 1979 and am glad you and your friends have found the community. Go ahead and play for a bit while things settle, i will still be playing with my friends. Look for some great role playing content coming from other sources. :)
@@Tawleyn Bullied relentlessly doesn't even properly express it. It was called the satanic panic for a reason. There were people who were murdered who's only crime was they played a board game during that period.
@@Tawleyn truth is the older fans are still bullied today. just for playing and seeing the game in a different way by the younger generation and WOTC. but what is interesting the old fan will play there game the way they want inspite of all this. what nice is that even the older fans are standing with younger against WOTC right now on this issue. i started playing D&D when i was 7 and that was 40 years ago
Some people seem to still not understand that this was the contract sent to creators, not a leaked draft from some well-meaning employee of WotC.
It's important to remember that D&D is not the company that sells it, D&D is the wonderful community and amazing communities that make the system what it is. Rally against the people trying to take this awesome game from us, but don't abandon it. There are plenty of 3rd party channels and resources when it comes to D&D.
Exactly!
I'm going with whoever creates the replacement OGL we can all use. DnD is a badge. Dnd is dead, long live the community.
Or migrate to an "open source" system with similar mechanics. Show them they are not needed. Let them starve.
@@hopelives7469 There already is a replacement (in the making). Paizo has announced working on the ORC Licence which is exactly what the OGL was, just broader and free from company greed. Many other publishers like Green Ronin, Legendary Games and Kobold Press already subscribed to that.
@@mikaeru2079 Exciting times! WotC will try to make the community believe everyone is staying with D&D, I hope the community doesn't fall for that! Let's go!
I don't have anything clever to say, so I'll just say thanks for what you do. You always do an incredible job.
Sometimes just interacting with the video is enough, your pushing it further up youtubes algorithm so kore people see it! Continue to kick up a stink! ACCEPT NOTHING LESS THAN OGL 1.0!
Normally the company waiting for people to forget would worry me but at this point I see this only getting worse for wizards as all of the most popular streamers and creators migrate away from the game.
The fact that WOTC thought that the DND community, which is legendary for RULES LAWYERING would take their FAQ at face value is hilarious. It's a good thing they didn't go through with the public announcement of this, I hope they realized just how much worse it would make it and are fundamentally reconsidering things.
Warning to anyone trying to cancel their account on DDB: if you attempt to cancel it , it will result in an error message and you wont be able to delete it, same goes for the DDB, they deleted the manage account button.
That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
I just cancelled my account no problem. I don't think this information is accurate.
It might be because of the heavy traffic to the site, not anything they purposefully did
if a charge goes through to your bank, you can charge them with theft/larceny.
You'll have to cancel with your bank,PayPal etc
This is SOOOO SAD, i feel bad for the DnD community. I never got into DnD but i JUST NOW started to grow in interest (thanks to Viva la dirt DnD sessions) and was talking to my g/f and friend and we as interested in trying to do a DnD session (finding a experience DM so we don't screw it up too much as noobs) We even made character sheets and backstories to get ready for when we plan on playing and this happens :(. I hope this is resolved quickly and hopefully this terrible move will stop WotC from making another terrible move for awhile.
Are you looking for a DM for online or physical games?
@@LordSionnach it would be online as my best friend lives in California and I live in Alabama
Luckily you are probably in a better situation than most to be able to switch systems if you haven’t started playing yet! Like pathfinder
Personally I want to see an Open TTRPG Alliance formed. Basically a non-profit organization staffed by various publishers, creators, and DMs from the TTRPG community tasked with creating a core set of rules and content that everyone in the TTRPG community could build upon. The core rules and content would be released under an open license like the Creative Commons BY license (the one that allows for commercial use). This would prevent the current situation from ever happening again as no one publisher would control the system.
Well, that is very close to what Paizo has announced. You might want to look into "Paizo ORC license". It's pretty much everywhere.
Paizo is doing it
Go read Paizo's response. NoNat1 has a video on it.
Isn't that basically what OSR movement is doing? Making systems that can easily pick up content from all the different sources over the years
It's happening right now.
⚔️ Thanks for Rallying the Troops! Amazing creators like you are who inspired me to start creating D&D content in the first place and seeing you all take the lead in the battle against this oppressive company has really given me the motivation to do what I can as well. Keep being awesome, you always have my support!
Wizards giving a masterclass in how to make a warlock pact, aren’t they?
DnDShorts, you are an absolute hero, fighting on the front lines. Can't begin to express our gratitude for your work in this war 💕💕💕
WOTC lost me at "micro transaction" but the OGL firmly planted me in their competitors camps. It is so much easier to get a Rolemaster group together now than it has been since the 90's so ....thanks Hasbro!
I love watching our community basically unionize overnight.
We have to stick together against this money grubbing tyranny. Im so irritated that we have to discuss this crap instead of getting new homebrew content we all love learning. Now, all lore videos by people I won't mention out of channel respect have slowed or haulted since this garbage... Glad to see some more light ahead for us. As a small member of the community, I fear all I can do is eSign anything that helps us, and cast "Wish" consistently. Thank you again for everything you and your peepz do including keeping us updated. Stand up, stand strong, stand together!
Actually there's an important thing you can do. Play another game. Convince your group to get into something that isn't DND.
@@kalashnikovdevil Don't get mixed up my friend, it's WOTC that's the issue. D&D has a great community but the hours and money I spent on WOTC product for someone trying to market the communities imagination as commercialized property for as many more bucks they can get. They are taxing our the imagination of the D&D community. I won't give up on us but I don't like WOTC's bs.
Also, I have canceled my DnD beyond sub and deleted the app. I use paper and pen again.
The influence you gained is crazy, and well deserved. Thanks for keeping us updated.