Wizards’ Desperate Response To The D&D Community Backlash
I’ve been passed a leak of WotC’s response to the OGL 1.1. It’s been verified, and it’s a mix of blatant lies, gaslighting and baffling nonsense.
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I’ve been told to use keywords in video descriptions, but I don’t know what I’m doing. I stole these tags from MonkeyDM and Adan, both of whom seems on top of this type of thing when we chat.
dnd one 5.5e 6e How to play Dungeons and Dragons Beginners Guide What class to play in dungeons and dragons best class in D&D best subclass most powerful optimised monk build DandD Warlock Bard Dungeon Master, Fighter, Ranger, Artificer, Cleric, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorcerer, Monk, Paladin, Rogue, Adan, DnD Shorts D&D Shorts TikTok Dungeons and Dragons XP to level 3 with Davvychappy potentially a bit a Critical Role with dungeoneering tabletop community next to tabletop RPG dungeons and dragons Fjord Beau Jester Yasha Caleb Nott 5th edition dragons 3.5e dungeon dudes DM GM dungeon master game master tips sprinkle a bit of Caduceus Mollymauk in the Mighty Nein Matt Mercer Crap guide to dnd shorts tiktok OGL OGL 2.0a 2.0 1.1 1.1a 1.0a
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!
@Reginald Kelly except under the current OGL anyone is free to create content And that’s what WoTC wants to change you want to make stuff give us money even if you don’t reference by name our content you are using our rules that Gary Gigax created and we bought.
@Klijpo point taken! Thank you for the constructive feedback.
Many of the legal points may be valid, but all of the black/white, evil/good hyperbole stacked on it plays consumers for fools as well. It assumes an “amazing, united community” opposing a company that “doesn’t care about us at all” (based on anonymous “leaks”) – and all of that is just another product being sold to someone… mostly the “fan” base that perpetually sees itself as being oppressed by someone/something and that message is a favorite go-to of just about every “fan” channel, regardless of the subject. It’s just as much of a racket as anything else discussed here. Self-declared victimhood is always attractive, but, sorry, I’m not buying/drinking the Kool-Aid.
No matter how the legal smoke clears, it has, all in all, been a brilliant image campaign on the part of WotC’s competitors to project their legal/financial concerns as somehow some bigger moral point affecting every gamer… and all the gamer channels fell in line because it was good for their business too. What a fantastic ethical crusade!
@TheDayssincethedoor Paizo seems to be setting something up just like that.
I’m going to be DESPISED for playing satans advocate but IF NOT 4 DnD RPGs would NOT exists today, and isn’t amuriKKKa ALL about CAPITALISM anyway??
Another masterpiece! Thank you for what you’re doing to support this movement!
whats up luke?
Hi, didn’t expect you here!
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.
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.
@The Friend of the Revolution 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…
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.
It’s rather hilarious how much Wizards has never taken to heart the phrase “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
They used to be Wizards, but now Hasbro is their patron.
@Raiden They create, you feed
Or my favorite phrase: “Don’t shoot yourself in the foot and then pretend to be surprised that it hurts.”
@Raiden because the creators who are selling DnD related content make money from the DnD brand, not the other way around.
The game needs players and dungeon masters, two groups (sadly not one group) which create massive amounts of content for free, for the joy of it.
3rd party creators do add value to the brand, yes, but they are not the majority player base or the lifeblood of the game.
DnD beyond and roll20 are hugely successful resources. They are super useful tools which are almost indispensable to dungeon masters.
A third party book with 200 new monsters and magic items or a hot take on rogues, is not.
I’ve been playing DnD with paper sheets with kids at school (teacher here), and it’s nice to know I can still enjoy the game without DnD beyond or paying for anything except dice. I cancelled my sub to help make a point along with everyone else, but I’m happy to resub with some slight backtracking from WotC and give the benefit of the doubt to a game which has given me hundreds of hours of joy.
I would be willing to learn pathfinder or try something different, but I would like the resources to be comparable to DnD before I’d really want to switch as a dungeon master. I run two games on Discord and DnD Beyond is too useful and the small cost is worth the amount of fun I have
@Robber how so??
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 🤣
@Phox Pharms Yep pretty much
We’re nerds not stupid 🤣🤣
Just one thing: Nailed. It.
Sir, take my like with pleasure. You earned it. 👍
@harmless lol, straight FACTS
@Chaos_Queen This is one of those cases where even with a 10 the DM says “they lie, obviously”.
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.
MtG is the golden cow they are killing. It was their most profitable product by far.
@DrakeIGuess what? i feel like the mtg community is bigger than the dnd could be wrong about that tho
sit down and take what? the changes were going to effect Paizo, Kobold Press and a handful of others. Also if the “worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license” part bothered you, you need to read the TOS for youtube and twitch.
@TimStamper 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.
Mr Krabs: Hello, I like money.
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
@lyianx Which is in and of itself also a lie, because they are not admitting they are wrong. They won’t, I can promise you that.
I mean I had to learn to literally make iron clad, non-obfuscatable, literally specific words for my wish spells to avoid Monkeys Paw antics. I may not be a lawyer but I can find loopholes and pick out BS quite easy.
@Viola Lover hasbro has been doing this kinda shit since the the beginning of time. from stuffing boxes after boxes into boggle sets to inflate the price, to filling monopoly sets with unnecessary plastic and pewter to do the exact same.
squeezing their customers for more money than they should is in hasbro’s and wotc’s blood.
when the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
@Crazy Eyes yup they shat the bed big time there when it came to the community. their shareholders probably fucking loved it though.
@Asdrubal Vect it doesn’t with countless resources to circumvent someone unable to walk or move, i doubt they(wotc) even knew or realized what their were doing with such material, can you imagine a kobold or goblin architect directing the construction of the dungeon going “first the spikes, then the ambush, then the ramp so no one feels left out, then the boss, then the treasure pile” hahahah
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.
@ophionavernus An even better way to is go to a search page on the Internet, key in the word, and press the key. See? No delay in an answer and suddenly you’re not depending on others to accomplish something you want. That’s called “self-reliance”.
Institutional memory loss. Many of the people who made those mistakes are in different companies, different positions, retired or they think their decision making was good and any negative consequences was the fault of everyone but them. So the lessons don’t get passed down and a new generation of execs with MBAs and nothing else decide they want to do some shenanigans.
@Michael Thompson More than that, it was an affectionate term given to the veterans in Napoleons army. It translates as “growler” and these guys were the only soldiers allowed to complain to their superiors and even to Napoleon himself. Something they were always doing anyway so pointless to try to stop them lol.
Greed and logic are enemies
@Karox Actually, yes, I’ve done both. And I found the answers. Even the libraries and card catalogs I searched as a boy when there was no Internet were unreliable but looking up the definition of a word I was given the spelling in a dictionary for was pretty damned reliable. Stop making excuses for those who insist on being lazy and promoting their own stupidity. Learn how to LEARN and stop choosing to be stupid! Look facts up for yourself! Choose to become educated! Do your own work instead of demanding everyone spoon-feed you! Learn self-responsibility and how to become a worthwhile adult!
Are these concepts that can somehow leak into your brain, KAROX?!?
DnDShorts, you are an absolute hero, fighting on the front lines. Can’t begin to express our gratitude for your work in this war 💕💕💕
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!
@TheCaptainPaxo So it sounds like you just needed an excuse to move to another system. Well there ya go. There are lots of them out there. Godspeed.
@Aldous Huxley 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.
@Talleywa to what end? All those outrage over what? A handful of publishers who do this for a living having to pay royalties?
@Talleywa the question was pressure to do what?
@Aldous Huxley 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.