About a year ago a document was sent to several content creators for them to sign.
While the world celebrated the arrival of 2023, the devious minds at Wizards of the Coast had already sent their new version of the Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License around for an undisclosed number of Content Creators to sign. Quiet back room deals were cut with a couple of large crowdfunding organizations, and there was a rumor that a few Content Creators even signed the document. But WotC tried to spin the new OGL documents as a proposal.
So, who sends a “proposal” to be signed by a heap of D&D Content Creators? It sounded to me as if this was no mere proposal. It still sounds to me like it was a far sketchier affair than just a proposal. I think they were getting ready to ram the whole thing down the D&D community’s throats along with the rest of us.
Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.
WotC had a habit of cherry picking YouTube shills to do their bidding.
Whether it was the new “proposed” OGL, the now-famous Kyle Brink Apology Tour, or the infamous Content Creators Summit in Renton, WA, WotC played favorites to get their message across to as many respectable YouTubers and Twitch streamers as possible. Most if not all of them have now gone back to shilling for WotC.
The proposed OGL had a lot of Content Creators’ profits being reported to WotC or just going into the corporation’s pockets as royalties. What was far more sinister was the OGL “proposed” a clause that would have shut those creators down or cut into their bottom line far enough to drive them out of business. We were talking about hundreds, possibly thousands of people losing their jobs as a result of the proposed OGL. Thank the Universe it never came to fruition.
We’re already hearing about how the new VTT is gonna be so cool and how the new D&D 2024 Core books are gonna be great. (*I’m not quoting anyone directly for sake of anonymity.) Dear God, they’re even shilling the crap WotC released last month that flopped. #DeckofManyDelays, #DeckofManyDisasters. At least one shill even promoted Peril in Pinebrook for WotC. Are they serious?
I’m not ready to let Hasbro/WotC off the hook for any of their 2023 shenanigans.
It’s almost a sure bet the nonsense will continue into 2024 all the way up to 5/21/2024 when the new Player’s Handbook is scheduled to be released. What? You didn’t think I wrote it down as soon as I saw it? Hello. Trained journalist here. (LOL!) I think WotC will continue to draw negative attention to themselves all the while feeding the shills new product to promote.
I think people are already forgetting that Hasbro fired 1,100 employees during the holiday season, including several key D&D team members. No, I’m not going to forget. Yeah, it was all done for the investors. Never mind the fact that the people at the top got their nice fat bonuses. Meanwhile some Hasbro warehouse forklift driver probably got walking papers and a free 20% off coupon for his next purchase of D&D themed coffee beans.
It’s quite simple, actually.
Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast see us, the fans and long time supporters of their product, as a source of revenue and nothing else. They don’t even seem to much care about most of their own employees. It’s even expected that more staff will be getting the axe in early 2024. But it’s just business, y’all.
I’m predicting we’ll see DMsGuild absorbed into D&D Beyond one way or another. Adventurer’s League is going away or getting rolled entirely into the new VTT. Even Magic: the Gathering might be going strictly to online tournament play. (WotC already got rid of the Judge’s “school” for M:tG.) It just seems so obvious that WotC does not care about the fans in the slightest.
Hasbro/WotC is a big, unfeeling, uncaring corporation that only wants money. They send out their shills and minions to drum up more sales for their product. This is so obvious with the way D&D is treated right now. It was extremely obvious during the Great OGL Debacle of 2023 and Content Creators Summit. Some of the people working on D&D maybe aren’t so bad, but I trust WotC as far as I can drop kick them. As long as the current management team is in place for D&D, I have little regard for anything they say.
D&D Studios will undoubtedly have no end of success in 2024.
It turns out most regular people on the street have no idea what happened during the Great OGL Debacle of 2023, nor do they care. I would dare say that most people in the D&D community who knew what happened with the OGL are probably long since over it. I think a great number of gamers have no idea what happened. It’s a shame because a lot of Content Creators, artists, writers, editors, and other industry folx damn near lost their livelihood to Wizards of the Coast being greedy.
Yes, D&D 2024 Edition (or whatever) will make tons of cash for Hasbro/WotC/D&D Studios. The greed won’t stop there. It is my theory that there will be more corporate maneuvering to isolate Dungeons & Dragons from any sort of indie or Third Party Publishers. Sure, make all the “compatible” 5E content we want, but remember the 2024 rulebooks are the final say on the rules of the game.
The VTT has been heralded as a walled garden. D&D Beyond and VTT content will be locked behind a pay wall. Then watch the executives start asking for a little more money each month and tons of microtransactions. It will make Fortnite and Mobile Legends look weak by comparison. Miss a monthly payment? Oops. There goes all of your data, possibly including your e-books.
It really hurts to watch the caretakers for the mother of all RPGs fall so far from grace.
This is the first time I can really remember not looking forward to a new edition of D&D dropping. I always used to insist on grabbing the core books the minute they were available. I used to get miffed at our FLGS for not letting me pay in advance. I used to buy every major official D&D release without question. My 3.0/3.5E collection is a testament to that.
I can safely say it won’t be happening in 2024 unless something huge happens to change my mind. We’d have to be talking about execs getting the axe or stepping down voluntarily. (Insert Kyle Brink quote about “not leaving the hobby fast enough” here.) Free product or at least a decent interview with someone employed by D&D Studios right here on my blog would possibly sway me. I used to be one of the biggest D&D fans out there, and now I won’t go near an official release.
I’ll tell you who will be making money from me going forward. The Arcane Library will get my money on many of the upcoming Shadowdark RPG products. MCDM, Monte Cook, Sly Flourish, Skerples, Runehammer, DM Scotty, Ad Infinitum, and Paizo will be making money off of me in 2024. Many Third Party 5E publishers are still high on my list of people to support. I realize D&D is the lion share of the TTRPG marketplace, but they’re not the only company out we can buy from. D&D isn’t even the only fantasy TTRPG out there.
It has happened before, and it can all happen again.
As I said in the beginning, this time last year plans were already well in motion to utterly screw with the OGL. I said it then and I’ll say it now- it ain’t over.
“But, Kyle Brink said they wouldn’t try it again.” Yeah. Old Kyle said a lot of shit, much of which was apparently false. Even he had to admit WotC is so big the creative team has no idea what’s going on with the business end half the time. Not to mention they only let certain people interview Kyle because they knew who would go easy on him (shills *cough cough.*)
“But, WotC put SRD 5.1 in Creative Commons.” They sure did. They put the 5.1 SRD under CC-BY-4.0, not CC-BY-SA. Meaning it’s not even under the Share Alike license. It was also the 5.1 SRD. Watch WotC/D&D Studios drop an all new SRD for the 2024 edition with a bunch of sketchy legal doubletalk. SRD 6.0 or whatever they call it will cut off everyone but the DMsGuild and make it so only companies doing business under WotC’s royalty umbrella make any money on the deal.
Remember the D&D 4th Ed GSL? The closed license that edited out all of the indie scene? They’ll do it again. There’s going to be no one to stop them one of these times. #StoptheSub, #DnDBeGone, #DnDOne, and #OpenDnD won’t even necessarily work a second time around. Hasbro/WotC/D&D Studios can win the OGL wars by attrition if nothing else.
I also have a feeling that 1,100 layoffs at Hasbro is the tip of the iceberg. It served as a warning shot that continued boycotts, employee unionization, and failure to support them financially will give Hasbro even more incentive to pull that lever on letting more staff go. I hope Kyle Brink and Cynthia Williams can write D&D books, because they might be all that remains. (It’s okay. That’s why they earn those huge bonuses, right?)
Here’s where we wait and see again.
Ultimately, we have no idea what the next stupid thing from Wizards of the Coast or D&D Studios will look like. They always seem to find some new and ridiculous way to drum up negative publicity for themselves whenever they want to promote a new product or distract from even bigger stupid stuff. The shills will keep on shilling whatever free D&D stuff they get in the mail. The vast majority of the D&D community will continue on blissfully unaware of the cartoon supervillainy at the heart of WotC. People will continue to shell out money hand over fist until they can’t afford it any more.
I’m done with any talk of WotC, D&D Studios, D&D the game, or any of Hasbro’s bullshit until their next major debacle. I’d honestly be okay if I never have to mention them again, but I know it won’t happen. D&D is still a long way from falling off the TTRPG mountain. I’m but one voice going into 2024 barking “Don’t buy their crap!” in the dark, by myself. Maybe they’ll learn. Maybe they won’t.
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. Please do what brings you the most joy in 2024. See ya later.
Jeff's Game Box 