D&D Campaign 2: D&D Harder

[Wrathbone]

That is curious. I was under the impression WotC’s endgame plan for all this was a monopoly on digital TTRPG tools so that dndbeyond and their upcoming VTT are unchallenged, and also a means for them to weaken or even crush Paizo and prevent another one from rising, but it sounds like it could be even worse than that.

[Mantis]

Once they'd closed the system off I wouldn't be surprised if they came down hard on all the DnDBeyond features like removing content sharing to try and get every player to buy their own books. That and making classes, feats, races, items and spells all available exclusively on their own for a few quid each so that it feels like the exploitative DLC practice of many AAA video games where you have to spend hundreds of dollars to obtain all the material. Chopping it up and selling it piecemeal like that would likely be far more lucrative than just putting it all into a $40 book.

I know they already offer that as an alternative to buying a full book so you can pick and choose what you want but I could easily see them upping the prices and specifically keeping a lot of content outside of any main book release so that your only option is to buy it on its own. That would mesh with their DnD Next concept quite neatly for them where they release dribs and drabs over time so there would always be a new class or updated item to buy.

https://pathbuilder2e.com/

This is pretty good. I put together an example P2E character in under 10 minutes. Still no idea how the rules work, but it seems there are already perfectly viable character builders available.

That's the one I was referring to earlier but couldn't remember the name of. It has an Android app which seems quite intuitive.

[Wrathbone]

Once they'd closed the system off I wouldn't be surprised if they came down hard on all the DnDBeyond features like removing content sharing to try and get every player to buy their own books.

The content sharing is literally the only thing stopping me from cancelling my sub in protest right now.

[Mantis]

I'm in the process of exporting all my books and character sheets to PDF and then I'm cancelling my sub entirely.

[Bird]

Good for usual time tomorrow

[Raid]

Likewise.

With Bird's permission, here's the completed Farley model sheet.



And just for some context...



Corvus has a wingspan of approximately three and a half Farleys.

[Sly Boots]

Looks delici- I mean adorable

[Wrathbone]

All good for tomorrow at 7pm.

[Mantis]

Those designs are looking great.

7 is good with me for tomorrow.

[Wrathbone]

Looks like WotC have backed down on a lot of the proposed stuff, and crucially they've said anything published under the OGL 1.0a will continue to be valid under 1.0a and always will be. Still a lot of things up in the air and nothing in a legal document yet, but it sounds like the execs have finally realised they're hemorrhaging money.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1428-a- ... me-license

[Mantis]

Bit of a different tone to their last press release. I notice they're still referring to the original new policy as a "draft", which is utter nonsense. I suspect this damage control won't help much though. The leaks regarding the subscription service over the last couple of days are pretty damning too.

I've already cancelled my sub to DnD Beyond and downloaded PDFs of all my source books with a little script so that I can avoid the site outside of our weekly sessions and my Pathfinder 2e rulebook arrived today!

[Sly Boots]

Looks like WotC have backed down on a lot of the proposed stuff, and crucially they've said anything published under the OGL 1.0a will continue to be valid under 1.0a and always will be. Still a lot of things up in the air and nothing in a legal document yet, but it sounds like the execs have finally realised they're hemorrhaging money.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1428-a- ... me-license

Some interesting takes here (and the survey stuff sounds particularly egregious):



Looking forward to his vid tomorrow as well where he promises to blow the lid off what's really going on behind the scenes...

[Wrathbone]

I really have to hand it to WotC. I tried in our first campaign to play Asmodeus as a manipulative, deceptive schemer and twister of words, but in comparison to WotC's machinations he's a mischevious toddler pleading innocence with cake smeared over his face. This latest statement is an apology for their previous apology and it appears they're still being disingenuous. If it wasn't a complete desctruction of trust, I'd almost admire their barefaced cheek to claim they'll listen to feedback on a new OGL when their own staff are claiming surveys go straight in the bin.

[Raid]

Them not even looking at feedback for the UA and D&D One stuff was certainly news to me, and if it's true then that latest apology is as disingenuous as the previous one.

Are we going for 7 tonight?

[Wrathbone]

Yep, I think we'll default to 7pm, so let me know if anyone prefers 8pm each week.