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Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

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Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real problem is the managers at WoTC that don't really care about the games. They only care about money. I expect more bad things in the future. The same seems to be true with Games Workshop and I've never understood this. The products from both companies have huge markups (painted cards and pieces of plastic) and I'd assume that they could actually have a far larger market and profit by concentrating on scale…

For all their faults, Games Workshop is really a miniatures company that has a ruleset, rather than games company that sells plastic models. I recall seeing a statistic that the majority of their customers don’t regularly play, and a shocking number have never played a game. Those customers are buying models because they think the models are neat, and are deriving fun from the act of assembling and painting. From tha…

It's interesting to see that particular segment of the "build and paint models" universe survive and thrive when you see contraction in a lot of other areas.

I'm fond of model railways, and it's discarded lots of that heritage. You look in a '70s or 80s magazine, and the projects are "here's a new (inflation-adjusted) $50 kit" or "assemble bits and bobs from three different $20 kits following a detailed article". Today, the equivalent model is only sold fully assembled and painted at $200.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#242
post #48

A bit more context: * Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. * WoTC has been aggressively increasing prices on Magic the Gathering (MTG) and drastically increased the diversity of products. This overwhelmed even people who follow and produce MTG news. Wallet fatique is rampant and people are disgruntled. * WoTC releases the 30th aniver…

For context, selling toys to kids is no longer profitable, so Hasbro is going all in on making and selling toys for adults. This is a massive pivot for the company, and lots of the existing staff will ultimately be laid off. That’s why everyone there is behaving erratically.

Why would selling toys to kids be unprofitable?

Since much of your market is actually parents, you're in a more secure place than a lot of other businesses: people are going to be more willing to pay for a trusted brand. There's always going to be various FUD of "off-brand toys might be unsafe".

There's probably a risk factor-- you may not have THIS YEAR'S HOT TOY,--but I'd think the exact same problem applies to an adult audience, who is probably even more fickle because they don't have to get Mom and Dad to gatekeep their purchase decisions.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real problem is the managers at WoTC that don't really care about the games. They only care about money. I expect more bad things in the future. The same seems to be true with Games Workshop and I've never understood this. The products from both companies have huge markups (painted cards and pieces of plastic) and I'd assume that they could actually have a far larger market and profit by concentrating on scale…

I play chess and also follow it as a professional sport. I suck at it but it's fun anyway, it costs nothing unless you play in money tournaments, costs very little unless you play in BIG money tournaments, and as far as I can tell it seems to offer everything that video games do in terms of skill challenge, social connection, and all of that. I'm sure these expensive video games have a reason to exist but I haven't f…

I'm pretty sure thats still how most people engage with RPGs, at least, I'm fairly whippersnapping and that was my high school experience too.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#244
post #190
post #48

A bit more context: * Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. * WoTC has been aggressively increasing prices on Magic the Gathering (MTG) and drastically increased the diversity of products. This overwhelmed even people who follow and produce MTG news. Wallet fatique is rampant and people are disgruntled. * WoTC releases the 30th aniver…

Never understood why players are up in arms about this. Just print proxies if you want a particular card.

That only works if other players accept that you play with proxies. I personally am completely fine with proxies, but I know that not everyone is. And game shops that allow people to play with proxies can get in trouble with WoTC.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#245
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's the sheer amount of new supplemental sets that they're throwing out, many of which are cards that you basically _have_ to but to remain competitive. That’s literally been going since around Mirrodin. It’s why I gave up on the game. Now I just have a massive set of only commons that everyone can build their decks with and I don’t have to deal with the insane power inflation.

https://i0.wp.com/onlyontuesdays27.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

Thanks, that kinda kames it abundantly obvious how the releases have evolved.

I was talking mostly about power inflation of the cards themselves though.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#246
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep - not only is there no catch right now , but they literally can never add one. The SRD is released under CC-BY-4.0. The only point of contention is what happens to their new product, One D&D, which will probably retain some nasty payment structure, and almost certainly not be OGL'd. That's fine though - if they build a walled garden around One D&D, they simply won't be able to compete against the open community o…

> not only is there no catch right now, but they literally can never add one. The SRD is released under CC-BY-4.0. They can't change that particular SRD, but material not in the SRD can be changed as can new material. Also, as they leave the old OGL intact, it is a catch in itself: 1) It's generally restricts rights much more than grants them [0], and 2) WotC believes they can revoke it at any time.

Forgot my footnote:

[0] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/01/beware-gifts-dragons-h...

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Critical Role, a web D&D show that has had its stories turned into animations. The one that has been released is named The Legend of Vox Machina, after their first campaign's troupe.

There speculation that the godkiller in the third campaign is there because Matt was privy to the new OGL under NDA and the main thing that ties the world he built to D&D is the pantheon. He makes his own monsters all the time, but he still has Vecna, the Raven Queen, the Wildmother, even though he gives them different names in some regions. Sure would be a shame if something happened to that copyrighted material… Cl…

CR also still has modified versions of Sarenrae (Rae) and Taldor (Taldor'ei) from Pathfinder, so it's also possible they just do nothing or only use the non-copyrighted alternate names from now on.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#248
post #12

CC-BY-4.0 for those wondering which creative commons license. That means attribution required, but no significant other limitations.

Thanks, that really should have been mentioned in the post. "A Creative Commons license" doesn't say a lot.

Re: Wizards of the Coast Releases SRD Under Creative Commons License (CC-BY-4.0)

#249
post #48

A bit more context: * Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. * WoTC has been aggressively increasing prices on Magic the Gathering (MTG) and drastically increased the diversity of products. This overwhelmed even people who follow and produce MTG news. Wallet fatique is rampant and people are disgruntled. * WoTC releases the 30th aniver…

> Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) has been tasked by Hasbro (which owns WoTC) to drastically increase profits over a few years. Why can't things just exist and be profitable enough to continue? Why must EVERYTHING be ruined by the drive for high but short-term profits?

In keeping with the wizard theme, it's definitely Moloch :)

"What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? Moloch!"

"Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!

Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!"

https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/

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