Signal Boost: And The Wizard Was Kicked From Coast to Coast · 10:19pm Jan 10th, 2023
I certainly never expected to get very personal with this blog, and I especially didn't expect to ever use it to comment on any sort of nonpony current events. But Wizards of the Coast is owned by Hasbro, so I suppose it's tangentially on theme...
In short: Wizards of the Coast, in true corporation fashion, has decided to break a long term promise and throw a grenade into the thriving community and ecosystem of small businesses it previously supported with its Open Gaming License. Demanding massive royalty fees, giving them the ability to steal and reprint creators' work in any way they see fit, and much more.
Now, I'm more of a Forged in the Dark person than anything related to Dungeons and Dragons. I've been working on a book using that system, in fact. But I've watched all manner of beautiful games come into existence thanks to the OGL, including the fandom's own Ponyfinder, and I'm not about to turn a deaf ear to these developers' suffering. If they're crushed beneath these draconian changes to the agreement, all players suffer, as does the hobby as a whole.
There's an open letter here, to sign. I've already done so, myself. There's no appealing to the conscience of a corporation, because they have none, but enough of a PR firestorm may yet see them walk this back.
Or the lawsuits will. I've heard there's at least one lawsuit in the works already.
Fare thee well, adventurers. There's a fierce battle ahead.
Update, January 12th:
Further leaked information has come out.
It seems their current strategy is "let it blow over and push the change through anyway" and all they care about is their D&DBeyond subscriptions. If any of you have one, it'd be a good time to cancel it, since their bottom line is all they'll ever listen to.
They only have contempt for their players and community, so contempt back is no less than they deserve.
Bloodsuckers know no shame.