Quote from: Brad on January 02, 2023, 04:15:49 PMI'm honestly surprised WotC has gotten this far along without having to tighten the screws on obvious money-bleeding policies (even if it's literally pennies in the grand scheme of things). The SRD/OGL can be challenged in court by Hasbro and then all the independent publishers go under because one can afford to actually to defend the litigation. That's life, son.

They were under the screws during the mid to end of 4e and the start of 5e.

Now though Hasbro has been infested and marketing is pushing agendas left and right so bleeding money "for the cause" is getting a pass. So far.

But wotc may be feeling some screws again. They just recently announced cancelling some un-named video game projects and odds are that is just a hint.

Found this posted under a youtube video on the subject:

Quote from: Foxhole CreationsLook no further than Games Workshop for a model Hasbro could easily follow when it comes to Copyright Trolling. GW has a legal team whose whole job it is to look at websites and issue sweeping DMCA takedowns to de-platform designers. There is no court involved because it is the host website that does not want to have to fight for a single creator and so just complies. It is the up to the single creator to fight each DMCA, eating into their own time to try and get their creations back online. GW never goes after other big companies, they tried once and lost that case on 75% of their claims. They do target many smaller creators to create a chilling effect in the marketplace that never once sees a legal contest. Hasbro KNOWS this works. They have seen the model in place and thriving and are just adding it to their toolbox when it comes to making their closed environment the only way to enjoy the hobby.

Quote from: jhkim on January 02, 2023, 07:13:51 PM
Prior to the OGL, there were people who published games quite similar to D&D. One can sue over similarity of wording, not just fully copying all rules word-for-word. How similar the wording needs to be has yet to be fully tested in court. For example, TSR sued GDW over the Mythus game with ridiculous points like this:

And there are more than a few OSR games out there that have taken stuff whole cloth from older editions. Material very not covered by the OGL or the SRD. What happens next depends on just how stupid or confident wotc is they can bully anyone. And they are pretty confident. And stupid.

Fifth Age Fantasy SRD, we have enough people here to make it happen, then publish it under public domain because fuck WotC.

If a small group of woke folk on twitter can get companies to make bad decisions imagine what will happen when the entire OSR (players included) get pissed at Hasbro for destroying their niche games. How hard would it be to position this as Hasbro the bully? I bet cable news would even cover the dust-up. Hasbro wouldn't want any part of that when they have a lifestyle brand to launch. They'll ignore the the original OGL and bet it all that enough will following into 3.1 virtual land.

Quote from: Ruprecht on January 05, 2023, 06:37:49 PM
If a small group of woke folk on twitter can get companies to make bad decisions imagine what will happen when the entire OSR (players included) get pissed at Hasbro for destroying their niche games. How hard would it be to position this as Hasbro the bully? I bet cable news would even cover the dust-up. Hasbro wouldn't want any part of that when they have a lifestyle brand to launch. They'll ignore the the original OGL and bet it all that enough will following into 3.1 virtual land.

Like they covered Gamer Gate, painting the megacorp as the poor victim and the consumers as they evil istaphobes.

Quote from: Ruprecht on January 05, 2023, 06:37:49 PM
If a small group of woke folk on twitter can get companies to make bad decisions imagine what will happen when the entire OSR (players included) get pissed at Hasbro for destroying their niche games. How hard would it be to position this as Hasbro the bully? I bet cable news would even cover the dust-up. Hasbro wouldn't want any part of that when they have a lifestyle brand to launch. They'll ignore the the original OGL and bet it all that enough will following into 3.1 virtual land.

All people have to do is consistently portray Hasbro as being anti-labor, anti-artist, anti-writer and anti-worker.  Just keep launching it on them.  Go to Reddit and pose as a leftist and start stirring up the idiots there against Hasbro.  Just start riling up the public and give them a good cash rich target taking anti-consumer action and just watch them burn it down.  The left is a circular firing squad and its easy to use them.

on a weird side note - I'm wondering how Paizo's special dispensation status with WotC's licensed IP parts will affect Savage Pathfinder (if at all).

Quote from: tenbones on January 05, 2023, 06:43:33 PM
on a weird side note - I'm wondering how Paizo's special dispensation status with WotC's licensed IP parts will affect Savage Pathfinder (if at all).

Sadly Savage Pathfinder Falls under OGL in parts.

Quote from: tenbones on January 05, 2023, 06:43:33 PM
on a weird side note - I'm wondering how Paizo's special dispensation status with WotC's licensed IP parts will affect Savage Pathfinder (if at all).

My personal take? I'm glad SWADE has Fantasy Companion as a fallback, because until it's settled I wouldn't want anything OGL touching my IP.

Clownfish TV weighs in:

It seems that Hasbro corporate is currently in the process of unwittingly saving the RPG hobby from itself...

The walled garden will be so beautiful:

Quote from: Jaeger on January 05, 2023, 07:36:07 PM
It seems that Hasbro corporate is currently in the process of unwittingly saving the RPG hobby from itself...

So beautiful:

That would be nice, I guess. Ideally they suffer for their idiocy. But also I'm afraid a lot of people will follow them off the cliff and that it could still damage usage of and content creation with the 3.5 SRD and the like.

IDK, WoTC has become a place where their products push questionable messaging that I personally find disturbing. But also that kind of BS seems to have a market.

Quote from: Jaeger on January 05, 2023, 07:36:07 PM
It seems that Hasbro corporate is currently in the process of unwittingly saving the RPG hobby from itself...

The walled garden will be so beautiful:

I can't find the post in the Tavern, links?

Edited to add:

Never mind, found a video where he talks about it

Quote from: PulpHerb on January 05, 2023, 03:57:57 PM
You know, I can remember everyone, including me, laughing when Kevin Siembieda quashed D20 conversions and refused to do OGL for Rifts because his IP lawyer advised him it could taint his product and allow WotC (or others) to claim the rights to his stuff.

If WotC wins on this, and they might on the "I can afford more lawyers than you" clause, he'll be proven right.

Actually even if WotC loses on this (and they should), he'll STILL be proven right.  It's a huge loss to have to even worry about this stuff- suddenly Hasbro makes a huge change and...
1- Makes it so you can't update your product line to 6e (they definitely can do this)
2- Makes it so you can't use their old license for new things in your product line (this is definitely open to challenge and probably isn't real)
3- Makes it so you can't even continue to release your existing product line (hey, why stop with the above when you can go all the way, and then walk in with a special 10% royalty contract to make the pain all go away?)

Or, if you avoided the OGL, this affects you not at all.  Huge win, even if eventually one of the many companies they apparently plan to sue eventually wins.

---

Ok, new thing I don't see much discussion of yet- the gizmodo article has this quote:

QuoteIt addresses new technologies like blockchain and NFTs, and takes a strong stance against bigoted content, explicitly stating the company may terminate the agreement if third-party creators publish material that is "blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic, trans-phobic, bigoted or otherwise discriminatory."

This is hidden under a bunch of woke SJW spew, but the important piece is that this is at will termination on a person by person basis.  If Wizards decides that you are "blatantly bigoted", how do you go to court and prove you are not?  Is there a legal standard for "sexist material"?  In which jurisdiction?  Can you prove in, say, California court, that your use of "race" instead of "species" for elves is not "blatantly racist"?  Hasbro will hire a specialist from Harvard to prove their point, right?  It seems like almost anyone could be thrown against the wall with this, if you have some IP that they want to shake you down for.