Dungeons and Dragons and Licenses and Players and...

For those who play Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPG), the past couple of weeks have been as exciting as watching a dragon flying in to destroy your village.

The quick and dirty explanation; Dungeons & Dragons (run by the company Wizards of the Coast; owned by Hasbro) is the most well known TTRPG, and is often the first version of the TTRPG that people learn to play.  For many years it has had an Open-Game License (OGL); anyone could produce content using the Dungeons & Dragons system and sell it without worrying about being stopped by Wizards of the Coast.

This worked for years; people would play Dungeons & Dragons, and there was such a wide variety of worlds created under the system that it became the go-to system.  Even if Wizards of the Coast didn't make money from every piece of content, just about every player of TTRPG would eventually buy products from Wizards of the Coast.

But Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast felt that Dungeons & Dragons was "Under-Monetized", and wanted to increase the revenue stream.  They plan on releasing a new version of Dungeons & Dragons called One D&D... and part of the changes included changes to the OGL.  

The changes to the OGL would require third-party content providers to pay Hasbro (including 20% from Kickstarter campaigns) and give Hasbro rights over content created by third party.  This would, in effect, damage (if not kill) all third party content providers going forward.

And the fans of Dungeons & Dragons revolted.

People dropped subscriptions to D&D Beyond, the official website of Dungeons & Dragons.  They had a petition protesting the changes signed by over 60,000 people.  The players and GMs who actually run the games shouted very loudly.  

Wizards of the Coast has been backtracking, and it sounds like they changes won't be happening.  People are still angry (One of my groups is already changing systems).

This was a foolish move by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast; I understand the desire to make more profit, but the OGL created a brand for Dungeons & Dragons that made it the behemoth of the TTRPG market.  You don't see the kids on Stranger Things playing 7th Sea, or Call of Cthulu, or Champions.

The problem with goodwill is that, once it's lost, it's very difficult to regain.  I think Wizards of the Coast is finding that out in real time.

In the meantime, let me tell you about my character...

Thoughts on Dungeons and Dragons- 5th edition

Wizards of the Coast is releasing the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons.  I've played DnD since I was ten, back in first edition.  Currently, I'm in a campaign using DnD 3.5 (third edition with some rules modifications).  Some initial thoughts looking over the new Player's Handbook:

* Some background- the 1st edition was groundbreaking- but it was also complicated as hell.  If you ever read the comic Knights of the Dinner Table , with their ridiculous charts and tables?  Yeah- 1st edition was like that.  A lot of groundbreaking work- but enough dice rolling to make your eyes bleed.

Second edition started off by simplifying things- but then they brought out splat books.  Books with variations of classes and races.  And with so many splat books out, it wasn't hard for people to find unbeatable combinations.  It was really unbalanced (all of the editions have some class balancing issues- but 2nd edition was extremely bad on this one)

Third edition- my favorite version, easily.  Allowing people to constantly switch classes gave them variety without the ridiculous rules from the 1st edition.  It was complicated, but nothing like first edition.  All in all, the best version of the game.

Fourth edition- it was a MMORPG (computer game) on paper.  It felt like less of a role-playing game and more of a combat tactical game.  And everything was so damned cookie-cutter; Every 8th level fight was one of two types.  I bought the books and tried to play, but lost interest.  Now it sits collecting dust on my bookshelf.

With all of that in mind, here's some thoughts on the new version of the game:

* Fifth edition- my first thought is that it's back to being a RPG.  Less tactics, more character development, more options.  Considering that I wasn't interested in fourth edition at all, this is a plus to me.

* It appears simpler than 3rd edition- the proficiency bonus goes up by overall level, so no more skill points.  There are backgrounds instead of feats

* I would really like to have seen some sample characters to see how everything fits together.  Just reading the descriptions, all of the powers seem jumbled together.  Some examples of each of the character classes might help clean things up.

* Balance issues?  I'm sure there are some.  Everyone who plays DnD min/maxes (aka, tries to find the best angle to help their characters succeed).  The rule in DnD used to be that wizards were really weak at lower levels and really strong at high levels.  They've strengthened spellcasters at lower levels (more spells, more HP)- so I'm curious if they've also lowered their potency at the high levels compared to other classes.

* Personally, I'm happy with third edition.  But if a player thought 3rd edition was too much paperwork, I could see where 5th edition would appeal to them.