Big chunks of last year are pretty much shot.
Anything I did for any Wizards of the Coast Open Game License property or Hasbro licensed product came down or will come down as soon as I figure out what all I missed. It’s not a legal issue (yet.) It’s that I don’t want to support Hasbro right now.
I’m kinda bummed about it, though. I’m lucky. I don’t make a single penny off of anything published on this site. As free stuff, I’m not subject to a lot of OGL related copyright issues. If WotC were to go after Goodman Games over Dungeon Crawl Classics or everyone over Dungeons & Dragons material, then I’d have big issues assuming anyone actually cares. (*I have my doubts, but…)
I also pulled down most/all of my Power Rangers RPG stuff because Hasbro owns Renegade Studios. Obviously there’s no hope of an OGL ever coming about for Essence20. So, probably no fan content for Power Rangers, GI Joe or Transformers TTRPGs, like- ever. Companies have a really hard time coming after people who make original things for free, but if OGL 2.0 looks like OGL 1.1, I don’t want any WotC 🦆$$holes coming after my content either. And I will never willingly sign anything over to them.
No matter how bummed I am, someone else has it much worse.
Imagine having invested upwards of 20 years making OGL content. What if someone’s entire business model depended on the OGL 1.0A? Looking at you, Paizo, Troll Lord, Goodman, and more. Not to mention all of the creators that publish on DriveThruRPG and DMsGuild. Imagine the nightmare OneBookShelf might be facing if half or more of their product has to suddenly come down or else. It’s gotta sting even though it hasn’t come to fruition.
I’m a tiny speck on a tiny speck of a blog compared to some of the mainstream 5E content creators and all of the guys making stuff for the Old School Renaissance. As much as I like to grief the OSR goons over some of their attitudes, politics, etc- I wouldn’t wish any of this OGL business on them, either. This is the one time over half to two thirds of the TableTop RolePlaying Game community has united under a single banner in protest of a big, stinky corporation and its antics.
Universally speaking, the Earth is a teensy weensy microcosm compared to the billions of stars and planets. And we’re just one very small part of that as humans. And of the almost 8 Billion humans, the TTRPG community is what? Maybe 1% or so? And I’m just one guy with a blog. Kinda puts things in perspective, I guess.
That’s not the only change I’ve made.
All of my Laura DiBenedetto/Six Habits content is gone for the foreseeable future. I haven’t abandoned the program altogether, but the author and I don’t see eye-to-eye as well as we used to. I wish Laura all the love and Light, but it’s complicated.
Filling gaps and plugging leaks.
This website feels like a house full of bad plumbing right now. (*I suck at real world plumbing, btw.) There are a lot of things missing and even more likely coming down. I’ve got a lot of content to replace or revise somehow.
Cripes, even my plans for the year in terms of content vanished in a few short days when this OGL crapola happened. #Dungeon23 is off the table because I don’t even know what system to use that would be relatable or meaningful now. I’m working on my own RPG system, but I’m not going to blog it until I’m mostly done.
I’m sort of giving thoughts to moving over to another genre or genres of TTRPGs entirely. I’m still interested in Spirit of ’77, Monster of the Week, and other Powered by the Apocalypse games. I might even build a setting based off of PbtA and try building content for that.
I’m also still big on ICONS and other superhero games. FATE Mecha Vs Kaiju is another campaign I could possible bring back around. WrightWerx MvK is a great mecha setting, btw. If you know my blog, I’m also a big fan of a lot of Spectrum Games RPGs. I wouldn’t mind making some free content for them. Specifically I love Cartoon Action Hour S3; Capes, Cowls, and Villains Foul; and RetroStar RPG. A couple of other Spectrum supers games just dropped as well.
More to come in the days ahead.
I’m just spitballin’ right now. This week might be another tense and telling week in the TTRPG industry. I kinda envy Gizmodo/IO9’s Linda Codega just a little. Last week was a career maker for them. It was a TTRPG reporter’s dream come true. If my blog got that kind of attention, I might even be able to monetize it. (LOL!) That said, Great job Linda!
By the time this week ends, we might be in a whole different TTRPG industry environment or absolutely no different than where we are now. Maybe I’ll have my stuff figured out by then, too. Onward and upward? Maybe?
I appreciate you, probably more than words can say right now. Thank you for stopping by. Keep gaming, regardless. Much love.
Jeff's Game Box 