Tag: #wotcconspiracies

Wizards of the Coast Content Creator Summit.

I’m sure a speak for a large crowd of gamers who didn’t need an all-expenses-paid trip to my living room to figure it out. We don’t need WotC or their take on D&D any more. I’ve pretty much given up on Wizards of the Coast. They can go rot with whatever official titles come next. There are very few things they will ever do or say to win my trust back.

Please allow me to better clarify my position on this.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with WotC calling a Creator Summit. There’s no grudge or beef with the attendees of said event. Actually, I’m wicked jealous, to be honest. But, good for them. I’ve made it a point since starting this site to praise the success of others as long as no harm was done.

I admire a lot of folx in the YouTube arena. I could list probably twenty people who I respect and admire greatly. I’m not going to single anyone out, however.

I admire a lot of people, but I don’t always agree with them.

Someone pointed out on Twitter that a lot of the “Content Creators” being invited to the summit don’t actually write much of anything, with a few exceptions. I see a lot of endorsements and sponsors on the channels of various Content Creators. Again, all good.

They all work very hard at what they do. I’m not sure how “Influencer” became sort of a negative term, but it describes what they do so much better. YouTube videos, social media posts, liaising with various other writers, creators and corporate types are just part of their daily agenda. Anyone who has ever edited a YouTube video can probably tell you it’s not as easy as it sounds.

So, yes. Great for the people going to get wined and dined by Wizards of the Coast. Is it the best approach by WotC? That remains to be seen. Make no mistake, this is a (smart) Public Relations move. WotC isn’t paying for good previews/reviews. However, I kinda suspect that’s what the corporate overlords are expecting out of all this.

Here comes one of my theories.

What if, maybe, just possibly, this has been planned all along? It’s almost Machiavellian in its conception. IF/F the OGL debacle was manufactured, then some of the subsequent PR maneuvering would be intended to build more support for the new video game, err…Virtual TableTop using the Unreal Engine. (Just like Fortnite, *cough.*) Even if the OGL disaster hadn’t occurred, my educated guess is this was already in the works.

Wizards’ various teams have been plotting and scheming. Sometimes Team A has no idea (supposedly) what Team B is doing. The Hasbro overlords’ teams sometimes do things the WotC teams have no idea are happening. It’s all about the franchise, the lifestyle brand, these days.

Content? Not in the gaming sense of the word. Mark my words- what goes into the books is tertiary or even irrelevant to selling the brand. Advertising, promotion, and selling merchandise are super important to WotC. Books? Pfft! “Do we sell those?” they ask. They need “Content Creators” to promote the brand. They don’t need actual game content.

Remember, One D&D was already pretty much in the bag before they even announced it. WotC’s focus has nothing to do with the game itself at this point. They’re entire effort is going into marketing, merchandising, and virtual space. Screw the game. They just want money because they own the name and they have a dim view of the fans.

Someone highly respected by the community mentioned “gatekeeping.”

In my heart of hearts, I almost wish Linda Codega was wrong about gatekeeping, but I know they’re right. That snarky comment Kyle Brink made about “old white guys (like him) can’t flee the hobby fast enough” might be the new standard in gatekeeping for D&D. The new “cool kids” are turning away the section of the fanbase that launched the entire TTRPG industry.

As others have commented, WotC “left us” the SRD 5.1 and the OGL. WotC doesn’t see editions. They see dollar signs. All of us old codgers and Grognards can play the older editions of the game or pretty much do anything we want in the old sandbox. The new faces of D&D are coming, and chances are there won’t be one old white guy with a bald head and a long beard anywhere among them.

Hasbro/WotC want tons of sales of merchandise, action figures, D&D lamps and gimmicky transformable d20s. They’re banking on the Honor Among Thieves sales and views to propel D&D into the future much the same way Star Wars took off back in the 1970s. Getting a bunch of YouTubers onboard with the new VTT and kicking all of the old white guys to the curb are just another phase of the marketing plan.

The way I see it…

We’re headed into a new era. This new era will be pretty much free of official WotC publications. There plenty of companies out there in the #TTRPGIndustry who will take our money. If WotC wants to blow a pile of money on bringing a bunch of YouTubers in to try to coax more people back over to One D&D, and the video game masquerading as a VTT, good for them.

The brain trust at Hasbro/WotC has forgotten the hundreds of YouTubers they didn’t invite. The old guys like Erik Tenkar and The Dungeon Delver probably never make the list. Why? WotC doesn’t want honest opinions. They want public relations.

WotC wants YouTubers to go on the air and sing the praises of One D&D and the shiny new VTT. They want the microtransactions that work so well for video game companies. They weren’t lying when they said they want to monetize the players. Remember, we’re dealing with WotC execs that think D&D is a video game and nothing more.

Again, there’s really nothing terribly wrong about what WotC is doing. Yeah, they want to make money. I think other TTRPG fans and I would rather they went about things differently, but we’re not their crowd any more.

I can name dozens of other fantasy TTRPGs that can easily be mistaken for D&D. These other titles are eventually going to completely replace D&D. Let WotC do whatever the heck they want to do. Good luck with One D&D.

I’m sure a speak for a large crowd of gamers who didn’t need an all-expenses-paid trip to my living room to figure it out. We don’t need WotC or their take on D&D any more. I’ve pretty much given up on Wizards of the Coast. They can go rot with whatever official titles come next. There are very few things they will ever do or say to win my trust back.

Update: As of March 10, I have not received any word from Wizards of the Coast on the best way to contact them. Obviously they want the fans’ opinions so badly that there’s no way to contact them. I call bullsh🦆t on their whole operation at this point. I really get the impression no one in those offices wants to be my friend.

Thanks for reading this far. You rock. I appreciate you. I like having online friends. Keep on gaming your way.

Why I Say, “It’s Over For Now.”

Hi. Not the article I planned to write today. Someone on Twitter asked if I was done with my conspiracy theories. Someone also asked why I say we’re not done yet when it comes to Wizards of the Coast. Because WotC isn’t done with us. Sure, we won the OGL battle, but look what’s not being discussed in the open.

Wizards of the Coast didn’t just give up.

I’m trying not to be a Debbie Downer about this whole D&D Open Game License debate. In fact, I’ve been doing my best not to say anything that might jinx it. Family, I’m sorry. I’m still staring at the chalkboard because something just doesn’t quite add up about this whole affair.

Yes, we should cherish this as a victory for #OpenDnD and I am truly happy that System Reference Document 5.1 is now under Creative Commons License. I am filled with joy that we can continue on with OGL 1.0a in perpetuity, creating “Old School” Dungeons & Dragons content for 3.5 and 5E. It’s great. Truly, I’m celebrating it as a big win for us- i.e. the fans and content creators.

What’s a group of weasels called?

WotC? Maybe it’s Hasbro? The real answer is, “boogle” or more importantly, a “sneak.” As in, they’re sneaky.

I find it a bit tough to believe that anyone stupid or cunning enough to turn the entire TTRPG industry on its ear for most of January would just roll over and give up,. It’s too easy. Yes, they were under significant pressure with the cancellation of D&D Beyond subscriptions. Yeah, the fans were super irritated with WotC. Supposedly WotC reacted to feedback from the community.

I have serious trust issues with large corporations. Truthfully, having lived through the 1980s and being fired by one, I just can’t bring myself to ever trust a corporation again. I’m aware of what it sounds like. I can’t believe or trust anything WotC says until certain executives are gone. Even then, I’ll always have doubts.

Huzzah! The OSR is saved. Case closed. Right?

I’m taking some grief on Twitter because I have a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding WotC and the Great OGL Debacle of 2023. Remember, I’m only crazy until I’m correct. The term “conspiracy” was cooked up by a certain government department that wanted it to have a negative connotation.

Sure, we can theoretically keep making Old School Renaissance/Revival/Regrowth/Re-whatever until Hell itself freezes over. And that’s great. People might not realize it yet, but 5E pretty much became part of the OSR the day One D&D was announced. (If you listen closely, you can hear the old fartz starting to panic at that notion.) WotC’s endgame was never about prior editions. They’ve already made it clear.

Yes, mission accomplished. We can keep making older edition stuff forever under OGL 1.0a and SRD 5.1 CC-BY-4.0. That’s lovely. WotC theoretically threw us a bone. Reasons why will likely remain a mystery.

Remember, WotC “doesn’t see editions any more.”

Yeah. Because they want One D&D to be the only game we’ll ever play as far as they’re concerned. (*My opinion.) The heck with all those older editions. One D&D with its big, gnarly, fancy-shmancy digital platform is where it’s at now don’t cha know?

The reasons WotC gave in look spontaneous. Sure, maybe it’s the fans. Maybe it was Hasbro. Maybe it was all those cancelled DDB subs. OR maybe they’ve got another plan. There are a LOT of things WotC has not addressed yet.

I’ll play angel’s advocate for a minute. Hasbro was under a lot of pressure to deal with WotC. Hasbro stocks took a dip. Media attention was on the OGL for a minute. The new D&D movie, Honor Among Thieves is coming out. Critical Role was getting some attention from Amazon. Cynthia Williams and Chris Cao are still pulling the strings.

Oh look. Smoke & Mirrors.

WotC gave us the old pen and paper D&D on a platter. Sure, make all the OGL stuff we want. BUT- What if, just what if, that was never their endgame? They want One D&D to be the only Virtual TableTop in the industry. They want One D&D to be a lifestyle brand. D&D players are their cash cow.

What if they aren’t worried about the OGL because they have ways around it? Sure, make all the OGL stuff we want. Plaster “5E” on everything. What if Wizards of the Coast owns, or is planning to own OneBookShelf and Roll 20? What if WotC went out of their way to make sure the new D&D Beyond website was pretty much the only way to purchase old D&D pdfs?

Rumor has it that Chris Cao, one of the guys pulling the strings at WotC, doesn’t even see physical books as a concern going forward. He thinks they’re just nostalgia. Merely collector’s items. Chris Cao hasn’t even played D&D as far as we know. He thinks it’s like a mobile app or a computer game. (*according to WotC employees.)

What if WotC is planning to squeeze out Friendly Local Game Stores, Amazon, and independent book dealers? WotC wants to make it so all roads lead back to their new digital platform. Think about what it might do to the TTRPG industry if Hasbro or WotC has a veritable monopoly on electronic and physical book distribution.

Itch.io and Paizo.com are going to get more traffic. Great. All of our indie games and content that used to be on DriveThruRPG.com and DMsGuild.com might have to go through WotC or a website owned by Hasbro. More money in the corporation’s pockets. We can create all the content we want, but if we want to sell it, we’d have to either do it piecemeal all over the internet or go through WotC.

Just what if all those Hasbro layoffs were used to free up some capital available for the purchase on OneBookshelf? Sounds kinda far out. Then again, if Linda Codega hadn’t broken the story about OGL 1.1, none of us would believe the reality WotC would have had us living in back in early January. Put nothing past WotC at this point.

It’s all just my opinion, speculation, and conjecture.

Make what you will of it. I still think we’re getting played by Wizards of the Coast. I think Williams and Cao are smarter than we give them credit for. I think Chris Cocks at Hasbro is smarter than we give him credit for.

I hope I’m wrong about all of this. We almost witnessed the collapse of our beloved hobby industry. We could still be fighting just to keep the OGL alive. I’m just thinking of the journey from the travesty that was OGL 1.1 to where we are now. How is WotC going to recover?

Sure, maybe D&D Beyond gets a few subscribers back. According to the rumors, Chris Cao doesn’t even like DDB. The new Unreal Engine powered VTT and accompanying website are supposed to replace it anyway. New platform, new subscriptions. D&D Beyond will soon be a decaying relic.

Sure, maybe they sell a few more movie tickets to Honor Among Thieves. Maybe Hasbro saves face on with Paramount. I mean, I’m not going, but maybe somebody will.

Sure, maybe WotC saved face with the fans. They might even sell some of those “collector’s books” they’re putting out. And maybe DMsGuild continues to sell those pesky pdfs to keep the cattle, err…fans happy as far as the stockholders are concerned. Maybe Hasbro stocks will stabilize next quarter.

Darn straight I don’t trust WotC. We all need to remain vigilant. I’m telling you, family, it ain’t over yet. Sure, #OpenDnD won the day. Hallelujah. But we ain’t done with WotC’s shenanigans.

Thanks for stopping by and humoring me with all of my crazy ideas. I promise we really are going to get back to gaming. The dust will settle eventually and we can have some fun. I appreciate you.

%d bloggers like this: