Hasbroās D&D Critical Fail: Paradox Interactive and Larian Studios Poised to Benefit
So what happened?
A recently leaked agreement prepared by Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), the Hasbro division that controls Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), threatens to revoke the original Open Gaming License (OGL 1.0a) that has been in effect since the early 2000s. Among other stipulations, Hasbroābecause make no mistake, itās Hasbro executives driving this crisis, not WOTC staffāis demanding entities that earn more than $750,000 be required to fork over a 25% share of their profits to Hasbro, and that they would allow the company to āmake money off of these products without paying the person who made itā.
The catalyst for the entire fiasco is commonly believed to have been kicked off by Alta Fox Capital Management LLCās ā#FreeTheWizardsā campaign presentation1, which sought to force Hasbro into spinning Wizards of the Coast off into its own company once again.
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The tabletop industry isnāt reacting well
The public distribution of the new D&D OGL 2.0 termsāpreviously referred to as āOGL 1.1āāhas reportedly been postponed by Hasbro a second time. Preparations for a Thursday afternoon ET announcement to reveal additional information about the gameās licensing were abandoned as the company was having trouble responding to fans who are justifiably angry over revisions to the OGL.
According to the documentās leaked copy, numerous content producers, including independent publishers of standalone adventures, will no longer be able to monetize Dungeons & Dragons-related works. Itās a big move that will affect peopleās livelihoods and their careers.
Paizo Inc., a publisher of tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) and one of the largest publishers of third-party D&D content, issued a statement in response to Hasbroās intended OGL changes. The business, which employs a number of former WOTC executives, developers, and attorneys, has declared that it would work to create a new creative license for independent developers called the Open RPG Creative License (ORC). Paizo has stated that ORC will be āopen, perpetual, and irrevocableā.
Initially, Hasbro seemed too intimidated by the backlash to step up and address things. However, the company appears to have released a lengthy statement earlier this morning through DND Beyond.2 The statement seems more focused on saving face rather than simply apologizing for what was an obvious attempt to bully and bilk the community thatās been built around the D&D brand to the benefit of shareholders alone.
A quick aside. If I can give a company any piece of free modern advice, donāt ever do this. All this statement did was make Hasbro look like itās run by a vain, petty, and egotistical team. These kinds of statements are built on a school of thought that advises one to never admit a mistake and to spin failures as successes, no matter the cost. Thatās good politics, but bad businessābecause in business the cost is always money.
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A perfect storm to catapult the competition ahead
Two other competitors stand to benefit from Hasbroās incredibly damaging unforced error. The first is Paradox Interactive and the second is Larian Studios. It may seem odd that a pair of video game developers stand to benefit from a tabletop RPG brandās faceplant, but itās not as far-fetched as it appears.
Sweden-based Paradox Interactive owns the rights to White Wolf Publishing and all of its intellectual properties. These properties include the World of Darkness series, a vast range of tabletop RPGs that includes Vampire: The Masquerade, and the fifth edition of Werewolf: The Apocalypse which is due out in mid to late 2023.
Previously popular during the ā90s, tabletop content sold under the World of Darkness brand was on track for a comeback just a few years ago. That is until Paradox overcorrected when faced with criticism from artist and erotic fiction author Justin MacCormack over the companyās handling of references to neo-Nazism and far-right politics in one of its rulebooks.34 An unforced error on the part of Paradox to be sure, but one that only fractured the community rather than completely blew it upāas has been the case with Hasbroās handling of its attempted OGL 1.0a deauthorization.
But what Paradox has in the here and now is a prime opportunity to promote its alternative tabletop roleplaying system and the content that comes with it.
Larian Studios, on the other hand, has an entirely new opportunity.
Larian is best known for its Divinity series. Divinity is a fantasy-based video game RPG series that draws inspiration from a variety of different tabletop RPGs but uses an entirely original ruleset.
The company has successfully adapted one of the video games in the series into a board game,5 but Divinityās ruleset doesnāt seem to have ever been published as a traditional tabletop RPG. The lore is written. Iconic characters have already been canonized. The systems for and extent of combat, spells, and more are already feature-complete, with the vast majority of testing already done. All that's needed is for Larian to put what they already have in an attractive format, put it through a printer, and put it on shelves. Thereās certainly a consistent demand for such a product.6789
Personally, I canāt wait to see what 2023āor even just next weekābrings for the tabletop RPG industry.
Alta Fox Capital Management LLC. āHasbro, Let Wizards Go.ā, Freethewizards.com, 17 Feb 2022, https://web.archive.org/web/20220217114803/https://freethewizards.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Alta-Fox-HAS-Presentation-Final.pdf
DND Beyond Staff. āAn Update on the Open Game License (OGL)ā, DND Beyond, 13 Jan 2023, https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1423-an-update-on-the-open-game-license-ogl
MacCormack, Justin. āHow new White Wolf marketed Vampire: the Masquerade to the alt-right and neo-nazisā, Dog with Dice, first retrieved 8 Jul 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20180708153619/http://www.dogwithdice.com/whitewolfaredead/. Accessed 13 January 2023.
Russian Vampire: The Masquerade fan page. Author accuses White Wolf developers of neo-Nazism and supporting far-right forces. VK, 9Ā JulĀ 2018, https://vk.com/wall-43825046_89181?lang=en. Accessed 13 January 2023.
Larian Studios LLC. āDivinity Original Sin the Board Gameā, Kickstarter, 20 Nov 2019, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin-the-board-game
u/NosiTheBard. āDivinity: Original Sin Style Combat?ā, Reddit, 26 Jul 2016, https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/4uorok/divinity_original_sin_style_combat/. Accessed 13 January 2023.
u/BOT_Stuart. āDid anyone rewrite divinity original sin 2ās campaing for a table top rpg?ā, Reddit, 5 Sep 2018, https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9d75md/did_anyone_rewrite_divinity_original_sin_2s/. Accessed 13 January 2023.
u/Kaede11. āPen and Paper RPG similar to Divinity 2 original sin videogameā, Reddit, 21 Jan 2020, https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/erw8xj/pen_and_paper_rpg_similar_to_divinity_2_original/. Accessed 13 January 2023.
u/SUPERsundryGirl. āDivinity 2 Original Sin - Pen and Paper RPG Resourcesā, Reddit, 6 Mar 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/DivinityOriginalSin/comments/lz7e6i/divinity_2_original_sin_pen_and_paper_rpg/. Accessed 13 January 2023.