Even though I've been playing RPGs for half my life, and designing content for them for going on 8 years now, I still make fun little discoveries that give me light bulb moments. This week I wanted to share one that I came across on Reddit a week or so ago that's just been sloshing around in my brain, picking up speed with every lap in the pool.
That term is Opportunity Cost, and for me it helps immensely when it comes to explaining choices and resource expenditure when it comes to TTRPGs.
Because you can't do all the things when it comes to your game.
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!
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It All Comes Out of The Same Budget
There was an article I read forever and a day ago that talked about the choices we make in our lives. There are only 24 hours in the day, after all, and you have to choose what you're going to do with them. And if you want to make positive changes then you are probably going to have to sacrifice something along the way... which is one reason so many of us have such a hard time making the changes we want.
For instance, let's say you want to start a workout routine. That's at least an hour or so of your day that has to come from somewhere... so what's getting replaced? Are you going to play fewer video games? Cut down your TV watching? Sometimes it might be possible to modify your choices, such as convincing a friend to come workout with you so you still get to do an activity together, but generally speaking you're going to have to pay the cost in time and energy out of your finite supply in order to get the results you want.
Or, put another way, when you make one choice, you lose the ability to pursue other choices because you've already spent that allotted time, energy, etc.
And what does this have to do with gaming?
When it comes to TTRPGs, every player is faced with the same choices, and the same pool of resources. The decisions they make, and the abilities their characters acquire, come with an opportunity cost.
For example, say you want the spellcasting abilities of a wizard. Cool, you have chosen to play a wizard. But you now have wizard hit points, weapon proficiencies, skill points, etc. You might wish you had the fighter's proficiencies, or the cleric's spell list, or the rogue's skills, but you don't. You made your choice, and by making that choice you are locked in to what you picked. You may have more opportunities down the line, but right now you made your choice, and you are stuck with it until you get the chance to make another.
Every player should have the same opportunities and resources as every other. However, any time you find yourself feeling like someone else's character is more powerful, more effective, or is just overall doing better, it's important to ask what opportunity cost they paid... because they did pay one.
The barbarian is a beast in close combat, dealing out massive damage in melee. That's fair... but they can't cast spells. The fighter is able to stack their armor class so high they're practically untouchable... but do they have more than 1 or 2 skills? The sorcerer can cast spontaneously, but they have all the weaknesses of the wizard without access to a wider selection of spells. The bard can do a little bit of everything, but they're often not as effective as someone focused on a particular task.
And so on, and so forth.
It's All About Where You Spend Your Points
Different games have different structures. Some are level based, and some allow you to buy new abilities by spending XP as you go. Some are based more on your equipment, making what you're wielding even more important than who your character is underneath it all. But this concept translates to every game, regardless of its specifics.
You can choose between the sword that does more damage, or the sword that heals you, but you can't afford both. You have enough XP to increase your Strength or your Presence, but not both. You leveled up, but you may not be able to take levels of certain classes because of how you arranged your character's attributes, or because some classes are mutually exclusive.
No matter the situation, there is always an opportunity cost when it comes to what you choose to add to your character.
Everything has its cost.
This term is particularly important when it comes to asking how many resources it takes for your character to be able to accomplish the things you want out of them. Because all of you sitting at the table have the same choices... but once you've locked in those choices, you usually can't go back and change them. You chose to walk through door number three, and by doing so you now can't go back and open the first and second door, as well.
Recommended Reading
If you enjoyed this week's topic, and you'd like to check out some more articles by yours truly, consider checking out the following!
- Players, Don't Overcomplicate Solutions To In-Game Problems: All too often we end up creating huge Rube Goldberg devices for solving out problems in-game, sometimes it's important to step back and make sure we actually know what goal we're trying to reach, and that we're focusing on reaching it.
- The Power of Martial Characters: So often we focus on the raw power of magic users, stating that martial characters just fall by the wayside halfway through the game. But is that really true? Consider, instead, this perspective.
- An Exploration of "Reverse Stereotype" Characters in RPGs: So often we look at the stereotype of a given character archetype or class, and we immediately try to flip it to become a photo negative... but does this just create a new stereotype, rather than an interesting, unique character?
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Anyone that's sat in the big chair as a Game Master has likely heard the advice that you should work with your players to create a cooperative environment whenever possible. Nothing spikes the game harder than the GM keeping a white-knuckled grip on the reins, and taking away the independence and creative autonomy of the rest of the table.
We already know that the higher-ups at Wizards of The Coast who've been largely responsible for the current crisis don't play the game. Because if they did, then they would know that the harder you try to control the players, the more problems you make for yourself.
What do you mean they'll just make their own games?
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!
Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Capital Doesn't Create (It Simply Tries To Control)
I know we're all sick of this OGL talk, so I want to draw everyone's attention to something that a different gaming company did in the recent past. A year or two back there was a big kerfuffle with Games Workshop, a company that's rather notorious for having a contentious relationship with its own community. They were leaning hard on fan creators who made video content, they were sending out rather angry messages to third-party mini makers and 3D printing folks, and generally being even more snappish than usual.
Why were they doing this?
First and foremost, GW was trying to clamp down on control of the minis market regarding its IP. It was getting a lot stricter about requiring players to buy official products for participation in events, but more than that it wanted to try to build walls to keep 3D printing away from anything that might look vaguely like a space marine, tyranid, or tau. Secondly, though, the company had plans to build its own streaming service, Warhammer+, where it was going to put out multimedia content to those willing to pay a monthly fee.
Short answer, they wanted to make sure there wasn't competition who was doing it better than they were.
Now, if we were to Monday-morning-quarterback this whole thing, we can see that this approach was a massive mistake. Games Workshop coming out swinging, particularly against smaller companies and fan creators, made them look like a bully who was trying to crush other people's livelihoods, steal content that took a lot of work to make, and generally just take things away from fans. This left a particularly bad taste in the community's mouth, and it's a big reason why so few people signed up for Warhammer+ when it was announced, and it led to a lot of fans out and out abandoning Warhammer 40K as a game, moving over to games like Mechwarrior instead.
So what could they have done differently?
Well, if you have fan creators who are putting in long hours of work to make passion projects, and they have hundreds of thousands of followers on YouTube, that shows there's a thriving community with a big interest in your IP. Each one of those people represents a doorway into your hobby, and a way to expand your community. So rather than kicking in their front door and demanding they kiss the ring, a smarter move would have been to offer them some kind of sponsorship deal. Get them to help move figures, get eyes on upcoming games, or recruit them to make content for the company without the underlying threat that if they don't say yes you'll force them to remove their channel from YouTube. Be magnanimous, and show the community that you support them, and you want them to keep talking about how much they love your products.
But what about those 3PP minis producers? Surely they need to go, don't they?
Let's get one thing straight here; Games Workshop only produces miniatures for a small fraction of the forces and factions that exist in the grim darkness of the far future. There are hundreds of space marine chapters, thousands of imperial guard regiments, dozens of orders of the adeptus sororitas, and that's just the human faction. You throw in the diversity for the eldar, the orks, the tau, the tyranids, chaos, and more, and it would be impossible for GW to ever make full runs of minis for every option someone might want to play without losing a massive amount of money. As a company they need to move minis in bulk in order to justify the cost of doing a particular run, which is why they tend to focus on the units with the broadest possible appeal.
Those other companies, though, could create stuff for the parts of the game that GW isn't going to run. Whether it's offering unique head sculpts for space marines, or making unique armor additions, or putting out weapon modifications, bases, or insignia, they have the flexibility that a bigger company doesn't. This goes double if they're selling digital STL files for users to print out at home for their own use. Games Workshop could have approached these companies in good faith, and worked out a deal so that they could produce more obscure sets of minis and parts as they wished, provided they gave GW a small cut of the proceeds. They could even have sweetened the pot by allowing content from official partners to be used in tournaments and events. These other companies get more customers, the community gets more diverse, and GW makes more money overall.
That wasn't the approach they took, however. Instead they simply tried to clamp down on control, bullying and intimidating people not on their payroll. At the end of the day this burned bridges, alienated a lot of known talent in the community, and drove off a lot of people who were active participants up to that point. And, last time I checked, Warhammer+ has been plugged in to a golden throne and has to be fed a dozen GW employees every day just to keep it breathing.
Parallels to The OGL
For those who saw the parallels, you know where this is going. In case you don't, though, let me go through the details.
Prepare your symbols of disapproval!
We have to go back 23 years ago to the creation of the Open Game License. The short version is that, though you cannot copyright game mechanics any more than you can copyright math, you can get contentious with the language used to describe those mechanics. So the OGL was proposed by Wizards of the Coast as a kind of peace treaty between themselves and third party publishers. It was meant to be a perpetual agreement that said while their intellectual property was not open to all (unique creatures they'd made, settings for their games, etc.) that anyone who wished to use this license could use both the mechanics and the language to describe those mechanics without fear of reprisal.
This agreement is what made Dungeons and Dragons' d20 system the most popular basis for dozens of RPGs out there. It wasn't the only option, obviously, but DND became the lingua franca of gaming. Because Dungeons and Dragons was already a popular game, so making your own supplements, settings, etc., that didn't require players to learn a whole new language just to try your product out made for an easier transition, and it netted smaller publishers more fans, and more sales. Not only that, but this allowed publishers to make smaller, niche books and products that Wizards simply wouldn't print because they wouldn't sell enough copies, or they were considered too risky.
And what did Wizards get out of this? Well, folks who wanted to try those other games usually bought the base books from Wizards of The Coast. It allowed Wizards to act as the kind of first-among-equals when it came to DND, and it ensured that a lot of the gaming world thought of them as the default game. So while there were always going to be people who preferred the World of Darkness, or Call of Cthulhu, or Warhammer 40K, DND was something a majority of gamers were going to at least be familiar with. As an RPG creator myself, I can say that up until the end of last year if I wanted to write a module, supplement, etc., for a fantasy RPG, it needed to have a 5E port for the simple reason that if it didn't it simply wouldn't sell.
Some estimates claimed that, for online play, DND 5E was about 85% or so of the market. I can't speak to the accuracy of that number, but I would be surprised if it was too far off.
Seriously, it was the DEFAULT fantasy game until three weeks ago.
As you can see, Wizards of The Coast was in a similar position to Games Workshop. They were a huge brand, their games had a really active fan base, and they were poised to grow even bigger in the near future. And while both companies had dips in profits just before this move, let us be clear, they were not going bankrupt. They were both still hugely profitable companies.
But like Games Workshop, Wizards thought the best way forward was to put up paywalls, and to cut off as much of their competition at the knees as possible. What they didn't realize, though, is that their "competition" was basically creating the rich ecosystem they needed to make money, and remain king of the heap. Because without all those third party publishers putting out fresh adventures, and new subclasses, or unique species guides, Wizards simply wasn't producing enough books, figures, and accessories to keep itself afloat.
And then there's this digital product it's apparently shoveling money into... something that didn't work when Games Workshop did it either.
DND Shorts broke it down above, but it's looking like what the folks in charge of DND were planning was to create a proprietary virtual tabletop that would act as their primary money maker. People would pay a subscription fee to use it, there would be microtransactions for everything from outfits for your mini to effects from your spells, and it would finally be the answer to how you could get money out of everyone at the table, not just the Game Master who was the one that bought the majority of the rule books, campaign guides, etc. in the past.
The result of all of this, of course, has been a massive backlash straight to Wizards' knees. Players have cancelled their DND Beyond subscriptions en masse, and there is a large boycott of Wizards products. Companies that were using DND as the default rules system for all their products have cut ties completely, and won't be going back. YouTubers, digital play platforms, everyone it seems is abandoning Wizards.
Because they tried to force their community to do something, rather than innovating and providing them something of value.
Second Verse, Same as The First
This might be a controversial opinion, but I think that all of the stuff Wizards has talked about is stuff that, in another context, we really would have been super excited about. Expanded digital tools for making our games better? More options using digital tabletops? The ability to run through modules with a robot GM? I'm sure that a lot of us would have at least signed up for a free trial of that kind of program, if it was presented to us as a cool new option for playing the game.
That's the key, here. Option. Freedom. Choice.
The attitude from Wizards of The Coast has been to take away as many options for their players as possible, while attempting to ram through their own decision. It is, in a lot of ways, attempting to turn Dungeons and Dragons, a game based on imagination and innovation, into just another mobile game filled with microtransactions that reliably earns a profit for the company who holds the rights to it.
It's not working out too well so far.
And I think this could have been done in a way that was beneficial to the community rather than turning it into the firestorm we're seeing now. Wizards could have partnered with popular virtual tabletops to ensure they had multiple digital storefronts to sell to the widest range of players possible. They could have cultivated connections with more live play YouTube channels, and opened the doors for those who wanted to focus more on digital content by giving them a suite of publisher's tools, and taking a cut of what was made just like with DM's Guild. Most importantly, though, they could have left the OGL alone so that even if they didn't want to focus on making print books anymore, other companies who wanted to fill that niche would keep their brand on top by filling that need.
But instead of building bridges and cooperating, polishing up their reputation and growing the community (and thus increasing the number of people who might buy their product) they opted to try to burn down everything they deemed too close to their borders. They chose to share nothing, and to alienate everyone... which is why they'll likely end up ruling over a kingdom of ashes.
So, as a reminder, we cannot let up the pressure if we want Wizards of The Coast (or the next big-shot games company who thinks they can get involved in a land war in Asia) to learn a lesson. Keep supporting third-party companies, and if you have a subscription service to anything Hasbro does, cancel it. Because while they appear to be trying to mollify the fan base, they seem set on forcing through as many poison pills as we'll let them.
For Folks Who Want To Help Me Get Through This
If you made it all the way through this post, and you want to help me haul myself up a rung or two so I can get off this sinking ship and to a safer harbor, here's a handy list of the places you can go where your efforts would be much appreciated!
Lastly, consider checking out my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. The more sales I can eke out before decisions come down on this OGL situation, the more likely it is my publisher will work with me to convert it to a new rules setting instead of just writing it off as a loss going forward.
Cities of Sundara
The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!
- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!
- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.
- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.
- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.
- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.
Gods of Sundara
- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.
Species of Sundara
Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.
And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!
- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.
- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Around this time last year I announced that I was finally going to be making some video content. This was partially due to the gentle prodding of a lot of folks who suggested that I needed to expand into that medium to reach more people, and partially because my main publisher Azukail Games thought it would be a good way to get additional eyes onto a lot of the content I was producing for them. That led to me working on teaching myself audio and video editing for the past year, and trying to find a presentation style and subject matter I'm comfortable with.
And now it's led to something entirely new... something that I've titled Discussions of Darkness!
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!
Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
How This All Got Started
Back in 2021 Azukail Games tapped me to start expanding the supplements I was working on to include the World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness settings. This started off with pieces like New World Nights: 100 Ghouls For The American Camarilla for Vampire: the Masquerade, as well as 100 Mourning Cant Dialects, Phrases, and Meanings for Changeling: the Lost. For nearly 2 years now I've tried to get at least one WoD or CoD project into the pipe for release every month, and this is in addition to even earlier projects I worked on with other publishers, such as my 100 Kinfolk series for Werewolf: the Apocalypse (available in a bundle with roughly 1,400 NPCs in it), as well as more general use pieces such as Deadly Country: 100 NPCs of Central Florida.
Needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time wandering the poorly-lit back alleys and dark corners of this particular setting. And this was why when Azukail Games approached me about making content for the channel, one of the things I wanted to do was create audio dramas based on the introduction fiction for my supplements, such as Missed Connections below, which is taken from my supplement 100 Resources and Rumors to Find on SchreckNet.
Background Music From Tabletop Audio: Secret Facility
Anyway, since I was spending so much time in these settings, I thought I'd go beyond just telling a few stories to get folks in the mood to play. I wanted to talk about what makes these settings unique, what some of the pitfalls are that come with playing in them, and to offer tips and tricks for players and Storytellers alike who are thinking about walking back into the strange side streets where the shadows are always darker, and the cracks run a little bit deeper.
That's where the idea of Discussions of Darkness came from; as a way to share the experiences I've had in these games with folks, and to hopefully help old hands and fresh faces alike really get stuck in before they start their next chronicles.
How You Can Help (And Influence) The Show Going Forward
At time of writing there are two episodes of the show on the channel, and a third one is currently awaiting editorial. And while I have a long list of topics I'd like to cover ranging from handling horror in dark settings, to politics or the lack thereof in a given game, to the commonly used ever-present-threat, I want to make sure that folks who are tuning in feel like the show is listening to their feedback and input.
If this sounds like something you'd like to help support, here's how you can do so without spending so much as a dime.
- Watch The Episodes (I linked the first one above, but the second is below if you want to get something a little meatier, since it comes in at about 20 minutes)
- Share Them on Your Social Media (People are suspicious of creators who big-up their own work, and they're more likely to trust/watch something you share because you like it)
- Leave Comments (The algorithm loves comments and upvotes both, but more importantly I use comments to figure out what it is viewers want to see, and it will affect topics going forward)
My hope is that there will be enough folks who enjoy the show (and who help me keep the numbers up) that I'll be able to keep it going right alongside all the supplements I'm writing for use in the various different games attached to the setting. And everything from which games I talk about in detail (Changeling, Vampire, Mage, Geist, Hunter, etc.), to what kinds of advice I focus on, to the mechanics of different editions, will all be decided by you, the listeners.
So whether you're a long time player or Storyteller in this setting, you're coming back after some time away, or you're coming in with fresh eyes, consider pulling up a chair for a Discussion of Darkness.
And for those who would like to see more involved, longer-form audio dramas, well, my hope is that a project like that will be possible in the future. More on that in Stories of Sundara, Tales of The World of Darkness, and More! in case you missed that update.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
Unless you're living under a rock, you've likely heard about Wizards of the Coast, and the Open Game License debacle that's going on right now. For those who haven't (somehow), let me catch you up to speed. 23 years ago Wizards of The Coast created an Open Game License so that third-party publishers could make games using their system. This led to a massive boom in publishers doing so, and it created a large ecosystem of companies that coalesced around the D20 system used by Dungeons and Dragons. Now to all appearances, Hasbro has decided it's tired of sharing these tools, and wants to put the genie back in the bottle. A leaked "new edition" of the Open Game License reads like an out-and-out threat, demanding cuts of earnings, rights to republish without paying original creators royalties, banning of anything outside of physical books and digital copies (YouTube channels, animation, novels, music, live action theater, etc.), and the list goes on.
It's bad. It is bad to the point that a lot of people who have seen the leak have basically compared it to an organized crime shakedown, threatening people's livelihoods if they don't pay up. And as someone who makes a majority of my livelihood off of tabletop RPGs, this is going to affect me going forward. So I wanted to take this week's update to explain the changes that are already happening, the changes that might happen going forward, and how you as players and readers can help the creators you love to support us through this nonsense.
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!
Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
What I Stand To Lose
Now, as of time of writing, there is no official language in place from Wizards of The Coast and Hasbro. It is possible that they'll see this backlash against the leak, and decide this was a bad move on their part. It's possible they'll be challenged in court, and this power/cash grab is stopped by the court system, and we can all keep our OGL products and projects in place.
But when someone tells you there's a hurricane off the coast, you don't make some sweet tea and hope it will all blow over. You board up your windows, batten down your hatches, and if possible you leave to go somewhere safer. And that's what I, and hundreds of other creators, have to do right now.
Awww... I'm sure he's just hungry. Why don't you go pet him? I bet he doesn't eat YOU.
So what does that mean for me? Well, let's start with the worst case scenario.
Between my Pathfinder and DND 5E content, I've written 62 supplements that rely on the OGL in some way, shape, or form. That's a little over 1/3 of my total archive as a supplement writer, and it includes ALL of the releases for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting that's been coming out over the past 2 years, except for Towns of Sundara. In addition to that, there's a large project I've been working on that was going to use the OGL titled Army Men, where players took on the roles of living plastic soldiers in a bizarre fantasy setting. It was a handful of weeks away from getting ready to go to Kickstarter, and while work on it hasn't stopped, this OGL scenario could mean either the project gets cancelled altogether, or it gets pushed back a year or more while I go back over it with a fine-toothed comb to re-design it.
All of that is bad, and it would leave me limping. But the damage doesn't stop there.
Let's say that Pathfinder's first edition gets wiped out by this whole scenario. Gone, kaput, erased. Sure, there will still be people playing it (you can't destroy books and archives people save on their own), but with zero support anywhere, the game will be as good as dead. That would be the final nail in the coffin for my Character Conversion project, and I would need to completely retool and refocus a lot of what gets discussed on my Crunch section. That's two major sections of this blog that are going to be eliminated, or severely damaged by this. I would also do a hard pivot away from anything Wizards-related, which would alter the kinds of games I talk about, and probably some of the advice I give here on this blog.
Lastly, this OGL decision is going to bury a lot of publishers. Publishers who, in the past, I would have been able to send an email to and pick up extra work from. And even if smaller publishers survive, they're likely going to be limping just as hard as I will be (having years of work wiped out and made irrelevant will do that to your bottom line), so they won't have extra money to hire a freelancer.
Certain Things Will Change Regardless of The Outcome
A lot of what I mentioned above are things that will happen if the worst-case scenario happens, and Wizards gets their way. If entire systems are removed from circulation (Pathfinder, old FATE, Starfinder, etc.), companies die left and right, and any product that used Pathfinder, any iteration of DND, etc. has to be pulled out of circulation, all of the above stands.
But what if that's not what happens? What if Wizards backs off, and decides it's a better look to leave the OGL as it stands? What if they try to enforce it, and the courts smack them down? What if this new agreement only applies to stuff published under the new 6th Edition they come out with, or for new publications that come out after a certain date? Wouldn't that make this all just a bunch of crying over spilt milk?
In some ways, yes. In other ways, though, the damage has been done. This leak has set certain decisions in motion that are not going to be corrected, even if Wizards holds up its hands, apologizes, and says that they're halting all plans to go forward with this as of right now. Because if they tried it once, they'll try it again, and that trust is now gone.
You're the ones who started this. I'm not putting my blade away now.
As an example, pretty much as soon as news of this leak dropped, my main publisher Azukail Games told me that we're putting a hold on all OGL products and supplements regarding my output. Which means that while I had plans for making some more Sundara books, that's not going to happen now because it's too big of a risk. There have been discussions about whether to translate them to a different rules framework (Savage Worlds has been talked about, and Kobold Press just announced their own open rules system they're going to be putting on the market), but it's also possible the setting will be put in cold storage for the rest of the year while this sorts itself out. Every, single publisher I've talked to is already halting OGL projects that were in the works, and moving to non-OGL systems and system-neutral products.
As for my docket, folks are going to see a lot of World/Chronicles of Darkness projects, Call of Cthulhu supplements like my 100 Shops, Stores, and Businesses to Find in Arkham, and system-neutral supplements like 100 Sci Fi Cults or 10 Fantasy Villages. This was already a majority of my planned output, but I had some light frameworks for modules, classes and archetypes, Pathfinder Infinite ideas, short stories, a possible podcast, and a bunch of other stuff that expected the OGL to remain the firm foundation it's been my entire gaming life. Even if this all blows over and nothing legally changes, none of those projects are going to get written because Wizards just showed their hand to us; as soon as they think they can get away with it, they're going to try to strongarm all of us into giving them our work so they can make a profit off of it.
It didn't work before, and I don't honestly think it will work this time. But even though I don't see Wizards winning, that doesn't mean a lot of vulnerable creators, companies, and gamers aren't going to suffer because capital once against decided to squeeze the golden goose to see if they couldn't eke out just a few more points of market share.
How You Can Help
In addition to making your voice heard by signing the open letter and petition I linked at the top of this post, creators will need your help more than ever before. Whether it's helping swell our numbers on social media, buying our supplements before we have to take them down, or sharing our new releases so we can find fresh eyes as we bring them out, your effort is what will make the difference between creators and publishers having to shut their doors, and being able to survive this crisis.
For folks who've stumbled across this post, and would like to help me haul myself up a rung or two, here's a handy list of the places you can go where your efforts would be much appreciated!
Lastly, consider checking out my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. The more sales I can eke out before decisions come down on this OGL situation, the more likely it is my publisher will work with me to convert it to a new rules setting instead of just writing it off as a loss going forward.
Cities of Sundara
The setting first began with the Cities of Sundara splats. Self-contained guides to some of the larger and more powerful centers of trade, industry, arms, and magic, these unique locations provide plenty of fodder for character generation and plots. Not only that, but each one comes with unique, mechanical goodies for players and GMs alike to take out for a spin!
- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!
- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and DND 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.
- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.
- Hoardreach: The City of Wyrms (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A center of power across an entire region, Hoardreach is ruled over by a Cooperation of five different dragons. A place for refugees and outcasts of all sorts, Hoardreach boasts some of the most unusual citizens and creations from across Sundara. Infamous for their sky ships, which require the cast-off scales and unique arcane sciences of the Dragon Works to take to the air, one never knows just what they'll find in this city built atop a mountain.
- Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (Pathfinder and DND 5E): A floating city in the sky, Archbliss has been a refuge for sorcerers for thousands of years. It's only in relatively recent years that the city has allowed those from the ground below who lack the power of a bloodline to join them in the clouds. However, while there are certainly amazing wonders to behold, there is a darkness in Archbliss. Something rotting away at its heart that could, if not healed, bring the city crashing to the ground once more.
Gods of Sundara
- Gods of Sundara (available for Pathfinder and DND 5E): In a world with no alignment, and where the gods are often genuinely mysterious forces that are far too large for mortals to truly comprehend, the divine feels genuinely strange and unknown... something that really does have to be taken on faith. This supplement provides a sample pantheon for Sundara, but also provides instructions on how to easily make your own gods in a world where you can't cast a spell and tell whether someone is good or evil.
Species of Sundara
Sundara is filled with creatures that many of us recognize, but I wanted to give greater depth to their cultures, and a wider variety of options. After all, humans always get 15+ ethnicities, languages, and unique histories, while elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. are almost always left with footnotes, or maybe with a handful of offshoots. So, in short, I wanted to give all the fantastical creatures the treatment that humans usually get in our games.
And there is no human book yet. If readers demand to know more, then I may sit down to pen one... but I figured that humans didn't need to be front-and-center in this setting just yet.
- Elves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Elves are one of the most quintessential fantasy creatures... but if you want to see more than just high elves, wood elves, and elves of the sun and moon, then this supplement has you covered!
- Dwarves of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): The children of the primordial giants who were meant to fill in the details of the world they'd made (or so the myths say) there are as many kinds of dwarves as their are kinds of giants... and possibly more, depending on who is keeping count.
- Orcs of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Supposedly a creation of the elves, none can say for certain exactly how or why orcs have been made. What most agree on is that these creatures are far more than most may think at first glance.
- Halflings of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Little cousins to the dwarves, halflings are tough, clever, and not to be underestimated. From living beneath the hills, to taking up residence in the deep forests, halflings in Sundara come in quite a variety!
- The Blooded (Half-Elves and Half-Orcs) [Pathfinder and DND 5E]: When orcs and elves mix their bloodlines with other creatures, the result is one of the Blooded. This inheritance takes many forms, and it can even wait generations before manifesting when the right combination of individuals come together to have a child.
- Gnomes of Sundara (Pathfinder and DND 5E): Gnomes are strange creatures, found in places where the spirit of the land has coalesced and made children of its own. The sons and daughters of the ancient nymphs, they are the stewards of these places, and they change as often as the weather and the land.
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
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I've said it before on this blog, but TTRPGs are a team sport. With very few exceptions these games tend to be about the players working together toward shared goals, and attempting to reach the end of the narrative. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they fail, but the idea is that they should all be on the same bus, and at least heading in the same general direction.
Objective sighted!
However, one obstacle to cooperation at the table is creating characters in a vacuum. While experienced players may know how to form a party quickly when they first get together, sometimes it's easier if you start out as a team. But that isn't always one's first reaction, especially if they're used to, "A bunch of strangers meet at a tavern," kind of scenarios.
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So, How Do You All Know Each Other?
If you want to begin the game as a cohesive unit (or at least a group of individuals that is on their way to becoming a cohesive unit), I'd suggest giving some of the following options a try! These are not your only choices, obviously, and choosing any of these options is going to require buy-in from fellow players at the table in order to make things work, but if you all decide to work within a given idea it can help simplify a lot going forward!
- Family That Slays Together, Stays Together: The members of the party are all related in some way. This might be a clan of farmers from the edge of a monster-infested wood where just growing crops basically makes you an adventurer, or a band of orcs who are out to fight for their tribe's gain. The party might all be descendants of a particular dragon (or a particular bard), or they might all have some elven blood in them, allowing for multiple generations to quest together. Found family fits into this one, as well, for those who have a more diverse family makeup!
- Take Your Show on The Road: For this particular instance, the party isn't made up of your typical "adventurers". Instead you are some kind of traveling show, performers, or competitors. For example, you might all be part of a circus, with the sorcerer as a stage magician, the barbarian performing acts of great strength, and the bard as your ringmaster. The party might, instead, travel to tournaments as a fighter (or fighters) and their entourage, putting on a display of skill and showmanship. The PCs might even be part of a band, with each member taking on a different role from lead singer, to drums, to pyrotechnics and special effects. Those looking for inspiration might want to take a look at 100 Fantasy Bands if the last option seems particularly appealing.
- Servants of The Same Master: Whether you're all part of a church, a free company of mercenaries, a military organization, or even a secret society that keeps its true intentions hidden away from the public, this is one of the more flexible options. Those who choose this path may not know one another personally, but they've probably heard of each other through the grapevine if they haven't served in the field together before, as I mentioned in Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend. If you're in the market for potential organizations the PCs might all be working for (or even organizations they're opposing in your campaign) then you might want to check out: 100 Secret Societies, 100 Fantasy Guilds, 100 Knightly Orders, and 100 Random Mercenary Companies!
- Champions of The Same Cause: For those who've played the Curse of The Crimson Throne adventure path, this is the theme used by that campaign's character traits. Everyone in the party has suffered at the hands of a particular gang leader, and they have come together at least partially out of a need to provide Gaedran Lamm his comeuppance. While pettiness and vengeance are perfectly functional as causes, the PCs might desire to save their hometown, to oppose a particular force, or to find a given set of lost treasures. If the characters are regional champions they might even form a kind of fantasy Justice League, with their particular foes forming an Anti-Party as a Legion of Doom, which can be a useful tool for the GM.
- Close Comrades: Sometimes the simplest explanation is the easiest to choose; the party are already friends. Maybe they grew up in the same corner of the world, or they were thrown together in earlier adventures. Perhaps they met at university (or at least while some members of the party were at university), or their families all knew one another. While a casual background, this one can often make for a strong start as players work out how they met, what their friendships were like when they were younger, what parts of their lives the party members shared with one another, and what things are still hidden, waiting to be revealed as the story goes on.
These are just a handful of ideas to get your brains turning, and your ideas forming. And, of course, you can always make combinations to rope in different parts of the party. Perhaps the fighter and the barbarian met on campaign, and the fighter grew up in the same dale as the druid. So the fighter is now the connection between the forest hermit and his old war buddy, providing an easier connection between them. The elven ranger might be the druid's godmother, stepping in to help as needed when things go wrong in the region. And so on, and so forth.
As with everything else, however, this is just a suggestion. Your mileage may vary, but if you haven't tried this approach before, consider giving it a go!
Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!
To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!
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