Given that we just had a bunch of elections, I want to describe a political situation that happens in the U.S. among more left-leaning people, and their reaction to power.
So, the Democratic Party puts out its representative. This person is usually pretty unacceptable to those who want meaningful, structural change, and they typically have a bunch of status quo policies. They might be good on one or two issues, and neutral on others, but a lot of folks see them (and not incorrectly so) as a lesser evil. So these voters fold their arms, and refuse to participate until they are given a candidate who is more in-line with what they actually want. When this happens, though, the democrats don't push further and further left to court their votes; instead, they track further toward the American center (the global right) or the American right (the global far right).
The reason for this is that folks who are center-to-right vote reliably, they engage with the process, and they are going to make a more reliable base for that candidate to actually get into office. Yet over and over again folks seem confused why their attempts to punish these candidates drive them toward conservatives, rather than making them more leftist.
In general, this is because if you aren't supporting someone (you aren't voting for them, donating money to them, giving them volunteer hours, etc.) then you have nothing you can take away from them. So your opinion on their platform, what they're doing, etc., is irrelevant because they lose nothing by ignoring you, and it's uncertain that your support would be worth the investment it would take to get you on their side.
This post isn't about politics, though. It's about people who make art, and understanding why your criticism may not be getting the reaction you want from the creators whose work you're trying to shape.
Why aren't they listening to me!?
But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, 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! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.
Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!
You Have To Have Leverage If You Want To Use It
I've been in this game for a while now, and I've got over 200 titles with my name on them. I've worked for a dozen or more publishers as a freelancer, and I am (knock wood) still managing to survive. However, this week I wanted to address the connection between consumer behavior (that is to say all of you, out in the audience) and creator behavior (folks like me who are making things for all of you to use, enjoy, and consume).
Generally speaking, your feedback is extremely important to us. And while some of that will be comments on social media, or the reviews of the things we've made, feedback also comes in terms of sales numbers and general audience attitude.
For a specific, let's take the whole OGL situation that Wizards of The Coast stepped in a few years back. They were going to tear down the Open Game License agreements that allowed everyone to use the Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, turn the screws on creators by demanding big shares of their sales, put up walls around D&D, add in AI, force it to go digital, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't even recall now. And they backed off of basically all of that because people started cancelling their subscriptions, and no longer buying DND 5E materials. The company was bleeding profits, and it was that action from the audience that forced their hand and made them change direction.
If Wizards had been bombarded by messages from people who weren't actually buying their books, or who weren't people with accounts on their digital platform who were telling the company, "Well, I'm not going to give you any of my money now!" they would have utterly ignored it. Because you're threatening not to give them phantom sales that they don't have. But people who were paying the companies' bills closing their accounts and leaving en masse? That got the suits' attention really fast because they were losing actual, measurable profits and the brand was taking a nosedive.
Oh... those numbers aren't good...
And this is a point that I want to drive home to people out there. Creators will absolutely listen to you... but if you're not part of their fan base, if you're not actually buying their books, playing their games, watching their channels, and so on, then they aren't going to change what they're doing just to please you. Creators (and companies) change to keep the support they have, not to roll the dice and take a gamble on support they might maybe possibly get according to unverified accounts online.
Two strong examples of this come to mind for me, personally.
Somewhere between 3 and 5 years ago there was a person on Reddit who raised a big stink about the way I posted in a particular sub. They were very mad about my behavior, accused me of just being in it to make money, and said that he and his entire table who supported me on Patreon were going to delete their pledges immediately. I found that somewhat alarming, worried that I'd pissed off a not-insignificant part of my own fanbase (since I've never had more than 35 paying patrons at a time)... but one day after another went by, and there was no change in my numbers. I even reached back out to the person, wanting to make sure he hadn't deleted a pledge to someone else he'd mistaken for me. At the end of the day, it was just an empty threat made by someone who just wanted me to stop posting in his group.
Another incident came with the recent project I was part of, Night Horrors: Primoridal Peerage. This supplement was met with a lot of flak because one of the major names on the original Beast: The Primordial turned out to be a predator, and it sort of tainted the game in the eyes of a lot of players. To be clear, that person was not involved with this supplement, and the folks I worked with on it appear to be a pretty solid team of people as far as I know. However, there were a lot of comments saying how we shouldn't make anything for Beast, how they didn't play that game and weren't going to buy this. There were event a few folks who said they'd moved on from the Chronicles of Darkness entirely because there were too many problematic designers who'd contributed to the games. At the end of the day, though, the supplement hit Silver status (minimum 101 sales), and there were some folks who liked it despite its pedigree. And the folks who left those comments... well, all they were telling us was that this wasn't a game they were going to play. It apparently never occurred to them they weren't the target audience, so their criticism didn't exactly move the needle all that much.
In Summary... Don't Go All In When You've Got No Hand
It's true that creators and businesses will listen to their fans when they make themselves heard. But you need to have something you can take away from them if you expect them to change their behavior. If you're a member of their crowdfunding audience, people cutting off that support and telling the creator why might get them to change their behavior. If people start unsubscribing from their YouTube, unfollowing them on social media, and telling them why on the way out the door, that might get their attention.
But if you aren't subscribed, you don't buy their books, and you don't support them, then what are you threatening to take away? Because in that situation you're the angry woman loudly proclaiming, "You just lost yourself a customer!" to a store you've never actually bought anything from as you storm out the front doors. If you didn't actually establish a pattern of supporting them, then they lost absolutely nothing when you left.
All right... have a nice day, or something...
Please, if you've read this far, understand what I'm saying. You are absolutely free to support or not support any writers, game designers, or companies you want to. No matter what kinds of products they make, it's your money, and you can do whatever you want with it.
With that said, if you want to actually use your buying power to shape the kinds of products that creators put together, then you have to actually have support you can take away from them. Because you can't give people less attention or fewer sales than zero, so you don't really have anything you can threaten them with if you don't have any skin in the game.
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 Blue Sky, 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!
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!
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!
For those who've been paying attention to gaming news, it seems that Paizo (the company behind Pathfinder) will soon be releasing one of its older adventure paths for 5th Edition DND players. So if you're a 5E main who's been looking for something to really sink your teeth into, soon The Abomination Vaults will be ready and waiting for you to dig right in!
Incidentally, you might also want to pick up something like the Abomination Vaults GM's Guide, as keeping megadungeons flowing is far from the easiest trick to manage, whatever edition you're playing.
I'd forgotten about this one, so I may try the original recipe.
Some people have been loudly asking what I think is a very silly question. It boils down to, "Wait, isn't Paizo like the Sega to Wizards of The Coast's Super Nintendo? Why would they release content for the game that is their main competitor?" While I'm not the first person to answer this question, as someone who deals with this setup in a microcosm as a creator, I figured I'd add my voice to the growing stream.
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Why Is This Happening? Money, And Audience Share
I am not the oldest creator in the game, but even I've been around long enough to understand something very important when it comes to making RPGs as your job. First, there's a limited audience you're playing to. Even with the huge surges in interest the hobby has seen, RPGs are still a niche part of the publishing industry. This is why pay rates are so low, and why budgets tend toward the shoestring, and why risk is a word most folks in charge don't like to hear; long and short, even "successful" RPG companies don't have a lot of spare cash in their war chest if something tanks, unless they're part of a parent company that can bail them out when something goes poorly.
And let's not forget, we're talking about companies here. Players love these games. Designers love these games. Companies make decisions based on bottom line, risk, and return on investment. Given that viewpoint, I'm honestly surprised it took this long for Paizo to start porting their content to the 5E system to try to get a bigger piece of the pie.
Make no mistake, this is a very smart business move.
As regular readers know, I've been releasing content for my own setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age for a little over a year at time of writing. While I originally planned and designed this setting to run on the Pathfinder system, I was more or less required to port every release I had to Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition as well. Why? Because numbers that I've seen peg DND 5E as being something like 80% of the total RPG marketplace. That game system has the fastest growing fan base, the largest number of players, and it represents the biggest pool for designers to go fishing in. So while a lot of content for my setting is a bastard and a half to translate to 5E in any meaningful way (given that PF has a vastly more complex and robust rules system that my world design sort of revolves around), not doing it would make the project a non-starter for my publisher, who'd like to actually make money off the content I design.
Same deal for Paizo, but on a larger scale.
Because Paizo has spent more than a decade developing a complicated, interesting setting. There's a massive variety of classes and archetypes, dozens of fully-written campaigns, and a staggering number of smaller modules out there which all take place in Golarion. This is intellectual property that Paizo already owns, and which it is already selling. However, by translating this content to a 5E compatible version they're making all of this older work accessible to players who previously may never have had a reason to check it out for themselves, or who are leery of leaving the comfort zone of their preferred system, Paizo stands to snag a large group of players who never would have tried their products otherwise. While it could lead to players buying additional PF Classic or PF 2E books and content, that would be more of a fringe benefit. The primary purpose would be to re-use all the assets Paizo already paid for, but to sell them to a new audience, thus making a tidy profit with less initial investment.
Incidentally, before moving on here, you can find a full list of all the splat books I've been releasing listed in Speaking of Sundara (My Latest Video Series With Azukail Games), if you're interested in checking out what I've been putting together, whether you prefer PF or DND 5E at your table.
This Isn't an Either/Or Situation
A final thing I feel should be made clear here (and which most designers who do this for a living already understand) is that this isn't a one-or-the-other setup when we're talking about a company as big as Paizo. They have the ability to hire freelancers and recruit designers to keep several plates spinning at a time in order to tap multiple markets. So while they seem to be testing the waters with this release, it would be entirely possible for them to keep releasing new content for their existing players with one hand, while converting their older content to a different edition with the other.
However, if you're someone who's worried that Paizo is going to stop supporting your favored edition of the game, then make sure you're voting with your wallet, and doing what you can to big-up the signal to spread the word. Buy copies, leave reviews of what you get, start conversations, get people interested, and so on. When companies review the charts are the end of the day, they're looking at what products got a big response from the audience, and that's where more effort and energy is going to go.
Keep that in mind, because it's the voice of almighty dollar folks tend to listen to when making decisions about what they're going to produce next.
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!
We've all had those nights. You've been building the tension and suspense, and the campaign has reached a point-of-no-return... and that's when Jason and Sharon call to let you know that something's come up, and neither your arcane caster or your cleric can make it. So you look around at the rest of your players, who took the time and energy to assemble round the table, and tell them the assault of the Necroforge will have to wait until next time...
But in the meantime...
Since you're all here, the snacks are out, and you're ready to play, you've still got two choices. You can all pack up and go home, or choose something from the game shelf! If some game is better than no game, and you want to help preserve the fantasy theme of the evening, then I'd recommend keeping the following games on your shelf (in no particular order).
#1: Betrayal at Baldur's Gate
Probably the only time some tables will have PvP in their games.
I had a friend give me this one as a Christmas gift a while back, and it has held a place of honor on my game shelf ever since! For those who've never played, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate is a Dungeons and Dragons version of the horror board game Betrayal at House on The Hill, and it uses very similar mechanics. Players choose a character, and that character's tile has their stats, their special power, and all the information you need to start your adventure.
The game starts in the tavern (as all the best adventures do), and the players explore the city. They deal with random encounters, find treasures, and lay out tiles to construct a unique map. Then, when enough Omens stack up, the true adventure begins! Will the half-orc paladin be possessed by a blood cult and try to slay the city? Will a flood bring a tentacled horror from the depths? And most importantly, will the party stand together to face the encroaching threat, or will one of their number betray them?
Seriously, take notes. You can get some great campaign ideas out of this one.
#2: The Red Dragon Inn
All the carousing, none of the adventuring!
If you want to get pedantic, this is technically a card game and not a board game, but The Red Dragon Inn should definitely be on anyone's must-have list. Rather than going out on a perilous adventure, this is what happens when the party comes back to the tavern to celebrate their latest victory! You have to drink everyone else under the table, avoiding getting sick, knocked-out, or going broke before you're out of the game. There are more than half a dozen expansions to this game out there, and if you're looking for one I'd recommend the upgrade with the troll alchemist, as I have a soft spot for him. And he's a powerhouse when it comes to staying on his feet until the end of the night.
#3: Lords of Waterdeep
For the machinators among you.
Rather than taking on the role of an individual adventurer, Lords of Waterdeep casts you in the role of a faction in the City of Waterdeep. Mustering men-at-arms, rogues, wizards, clerics, and of course wealth, you earn victory points to propel your faction to victory. A game that's as much strategy as it is luck, the sheer number of factions and quests currently available (since this one also has a few expansions), can keep your games feeling new and fresh for a long time to come!
#4: Tyrants of The Underdark
For folks who want an evil version of #3...
Most of the games mentioned up to this point cast the players in the roles of heroes. You're a standard fantasy party, and in those there are rarely truly wicked characters. Tyrants of The Underdark, though, is all about seeing who is the baddest of the bad. Each player takes on a single house of Drow, and compete to recruit the worst monsters, to make the most calculated political maneuvers, and to infiltrate the most spies into their enemies' territories. And when the dust settles, whoever controls the largest number of the subterranean realm's environs is declared the Tyrant!
#5: Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System Board Games
A campaign in a box!
Rather than making #5 an individual game, I figured I'd mention the cooperative DND-themed line of Adventure System Cooperative Board Games that Wizards of the Coast has been putting out over the years. From the above-pictured Wrath of Ashardalon, to the classic Temple of Elemental Evil, up through Castle Ravenloft and Tomb of Annihilation, there are all kinds of options to keep on your shelf.
These games feel like the modern descendant of the classic Hero Quest, with multiple PCs, several different scenarios, and the ability to reach conclusion in roughly an hour or so. And while they aren't cheap, you get a lot of parts and pieces with your purchase that you can turn around and use in your regular tabletop campaign (including a free d20), so it's got double the value for those who run full RPGs on the nights when everyone can actually make it.
Would You Like To Know More?
My groups have had some troubles getting full attendance the past month or so, and as a result I've been trying to expand my range of alternative games. I've got a few other lists like this one I could post in future Moon Pope Monday updates, if folks would like to see them? If you've got strong opinions on the subject, please leave them in the comments below along with any games you feel should have made this list, but didn't!
Preferably games we can actually buy without getting a lucky, out-of-print find, if you please.
If you'd like to see more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out over on YouTube! Or if you'd like to take a gander at some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!
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If you are part of any online gaming groups, chances are you've heard about Magic The Gathering's Arena of The Planeswalkers board game. It allows two to four players to take on the role of planeswalkers, gives you cards to play, map tiles to place on the board, and a small legion of minions to call upon in order to crush your enemies.
All in all, a fun way to spend a few hours.
While this game is just fine on its own, it's all the components that come with it that caught my eye. There the five planeswalker minis you can see on the front, but there are also thirty monster minis, map terrain, and a black D20. Which, for what I paid for it, makes it one hell of a haul.
That is some serious swag for $5.
If you've seen this game lurking around your friendly local gaming store, or up on a shelf in one of the few toy stores we still have, you likely saw a pretty big price tag on it. However, if you are fortunate enough to have a Five Below near you (which I do, and this tip was what got me to go in there in the first place), you might be able to grab one of these for a fraction of what it should cost.
So, whether you're just looking to add some monsters to your collection, get some cheap minis, or you genuinely want to try the game on for size, keep your eyes peeled for it. I don't know why it is so cheap, if it just didn't move copies or something, but it's at a bargain basement price now.
Also, if you don't happen to have it near you, it's possible to grab a copy over on Amazon. It's a little more expensive, but if you've got Prime, you can still get all this for a little more than a ten-spot.
That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. The Internet tipped me off to this find, so I thought I'd do my part to spread the word. If you'd like to see more of my work, go check out my Vocal archive, or stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I and other local gamers get together to make videos on gaming advice, skits, and lore for the world of Evora. If you want to stay on top of all my latest releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And, if you want to support my work here on Improved Initiative, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page, or click here to Buy Me A Coffee! Either way, I'll shoot you some sweet gaming swag as a thanks for your help.
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