A Fantasy Sandbox in Detail Part XXIV, the Last Post

 Part XXIII  Index Page

This is the twenty-fourth and last post in a series detailing the 34 steps I recommended for making a Fantasy Sandbox Campaign. 

Today's post will cover steps 33 and 34. 

33. Make up a rumor chart with 10 to 20 items that feeds the players into the encounter and plots you created above. 

34. Identify major regions and create a random encounter chart for each (monsters, wildlife and NPCs) 

To do this post, I had to go back and collect all the previous posts and consolidate them into a single document detailing the Isle of Piall. 

Then I looked through the entries and picked out the following to be a list of true rumors that I can use when the players interact with the various NPCs on the island.

True Rumors

• A secret passage beneath Bone Keep leads directly to the Fortress of the Lich Lord, bypassing many of the dangers on the surface.
• The Black Queen, Lady of the Underearth, was once a powerful ally of Tavaras and has been amassing power in the Underearth for centuries.
• The ancient Dwarven city of Southpoint is rumored to hold a powerful artifact that can help defeat the awakened evil lurking in the depths of the mines.
• Sir Avar, once a revered paladin, has fallen from grace and allied himself with the Black Queen, now controlling much of Bone Keep.
• The Sahuagin have been testing the strength of the island's defenses with raids, in preparation for a large-scale invasion.
• The Empire of Po is seeking to absorb the Kingdom of the Isles, with the Isle of Piall as an early target for expansion.
• The Baron and the King's Sheriff are at odds, creating tension and division among the people of the island.
• The merman King Aventis is willing to forge an alliance with those who prove themselves friends to his people.
• The Rot Lord, an agent of the Black Queen, is building a zombie army in Sable Port to seize control of the area.
• A map detailing the locations of valuable treasures and artifacts in Sable Port can be found hidden in one of the abandoned buildings.
• The Chalice of Healing, an ancient relic, is said to be hidden somewhere in Sable Port, and both the Baron and the Sheriff are vying for its possession.
• A shrine dedicated to Duke Barradon, leader of the crusaders, lies hidden and forgotten within the depths of Bone Keep.

Then I came up with a list of false rumors. Keep in mind the best false rumors are those that contain an element of truth to make them seem plausible.

False Rumors

• The Fortress of the Lich Lord is nothing more than an elaborate hoax, meant to scare away curious treasure hunters.
• The Sahuagin are actually peaceful creatures, who have been framed for the recent shore raids by a nefarious third party.
• The Black Queen is merely a myth, a story created by the inhabitants of the island to keep their children in line.
• The Empire of Po has no interest in the Isle of Piall and is focused solely on internal affairs.
• The Bone Knight, the skeleton warrior in control of Sable Port, is actually a noble and just ruler who seeks to restore the city to its former glory.
• The merfolk and the sahuagin are actually allies, working together to drive the surface dwellers from the island.
• The Baron and the King's Sheriff are secretly working together to consolidate power on the Isle of Piall.
• A powerful dragon resides in the heart of Mount Devon, guarding a hoard of unimaginable wealth.
• The ancient Dwarven city of Southpoint is nothing but a ruin, devoid of any treasures or valuable artifacts.
• Sir Avar is secretly working to undermine the Black Queen's plans from within her inner circle.
• The Chalice of Healing is a cursed object that brings misfortune and death to anyone who possesses it.
• A giant kraken lives in the waters surrounding the Isle of Piall, waiting to drag unsuspecting ships to the depths.

Random Encounters

The last step is to make a series of random encounters.

 Doing this was never one of my strong points. For most of my campaigns, a simple table indexed by terrain or locale for cities was sufficient. Then I would take into account the circumstances and location of the party. Maybe roll a d6 to see how the encounter initially was set up. With 1 being the worst circumstance for the party and 6 being the best circumstance for the party. Then I riff off of that to come up with the actual encounter. 

For a long time, I thought if I just had the right table it would save a lot of work for me. But then I coded up the city random encounter tables from Midkemia Press' City supplement. For those of you not familiar it is a deeply nested set of random tables that generate random encounters for cities. It is very well done and full of flavor but impractical to use during the session because of how many different tables you have to traverse to generate a result. But the real kicker is that when I finished coding up the tables and started generating, the results were not much more helpful than the more simple tables I used in the past.

Then I ran Adventure in Middle Earth which had a Journey system to handle travel. I thought that was by far the best random encounter system I ever ran. What made it work is that each possible encounter was at just the right level of detail to be useful but generic enough to be easily tailored to the party's circumstance. The system also had you generate at most a handful of encounters that you then place along the route of the journey. Unfortunately, that system didn't survive the transition of AiME into Free League's Lord of the Rings RPG. But it did reappear in a standalone product called Uncharted Journeys for D&D 5e. However, like many 5e products, it was far more verbose than it needed to be. 

I am working on my own take for my Majestic Fantasy RPG. I plan to support three categories of encounters: journeys over lands, voyages over water, and trips across a city. Because this going to be an OSR project one common result will be a straight random encounter roll. You will be able to use your favorite table when this result is generated. I figure it would work better for folks who like to kitbash. Instead of completely throwing away whatever they used previously you will be able to merge my take in. 

But the travel rules will come with a set of random encounter tables for Blackmarsh. I really like the Monster Manual II system of rolling a d8 + d20 for a range of results from 2 to 20. What this does is create a plateau of equal odds in the center. For d8+d12 this is 9 to 13 as shown below. This also allowed TSR to make slots for very rare, rare, uncommon, and common encounters. 

Majestic Fantasy RPG, Travel Rules (rough draft)

I am going to go with a d4 + d8 for a 2 to 12 range for this post and my rules. I find eleven entries easier to manage. But I am not going to give just one table for the entire island (or Blackmarsh). Instead, I will divide the region into different areas that make sense. For the Isle of Piall, there are three major areas: the southern half of the island that mostly settled and cultivated. The northern half which is mostly wild, and the hex around Sable Port has a high frequency of undead.

Northern Wilderness (north of hex row 04)

(2) Very Rare: An ancient treant, upset about intruders on the island.

(3) Rare: A pack of Wereboars from the Amur Forest led by Spardion their leader

(4) Uncommon: A noble hunting party from Mikva out hunting deer.

(5) Common: A Giant Eagle on the hunt. Its nest is on Mount Devon

(6) Common: A small group of Dwarven miners from Hawth, in prospecting for minerals

(7) Common: A group of Halfling foragers from Sandpoint, gathering rare herbs

(8) Common: A wandering cougar, patrolling it's hunting ground.

(9) Common: A pack of Wolves stalking a prey, possibly the party

(10) Uncommon: A patrol of skeletons led by a Wraith from the Black Queen, foraging for viz and rare herbs.

(11) Rare: A roving band of sailors out on a hunting expedition from a ship anchored on the north shore.

(12) Very Rare: A Valard the Yellow Mage practicing magic, causing confusing sights and sounds

Southern Piall (includes hex row 04, and 05)

(2) Very Rare: An Earth Elemental lumbers across the party's path. It was awakened from its slumber by excessive farming activities

(3) Rare: A visiting noble from the Kingdom of the Isles, travelling with a full retinue of guards

(4) Uncommon: A group of thieves from Carra in a woodland camp, planning a crime.

(5) Common: Farmers searching for lost livestoc.

(6) Common: Patrol from Mikva, inspecting for any illegal activities

(7) Common: A group of farmers, crafters, or merchants heading towards Mikva for market day

(8) Common: A wandering Priest of Veritas making the rounds blessing the fields and the people

(9) Common: An enthusiastic group of local kids, playing at being adventurers

(10) Uncommon: A Bard from Mikva, collecting stories and songs from locals

(11) Rare: A runaway from justice is hiding out.

(12) Very Rare: A female Ghost of a former Lady of Piall is singing a lament, cursed to roam the lands

Sable Port (hex 0402)

(2) Very Rare: The Wraith of a deceased sailor, haunting the harbor and scaring the locals

(3) Rare: The Rot Lord's undead spy, observing and plotting against the living

(4) Uncommon: A ship from the Kingdom of the Isles, docked for resupply

(5) Common: Local fisherman, discussing a recent decrease in their catch

(6) Common: Bone Knight's skeletal patrol, maintaining the fragile order

(7) Common: An argument between two factions, escalating into a street fight

(8) Common: A homeless beggar who is actually an undercover agent of Sir Avar

(9) Common: A group of off-duty sailors from the Midland Sea, causing a ruckus at the local tavern

(10) Uncommon: A merchant trying to sell maps to the rumored treasure in the Fortress of the Lich Lord

(11) Rare: A secret meeting between King's men and the representatives from the Isle of Po

(12) Very Rare: The Black Rose, a notorious assassin, spotted in the shadows

Wrapping it up.

While it took me 14 years to complete the entire series of posts, I hope you found this useful. I am currently finishing up a final draft of a book where I combined and re-edited all 24 posts and plan to publish this. It will also contain a standalone description of the setting I used. I will keep folks posted as to when it will happen which will be soon. After talking about it with my editor I am going to rename the Isle of Piall to the Isle of Pyade (rhymes with fade). Piall dates back to when I was in the 8th grade and much worse at naming things. We tried pronouncing Piall and realize that Pyade would be a better choice. However it will remain the original Piall in these posts. 

Last, I figured out how to incorporate the background of the Kingdom of the Isle and the Isle of Pyade into my Majestic Fantasy Realms.  So that version will make an appearance in a future work. I will have a longer post next week about where I am at with my projects and how soon you should expect to see them including How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox.

Until next time

Fight On!

Best Supporting Actors for Old School Essentials

Douglas Cole, over at Gaming Ballistics, is in the last 24 hours of his latest Kickstarter campaign, "Best Supporting Actor". In the spirit of AD&D's Rogue Gallery, this compilation of NPCs is designed for use in your campaign for OSE or any classic D&D edition.

Best Supporting Actors for OSE

What sets Doug's work apart is his experience with SJ Games' The Fantasy Trip. TFT, both in the past and today, has a tradition of presenting interesting NPCs in a simple and easy-to-use format. With this Kickstarter, Doug applies his experience with TFT to one of the OSR's more popular systems, Old School Essentials.

You will be getting 172 distinct NPCs each with their own illustration

Additionally, you have the option of getting a set of cards with the illustrations and stats printed on each.

Appreciate any support you can give to Doug and his efforts

Harnworld in Hardback Kickstarter

 

I have been a fan of Harn, both the setting and the Harnmaster rules, for a long time. Ever since I encountered the original Harn setting folio at Games Unlimited in Pittsburgh PA. 

Columbia Games just announced their latest Kickstarter, HarnWorld: Medieval Fantasy RPG Setting Hardback.  This hardback will contain the following Harn articles: Harnworld, the Harndex, Ketheria, Lythia, and Cities and Towns as well as the physical map of Harn and PDFs of the above.

Background

Harn has been continuously published since 1983. Harn is a fantasy medieval setting that located on an island the size of Madagascar. Harn is divided into several distinct realms including one dominated by the elves and another dominated by dwarves. Some realms like Kaldor are feudal realms, some are merchant republics with vague echoes of Rome like the Thardic Republic. There is an "evil" kingdom, Rethem. And there are Vikings in Orbaal. 

I recommend downloading the Harnworld preview from DriveThruRPG. Columbia Games cleverly made a version of their map with an overview of the setting. 

In addition there is my own summary of Harn, All about Harn

Overview

As I mentioned in previous posts, Harn is a premium-priced product line. One thing that warrants its price, is the consistent quality of its releases since 1983. Not only they are of good quality, everything released for Harn remains compatible with the initial release in 1983. There are not many other RPGs settings that make the same claim. 

Another quality of Harn is its ability to be used with other settings especially those made for Dungeons and Dragons. While Harn emphasizes the medieval over fantasy it still originates from the same wellspring of fantasy that Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax drew from for DnD. This makes it very easy to incorporate Harn as part of another setting or more commonly to use parts of Harn in another setting. The individual entries of Harnworld and Harndex articles are useful for fleshing regions of your setting if you don't opt to run Harn itself. 

So what are you getting for your $69.

Harnworld and Harndex

The original version of Harn was a folio containing two staple bound letter sized books; Harnview and Harndex. 

The hardback has newest version of both; Harnworld and the updated Harndex. Harnworld is an overview of the setting and in 58 pages describes it's history, gives an overview of feudal life, cultures, and religions, along with a few useful aides like prices, incomes, and weather generation. Basically everything mention in the summary earlier but fleshed out in more detail.

Harndex is a 152 pages index containing one or paragraph entries on geography, economics, religions, cultures, realms, rulers, and points of interest. 

Here are some examples.

Kethira

Kethira is the name of the planet on which Harn is located. This ten page article give an overview of its geography and other physical details including a star chart of Harn's night sky. And yes those square show the possible regional maps to cover the entire planet. Although only a dozen regions have been fleshed out to date.

Lythia

This 32 page article describes the continent that Harn is part of. Unlike Kethira is also describes the various cultures and religions found on the continent. Half of the article, 16 pages, is similar to the Harndex, an index of geographical and cultural entries describing the continent.

Wrapping it up.

There are only a few RPG that I have consistently used for over forty years and Harn is one of them. Not everybody is a fan of the product line's loose leaf format, and now having the core Harnworld material in a single hardback hopefully makes it more accessible for everyone.

Finally, I can't stress enough how well Harn is written. While the product line (and community) does go down to the Nth level of detail each level is written in a terse format giving just enough at that level of detail. The additional material fleshes out what in the core Harnworld articles but it is not required reading.

An Unexpected Victory, Unconditional Surrender, and Unfinished Business.

I understand everybody is tired of Wizard's drama despite the good news. I appreciate that once again you have taken the time to read my post and hope the following is informative and useful.

Friday afternoon, Wizards of the Coast using DnD Beyond announced this.

The hobby and industry resounding NO! worked! With results far better than expected with the entirety of the 5e 5.1 SRD released under the CC-BY 4.0 license. The link is below.

SRD 5.1-CC

Saying No!

The numbers were pretty clear even for an Internet survey.

• 88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.
• 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.
• 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.
• 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.
• 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.

Coupled with the larger media world covering the story, and major investors being critical, the conditions for a victory fell into place last week.

The fact that the tabletop roleplaying industry and hobby spoke with one voice is amazing and we should all be proud of what each of us did to make this happen.

This can't be true, I don't just trust Wizards

The licensing of the 5.1 SRD under CC is done and the license terms of CC-BY 4.0 are irrevocable. So that part we can count as a win. A win that in my opinion counts as unconditional surrender. However, there remains some unfinished business to make sure there is peace and not a ceasefire.

The OGL 1.0a

Wizards have stated they will leave the OGL 1.0a in place.

However, one result of the last few weeks was the microscope that the OGL 1.0a was placed under. To avoid the problem of orphaned works. And to avoid impact on third parties who use the OGL to support other RPGs like Legend, Cepheus and the OSR.  There needs to be an authorized OGL 1.0b released by WoTC.

The two provisions that are needed are

• That Section 4, Grant and Consideration of the OGL incorporates the term irrevocable.
• That Section 1, Definitions, Includes a definition of authorization that states it refers to any license that has been officially released for use by third parties by Wizards. That license can not be deauthorized once released.

With these two provisions, the issue with orphaned works and creators using the OGL for non DnD systems can be mitigated greatly.

The Open RPG Content License (ORC)

The development of the ORC license needs to continue and be supported. The imminent loss of the OGL 1.0a and the ethos it represented made the industry and hobby realize just how important open gaming as a whole is. Not just for the DnD but for all the other creative projects that have been shared under the OGL. If the current plan is followed, then the ORC license itself will be under the control of an independent non-profit creating a level playing field as far as control of the license goes.

From both a business and creative perspective, everybody now realizes that independence from Wizards and the DnD Brand is of vital importance.  DnD as an RPG system will remain first in the hobby's heart . With SRDs licensed under ORC the fate of the DnD system doesn't have to be tied to the fate of the DnD Brand.  With the 5.1 SRD released under CC-BY 4.0. The creation of alternative SRDs has become a lot easier. 

CC versus ORC

But why not just use one of the creative commons licenses, to begin with? Because of licensed content. If you are making an original system or setting, I agree it is a wash whether one uses CC or another license. Might as well go with the one (or none) that reflects your sentiments as to the sharing of your original work.

The point of open content licenses is to provide clarity. Letting people know what you, as the author, are OK with when folks remix your content. With traditionally licensed content, the owner IP decided that their content would only be licensed for a limited time under limited terms. The OGL recognized that by creating a way to clearly remix licensed content with open content. Doing this in a way that preserves the rights and permissions of both.

While Creative Commons has guidance on how to license only part of your work. It doesn't provide clarity and leaves it up to the author to how this is indicated. Something like ORC can help provide clarity by tailoring the spirit of Creative Commons to the conditions of our hobby and industry.

From the Creative FAQ

For online material: Select the license that is appropriate for your material from the CC license chooser and then follow the instructions to include the HTML code. The code will automatically generate a license button and a statement that your material is licensed under a CC license. If you are only licensing part of a work (for example, if you have created a video under a CC license but are using a song under a different license), be sure to clearly mark which parts are under the CC license and which parts are not. The HTML code will also include metadata, which allows the material to be discovered via Creative Commons-enabled search engines.

The D20 SRD and the D20 Modern SRD

In addition to changes to the OGL 1.0a, we need to press WoTC to release the d20 SRD and the d20 Modern SRD under a CC-BY license. These two works are foundational to many projects both DnD related and non DnD related. Plus doing this will disarm Wizard of many more terms (monsters, spells, etc.) to use for IP bullying and lawfare.

DriveThruRPG and the VTTs

There is little dispute that Wizard's DnD branded products, the DM's Guild, and licensed VTT modules, form the bulk of the business that DriveThruRPG and VTTs like Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, and Foundry do. Losing access to their platforms would be catastrophic for many publishers and authors including myself. Collectively they are an Achilles heel of our hobby and industry if Wizards uses its economic power to force unwanted changes for these platforms.

This is not theoretical either. Aside from the restriction of the now defunct VTT policy proposal. DriveThruRPG posted this on their discord server.

Note this sentence

Due to this, your titles will officially not be affected on any sites whether it is DTRPG and sister sites or the Roll20 Marketplace.

So I would like to know what this was in alternative to if Wizards followed through on their initial plans? 

More importantly, this highlights how much of a vulnerable bottleneck these companies and their marketplace are.  There are no easy answers to these questions. But the discussion needs to happen. We need to deal with the fact a single company, WoTC, holds an economic dagger to the hobby's heart. Another issue that walk parallel to the IP issues surrounding the OGL.

Going Forward

I think we are in a midst of an inflection point in the history of the hobby and industry. That the events of the last three weeks will be marked as the beginning of when the hobby and industry charts an independent course from the DnD Brand and the company that owns it. Wizards will still compete but more and more it will be on a level playing field. 

I know you are tired and want to have fun playing the games we love with people we enjoy playing with. While supporting the creators who help us make this happen. But the peace must be secured or it will be just a ceasefire. 

So once again.

Fight On!

DriveThruRPG numbers for 2022

For those who don't know, there is rarely a day that doesn't go by when somebody doesn't download a free copy of Blackmarsh from DriveThruRPG. Over 13,000 since its release in 2011.  Each order is accompanied by an order number.

To date, this has meant I had a Blackmarsh order come in on the January 1st. So starting around 2015, I have been tracking the Order # in a spreadsheet. 

One of my older posts doing this in 2015.

Another from two years ago.

The idea here is that by tracking the January 1st order number we can get a sense of the relative increase (or decrease) in DriveThruRPG sales from year to year. Because we don't know what order numbers are used for internally at DriveThru, we can't use them to determine the absolute number of sales. 

Now for this year's numbers.

As you can see aside from a pandemic-related boost in 2020, the # of orders has seen a slow increase since 2019. In contrast, 2017 to 2019 saw a marked rise in sales, almost doubling.

Finally here is a repeat of the month to month chart showing the effects of the Pandemic on DriveThru numbers.

The new OGL 1.2, What is Victory?

 

I thank you for taking the time to read this post. This hobby is supposed to be a fun pastime even when it is part of one's livelihood. The past two weeks have been anything but fun. So I appreciate the time you spent reading this post amid the many outraged voices making themselves heard.

The OGL 1.2

Today Wizards finally laid some of their cards on the table and offered a proposed OGL 1.2. 

Starting the OGL "Playtest"

As an OSR publisher, several things stand out to me.

DnD and Creative Commons License

The core D&D mechanics, which are located at pages 56-104, 254-260, and 358-359 of this System Reference Document 5.1 (but not the examples used on those pages), are licensed to you under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This means that Wizards is not placing any limitations at all on how you use that content.

I edited the D&D 5.1 SRD into three sections corresponding to the page numbers above. You can browse through  at this link. 

Proposed Creative Common DnD mechanics

What they didn't release is most of the "lists" that comprise DnD 5e. Only the Equipment List is part of the CC-BY content they plan to release. Classes, Spells, Monsters, and Magic Items are not.

Overall this is a positive step. If nothing else is gained and they follow through on this, then moving away from the OGL becomes that much easier for the OSR. It would make what I need to do with the Majestic Fantasy RPG a lot more straightforward.

Deauthorization

They also planning to add a notice deauthorizing the OGL 1.0a

NOTICE OF DEAUTHORIZATION OF OGL 1.0a. The Open Game License 1.0a is no longer an authorized license. This means that you may not use that version of the OGL, or any prior version, to publish SRD content after (effective date). It does not mean that any content previously published under that version needs to update to this license. Any previously published content remains licensed under whichever version of the OGL was in effect when you published that content.

Note the after (effective date), the intent here is to allow folks to continue selling or offering what has been previously released under the OGL 1.0a. Unfortunately, it cuts us off from building on or continuing the work we have been doing for the past 23 years.

Current authors and publishers can change the license on their original content, but for those who moved on to other pursuits or are no longer with us, this is not an option. Their work will remain unavailable to use until they enter the public domain decades from now. 

I consider this unacceptable. 

The D20 SRD

The D20 SRD is gone as a result of this section.  Wizards wants to change the license for the 5.1 SRD and remove access to the d20 SRD THIS YEAR. This is not a "wait until OneDnD is released" proposal. Although they might build in a grace period. This section is from the actual license.

(a) Content Covered

(i) Our Licensed Content. This license covers any content in the SRD 5.1 (or any subsequent version of the SRD we release under this license) that is not licensed to you under Creative Commons. You may use that content in your own works on the terms of this license.

(ii) Our Unlicensed Content. Only Our Licensed Content is licensed under this license. Any other content we release or have released is not licensed to you under this license.

(iii) Your Content. This is your creative contribution to your works that are not Our Licensed Content or Our Unlicensed Content. This license permits you to combine Your Content with Our Licensed Content and distribute the resulting works as authorized by this license.

Likewise I consider this unacceptable for anything other than future Wizard's content.

Rob's Note: While the OSR relied on a stripped-down version of the D20 SRD, the same "hack" applies to the CC-BY content they plan to release although some spell names and monster names will have to change. 

Other considerations

I did not touch on other areas as they don't impact my work as a OSR publisher.  I do not plan ever to use the OGL 1.2 for my creative works. I recommend looking to others for more details on those clauses. However, one clause needs to be addressed. 

The Morality Clause

The proposed OGL 1.2 license contains the following provision  

 No Hateful Content or Conduct. You will not include content in Your Licensed Works that is harmful, discriminatory, illegal, obscene, or harassing, or engage in conduct that is harmful, discriminatory, illegal, obscene, or harassing. We have the sole right to decide what conduct or content is hateful, and you covenant that you will not contest any such determination via any suit or other legal action.

This to me is unacceptable. I want to be clear about where I am coming from. A few years back I had to deal with racism, anti-Semitism, and hate speech from an individual I licensed IP from.  I paid the price for my principles as well. Seeing my income from RPG material dropping from hundreds of dollars per month to tens of dollars per month. 

Surrendering freedom, creative or otherwise, to an oligarchy like Wizards of the Coast will not solve the problems of racism and hate. Instead, their bias and their prejudices are substituted for your own moral compass. By agreeing to the OGL 1.2, you surrender your moral authority to them. 

More importantly, you surrender it to their successors. Unknown individuals who may not share your ideals, and your belief in what is right, just, and fair. 

Each of you reading this will have to decide for yourself what is the right course of action. For myself, I will not surrender my right to act in the manner I see fit, in the form I see fit. I have done so in the past, and I will do it again as circumstances dictate. I am not special in this, each of you reading this has the power to do the same.

For more a detailed essay on the problems of morality clauses and conduct codes, I recommend this guest essay by James Raggi on the Tenkar's Tavern blog. Also look up the details on the following: The Hays Code, and the Comic Code Authority. Each was born of a generation's belief in what was right, just, and decent. 

Then ask yourself as James Raggi said, were the marginalized served by these codes? Will the marginalized be served by the code as set forth by Chris Cocks CEO of Hasbro, Cynthia Williams CEO of WoTC, and their successors? Or are you the better judge of these matters? 

What is Victory?

We won a battle but not the war for our creative legacy. In the words of Churchill, 

Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

I realize for some of you these are not the words you want to hear. You want the hobby to be fun again. Publishers are grasping for any type of certainty for their livelihood. You want this to end sooner than later. 

So how does this end for me?

• Wizards acknowledge OGL 1.0a as an authorized irrevocable license.
• That all past open content remains open content under the OGL 1.0a and free to be used as they have been for the past 23 years. Works like the D20 3.0 and 3.5 SRD. The 5e 5.1 SRD as well remains under the OGL 1a.
• In turn, I will acknowledge they have the right to license OneDnD any way they like. However, I reserve the right to make critical comments about their creative and legal choices.
• The plan to release various sections under the CC-BY 4.0 license be followed through.
• That Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro, and Cynthia William, CEO of Wizards of the Coast, each write and sign individual formal apologies to all the publishers impacted by their overreach and inept handling of the situation such as Paizo, Kobold Press, Troll Lord Games, Green Ronin, Gaming Ballistic, Frog God Games, and many others. 

Fight On!

Robert Conley

Bat in the Attic Games

Random Party Generator Youtube Podcast

 Two posts in one day? Wondering if we are facing an existential crisis or something.

On a more serious note, I will be on Random Party Generator tonight with Erik Tenkar, Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor, Joe the Lawyer, and rest of the gang. We also have a guest, Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic. He has been badly impacted by the situation with Wizards and talking with us about it.

Hope to see everyone there.