D&D Next

[Strategon]

What's fascinating is according to the most recent stats that were released for fantasy grounds, that service was a dinosaur on its way to extinction; then suddenly out of nowhere a deal gets cut and they have all of this licensing for 5e, at pretty steep pricing I might add.

The result? It's saved the dinosaur and virtually no indication whatsoever that Herolab will ever see a license.

Unfortunate.

[phloog]

Yeah...that's an odd resurrection there. I don't know how many people are weird like me, but I bought DMGenie (which I LOVED), HeroLab, Klooge, D20Pro, Fantasy Grounds, and who knows what else...lost track.

For most of my games I had reduced things down to HL and D20Pro, but now the DM I trade off with has switched to 5E. The system IS simpler, but for me part of character management is just STORAGE - knowing that a player won't show up without his character. So after sitting idle on my LAST computer for years, I have installed Fantasy Grounds on my new computer, and bought the Players pack. I would have loved to keep going with HL and D20Pro, which I think is leaps and bounds above FG, but I had to move. When/If we play Shadowrun or Fate or d20 stuff, I'll pull HL out again, but for right now I only do about 20% of the DMing, so it's Fantasy Grounds....a bit of a bummer if this was a planned 'zap' of LW...but this is how it is.

I wish you folks the best, and maybe you will get a license...here's hoping.

[MNBlockHead]

Phlog, are you DMing a remote / virtual game? I looked into FG just for character management, but it seemed like a steep price for a product that is geared for virtual-table play. I didn't see much at-table application. For now, I make my players send me a photo of their character sheet before they leave at the end of the game and I load that into RW as an attached document to a person article.

[GmanV2]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

Phlog, are you DMing a remote / virtual game? I looked into FG just for character management, but it seemed like a steep price for a product that is geared for virtual-table play. I didn't see much at-table application. For now, I make my players send me a photo of their character sheet before they leave at the end of the game and I load that into RW as an attached document to a person article.

Huh, good idea there, thanks.

I too was contemplating buying FG just for character management, but frankly I don't want to support what I feel is foolish decision making on WOTC's part as far as licensing.

Don't recreate the wheel, HL is best at this medium, use them.

[dafrca]

I have given up. The group has moved on and I can't get them to do either Pathfinder or 5th ed. I know Lone Wolf can't force WotC to give them a license. I just don't understand why it didn't happen. Hero Lab is the best of the character managers on the market. WotC has lost a great opportunity in my opinion.

[RavenX]

Originally Posted by dafrca

I have given up. The group has moved on and I can't get them to do either Pathfinder or 5th ed. I know Lone Wolf can't force WotC to give them a license. I just don't understand why it didn't happen. Hero Lab is the best of the character managers on the market. WotC has lost a great opportunity in my opinion.

Gen Con is around the corner, its the best hope anyone has of a deal being hammered out or of any OGL release being mentioned. WotC has been more cautious with OGL licensing because it shot them in the foot in the past (opened an unclosable pandora's box which gave rise to Pathfinder). 4e's OGL didn't make the content open to third parties until wotc dropped 4e and began planning 5th. WotC hasn't been as open since the Hasbro buyout. Content authors were fired in the buyout too which is why 4e/5e books are so slow to emerge too.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by RavenX

Gen Con is around the corner, its the best hope anyone has of a deal being hammered out or of any OGL release being mentioned. WotC has been more cautious with OGL licensing because it shot them in the foot in the past (opened an unclosable pandora's box which gave rise to Pathfinder). 4e's OGL didn't make the content open to third parties until wotc dropped 4e and began planning 5th. WotC hasn't been as open since the Hasbro buyout. Content authors were fired in the buyout too which is why 4e/5e books are so slow to emerge too.

The heck with OGL. It would be nice, but there are many of us who would happily pay for core rules and Monster Manual content in HL and RW. I'm not sure how HL protects game system IP, but other game makers have allowed their content to be sold through HL. As for RW, it all depends on the content market. I am hoping that the content market is released by Gen Con.

[ddaley]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

The heck with OGL. It would be nice, but there are many of us who would happily pay for core rules and Monster Manual content in HL and RW. I'm not sure how HL protects game system IP, but other game makers have allowed their content to be sold through HL. As for RW, it all depends on the content market. I am hoping that the content market is released by Gen Con.

I hope something good comes from Gen Con in this regard. But, I have a feeling that both LW and WotC are being hard headed about this and it is hurting both of them (EDIT: and it is hurting gamers...)

[RavenX]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

The heck with OGL. It would be nice, but there are many of us who would happily pay for core rules and Monster Manual content in HL and RW. I'm not sure how HL protects game system IP, but other game makers have allowed their content to be sold through HL. As for RW, it all depends on the content market. I am hoping that the content market is released by Gen Con.

Pay for it, absolutely, plenty will. It's not likely an issie with Lone Wolf though. The staff is very willing to work with other companies. WotC has been difficult to work with since Hasbro bought them out. Many of the actual book authors were fired by Hasbro is the buyout. Pathfinder's system was formed by many former writers of WotC, Jason Buhlmann was part of the 3.5 Eberron writing staff. Even Kobold Press has numerous familiar author names. 5e has been outsourcing writing to Kobold Press (the tiamat modules were written by KP and you can see their logo on the books). WotC doesn't have as many writers as it needs, sadly. Gen Con is the best hope you'll get for a deal as reps from both companies will be there. Do bear in mind that Hero Lab is the official character builder of Pathfinder, however. Which may be a reason WotC isn't as forthcoming on this we'd like to see. Pathfinder stomped a mudhole into 4e and walked the receipts of sale dry afterward. OGL shot them in the foot along with bad business decisions on Hasbro's acquisitions department.

[MNBlockHead]

I didn't realize that HL was the "official" character builder of Pathfinder. What makes it official? Is it the only character generator that Pathfinder supports? Fantasy Grounds also sells Pathfinder content, so WoTC isn't demanding exclusivity.

I really love 5e, but I am very perplexed at the lack of good game aids. I find that since I bought the three core rules, all my money spent on my DnD campaign has gone to companies other than WoTC. DnD is the ONLY RPG I play. I probably spend on the higher end for my hobby than the typical player, but WoTC/Hasbro sees none of it.

All my money is going to Patreon (Enworld's En5ider), Pathfinder (for aids like their combat pad), Lone Wolf (for the software and cloud storage, and hopefully the content market), and a variety of small companies on DrivethruRPG.

Other than the good-enough spell cards and crap DM screens from Gale Force 9, for which WoTC would get some licensing fee, they have been wholly unsuccessful in profiting from my passion for 5e.

If WoTC can't make good digital products in-house, then carefully license them to existing, proven companies like Lone Wolf.

Do they really think that the only way to maximize profitability without diluting the brand is to put out a couple several-hundred page adventure path books a year? Is that what most DnD fans want?