Siltoneous's page

Nice to see a return of "Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye". At least that's what the transcript (via YouTube) seems to imply is in the book. IMHO, it works well with the whole Dark Tapestry theme I'm seeing wrt the Godsrain Prophecy.

OMG... I've had two different party members message this announcement to me. I won't say they are frothing at the mouth, but they're super interested in it.

Gotta hand it to Paizo (and a large round of applause from my players) for a nice "out-of-left-field" AP.

And another typo: Page 387: "Frumlin Fruz" should be "Fumlin Fruz"

Just for the heck of it, here's a typo. Page 387: 'Aaqir al'Hakaam' should be 'Aaqir al'Hakam'.

I found this interesting. You know that WoTC is claiming 25% of all revenue above 750K (in this version; which also allows them to change the license unilateral whenever they want (30 days notice)).

Now, Kobold Press's "Project Black Flag" calls back to an old 18th Century warfare (or pirate) term that basically meant "No Quarter given".... no quarter.... ROFL>.. gotta love it.

Err... for those of you hoping 'perpetual' saves the day, the EFF disagrees. New post from them, and it's their opinion that:

"Some have pointed to the word “perpetual” to argue that the license is irrevocable, but these are different concepts in the law of licenses. Perpetual means that the license will not expire due to time passing, that’s all. In RPG terms, consider the invisibility spell. “Perpetual” is like the duration; the spell lasts for one hour. But the caster can dismiss it at any time: that’s like revocation."

They also say (just above that) that:

The OGL does not say that it is irrevocable, unfortunately. It’s possible that Wizards of the Coast made other promises or statements that will let the beneficiaries of the license argue that they can’t revoke it, but on its face it seems that they can."

Ahh, we all knew it'd take a court to figure it all out. Seems the EFF is agreeing.

EFF Statement

Oh good lord, it's a throw-down now. Kobold Press just announced they have gone full 'Paizo' (snicker). From their announcement at: "https://koboldpress.com/kobold-press-announces-new-core-fantasy-experiment /"

I quote: "Kobold Press is also moving forward with some clear-eyed work on keeping the 5E rule set available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it: the Core Fantasy experiment."

Dave2 wrote:

The thing is Hasbro will not be able to revoke 1.0 or 1.0a.

IP attorney who specializes in table top games says you're wrong.

Quote:

The OGL 1.0a is a perpetual (but not irrevocable) Open License that allowed Third Party Creators to build a thriving tabletop industry that we have all enjoyed,

emphasis added

Yea, I fear you are right, as I've seen agreeing commentary from a wide range of world-wide IP lawyers. Their take is that it's an open question as to whether or not they could revoke 1.0a. If WoTC gets the right judge, and the right court... well... it could be ugly. Secondly, it'll take a court case to decide it, and you better believe it'll be eye-wateringly expensive to litigate. I'm sure WoTC will pick on the small players before ever thinking of tackling someone like Paizo, Kobold Press or Critical Roll.

<snipped>

There is no alternative to fighting, none.

I've seen some really persuasive reasoning that the OGL 1.0a is actually a Contract, as it fits the required categories of a Contract rather handidly. IANAL, but others who are (and deal in this arena ) were rather impressed by it's clarity. Came from someone who obviously has a great deal of experience with this stuff every day. It's over on the Enworld Forums (thread: "Hello, I am lawyer with a PSA:....." page 11 or so).

The reason that matters is that if 1.0a is a Contract, then it's old, Old, OLD settled law that an agreed upon contract cannot be unilaterally changed by one party. It would blow a huge hold in WoTC's entire ability to nuke OGL 1.0a. Course it'd have to be fought out in court, and make no mistake that'd be a bleedin' fortune in the US.

Goilveig wrote:

Well, I just bought every rulebook for 2E that I don't already own. Paizo gets some additional $ for legal defense, and WotC can come and try to take my books. They will be guarded by three house cats, one of whom may pee on their shoes.

I just did the same, though I'm still on 1E. Hopefully dropping $600 on them will help out a bit.

I won't spend that much, but yea, I'm doing the same.

There's no way WoTC couldnt' have forseen the outrage by the TTRPG community. My guess is that WoTC is out for blood, trying to end what they couldn't with 4E. Interesting point that; I saw over on the EnWorld 'lawyer' forum discussion that it looks like WotC is trying to claim that all content (other than 5E SRD) is no longer OGL because that license is being 'unauthorized'. Maybe I'm suspicious, but a kneecap attempt at Paizo?