Audio EXP: #179 – OGL concerns and 2022 wins – part 3

Welcome home.

This is Audio EXP for the 7th of January, 2023, and the title of this episode is “OGL concerns and 2022 wins – part 3”.

[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #179]

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This is part three of the 2022 wrap-up with Roll20 stats, and we’ll also talk about the OGL drama.

Catilus is in the Spotlight this month, as voted for by Patreons.

And with Catilus in the Spotlight, there’s also a new poll which Patrons can vote on.

The candidates for February are;

• Azukail Games
• Right After then Design LLC
• Random Rambling Press
• Legrand Games Studio
• Tin Hat Games

Let’s finish off the 2022 top lists, shall we? It’s the first year we’ve Pathfinder Infinite best sellers  and here’s the top three.

1. Witches+ by Derry Luttrell and Tony Saunders.
2. Queerfinder Issue 1: Bars of Absalom by The Gallant Goblin, et al.
3. Oracles+ by Derry Luttrell and Tony Saunders.

Pathfinder uses the OGL and so is caught up in this week’s drama from Hasbro. More on that later.

We also have Roll20’s top 12 of the year. I’ll give you the top five here and you can get to the rest via the links in the show notes.

1. Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse from Wizards of the Coast 
2. Princes of the Apocalypse from Wizards of the Coast 
3. Spelljammer: Adventures in Space from Wizards of the Coast 
4. Hoard of the Dragon Queen from Wizards of the Coast 
5. Cyberpunk RED from R. Talsorian Games 

There are other non-WotC publishers beyond RTG in the list. I bet you can guess who; Paizo and Chaosium. 

There’s also a list of potential best sellers for this year as EN World published their survey of the most anticipated RPG for 2023. The top five are;

1. King Arthur Pendragon, 6th Edition (Chaosium)
2. Dragonbane / Drakar och Demoner (Free League)
3. 13th Age, 2nd Edition (Pelgrane Press)
4. Household (Two Little Mice)
5. Mothership 1e (Tuesday Knight Games)

The big news of the week is the ongoing drama around 5e’s OGL, and we’ve even had Ryan Dancey, the architect of the original, weigh in. 

We have to be careful as we’re talking about leaks; this might be wrong, and if not, the final documents might change. However, it appears that Wizards of the Coast can deauthorise the original OGL and replace it. 

It’s a workaround for not being able to nullify it. The replacement might be two different licenses; one commercial and one not. Dancey says that’s not how the original OGL was intended to be managed.

The concerns with the leaks are that they seem to give WotC a lot of control of what people write and publish, and, of course, some people will be paying money.

I previously pointed out that this is the first D&D edition change for many people, and that’s a point I made in sympathy. More recently, I’ve seen people getting high and mighty about how they left D&D long ago. I mean, you can take that route if you want, but I doubt it’ll make you any friends.

In some cases, Wizards of the Coast are tinkering with the jobs and financial security of people who don’t work for them but believe there was a good faith and legally safe agreement.

Pathfinder is born of the OGL, so I’m sure Paizo are more than watching closely. I’m sure they’re in contact with Wizards of the Coast. Morrus of EN Publishing has said that WotC reached out to some publishers so I’m confident people are meeting. 

Despite the concerns, Paizo is pushing on. This week they’ve promised to do more frequent errata. The first big change with the new guidance is one that optionally cuts out biological essentialism from the game. That’s the idea where all dwarves are grumpy and half-orcs dumb. Pathfinder takes a route D&D explored where racial bonuses are more fluid.

I can see Kickstarter coming back to life after a very slow season over Christmas and I know there are non-OGL games out there and we’ll look at a few in just a bit.

Firstly, though, there’s Polyhedral as a pre-Kickstarter RPG magazine that hopes to do the same. Right now, the magazine is calling for submissions, touting for ads and whisking up publicity. It’s been run by Dave Wright, the hard worker behind Tabletop Scotland a gaming convention here in Geek Native’s home country.

Also, right now, OneBookShelf’s New Year, New Game sale is on. There’s more than 7,000 titles discounted in DriveThruRPG and thousands more across the DMsGuild, Pathfinder Infinite and the Storytellers Vault. It’s a cheap way to find and try a new RPG system.

What’s popular right now?

• Cyberpunk RED by R. Talsorian Games.
• Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition by Stellagama Publishing.
• Worlds Without Numbers Sine Nomine Publishing.
• Savage Worlds Adventure Edition by Pinnacle Entertainment.
• Hero Kids Fantasy RPG by Hero Forge Games.

The anti-capitalist grim-dark Stillfleet is out, and on the blog, there’s a host of art from the sci-fi RPG to check out.

Using the Elemental RPG system, free to download and the introduction to Gildor Games’ Legends series, there’s the quickstart adventure Tower of the Vampire out this week too. It’s more traditional fantasy,

Another freebie-quickstart-intro-adventure trio is Empty from Xero Sum Games. It’s an introduction to their Distemper grim apocalypse.

Importantly, there is still fantastic stuff happening for D&D, 5e and the world’s largest RPG. This week I got to talk to the creators of The Test of High Sorcery a Dragonlance adventure. It’s a solo RPG. Play it yourself and with D&D’s rules. Or, if you’re a DM, use it as a sourcebook.

Now it’s time for the I-hope-not-token non-RPG bit of news. It’s another anime trailer, and it’s the latest from designer Jun Inagawa’s Magical Girl Magical Destroyers. These are four energetic women, four geeks who kick ass, and it is set in a world where geeks are being vanished. It looks high-octane.

Lastly, bundles.

There was a game called Traveller: 2300 which was not a sequel to Traveller and was, weirdly, a sequel to the original Twilight: 2000. It was renamed 2300 AD and now, decades later, it’s a Bundle of Holding offer.

A far newer game, one where you play the baddies trying to keep heroes out of your dungeon, there’s Wicked Ones. The Forged in the Dark game is also in the Bundle of Holding.

It’s good news for Free League fans as there are several options in Humble with RPGs like Vaesen and Forbidden Lands.

So, let’s finish there and see where the news cycle takes us next week. Keep safe.