I always prefer a PDF. It allows me to read it whenever and however I want. And enables me to ctrl f, highlight, and comment all throughout the document. It's incredibly helpful for preparing an adventure as well as campaign. Otherwise, I have a million notes, both typed and handwritten. I have purchased a ton of Kobold Press products - specifically because they offer PDF's. Well, and also they have great products with options for players and DM's.
Yessir'y, Mr. Gaben said it well! I'm not buying the book unless there will be a pdf version, which frankly knowing WotC there won't. So money saved I guess...
@@Phlegethos Can't comment for OP, but for me if I pay money for a text, I want to own the text. I only want to pay for it once. With DDBeyond and the like, I don't own the book, if they want they can take away my access. The second reason is cost, with the multiple systems I play and read I can't afford to pay book prices, but $20 for a pdf I'll pay.
If a digital product requires a login or online only use, then you don't control the product. It can be taken away if the service is cancelled or for any BS corporate reason, you are forced to use the company's way that they want you to use the product, and if the company decides to update the product in a way you don't like they can force to to accept the update or lock you out of the products. The service may also not be compatible with the device I want to use. What if I want to just bring my ereader to the game instead of a laptop? I can do that with a pdf, highly unlikely that I can do that with whatever format WotC uses. When you buy a PDF, you get a file that you can back up, transfer, and use how you like.
Another good element of easier distribution to avoid piracy: localize your prices! This is entertainment that we're buying, and if people will find entertainment too pricy to buy in their country because the economic gap between theirs and the publisher's is too wide, they sure as heck won't invest in what you have to offer. 40-50 bucks in global north is a luxury cost in many other places in the world. Digital distribution? Easier distribution and also decreases prices because it avoids printint and shipping cost. In way too many cases even that isn't enough. Please, folks, localize your prices accordingly.
Somewhere in Seattle, an entire PR team is huddled in a conference room and screaming into pillows. And Legal is writing up their business case for raises due to the volume of “enforcement actions.”
I usually just roll my eyes at big company stupidity, having lived thru it a lot....but this is unreal. Truly. WotC really is being ridiculous here, and alienating people for no real reason. Truly unreal.
Money lost from piracy? Likely negligible. Money lost from alienating your fanbase? That can hurt. Hasbro doesn't seem to ever learn this lesson though.
2:34 I mentioned it in a different video comment thread but I suspect that they are trying to get rid the conscientious consumer so that they can focus on a base that is more easy to exploit
@@SeldonnHari Yeah there is a vibe that they want to shed their old school (adult) player base and focus on kids who are immersed in digital culture and wouldn't bat an eyelid at it.
D&D is not what makes wotc money. It's always been Magic. And they are looking directly at the success of digital Magic and think the process is transferable. Full stop. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, people who have different opinions aren't going to stay, and the people who tell management what they want to hear get promoted, and then prove the plan out.
A few years ago I had to do academic writing on some pretty obscure topics while not having access to an academic library. I often needed books whose entire customer base was a few dozen specific university libraries, maybe some professors...two, MAYBE three digit total purchasers. From that experience I can confidently propose a new rule of the internet: if it exists, you can pirate it. Refusing to make an official PDF does nothing to stop this. All it does is prevent customers who would pay for an official PDF from giving you their money.
My most read and referred to volume / version of a certain foundation book published in 2014 is a PDF copy I got from... somehere. I also own the hardback and Beyond versions yet refer to the pdf more often I pay exttra to have Free League books shipped from Sweden so I can get the PDF as well as a physical copy. My USB drive of PDF rules and modules purchased from Drivethru RPG is all i take to gaming sessions. PDFs are where it's at and i'd buy them if i could.
But it's still 5e. Just because it's not a WoTC product doesn't mean you aren't promoting their product. 5e will always be intricately linked with WoTC. If you really want to show your disgust with WoTC find another game that isn't 5e.
@@kafka0622 when they gave 5e to the creative commons, they lost control over it. Disgust of vnsb? They are just exploited people working for a corporation. Giving your money to anybody else counts. not buying their books will only lead to Hasbro saying: see, people don't want books, lets make it Beyond-exclusive... well, I will not use any of their new stuff in the future, I will switch to ToV. I like PF 2rem, but it is not what my table wants. we tried pf2e, and it is great, but some guys were overwhelmed. So ToV or Fateforge is what we are going to use in the future. ToV is more universal and general, while Fateforge has a fixed setting. Advantage for Fateforge: It is Pay what you want on Drivethru... Other alternative would have been level up... Or anything OSR. Back onto disgust: Only to the capitalist system in general and to corporations, not the people being exploited themselves... ah, btw, I am not from the US, but from Europe. Sorry for any mistakes, my english is not as good as it should be. ;)
I'm a big fan of not just pdfs but also companies who give you the pdf for free when you buy the physical or (in the case of Modiphius) give you a price break if you bought the PDF and then want to get the physical.
I really enjoyed your overview video; I saw it before it was blurred! That's exceptionally frustrating and absolutely baffling. Reminds me of when Nintendo tried striking and copyright claiming gameplay videos and streaming their games, or something like that, worried people wouldn't get the games instead of treating it like free advertising. I appreciate your measured perspective and not blaming any one person and your proposed solutions and explanations. Respect. Also, I'll have to go check out Shadowdark now!
The irony of ‘we are a digital first company’ but you can’t buy a digital version of the book (a pdf). And the major irony; I’m almost positive that a $30 pdf has a higher margin than a $60 print book. And ps- even if I buy the pdf, I’m still gonna pay for my dndbeyond subscription for the character tools. It’s just really strange.
The real reason they don't want people to have PDFs is because why sell someone a $30 PDF once when you can charge per month to access it on their self controlled platform...
As soon as I heard about this, my initial thought was they just sold the phb at GenCon. It makes so little sense to attack the content creators who are giving you free promotional material. With those books being in circulation. Somone is going to scan or take pictures and we’ll find it on Reddit and discord within the week. Attacking the community is just another misstep on the precipice of releasing something big. Another slap in the face of the community. They never learn, and they sure as hell enjoy these self inflicted wounds by constantly shooting themselves in the foot.
I don't think this is just WotC being WotC. Ted from Nerd Immersion has a great video with MyLawyerFriend that discusses everything. A very informative and great video to watch.
As a software designer, I really appreciate your take on piracy. I agree 100%. The best way to combat piracy is to create something that people want to support and foster a community that wants to see the product/company succeed. Worrying about the people who almost certainly won't spend money on the product is a waste of time and energy that could be spent interacting with and supporting those who did.
There was a time period when I was paying and subscribed to both Netflix and Amazon, but would still regularly watch movies on a pirated site (including ones Netflix had) because it was a better viewing experience. The site had much better searching, could rank their entire library by IMDB rating, had all videos in high quality, and had a much more comprehensive library.
vnsb's behavior has become inconsistent. they make the system creative commons, but they try to sell the digital copy of their product with a dongle/in a closed ecosystem (Beyond etc.) It is weird... for me the perfect example how it should be in the gaming world are Basic Fantasy, everything is community based. And if you want a printed copy, get it for a low price as POD... Fateforge is doing it right to, making their game pay what you want...
You beat me to it. Every single other RPG I buy - without exception - offer either standalone PDFs (which I get from, say, Modiphius because shipping costs to Australia are so high), or an automatic PDF when you buy the physical copy (such as Paizo). I run all my tabletop games from a laptop - it's part of my DM screen - so I absolutely want to have PDFs. The only thing I can think of is that WotC is trying to drive more people to DnDBeyond to use the electronic versions of the books there, which is problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it means double-dipping and having to buy both a physical copy and an electronic version on DDB. Secondly, it means you must have a DDB account to get an electronic copy. Thirdly, it means I risk being in the middle of a game session when DDB goes down or my internet access drops out or am running the game somewhere with poor wifi and I suddenly have no access to the stuff I need. And WotC wonder why piracy occurs? If they provided the service/product people are asking for, they would likely see a huge drop in the piracy that *does* occur.
Believe me, it put 5e with one in the grave for me from the getgo. I noticed right away. I bought the 3 core books amd then found the digital information elsewhere. DnD Beyond is basically the second foot in the grave for me. I actually wanted to spend money for the new 2024 DnD books, but I just can't bring myaelf to biy in into their shit business practices. Once is enough.
@@philiponeill6903 Paizo only gives you PDFs with physical purchases if you buy it via subscription. I don't especially have a problem with this since I'm a digital only customer but someone looking to get into the system would need to separately buy the physical and digital versions of (at minimum) the core rulebooks if they want both.
1. Canning people before Xmas 2. Sending Pinkertons to threaten people 3. Attempting to yank the OGL I cannot in good conscience give money to this company.
#2 is an appeal to emotion. It assumes the Pinkertons in the 2020s are the sane as they were in the 1920s, when they’re really just a private security firm. Read: security guards. WotC sent mall cops to “threaten” someone. (Who was making monetized videos leaking their cards and ignoring their calls.) And even the person who was “threatened” didn’t stop buying MtG cards or take down their TH-cam channel. Heck, the publicity likely boosted their subscriber count and view numbers…
WOTC: "someone will make copies of our book! stop digital showing of the book!" Mike Lazy DM: "let me show you my PDF of my book that is yet to be released! I am so excited" Good faith will win always.
Hasbro has no clue that their customers want to play a physical versions of RPGs. I just came from Gen Con and the amount of dice people buy is crazy and I dont see people wanting to not use them.
Mike, I totally respect the position you have taken regarding "not letting WotC determine the nature of your game." But I have to tell you--your story is an excellent example of why I have completely cut ties with WotC and their products. I don't want my ttrpg to be dictated by whatever corporate whim happens to come to the surface on a particular day. IMO, the only way to truly prevent "WotC from dictating the nature of your home game" is to cut ties from WotC altogether by not using any of their stuff. For me, it is less about sticking it to The Man or some moral objection to WotC's behavior and more about not having worry about the newest nonsense coming from them.
That's a bit of a silly take, you can enjoy the art, but hate the artist. It's one thing to have to deal with their whims when promoting their products, but once made and sold to you, they can't do anything to dictate your game. If you don't like the version of D&D that they have out, then that's a different story, sure, don't use it, but to not use something that you would like because they impose some rule on content creators, misguided or not, to protect their product or is just silly. As long as you have a hard copy of their books, they can't do anything to your game, older versions or new. Their corporate crap really has no bearing on the general person and their game, just listen to reviews on the product if it's good, use it, if not ignore it and have fun playing something else.
@@beavschannel5217 you can also hate an artist and therefore hate their art, it's down to personal taste WotC wants to go full digital sooner than later, so people who feel the need to be playing the current generation (whether that's a mentality holdover from online multiplayer video games, or if they're influenced by marketing, etc) will need to buy into that digital Closed Garden. As hopeful as I am that this drives business away from WotC, there's every likelihood it doesn't, so the "general person" will be at the whims of the corp...
@@link090909 which is why I said, forget the corporate BS, and focus on the product, if it's good, and something you would like, play it, and if it's not, don't. That includes the format, if they go digital only, and that's something you don't want then don't buy that product. What I was getting at, was that rejecting a good product because the company is making some silly decisions, that don't really affect the general person and their home game, was a bit melodramatic. I highly doubt that WotC are going to go 100% digital and no print, like Mike said, they have no plans to at this moment, but also because not all countries are the same with their internet infrastructure, and removing print media will limit their reach.
Fair, your choice, but if you have content you own already nothing they do now need sto impact your game at all. You can ignore them forever and still run D&D. Or run 5e without their products obv. Now if you want the new content they are producing in your game, then yeah you have to pay attention to them, but at that point you are actively engaging with their new products so that's your choice.
@@garion046 you'd only really need to pay attention when hardcopies of their products are no longer available, or if they stop doing print versions of new products, which I don't think will happen for a long time.
As handsome as you are, I usually listen more than anything to your videos. As much as the blurring stinks, I'd still be very interested in hearing your thoughts as you go through it.
Mike: I've been working on my homebrew setting for years, and The City of Arches is basically my capital city, a city of portals, written out for me. It's mind-blowing! Thank you!
It's just astounding how bad WotC is at community management and communication, not to mention how idiotic it is to try to curtail piracy by blurring videos WHEN THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE! What are they smoking?
Mike, if you're into what C7 has been doing, I endorse taking a look at _Broken Weave,_ their post-apocalyptic "melancholy fantasy" setting. Something that's often bothered me about setting books that come out with a complete 5e overhaul (e.g., _Numenera 5e, Symbaroum 5e,_ even _Esper Genesis)_ is how little the mechanics have to do with the setting. _Broken Weave_ blew me away in that regard; it uses the 5e skeleton, but many of its mechanics resonate very strongly with the setting's core themes. Its reality is unraveling at the seams - geography is rearranging, memories are fading, and history is all jumbled. The only way to fix it is to forge connections - with other survivors, between communities, by marking one's journeys to distant places, and by remembering and retelling the party's stories. You're literally stitching the world back together by way of D&D adventuring. Alongside _Uncharted Journeys_ and _A Life Well Lived,_ it gave me faith that C7 *really* knows their stuff, so I couldn't wait for their "C7D20" system. It's a bit of a bummer to learn that they've pulled back from that.
@SlyFlourish - Make sure that your future projects continue to give robust stats for other non-Hasbro d20 systems (DC20, Nimble, TotV, MCDM) or you are only feeding the Beast
I bought a 3d printer because i couldn’t get the minis I want from wizards. - the prices were too high and I couldn’t get the numbers/ types that I needed. - I want a pack of wolves, a pack of goblins etc. I actually LIKED going out to buy miniatures, but I can’t justify spending a ridiculous amount of money because they only sell two wolves in a pack, or 3 goblins at a time, or a pack with a single scarecrow and a stone cursed? Just GIVE ME useful products for a half decent price and I’d have bought them. Now I’ve got my printer, I can get the stuff I need from either myself making them, or 3rd party. And now I’ll never purchase an official miniature again. The company made that happen.
When you piss off Mike and many other very level headed creators (who really do mostly discuss your game in a positive way), you F'd up. Like, can WotC go any time at all w shooting themselves in the foot? They are weeks away from their biggest release of many years and they sabotage the biggest advertising campaign for it? For what? Delaying a pirate copy by a few weeks at best? Moronic.
I saw "library" copies of the lazy dm. I looked at them and still bought the books in a bundle of holding. I am on a budget, so I waited for a sale. I've done the same with other creative people. If people want your work 90% will pay you for it. The rest are a lost cause.
I really think it's time for the rpg influences to straight up tell their audiences not to buy these products. We saw it coming, but The company just no longer has any respect for its market.
People are still going to be able to make pdfs of the book after it releases, Hasbro just delayed this by 6 weeks at the most. Hasbro is just burning good will at this point. I really wanted to head into DnD 2024 with a clear conscience but now I am considering passing on it.
I am so hyped for the Kickstarter tomorrow. City of Arches is a lovely product and as a Patreon supporter, I've already been able to test using the City of Arches as fodder and campaign prep to set into my own separate homebrew setting. And even though I already have a pdf, guess what Hasbro, I'm going to still be giving more money to Mike for it!
You make a great point about combatting piracy by just making it look better, be easier to obtain, and at the right price point. I don't have the link handy but I recall a report from 10ish years ago showing how Steam managed to do this for video game piracy. With annual sales, a single platform/library, and avoiding the malware often embedded into pirated software - why bother to pirate?
your right MIke, it isn't interesting to talk about it. it is interesting to see it. What WOTC doesn't understand is showing it is NOT PLAYING IT. I was going to get the book. I had on preorder since the beginning. Now, I dont' see the point. it's just stress they cause. you are a great guy and you are upstanding a positive dude. WOTC really is worried about nothing IMO. their NDA's are so crazy. What is going on in speculation is they want to release it and get months of attention before we get it. fact is the books are printed, they could just release all three now. but I suspect they want to hype it up. maybe they fear it isn't as good as they think!? whatever the case, the stress of this is not worth it. I have other books and RPG to read and play. I would rather focus on Forge of Foes and create my own 5e and forget about the stress of WOTC.
I prefer PDF copies because It's convenient, saves space, and is an environmentally friendly option. I almost always buy the PDF when I have the option, even when I also buy the physical book. I also almost always buy the paid version when I get a preview copy.
The anti-piracy stuff is almost always just anti-consumer in the end. You're one of my favorite content creators, and just knowing that they are putting you and a bunch of other creators through this is enough for me to boycott the books on launch. I was excited to check out the new Player's Handbook with you - now I'm just angry. These megacorps never learn. I guess they must have realized many of us were starting to forget about the OGL fiasco and weren't content to see their villain rating drop.
WoTC feels like Games Workshop at times 😅 Free promotion is an issue instead of a boon. Sorry you put all that effort, Sly. Enjoying some Drakkenheim, Mothership and Shadowdark. Cause of WoTC (and you) I’ve learned to make TTRPGs my own. Gracias señor ^_^
I was extremely confused after watching the first half of the video, then came back the next day and it was all blurred… I’m still on the fence about buying the new books, but watching Mike go through the book was starting to convince me. Not so sure anymore…
I know it won't make a dent, but I'm boycotting all the new 5.5 or 2024 products. There is enough OG 5e material for my groups to run until we die lol. Not to mention all the awesome 3rd party compatible stuff, which I fully support. But Hasbro? Yarrrr, they can walk the plank.
I bought a 2014 PHB for $17, sell the Core stuff for like 25 and the expansions 30, bingo bango. Also to me I like physical cuz I want to Tinker and homebrew. Everything is made by Paper and Pen and it can be remade by Paper and Pen. You cant fight the pirates or the knuckleheads so ease up to let more people give you their dosh.
Fun Fact: WotC is putting out SOME PDF-ONLY books as part of the charity initiative over on DMsGuilds => Minsc & Boo as well as Chains of Asmodeus are NOT available anywhere else (despite a bunch of 3rd party content coming to DDB, which is baffling).
I can't wait for Wizards to watch all the piracy that THIS will cause. I bet you they'll be all like; "What happened?" like it's a surprise lol If they weren't going to pirate the new PHB then, you can bet they will now out of spite. I'm so glad I play 3.5e only, cause I can't get fucked over, I already own the 20+ year old books, but I do feel for new players who might actually enjoy the new content. Because this is doing WoTC and DnD no favors, I imagine a lot of people who were on the fence about dipping out of DnD and on to greener TTRPG pastures won't be on the fence anymore.
Maybe they're just aware of how bad the actual rules they put in the PHB 2024 are. Sure, they made lots of classes better, but they nerfed the worst fighting style, the Hide action now makes you invisible (and e.g. untargetable to your cleric's Healing Word spell for example), they just dumped the same broken mounted combat rules back in when they could at least have had the common decency to just not print them again, the list goes on and on. If it's not a class, species or background, they didn't care if it was any good, if the rules were clearly stated, whatever. Not for a second.
WotC suffers from physical schizophrenia. Their design/creative side and marketing/executive side do not know what the other is doing. It makes them look like fools. They need to start publishing PDFs for their material. I agree that it is absolutely comical/ludicrous that every other publisher in the industry does this but WotC is stuck in this draconian mentality. I use PDFs one of two ways. I read them in preference over my hard copies as it is easier for me because of my eyesight issues and I like to take snippets out of the PDFs to use as notes in my campaign. Right now I am forced to take snippets from D&D beyond or use a hand scanner on my physical book. D&DB doesn't follow quite the same format as the book so many times it is kind of meh looking.
When I saw your video, about the phb I was considering taking a step back from my OGL position that I would never buy a Hasbro product again. Thanks for reminding me why I'm done with them. Time to go sailing... and by that I mean play Black Flag...
I'll be honest: I pirated a lot of stuff, and I bought the stuff that I liked and removed the things I don't like.Let's call it "Improved demo versions" :)
Baffling. That's the only word. Thanks for what you do Mike, I always enjoy your fair and honest takes on products. Sucks to have all that effort for nothing. You would think a company that benefits from the free advertising and enthusiasm of so many people would be happy to have their product in view of the public eye. Baffling.
I dropped WotC months ago, but I would agree that if I can't see the product, I wouldn't be convinced one way or another to buy it. Great points from someone who publishes
Hey , I listened to that video you made of the PHB (I was doing house chores so not actively watching). It was good stuff. You don't need to see the content, but you have a right to be angry. FWIW. City of Arches gets my money next. WotC will need to get in line.
Fear of piracy is fear of one’s own shadow. When a big company starts fighting piracy on an industrial scale, they’ve lost the plot on innovation and leadership.
Thank you Sly for being awesome and being the best ambassador for TTRPGs in general. Please talk about what happened to Jorphdan and his copyright strike!
I was really excited about picking up my first set of DnD books with this new edition, but man they are making it so difficult to stay excited. It’s like going to a store to buy a thing you have been saving up money for and the person behind the counter treating you like garbage.
I can't tell you how many times I have purchased books because they were paged through. Castles and Crusades is a series of books that I purchased BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS PAGED THROUGH which is what it use to be like when you would be able to get it a book store. just this morning I bough Xcrawl from Goodman Games because. . . . . wait for it. . . .THE PAGES WERE FLIPPED THROUGH ON TH-cam and I decided it was worth my money to buy the PDF and HARDCOVER. so I don't' know what WOTC is thinking. . .
Unrelated to this video but I just wanted to say thank you for your video on using V2 of Owlbear Rodeo. I really struggled with the switch to V2 and after watching your video I was able to easily prep my game in a couple hours. Really useful tips and totally changed how I will be running my in person game going forward!
Hey Mike, I have a constructive/creative idea I'd like to toss out there. I think it would be really cool if you used different pieces of art each talkshow from your various books where you have the Ruins of the Grendleroot piece.
Hey Mike, I just saw on your KS page that the project is based in Fairfax, VA. I can't believe I didn't know that until now. I grew up and lived there for 30+ years.
I was lucky enough to watch the whole video about the PHB 2024 before the blur, it was excellent! I still think I'm gonna buy it in the future, for what I saw in your video it is beautiful, but for now I will continue with Shadowdark and DCC modules, great combination! Shout out for Shadowdark!
@@johnathanrhoades7751 There is a long answer to the "why", but the short one is that It is a well done and beautiful book and most of my players and friends that I play DnD with are not aware of all these corporate issues, so the book will end up being in the tables I share I wanted or not, and knowing myself I would want to get one too after seeing it lol
What would be the point. By the time he could its history and everyone will have seen it elsewhere and made their buying decision. Buy Shadowdark and city of arches , I hear they are compatible and both really excellent products.
@@nicka3697 The point would be seeing what Sly is talking about. I dont make my purchasing decisions based on others opinions exclusively. If your intention here was to shame me into supporting 3rd party publishers then you failed miserably. And also are too late.
This is why I continue to boycott WotC - no recommendations, no purchases, no subscriptions, no preorders - my litmus test up until yesterday was WotC following thru on their promise to release 5.5 into OGL and Creative Commons - now I will have to rethink that - these continued unforced errors hurt the most vulnerable people in the community - if they multistriked Jorphdan and deleted his channel that’d be it for him - the vast majority of DnD TH-camrs are in a tenuous niche financially and they do probably 80% of the advertising (most of it free) for this billion dollar product - this is why I am sad to see creators making paid promotions with them (tho I have never criticized them for it), because once we stopped holding Wizards’ feet to the fire financially, they went right back to hurting people in the community - ostensibly their own community - the people that made them a billion dollar company - even if this was a mistake “one hand not knowing what the other is doing” that doesn’t make it better - they have no incentive to police themselves as long as they’re increasing their quarterly earnings - corporations don’t have morals - they have stock holders and investors - this is not unique to WotC, but TTRPGs are a niche I am willing to speak passionately on and vote with my wallet - I’d love to get these books - preorder them so I get early access, but I know that I’d be crossing the picket line, and that means more to me than getting the next half-edition
@@SlyFlourish and I am waiting patiently for them to follow thru on that statement - I was planning to end my boycott at that time, but as they continue to make these unforced errors, I have to reconsider that plan
"The didn't need to look like jerks anymore." Amazing. Exactly what I was thinking! I saw the video before the blur and it is great. You should still be proud of it Mike!
Another reason I am happy not to buy the 2024 WotC books. I’d rather spend my money on City of Arches and independent content. Thanks for continuing to make videos and content that makes me excited about gaming
I've made my peace with physical books, I'm 100 percent digital. But I do hope there's some library out there collecting dust ... filled with fantasy game books, waiting to be discovered after the digital apocalypse. As for me, I do have the leather-bound 3.5 dnd books left in my collection. I keep thinking I'll give them away at some point, but when I take them out I get all nostalgic
They released it into the wild at GENCON. People literally have it. This is just plain dumb. I'm so tired of hearing about piracy. Digital content has been around with the life of the internet, and I've yet to read about any industry going under because of piracy. This is the same backward thinking the music industry went through with Napster in the 90s, and it seems like there's still music stars and companies making bank....
I know I didn't pirate the book. I also know I went to buy 5e stuff at one point and discovered you could not buy PDFs of 5E, and so I didn't buy them. So lack of PDFs def cost them a few of my dollars. PDFs from WoTC doesn't seem like a thing we are gonna see sadly.
So Hasbro assumes people are guilty of theft by default? Just because they "could" make a pdf of their book they assume everyone will? That's concerning, to say the least. Just be glad they haven't sent Pinkertons to your house, I guess.
I saw the video before the blurring and I liked it. Am I going to buy the PHB? No. The reason why I won't is because of this video and many I've seen from others about WotC (or more importantly, Hasbro). Corporate greed is very real. We see it every day. Pharmaceutical companies jacking up medicines to make a profit. Hospitals charged $10 for a band-aid to make a profit. Walmart gouging groceries prices and blaming it on inflation. It's everywhere and this is another example of it. I have bought 2 of your books and happily paid the amount asked for because I know it's done for the game, not for greed. I will spend money on 3rd party content creators before I ever considering giving Hasbro any of my money. The OGL Debacle was just the tip of the iceberg for me and I swore off giving Hasbro any more of my money, and I've been playing this game for 45 years. They don't care about the game anymore, just the money, and this is why I will never, ever spend another dime on official D&D products. My sincere hope, and I know that many people disagree with this hope, but I hope that the sales of the newest incarnation of D&D fails. Maybe if it does, they'll figure it out (probably, not, but that's my wish). Keep doing what you're doing, sir, and I'll be right there to support you.
hasbro did it to MTG. the game survived and they're still going broke. D&D will be different due to their planned subscriptions, etc; but it IS hasbro so their are two things we can be reasonably sure of: the game will survive and they'll still be going broke...
I don't want a PDF. I want print. I watced the video to get excited about my copy when it would arrive. I don't like digital I prefer physical. so yeah.
With frequent bungles like this example here, one has to wonder exactly what the purpose of PR departments is. IMHO no communication leaves the nest until it’s “idiot proof” in understanding. One has to wonder if they are even in the same building as the rest of the company. It’s one thing to scare off half your content creators because of the OGL. It’s a whole other thing to extend and olive branch to make up for it, that only ends up containing thorns. Also: while we’re asking for content PDFs, can I insert another request? Your artists do amazing work, even if it doesn’t 100% land on my tastes… but can we PLEASE get official maps that don’t have the funky grids meant for printing? WoTC themselves are trying to embrace the digital age, but can’t wait til they figure out their beautiful hand drawn maps don’t translate well to digital table tops.
This is why I have been moving away from D&D licenced material in general. I've been trying not to even use D&D as shorthand for TTRPGs. But this is ridiculous. If anything I'm totally fine with 5e compatible works but Hasbro specific products are getting to be a "No" from me. Until I find better alts for minis they might still get a little of my money but that's about it. Keep up the Good Work
New viewer here. I'm real disappointed. You mention starter sets and how that is how people discover the game, and you talk about Wal-Mart and Amazon and how you buy them cheaply to give away. You talk about the importance of game and hobby ambassadorship ---- but you completely neglect to mention FLGSs and the critical role they play in the gaming ecosystem. You should be supporting them, through your purchases and in your videos. It's bad enough that Hasbro and WotC seem to be actively working to run hobby shops out of existence without content creators reinforcing the portrayal of them as irrelevant.
WotC only hits us because they love us. They'll change if we just keep buying their books. I know we can change them. They love us.
oh my god. but yes, the relationship is abusive and toxic ...
I was about to write a comment that just says:" Let go."
I always prefer a PDF. It allows me to read it whenever and however I want. And enables me to ctrl f, highlight, and comment all throughout the document. It's incredibly helpful for preparing an adventure as well as campaign. Otherwise, I have a million notes, both typed and handwritten. I have purchased a ton of Kobold Press products - specifically because they offer PDF's. Well, and also they have great products with options for players and DM's.
WoTC should have asked for a watermark over the top instead of a blur.
Anyone else get a reference to the Boo Box from the movie Hook whenever "blur box" is mentioned?
Piracy isn’t a pricing issue, it’s a service issue.
Yessir'y, Mr. Gaben said it well!
I'm not buying the book unless there will be a pdf version, which frankly knowing WotC there won't. So money saved I guess...
@@tomkeegasi Why you want a PDF, when you have a digital format that it's more versatile. I'm being curious about this, not joking.
@@Phlegethos Can't comment for OP, but for me if I pay money for a text, I want to own the text. I only want to pay for it once. With DDBeyond and the like, I don't own the book, if they want they can take away my access. The second reason is cost, with the multiple systems I play and read I can't afford to pay book prices, but $20 for a pdf I'll pay.
If a digital product requires a login or online only use, then you don't control the product. It can be taken away if the service is cancelled or for any BS corporate reason, you are forced to use the company's way that they want you to use the product, and if the company decides to update the product in a way you don't like they can force to to accept the update or lock you out of the products. The service may also not be compatible with the device I want to use. What if I want to just bring my ereader to the game instead of a laptop? I can do that with a pdf, highly unlikely that I can do that with whatever format WotC uses.
When you buy a PDF, you get a file that you can back up, transfer, and use how you like.
You never own the text .. ip never transfers
Another good element of easier distribution to avoid piracy: localize your prices! This is entertainment that we're buying, and if people will find entertainment too pricy to buy in their country because the economic gap between theirs and the publisher's is too wide, they sure as heck won't invest in what you have to offer. 40-50 bucks in global north is a luxury cost in many other places in the world.
Digital distribution? Easier distribution and also decreases prices because it avoids printint and shipping cost.
In way too many cases even that isn't enough. Please, folks, localize your prices accordingly.
if buying isnt owning then piracy isnt stealing screw wotc and other companies that try tactics like this
Somewhere in Seattle, an entire PR team is huddled in a conference room and screaming into pillows.
And Legal is writing up their business case for raises due to the volume of “enforcement actions.”
You're telling me Wotc. Hasbro has a PR team ??????
They used to have a senior comms manager but they fired her in the winter layoffs.
People have been reacting to their decisions since the OGL debacle. @@telarr9164
I usually just roll my eyes at big company stupidity, having lived thru it a lot....but this is unreal. Truly. WotC really is being ridiculous here, and alienating people for no real reason. Truly unreal.
I think it's ironic that we were afraid of Socialism taking away private property from us, when in the end it was corporate greed instead.
Money lost from piracy? Likely negligible. Money lost from alienating your fanbase? That can hurt. Hasbro doesn't seem to ever learn this lesson though.
Neo-corporate philosophy: take what you can while you burn everything to the ground
2:34 I mentioned it in a different video comment thread but I suspect that they are trying to get rid the conscientious consumer so that they can focus on a base that is more easy to exploit
@@SeldonnHari Yeah there is a vibe that they want to shed their old school (adult) player base and focus on kids who are immersed in digital culture and wouldn't bat an eyelid at it.
D&D is not what makes wotc money.
It's always been Magic. And they are looking directly at the success of digital Magic and think the process is transferable. Full stop.
Doesn't matter if it's true or not, people who have different opinions aren't going to stay, and the people who tell management what they want to hear get promoted, and then prove the plan out.
Because company's real customers are shareholders, not consumers.
A few years ago I had to do academic writing on some pretty obscure topics while not having access to an academic library. I often needed books whose entire customer base was a few dozen specific university libraries, maybe some professors...two, MAYBE three digit total purchasers. From that experience I can confidently propose a new rule of the internet: if it exists, you can pirate it. Refusing to make an official PDF does nothing to stop this. All it does is prevent customers who would pay for an official PDF from giving you their money.
My most read and referred to volume / version of a certain foundation book published in 2014 is a PDF copy I got from... somehere. I also own the hardback and Beyond versions yet refer to the pdf more often
I pay exttra to have Free League books shipped from Sweden so I can get the PDF as well as a physical copy.
My USB drive of PDF rules and modules purchased from Drivethru RPG is all i take to gaming sessions.
PDFs are where it's at and i'd buy them if i could.
... in which Mike Shea builds an hour-long case why my next campaign will be Tales of the Valient 5e instead of WotC's, and set in the City of Arches
This 👆
But it's still 5e. Just because it's not a WoTC product doesn't mean you aren't promoting their product. 5e will always be intricately linked with WoTC. If you really want to show your disgust with WoTC find another game that isn't 5e.
@@kafka0622 when they gave 5e to the creative commons, they lost control over it. Disgust of vnsb? They are just exploited people working for a corporation. Giving your money to anybody else counts. not buying their books will only lead to Hasbro saying: see, people don't want books, lets make it Beyond-exclusive... well, I will not use any of their new stuff in the future, I will switch to ToV. I like PF 2rem, but it is not what my table wants. we tried pf2e, and it is great, but some guys were overwhelmed. So ToV or Fateforge is what we are going to use in the future. ToV is more universal and general, while Fateforge has a fixed setting. Advantage for Fateforge: It is Pay what you want on Drivethru... Other alternative would have been level up... Or anything OSR.
Back onto disgust: Only to the capitalist system in general and to corporations, not the people being exploited themselves... ah, btw, I am not from the US, but from Europe. Sorry for any mistakes, my english is not as good as it should be. ;)
I'm a big fan of not just pdfs but also companies who give you the pdf for free when you buy the physical or (in the case of Modiphius) give you a price break if you bought the PDF and then want to get the physical.
I really enjoyed your overview video; I saw it before it was blurred! That's exceptionally frustrating and absolutely baffling.
Reminds me of when Nintendo tried striking and copyright claiming gameplay videos and streaming their games, or something like that, worried people wouldn't get the games instead of treating it like free advertising.
I appreciate your measured perspective and not blaming any one person and your proposed solutions and explanations. Respect.
Also, I'll have to go check out Shadowdark now!
The irony of ‘we are a digital first company’ but you can’t buy a digital version of the book (a pdf). And the major irony; I’m almost positive that a $30 pdf has a higher margin than a $60 print book. And ps- even if I buy the pdf, I’m still gonna pay for my dndbeyond subscription for the character tools. It’s just really strange.
The real reason they don't want people to have PDFs is because why sell someone a $30 PDF once when you can charge per month to access it on their self controlled platform...
Truth! Speak it loud and proud.
They want you to rent it. That is, to pay monthly. To rent it.
As soon as I heard about this, my initial thought was they just sold the phb at GenCon. It makes so little sense to attack the content creators who are giving you free promotional material. With those books being in circulation. Somone is going to scan or take pictures and we’ll find it on Reddit and discord within the week. Attacking the community is just another misstep on the precipice of releasing something big. Another slap in the face of the community. They never learn, and they sure as hell enjoy these self inflicted wounds by constantly shooting themselves in the foot.
I'm waiting for the Pinkertons to show up and take the copies from the content creators.
It makes perfect sense when you realize they're using it as a weapon against everyone who helped in the ogl fight.
100% - I can guarantee you someone got a gencon copy specifically to be the first pdf out there.
@@bokodasu Download or it didn't happen. J/k but I totally agree with you.
I don't think this is just WotC being WotC. Ted from Nerd Immersion has a great video with MyLawyerFriend that discusses everything. A very informative and great video to watch.
As a software designer, I really appreciate your take on piracy. I agree 100%. The best way to combat piracy is to create something that people want to support and foster a community that wants to see the product/company succeed. Worrying about the people who almost certainly won't spend money on the product is a waste of time and energy that could be spent interacting with and supporting those who did.
There was a time period when I was paying and subscribed to both Netflix and Amazon, but would still regularly watch movies on a pirated site (including ones Netflix had) because it was a better viewing experience. The site had much better searching, could rank their entire library by IMDB rating, had all videos in high quality, and had a much more comprehensive library.
vnsb's behavior has become inconsistent. they make the system creative commons, but they try to sell the digital copy of their product with a dongle/in a closed ecosystem (Beyond etc.) It is weird... for me the perfect example how it should be in the gaming world are Basic Fantasy, everything is community based. And if you want a printed copy, get it for a low price as POD... Fateforge is doing it right to, making their game pay what you want...
Honestly, I'm just glad you were contacted by email and not by the Pinkertons.
I got to see the video before it was blurred. I appreciate your work and effort, Mike and I'm looking forward to City of Arches. Thank you.
16:40 it had never occured to me that there are WotC does not sell pdfs of the books. It feels mindblowing in this day and age
You beat me to it. Every single other RPG I buy - without exception - offer either standalone PDFs (which I get from, say, Modiphius because shipping costs to Australia are so high), or an automatic PDF when you buy the physical copy (such as Paizo). I run all my tabletop games from a laptop - it's part of my DM screen - so I absolutely want to have PDFs.
The only thing I can think of is that WotC is trying to drive more people to DnDBeyond to use the electronic versions of the books there, which is problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it means double-dipping and having to buy both a physical copy and an electronic version on DDB. Secondly, it means you must have a DDB account to get an electronic copy. Thirdly, it means I risk being in the middle of a game session when DDB goes down or my internet access drops out or am running the game somewhere with poor wifi and I suddenly have no access to the stuff I need.
And WotC wonder why piracy occurs? If they provided the service/product people are asking for, they would likely see a huge drop in the piracy that *does* occur.
Believe me, it put 5e with one in the grave for me from the getgo. I noticed right away. I bought the 3 core books amd then found the digital information elsewhere. DnD Beyond is basically the second foot in the grave for me. I actually wanted to spend money for the new 2024 DnD books, but I just can't bring myaelf to biy in into their shit business practices. Once is enough.
DndBeyond is their "pdf" subscription service, pdf's would compete with that. It's about the recurring income again.
yes, they want exclusivity, to be different from others...
@@philiponeill6903 Paizo only gives you PDFs with physical purchases if you buy it via subscription. I don't especially have a problem with this since I'm a digital only customer but someone looking to get into the system would need to separately buy the physical and digital versions of (at minimum) the core rulebooks if they want both.
This is a great reminder that other ttrpgs exist
They should look at the millions of dollars they've lost due to their anti-consumer business decisions.
1. Canning people before Xmas 2. Sending Pinkertons to threaten people 3. Attempting to yank the OGL
I cannot in good conscience give money to this company.
#2 is an appeal to emotion. It assumes the Pinkertons in the 2020s are the sane as they were in the 1920s, when they’re really just a private security firm. Read: security guards. WotC sent mall cops to “threaten” someone. (Who was making monetized videos leaking their cards and ignoring their calls.)
And even the person who was “threatened” didn’t stop buying MtG cards or take down their TH-cam channel. Heck, the publicity likely boosted their subscriber count and view numbers…
WOTC: "someone will make copies of our book! stop digital showing of the book!"
Mike Lazy DM: "let me show you my PDF of my book that is yet to be released! I am so excited"
Good faith will win always.
I'm giving away about a quarter of the book.
Glad I watched the video right after you released it. Sorry this has been a fiasco. Really not impressed with WotC's corporate behavior.
Mike, I'd love to hear your thoughts about how DND '24 compares to other 5e variants, especially advanced 5e by Enworld
Wild news. I was lucky and saw the original. It was a good video.
I'm glad I got the full experience of your video on day 1! It was very nicely done.
I played the sh1t version last night. Had to hide the screen and just listen as it was so annoying. Good analysis
Hasbro has no clue that their customers want to play a physical versions of RPGs. I just came from Gen Con and the amount of dice people buy is crazy and I dont see people wanting to not use them.
Mike, I totally respect the position you have taken regarding "not letting WotC determine the nature of your game." But I have to tell you--your story is an excellent example of why I have completely cut ties with WotC and their products. I don't want my ttrpg to be dictated by whatever corporate whim happens to come to the surface on a particular day. IMO, the only way to truly prevent "WotC from dictating the nature of your home game" is to cut ties from WotC altogether by not using any of their stuff. For me, it is less about sticking it to The Man or some moral objection to WotC's behavior and more about not having worry about the newest nonsense coming from them.
That's a bit of a silly take, you can enjoy the art, but hate the artist. It's one thing to have to deal with their whims when promoting their products, but once made and sold to you, they can't do anything to dictate your game.
If you don't like the version of D&D that they have out, then that's a different story, sure, don't use it, but to not use something that you would like because they impose some rule on content creators, misguided or not, to protect their product or is just silly.
As long as you have a hard copy of their books, they can't do anything to your game, older versions or new. Their corporate crap really has no bearing on the general person and their game, just listen to reviews on the product if it's good, use it, if not ignore it and have fun playing something else.
@@beavschannel5217 you can also hate an artist and therefore hate their art, it's down to personal taste
WotC wants to go full digital sooner than later, so people who feel the need to be playing the current generation (whether that's a mentality holdover from online multiplayer video games, or if they're influenced by marketing, etc) will need to buy into that digital Closed Garden. As hopeful as I am that this drives business away from WotC, there's every likelihood it doesn't, so the "general person" will be at the whims of the corp...
@@link090909 which is why I said, forget the corporate BS, and focus on the product, if it's good, and something you would like, play it, and if it's not, don't. That includes the format, if they go digital only, and that's something you don't want then don't buy that product.
What I was getting at, was that rejecting a good product because the company is making some silly decisions, that don't really affect the general person and their home game, was a bit melodramatic.
I highly doubt that WotC are going to go 100% digital and no print, like Mike said, they have no plans to at this moment, but also because not all countries are the same with their internet infrastructure, and removing print media will limit their reach.
Fair, your choice, but if you have content you own already nothing they do now need sto impact your game at all. You can ignore them forever and still run D&D. Or run 5e without their products obv.
Now if you want the new content they are producing in your game, then yeah you have to pay attention to them, but at that point you are actively engaging with their new products so that's your choice.
@@garion046 you'd only really need to pay attention when hardcopies of their products are no longer available, or if they stop doing print versions of new products, which I don't think will happen for a long time.
As handsome as you are, I usually listen more than anything to your videos. As much as the blurring stinks, I'd still be very interested in hearing your thoughts as you go through it.
Law of Corporate Intelligence: None of us is as stupid as all of us.
Congrats to Shadowdark on all those Ennies! Shame about the PHB drama but I'm not surprised at endless misteps from hasbro.
Mike: I've been working on my homebrew setting for years, and The City of Arches is basically my capital city, a city of portals, written out for me. It's mind-blowing! Thank you!
the WToC and DungeonTubers relationship reminders me of the Frog and the Scorpion story. "is in my nature"
ROFLMAO!
"Building a moat in the ocean" is an outstanding metaphor.
It's just astounding how bad WotC is at community management and communication, not to mention how idiotic it is to try to curtail piracy by blurring videos WHEN THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE! What are they smoking?
nice utilization of the blur box. crazy reaction by Hasbro, you get a nice email and others (Jorphdan) get a copyright strike...
City of Arches is jam packed with stuff, it's like Ptolus' little sibling. Looking forward to the kickstarter!
Blizzard is arguably one of the scummiest video game designers as well. Right up there with EA and Activision
Mike, if you're into what C7 has been doing, I endorse taking a look at _Broken Weave,_ their post-apocalyptic "melancholy fantasy" setting. Something that's often bothered me about setting books that come out with a complete 5e overhaul (e.g., _Numenera 5e, Symbaroum 5e,_ even _Esper Genesis)_ is how little the mechanics have to do with the setting. _Broken Weave_ blew me away in that regard; it uses the 5e skeleton, but many of its mechanics resonate very strongly with the setting's core themes. Its reality is unraveling at the seams - geography is rearranging, memories are fading, and history is all jumbled. The only way to fix it is to forge connections - with other survivors, between communities, by marking one's journeys to distant places, and by remembering and retelling the party's stories. You're literally stitching the world back together by way of D&D adventuring.
Alongside _Uncharted Journeys_ and _A Life Well Lived,_ it gave me faith that C7 *really* knows their stuff, so I couldn't wait for their "C7D20" system. It's a bit of a bummer to learn that they've pulled back from that.
@SlyFlourish - Make sure that your future projects continue to give robust stats for other non-Hasbro d20 systems (DC20, Nimble, TotV, MCDM) or you are only feeding the Beast
I bought a 3d printer because i couldn’t get the minis I want from wizards.
- the prices were too high and I couldn’t get the numbers/ types that I needed.
- I want a pack of wolves, a pack of goblins etc.
I actually LIKED going out to buy miniatures, but I can’t justify spending a ridiculous amount of money because they only sell two wolves in a pack, or 3 goblins at a time, or a pack with a single scarecrow and a stone cursed? Just GIVE ME useful products for a half decent price and I’d have bought them.
Now I’ve got my printer, I can get the stuff I need from either myself making them, or 3rd party. And now I’ll never purchase an official miniature again. The company made that happen.
When you piss off Mike and many other very level headed creators (who really do mostly discuss your game in a positive way), you F'd up. Like, can WotC go any time at all w shooting themselves in the foot? They are weeks away from their biggest release of many years and they sabotage the biggest advertising campaign for it? For what? Delaying a pirate copy by a few weeks at best? Moronic.
I saw "library" copies of the lazy dm. I looked at them and still bought the books in a bundle of holding. I am on a budget, so I waited for a sale. I've done the same with other creative people. If people want your work 90% will pay you for it. The rest are a lost cause.
I really think it's time for the rpg influences to straight up tell their audiences not to buy these products. We saw it coming, but The company just no longer has any respect for its market.
Obscuring your product right up until release is not a good look. Why would I buy this product when even the publisher seems to want to hide it?
Sorry to hear about the snafu, Mike. I hope it doesn't turn you off to WotC long term. I'm liking what I'm seeing in the new PH.
People are still going to be able to make pdfs of the book after it releases, Hasbro just delayed this by 6 weeks at the most. Hasbro is just burning good will at this point. I really wanted to head into DnD 2024 with a clear conscience but now I am considering passing on it.
Someone should check the folks under armed guard at the printers are still alive. Are Pinkertons getting food to them?
I am so hyped for the Kickstarter tomorrow. City of Arches is a lovely product and as a Patreon supporter, I've already been able to test using the City of Arches as fodder and campaign prep to set into my own separate homebrew setting. And even though I already have a pdf, guess what Hasbro, I'm going to still be giving more money to Mike for it!
You make a great point about combatting piracy by just making it look better, be easier to obtain, and at the right price point. I don't have the link handy but I recall a report from 10ish years ago showing how Steam managed to do this for video game piracy. With annual sales, a single platform/library, and avoiding the malware often embedded into pirated software - why bother to pirate?
Meanwhile, Pathfinder has all of their rules up for free on Archives of Nethys.
"Hasbro is trying to build a monopoly," which is even funnier once you remember that Hasbro owns Monopoly.
your right MIke, it isn't interesting to talk about it. it is interesting to see it.
What WOTC doesn't understand is showing it is NOT PLAYING IT. I was going to get the book. I had on preorder since the beginning. Now, I dont' see the point. it's just stress they cause.
you are a great guy and you are upstanding a positive dude. WOTC really is worried about nothing IMO. their NDA's are so crazy. What is going on in speculation is they want to release it and get months of attention before we get it. fact is the books are printed, they could just release all three now. but I suspect they want to hype it up. maybe they fear it isn't as good as they think!?
whatever the case, the stress of this is not worth it. I have other books and RPG to read and play.
I would rather focus on Forge of Foes and create my own 5e and forget about the stress of WOTC.
I prefer PDF copies because It's convenient, saves space, and is an environmentally friendly option. I almost always buy the PDF when I have the option, even when I also buy the physical book. I also almost always buy the paid version when I get a preview copy.
Y’all are lucky they didn’t resort to the Pinkertons again.
The anti-piracy stuff is almost always just anti-consumer in the end. You're one of my favorite content creators, and just knowing that they are putting you and a bunch of other creators through this is enough for me to boycott the books on launch.
I was excited to check out the new Player's Handbook with you - now I'm just angry. These megacorps never learn. I guess they must have realized many of us were starting to forget about the OGL fiasco and weren't content to see their villain rating drop.
WoTC feels like Games Workshop at times 😅 Free promotion is an issue instead of a boon. Sorry you put all that effort, Sly. Enjoying some Drakkenheim, Mothership and Shadowdark. Cause of WoTC (and you) I’ve learned to make TTRPGs my own. Gracias señor ^_^
as bad as GW is thay probably wouldn't even do what WOTC is currently doing as thay understand free advertising and take advantage of it.
I was extremely confused after watching the first half of the video, then came back the next day and it was all blurred… I’m still on the fence about buying the new books, but watching Mike go through the book was starting to convince me. Not so sure anymore…
I know it won't make a dent, but I'm boycotting all the new 5.5 or 2024 products. There is enough OG 5e material for my groups to run until we die lol. Not to mention all the awesome 3rd party compatible stuff, which I fully support. But Hasbro? Yarrrr, they can walk the plank.
I'm doing the same, WotC and Hasbro will not be receiving any more money from me.
I bought a 2014 PHB for $17, sell the Core stuff for like 25 and the expansions 30, bingo bango.
Also to me I like physical cuz I want to Tinker and homebrew.
Everything is made by Paper and Pen and it can be remade by Paper and Pen.
You cant fight the pirates or the knuckleheads so ease up to let more people give you their dosh.
Fun Fact: WotC is putting out SOME PDF-ONLY books as part of the charity initiative over on DMsGuilds => Minsc & Boo as well as Chains of Asmodeus are NOT available anywhere else (despite a bunch of 3rd party content coming to DDB, which is baffling).
I can't wait for Wizards to watch all the piracy that THIS will cause. I bet you they'll be all like; "What happened?" like it's a surprise lol If they weren't going to pirate the new PHB then, you can bet they will now out of spite. I'm so glad I play 3.5e only, cause I can't get fucked over, I already own the 20+ year old books, but I do feel for new players who might actually enjoy the new content. Because this is doing WoTC and DnD no favors, I imagine a lot of people who were on the fence about dipping out of DnD and on to greener TTRPG pastures won't be on the fence anymore.
Maybe they're just aware of how bad the actual rules they put in the PHB 2024 are. Sure, they made lots of classes better, but they nerfed the worst fighting style, the Hide action now makes you invisible (and e.g. untargetable to your cleric's Healing Word spell for example), they just dumped the same broken mounted combat rules back in when they could at least have had the common decency to just not print them again, the list goes on and on. If it's not a class, species or background, they didn't care if it was any good, if the rules were clearly stated, whatever. Not for a second.
WotC suffers from physical schizophrenia. Their design/creative side and marketing/executive side do not know what the other is doing. It makes them look like fools. They need to start publishing PDFs for their material. I agree that it is absolutely comical/ludicrous that every other publisher in the industry does this but WotC is stuck in this draconian mentality. I use PDFs one of two ways. I read them in preference over my hard copies as it is easier for me because of my eyesight issues and I like to take snippets out of the PDFs to use as notes in my campaign. Right now I am forced to take snippets from D&D beyond or use a hand scanner on my physical book. D&DB doesn't follow quite the same format as the book so many times it is kind of meh looking.
When I saw your video, about the phb I was considering taking a step back from my OGL position that I would never buy a Hasbro product again. Thanks for reminding me why I'm done with them. Time to go sailing... and by that I mean play Black Flag...
I'll be honest: I pirated a lot of stuff, and I bought the stuff that I liked and removed the things I don't like.Let's call it "Improved demo versions" :)
Baffling. That's the only word.
Thanks for what you do Mike, I always enjoy your fair and honest takes on products. Sucks to have all that effort for nothing.
You would think a company that benefits from the free advertising and enthusiasm of so many people would be happy to have their product in view of the public eye. Baffling.
I dropped WotC months ago, but I would agree that if I can't see the product, I wouldn't be convinced one way or another to buy it. Great points from someone who publishes
I'm glad having switched to Pathfinder 2E last year I can get PDFs cheap.
They should totally sell 5e pdfs.
Hey , I listened to that video you made of the PHB (I was doing house chores so not actively watching). It was good stuff. You don't need to see the content, but you have a right to be angry. FWIW. City of Arches gets my money next. WotC will need to get in line.
Thank you!
Fear of piracy is fear of one’s own shadow. When a big company starts fighting piracy on an industrial scale, they’ve lost the plot on innovation and leadership.
Thank you Sly for being awesome and being the best ambassador for TTRPGs in general. Please talk about what happened to Jorphdan and his copyright strike!
Putting on Shadowdark as the blur block would have been such a power move lol
I was really excited about picking up my first set of DnD books with this new edition, but man they are making it so difficult to stay excited. It’s like going to a store to buy a thing you have been saving up money for and the person behind the counter treating you like garbage.
I have 5e. I am good. I look forward to your city of arches! Mike you are awesome!
I can't tell you how many times I have purchased books because they were paged through. Castles and Crusades is a series of books that I purchased BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS PAGED THROUGH which is what it use to be like when you would be able to get it a book store.
just this morning I bough Xcrawl from Goodman Games because. . . . . wait for it. . . .THE PAGES WERE FLIPPED THROUGH ON TH-cam and I decided it was worth my money to buy the PDF and HARDCOVER.
so I don't' know what WOTC is thinking. . .
Unrelated to this video but I just wanted to say thank you for your video on using V2 of Owlbear Rodeo.
I really struggled with the switch to V2 and after watching your video I was able to easily prep my game in a couple hours. Really useful tips and totally changed how I will be running my in person game going forward!
Awesome!!
Hey Mike, I have a constructive/creative idea I'd like to toss out there. I think it would be really cool if you used different pieces of art each talkshow from your various books where you have the Ruins of the Grendleroot piece.
That’s a great idea!
Thanks Mike - I did wonder why the vid was blurred... it's certainly solidified in my mind now whether to buy the book... aint gonna happen
Hey Mike, I just saw on your KS page that the project is based in Fairfax, VA. I can't believe I didn't know that until now. I grew up and lived there for 30+ years.
I was lucky enough to watch the whole video about the PHB 2024 before the blur, it was excellent! I still think I'm gonna buy it in the future, for what I saw in your video it is beautiful, but for now I will continue with Shadowdark and DCC modules, great combination! Shout out for Shadowdark!
Why?!? Why would you support such anti-consumer practices?
@@johnathanrhoades7751 There is a long answer to the "why", but the short one is that It is a well done and beautiful book and most of my players and friends that I play DnD with are not aware of all these corporate issues, so the book will end up being in the tables I share I wanted or not, and knowing myself I would want to get one too after seeing it lol
It's true i stopped watching that video cause it was blurred. Sorry that happened but... fuck that company they don't deserve your coverage.
Can you ever release the unedited video?
What would be the point. By the time he could its history and everyone will have seen it elsewhere and made their buying decision. Buy Shadowdark and city of arches , I hear they are compatible and both really excellent products.
@@nicka3697 The point would be seeing what Sly is talking about. I dont make my purchasing decisions based on others opinions exclusively. If your intention here was to shame me into supporting 3rd party publishers then you failed miserably. And also are too late.
This is why I continue to boycott WotC - no recommendations, no purchases, no subscriptions, no preorders - my litmus test up until yesterday was WotC following thru on their promise to release 5.5 into OGL and Creative Commons - now I will have to rethink that - these continued unforced errors hurt the most vulnerable people in the community - if they multistriked Jorphdan and deleted his channel that’d be it for him - the vast majority of DnD TH-camrs are in a tenuous niche financially and they do probably 80% of the advertising (most of it free) for this billion dollar product - this is why I am sad to see creators making paid promotions with them (tho I have never criticized them for it), because once we stopped holding Wizards’ feet to the fire financially, they went right back to hurting people in the community - ostensibly their own community - the people that made them a billion dollar company - even if this was a mistake “one hand not knowing what the other is doing” that doesn’t make it better - they have no incentive to police themselves as long as they’re increasing their quarterly earnings - corporations don’t have morals - they have stock holders and investors - this is not unique to WotC, but TTRPGs are a niche I am willing to speak passionately on and vote with my wallet - I’d love to get these books - preorder them so I get early access, but I know that I’d be crossing the picket line, and that means more to me than getting the next half-edition
They still say they intend to release the new ruleset in a 5.2 SRD in March 2025.
@@SlyFlourish and I am waiting patiently for them to follow thru on that statement - I was planning to end my boycott at that time, but as they continue to make these unforced errors, I have to reconsider that plan
You did NOTHING wrong from my interpretation.
"The didn't need to look like jerks anymore." Amazing. Exactly what I was thinking! I saw the video before the blur and it is great. You should still be proud of it Mike!
great show as always
Another reason I am happy not to buy the 2024 WotC books. I’d rather spend my money on City of Arches and independent content. Thanks for continuing to make videos and content that makes me excited about gaming
I've made my peace with physical books, I'm 100 percent digital. But I do hope there's some library out there collecting dust ... filled with fantasy game books, waiting to be discovered after the digital apocalypse. As for me, I do have the leather-bound 3.5 dnd books left in my collection. I keep thinking I'll give them away at some point, but when I take them out I get all nostalgic
They released it into the wild at GENCON. People literally have it. This is just plain dumb. I'm so tired of hearing about piracy. Digital content has been around with the life of the internet, and I've yet to read about any industry going under because of piracy. This is the same backward thinking the music industry went through with Napster in the 90s, and it seems like there's still music stars and companies making bank....
I know I didn't pirate the book. I also know I went to buy 5e stuff at one point and discovered you could not buy PDFs of 5E, and so I didn't buy them. So lack of PDFs def cost them a few of my dollars.
PDFs from WoTC doesn't seem like a thing we are gonna see sadly.
So Hasbro assumes people are guilty of theft by default? Just because they "could" make a pdf of their book they assume everyone will? That's concerning, to say the least. Just be glad they haven't sent Pinkertons to your house, I guess.
I saw the video before the blurring and I liked it. Am I going to buy the PHB? No. The reason why I won't is because of this video and many I've seen from others about WotC (or more importantly, Hasbro). Corporate greed is very real. We see it every day. Pharmaceutical companies jacking up medicines to make a profit. Hospitals charged $10 for a band-aid to make a profit. Walmart gouging groceries prices and blaming it on inflation. It's everywhere and this is another example of it. I have bought 2 of your books and happily paid the amount asked for because I know it's done for the game, not for greed. I will spend money on 3rd party content creators before I ever considering giving Hasbro any of my money. The OGL Debacle was just the tip of the iceberg for me and I swore off giving Hasbro any more of my money, and I've been playing this game for 45 years. They don't care about the game anymore, just the money, and this is why I will never, ever spend another dime on official D&D products. My sincere hope, and I know that many people disagree with this hope, but I hope that the sales of the newest incarnation of D&D fails. Maybe if it does, they'll figure it out (probably, not, but that's my wish). Keep doing what you're doing, sir, and I'll be right there to support you.
hasbro did it to MTG. the game survived and they're still going broke. D&D will be different due to their planned subscriptions, etc; but it IS hasbro so their are two things we can be reasonably sure of: the game will survive and they'll still be going broke...
I don't want a PDF. I want print. I watced the video to get excited about my copy when it would arrive.
I don't like digital I prefer physical. so yeah.
With frequent bungles like this example here, one has to wonder exactly what the purpose of PR departments is. IMHO no communication leaves the nest until it’s “idiot proof” in understanding. One has to wonder if they are even in the same building as the rest of the company.
It’s one thing to scare off half your content creators because of the OGL.
It’s a whole other thing to extend and olive branch to make up for it, that only ends up containing thorns.
Also: while we’re asking for content PDFs, can I insert another request?
Your artists do amazing work, even if it doesn’t 100% land on my tastes… but can we PLEASE get official maps that don’t have the funky grids meant for printing?
WoTC themselves are trying to embrace the digital age, but can’t wait til they figure out their beautiful hand drawn maps don’t translate well to digital table tops.
This is why I have been moving away from D&D licenced material in general. I've been trying not to even use D&D as shorthand for TTRPGs. But this is ridiculous. If anything I'm totally fine with 5e compatible works but Hasbro specific products are getting to be a "No" from me. Until I find better alts for minis they might still get a little of my money but that's about it. Keep up the Good Work
New viewer here. I'm real disappointed. You mention starter sets and how that is how people discover the game, and you talk about Wal-Mart and Amazon and how you buy them cheaply to give away. You talk about the importance of game and hobby ambassadorship ---- but you completely neglect to mention FLGSs and the critical role they play in the gaming ecosystem. You should be supporting them, through your purchases and in your videos. It's bad enough that Hasbro and WotC seem to be actively working to run hobby shops out of existence without content creators reinforcing the portrayal of them as irrelevant.