Frog God Games, Fighting Back, and Grim News

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

https://www.facebook.com/frog.god.games/posts/pfbid022bh3NWfbMGk1aYgfwPJqmCB6EoriBp85SN6VuLzWCGHoYVB5GB7qMq45HWk3pb2Yl

From Facebook, a statement by Frog God Games...

If they proceed and succeed in deauthorizing the 1.0a OGL, we will have to stop production. We will lay off staff and quit hiring and paying 70 or so freelancers. We will have to cancel projects we have spent tens of thousands of dollars on already. This will put us, and several dozen other companies out of business. Putting 3rd party publishers out of business will create a monoculture of work in D&D that prevents diversity of thought and makes it so only one company has input into the hobby. This has a real effect on people, real people, not just companies.

We do not care about One D&D. What we do care about is our ability to use the perpetual 1.0a OGL granted to us in 2000 by WOTC, as they promised we could.

So, what does all this mean for Necromancer Games and Frog God Games?

First, it means we need to stand up to them, fight, and continue working under our existing license. In this case by “we” I mean everyone who is a creator in this industry. Second, we need to band together to create a non-OGL and non-WOTC version of a System Reference Document (SRD) that can forever be used by anyone. Why, you ask? WOTC has proven itself to be untrustworthy and we all need to wean ourselves off them as soon as we can. We will work with our friends in the industry and have been in conversation with many of them already about doing this. Go Black Flag!

Your goal, as a company and as a force for good in the world, should not be to hurt others. I don't see how progressives can get behind Wall Street companies when they have hurt so many in the name of greed. It is fun to be on a bandwagon, but not when the driver rolls the wheels over people's dreams.

When I roll that d20, I want to be sure my actions and support of a game have not caused harm. It is so easy to close your eyes and ignore, or laugh and point at people you think deserve to be crushed because you don't play those games. How can you deny choice and the expression of identity through the choice of a game?

Before you let the die go, stop and think.

When it lands, are you causing harm?