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February is rolling along, and yet the TTRPG world is still feeling the effects of January. This week’s roundup of tabletop gaming news paints a clearer picture of the aftermath of Dungeons & Dragons’ OGL controversy. The good news is that other systems are being embraced by a lot of new players as exciting projects take shape. The bad news, specifically for Wizards of the Coast, is that we’re not past the damage control phase yet. So let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the bizarre in This Week’s TTRPG News!Â
WotC Exec Does Interview About OGL Debacle And What Comes Next
The 3 Black Halflings YouTube channel released an interview with D&D Executive Producer Kyle Brink this week, and asked some of the most pressing questions fans have had over the past few months. According to Brink, the attempt at revising the OGL came from a group of management and legal people from Hasbro with the WotC team not given much of a voice. Part of this was calculated–according to Brink–as an attempt to keep legal matters away from the design team so they could just focus on the creative aspect of their job.Â
However, Brink admitted that the WotC team was just not given much of a voice in the proceedings. This is something that will be corrected going forward by the authority of WotC president Cynthia Williams. Brink also spoke briefly on the controversial Hadozee lore from the recent Spelljammer books. He claimed that the problematic content was added much later into the books’ production, after sensitivity readers had a pass. This was taken very seriously and the process is “all fixed now.”Â
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Hasbro Stock Seen As “Underperforming” Due To Recent Controversies
Even if things inside WotC creative are truly “all fixed now,” the financial side still looks rough. Bank of America recently rated Hasbro stock as “underperform” which could mean a potential downturn of 29%. Market Insider quotes BofA as saying “Within its Wizards segment, Hasbro continues to destroy customer goodwill by trying to over-monetize its brands." They cite the OGL issue of course, but also turn attention to Magic: The Gathering. Apparently too many Magic cards are being printed, which assures immediate sales but devalues the third-party card market and clogs stores up with overstock that will collect dust in the long term.Â
TTRPG Publishers Had An Amazing January All Around
Sales data confirms what many have already guessed: Hasbro’s foolish decisions with the OGL drove customers to other systems in droves. When speaking with Polygon, TTRPG publishers from Paizo to Green Ronin to Modiphius have all reported a big surge in sales throughout January. Many drew in around double their usual sales, while Paizo sold through an eight-month supply of Pathfinder’s Core Rulebook in two weeks. As one CEO put it: “Us indie designers have spent the last 20 years trying to get D&D fans to try something different, and Wizards of the Coast gets it done in a month!”Â
New Monster Of The Week Expansion Will Open Up The Multiverse
Evil Hat Productions is set to launch a new Backerkit for Monster of the Week called the Codex of Worlds. The 416-page expansion book boasts five new settings, with occult houses and Renaissance Europe teased. The game-changer for players, however, is Team Playbooks. This will give Hunters new moves based on how their party works together, such as if they’re government agents or a touring band. The crowdfunding project for Codex of Worlds goes live on February 14, 2023.Â
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Broken Weave Twists Fantasy Tropes Into Something Alien
An intriguing new project for 5E called Broken Weave starts at the end: the world is already destroyed by the time the players start session 0. Based on the art (and the creator’s admission to Dicebreaker), Elden Ring was a big influence. Broken Weave presents a setting where magic is corrupted by the death of the gods, which warps everything down to the creatures and land itself. There will even be systems to take well-known fantasy creatures and corrupt them with new abilities and appearances. Broken Weave is currently on Kickstarter.
