As many of you are probably aware, the actions of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) related to the Open Gaming License and its restructuring have shaken the tabletop industry. With them taking aim at almost every type of vendor in the industry, from content creators to products like PrismScroll, many of us have been voicing our concern and making adjustments the best we can. I am here to discuss how PrismScroll will be handling this situation.
With WotC purchasing D&DBeyond last year and the expectation that they will be releasing more virtual tabletop functionalities in 2024, it is predicted that the adjustments to the OGL are an effort to funnel more users to their platform when it arrives. Based on what I have been reading, the new OGL only allows for static/printed content and essentially takes direct aim at any “interactive content” (READ: character creators, managers, interactive maps, AKA PrismScroll). If this license is to go through, it would be a critical blow to the current products of the PrismScroll line. Since PrismScroll utilizes materials from the Open Gaming License and it is used extensively throughout the app, it would be very difficult to refactor/update the app to “comply” if that was even possible since running an interactive program for D&D would have consequences under the new license.
Old Products: At this moment and with the license in its current form, it would appear that the current PrismScroll apps would be in direct violation and have to be discontinued if pursued. iOS Mobile apps would be delisted from the App Store but would STILL BE AVAILABLE to use for anyone that has downloaded/purchased the app before. The web app’s d&d content would be removed and the web app would be refactored into a new product.
PrismScroll Phoenix: This leads me to the PrismScroll solution to the new license. PrismScroll will be using what we have learned over the past 4 years and take on an ambitious project to create a system that lets YOU design and/or share your own game system. This will let you set up your favorite game systems that you can share and export in the normal PrismScroll fashion and also provide you with the option to define your own game system and rules. We will be utilizing our experience of supporting a flexible compendium, the time I have spent generalizing the character object during the PROJECT: CHARACTER REFACTOR, and our highly advanced and growing modular PrismScroll character sheet framework to take the time to develop a cross platform product for web, iOS, and Android (yep, even Android). Since our product will support any game system and out-of-the-box not come with any game systems that fall within the OGL license, they/WotC will not be able to pursue PrismScroll using the OGL. The awesome thing about this is that we will finally be able to collect all of our products into one place and provide an ecosystem for new games that may not have a place to call home. Rather than having many unique and different PrismScroll branded products (which we thank everyone for supporting), we will have a single home app with “partitions” between games and user types (dm vs player).
At this time, there are still many things unclear. We appreciate your support and trust during this time of turmoil. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on our progress and how we plan to transition current users to this new system. If you have questions or know anything more detailed about this situation, please take the time to reach out!