Just got a mail from DMsG telling me they are pulling all extensions for sale out

[rob2e]

Nothing! I know Nothing! (Sgt. Shultz - hogan's heroes)

Bwahahahahahahahaha!

[Jiminimonka]

"Dear paying customer, sorry that you purchased something that you no longer have access to. Too bad, so sad."

The stuff you purchased already will still be in your library.

EDIT: No - looks like they are all gone. Just .mod and PDF files left.

EDIT: No - the .ext files are still there! LOL

[ddavison]

Hey folks,

Sorry I didn't have a chance to chime in earlier. I got pulled away for some person items this afternoon and I'm just now getting back to my desk.

What prompted this:
Story Templates Pro was developed by a community developer and it looked quite nice. We (SmiteWorks) started talking with the developer about the potential of us just buying the rights to include this automatically for all FG users. When we found out that it was already published at DMsGuild, we had to back out from the offer due to licensing constraints at DMsG. The STP extension author then reached out to DMG and asked if they could get permission to remove it from DMG in order to renew talks with us about incorporating it within FG. DMG ran it up the flag-pole to WOTC to seek permission for this one product. WOTC asked us what extensions were and we said that they were basically extra code that enhances functionality within Fantasy Grounds, but which are often paired with content or used to empower content. We told them that we would be interested in buying this from the author if WOTC would be willing to waive their rights for it on DMsGuild. WOTC spoke internally about it and decided that that sort of content (i.e. code and not content) should have never been a part of DMG to begin with. They asked DMG to remove that content for the Story Template Pro and said that we would be free to work out whatever deal we had in mind with that author. They further requested the other changes at DMG on other content.

As far as I know, the DMsGuild agreement is terminated and restrictions from that agreement are no longer in force. The bad part is that SmiteWorks as a general rule does not allow anyone to publish content for Fantasy Grounds without either A) a Publisher Agreement or B) DMsGuild agreement. Both of these remain for .mod style content, but .ext files are not typically something we offered in A and they are no longer supported in B. This is likely going to require another solution.

It's all a bit sudden and we haven't had a chance to fully react and plan for a suitable solution. The one thing we've spoken about previously was that we intended to make something called a Fantasy Grounds Forge, where creators could post their own creations (no copyright protected content) and list it for sale, for free, etc. Users could subscribe to those creations and they would get updated alongside normal FG updates. I built an early prototype and the start of a database to do this about a year ago but it's been on the back-burner. John and I spoke just an hour ago about maybe spinning up Steven Melton (our network and installer dev) to finish this out and bring it to production level. If we did that, we would most likely have the same 50% royalty for any content published through that interface.

We would need to divert resources over to this and that means it will cost us to do this. It's something I've kind of wanted to have in place for a while, though, so we are really just moving it up in the schedule to fill a need. It's kind of a crappy way to have it roll out, but on the plus side I think the final result will be a much smoother experience for creators and users.

[Remedeez]

I can't wait to see what you have in store, Doug. Thanks for clarifying what happened.

[LordEntrails]

Thank you for the insight Doug, that was very nice of you to include that level of detail.

Even though I use very few extensions, and pay for fewer, I do see this as a valuable addition to the community. Not my place to say it's higher or lower priority than anything else, but I do agree it's important. Good luck juggling!

[Ulric]

As a paying customer of SW and several Ext creators I too appreciate Doug's openness with the community. I think this unexpected event may turn out to be an improvement to the current end user problem of keeping extensions updated. As a small business owner in an unrelated industry, I greatly sympathize with everyone that will be affected by lost sales and customer confidence that may weaken future sale. I hope SW and FG community creators can find common ground and build a better marketplace GMs to enhance not only WOTC rulesets but other rulesets as well.

[similarly]

tbh, I looked over the many extensions I've bought over the last few months, and I'm not sure I see what WotC has a problem with ... unless it's that the extensions (at least the ones I have) aren't so much about D&D, and are more about FGU. It seems to me that none of the extensions (that I have anyway) are in any way infringing on ip anywhere. Does WotC really have the right to say what DMsG can and can't have? Is that their agreement?

That said, it would be a LOT easier to have all my extensions and modules in one place, though I'm unlikely to repurchase things I've already bought.

[damned]

DMsGuild is a partnership between WoTC and OBS.
It is setup purely for D&D 5E content.

[similarly]

DMsGuild is a partnership between WoTC and OBS.
It is setup purely for D&D 5E content.

Ah. That's a bit like I suspected. Unfortunate, really. It would be good to have a reliable place for FGU extensions, and there were some good extensions on DMsG.

[MrDDT]

Ah. That's a bit like I suspected. Unfortunate, really. It would be good to have a reliable place for FGU extensions, and there were some good extensions on DMsG.

Well me might end up with the best choice is that SW themselves having it coded into their game like mods are or SW's own site.