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Lawful Stupid

2023-01-13T05:25:28Z

2600:1700:D1D0:2220:DF0:ECEC:76CC:ABD3: /* Examples of Lawful Stupid */

{{fail}}
[[File:Obligatum VII.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Inevitable|Obligatum]] [[Elder Evils#Pandorym|VII]], the posterboy of Lawful Stupid.]]
{{Topquote|You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.|[[A Song of Ice and Fire|Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to Lord Eddard Stark.]]}}
{{Topquote|Individuals should not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. To create such content, you need a Games Workshop license.|[[Games Workshop|GeeDubs, as always]]}}
{{Topquote|Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall|legal maxim}}

'''Lawful Stupid''' is gamer slang (derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] as well as fiction in general) for a specific way of playing a [[Lawful Good]] or, especially, a [[Lawful Neutral]] character, most infamously a [[Paladin]]. It is characterized by lack of common sense, following the rules arbitrarily without actually understanding them and just generally being an annoying prick. He's [[that guy]] who will stop a chase scene because he has to chastise someone that was jaywalking. Lawful Stupid players are one of the main reasons (along with asshole [[DM]]s) why people dislike the Paladin class. It can also be a jab at the fact that Intelligence is a common [[dump stat]] for Paladins in 3.5, since their [[MAD]] mandates high Charisma and Wisdom, the traditional dump stats of combat classes. [[Pathfinder]] allows them to dump Wisdom, the only class that can really do so, making this even worse.

Although the iconic Lawful Stupid character is a poorly-played Paladin (Alignment requirement: Lawful Good), non-Paladin depictions are almost invariably [[Lawful Neutral]], since this kind of characterization is a disappointingly logical extrapolation from a character alignment that can be summed up as "[[Judge Dredd|the Law is the Law and all that matters is that it is the law;]] [[Derp|whether or not it helps or hurts people is irrelevant, the LAW must be upheld!]]"

A lot of this really stems from a surface understanding of the Lawful alignment. While following the law is a lawful act, following the rules is not the end-all definition of the Lawful alignment. Lawful means orderly. So the type of person who religiously organizes their sock drawer would be considered Lawful. A Lawful person can disagree with the laws of the land, wanting to replace them with new laws. It's the desire for order and logic that matters. Of course these would be sensible Lawful people, and therefore not "Lawful Stupid".

Compare to [[Chaotic Stupid]], [[Stupid Evil]], [[Stupid Good]], and [[Stupid Neutral]]. There really are a lot of ways to be stupid in fantasy games, aren't there?

== How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good ==
The [[Discworld]] series by Terry Pratchett, in particular any scenes with the Witches of Lancre or the Ankh Morpork City Watch, are all but required reading for understanding. Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfoundersson are all (probably) Lawful Good, but all add their own twists on the formula. Carrot possesses such a high Charisma score that he can literally [[Diplomancer|charm people into doing what he wants]], but when that fails he ''tricks'' people into doing what he wants, technically avoiding a non-Lawful alignment by twisting the law into a pretzel when he can. Vimes follows both the letter and the spirit of the Law whenever he can stretch it, but isn't above committing illegal acts to uphold Lawful purposes. Granny is Evil by nature, but Good by necessity and ''hates'' it, since her sister got first pick on the question "are you a good witch or a bad witch?" and chose to be bad. To combat this, she continually takes out her frustration on other people by acting like the spiteful and entitled octogenarian that she technically is, avoiding a fall into True Neutral or Neutral Evil because witches are ''supposed'' to act a bit nutty, even the Lawful ones, and none of it matters as long as she does what's capital-r Right.

The AD&D book "The Complete Paladin's Handbook" has a section ("Virtues", page 33) on the behavior and code of conduct a Paladin normally upholds; that of a gracious and well-mannered individual who respects good and the law, but is not on an endless crusade to uphold it. They would not upset a tavern just because they detected an evil presence within and risk causing chaos, for example.

Another way to play lawful good is to play your paladin like a modern soldier is supposed to be: able and willing to do anything needed to win, except as decreed by certain laws and customs of war, e.g. for example, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Those laws still restrict the actions of a soldier, but he is still expected to act with common sense in order to achieve victory and not follow orders that violate those laws.

== How to avoid it while playing lawful neutral ==
This is arguably even harder than avoiding it whilst playing Lawful Good; at least Lawful Good types are ''supposed'' to balance their calling to law & order vs. their calling to good. Lawful Neutral types are often categorized by their firm belief that law and order are the only things of importance, with morality being dismissed as insignificant next to maintaining of order. The primary key to doing so is to keep a proper perspective; traffic laws, for example, have their place in the scheme of things. When you are racing to prevent the nuclear annihilation of a city is ''not'' that place. Don't get so bogged down with legal minutia that you allow far greater acts of destruction and anarchy to occur in whilst you attend to the little things.

[[Judge Dredd]] can be a good example of this. For example, in the opening sequence of the 2012 ''Dredd'' movie, he pursues a car full of criminals but does not shoot at them until they collide with and kill a pedestrian, and even then only shoots to disable the van's tires. He doesn't shoot to kill until one of them threatens to kill a hostage and refuses to accept an offer to surrender. Also, when he sees a vagrant sitting outside the crime scene Dredd tells him not to be there when he gets back instead of arresting him because he has better things to do at the moment. Of course, when he's just doing the rounds on his birthday, he'll issue noise citations to children who sing to him because <s>he is The Law</s> it's just plain embarrassing (and then donate the presents he receives to an orphanage because he's not [[That Guy]]). <s>But not always a good example, like the time in the 1995 movie when Dredd suggested Rob Schneider's character jump off the top of a building rather than vandalize a robot to hide in during a shootout, since as Dredd points out, jumping might be suicide, ''but it's legal''.</s> While a good source of memes, the 1995 movie is far from a faithful adaptation of the character

This is not to say that a Lawful Neutral character doesn't recognize when they break the law or go against the general sense of law (Law) when called to; they do, and they're likely to be annoyed by it. Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia explores this concept, although he can sometimes break into Lawful Stupid, too.

== Examples of Lawful Stupid ==
* [[Games Workshop#Back_on_the_Old_Shit|The Games Workshop Legal Team]]
* [[Wizards of the Coast|The Wizards of the Coast Legal Team]]
* The [[Inevitable]]s, divine [[golem]]-like beings with the duty to enact laws and enforce contracts. There's a story of one named "Obligatum VII" (the seventh in its line because six times prior people had the common sense to stop him) who’s trying to free the [[BBEG]] in a campaign from the book [[Elder Evils]]. The story goes that some mages summoned an eldritch abomination named [[Pandorym]] to blackmail the gods, making a contract with it to kill said deities when it was summoned. The wizards imprisoned Pandorym instead of finishing the ritual to let it loose so that it wouldn't destroy the universe before they were ready, but the gods just smote the stupid wizards the instant they were done imprisoning Pandorym so he's stuck. Well, Obligatum is here to set things right, and make sure that poor, imprisoned death machine gets the freedom it was promised to carry out its goal, which through some warped sense of honor it is willing to do. How exactly this does not bring him into conflict with another type of Inevitable, the Varakhut, whose job it is to prevent deicide is a whole other box of worms. Maybe that's what happened to one of the six other ones.
* The [[Harmonium]] from [[Planescape]]. ''"The Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. [...] If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have."'' This attitude is how the third layer of [[Arcadia]] shifted into [[Mechanus]], and the gods of Arcadia had to start over. Whoops. What's more, don't forget that they exterminated all non-lawful ''good and neutral'' species in the world where their faction originated. Some good.
* The [[Modron]] race, similarly to the Inevitables above, due to being extraplanar mechanical lifeforms who embody Lawful Neutral. Except they somehow have even less personality. Imagine a poorly-written chatbot with arms, legs and the ability to beat you over the head; that's basically a Modron. They can't even understand the idea that their assumptions may be incorrect.
* [[Helm]], the Lawful Neutral God of Guardians and Watchmen from the [[Forgotten Realms]] has earned this kind of reputation in-universe. Nobody will ''ever'' let him live it down that, during the [[Time of Troubles]], he killed Mystara, the Goddess of Magic, for trying to get back into the upper planes after Ao kicked them all out, despite the fact he knew that this would severely damage the fabric of reality in the process. As a result, [[wild magic]] zones and dead magic zones are commonly called "Helmlands". He also catches a lot of flak for the role his worshippers played in the massacres in [[Maztica]], but that's not so much Lawful Stupid as religious bigotry and the priest's only daughter being sacrificed by one of the natives.
* The stereotypical [[Space Marine]]. Stealth is cowardice, frontal assaults are the only way to go. On the occasion they do utilize tactics like stealth, feints, and flanking, it's all to help the frontal assault succeed rather than the other way around. Retreating is never an option, even if it's to gain more cover. Some will never field [[psyker]]s or ignore [[xenos]], and some won't even cooperate with other [[Space Marine Chapter]]s. A special case being [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine|Leandros]].
* The Starks from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]. When Ned Stark finds out that Joffrey and his siblings are incest born bastards, he does the most asinine thing possible and tells Cersei, instead of going to Robert directly. He also tells his daughters of his plan, which causes Sansa to blab to everybody. His son Robb Stark has even more fuckups, namely executing one of his top generals when he should have kept him around (though said Karstark general undeniably disrespected his authority), failing to communicate with Edmure (though Edmure is incompetent), and blatantly breaking his promise to Walder Frey because he felt bad he screwed some other chick and decided to marry her in order to keep their honor intact (though Walder is admittedly a backstabbing opportunist who might have betrayed him anyway, as Robb was undoubtedly losing the war. Also, Walder’s choice to violate one of the most valued rules of honor that even pirates, thieves and murderers keep, simultaneously fucked over his own side by becoming the group absolutely nobody on any side wants to be associated with. Not even the people he betrays Robb in favor of). This kind of shit ends up with the Starks practically destroyed.
** An important qualifier is that these decisions aren't entirely motivated by stupid adherence to honour, with personal history heavily motivating the decisions or with the full consequences of the actions not being immediately obvious.
* The Jedi from the Star Wars Prequels are this, as [[Ultramarines|they followed the Jedi Code - which was meant as a mere guideline - as a set of unbreakable rules]] and set out to completely repress all emotion in somewhat unfounded fear of those emotions leading to the dark side, when they should have acknowledged that which makes us human and simply taught how to use them positively. Such arbitrarily following of the code leads the Council to turn a blind eye to the various problems Anakin Skywalker was having, thereby unintentionally sealing their own downfall.
** Works set before the Prequels shows that this is hardly a new problem for the Jedi Order. Knights Of The Old Republic II features a Jedi named Atris who's incredibly obsessed with following the code to the letter and wiping out the Sith. This leads to her being filled with bitterness and remorse after her best friend/secret crush the Exile is kicked out of the Order, but also leaves her too arrogant to talk to anyone about it. Instead she starts to hide herself away in a temple filled with Sith holocrons to be alone and meditate, and since Sith holocrons literally exude Dark Side-tainted Force energy, she gets unknowingly corrupted into a Sith. Yes, she was so Lawful Stupid that it ''turned her evil''.
** Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Clone Wars demonstrates another problem with his adherence to the rule against killing an unarmed enemy. He has been caught in life or death struggles where he still refuses to kill his enemy if they unarmed. That said, he does '''not''' hold non Jedi to this standard, something a dumb slaver once found out.
* The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]]. They are obsessed with the concept of revenge, as '''all Grudges must be answered for.''' This causes them to wage many unnecessary wars, which is especially stupid since they are a dying race. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these wars waged to avenge their honor just end up creating yet more grudges (because weirdly, their enemies might kill a Dwarf or two when defending themselves instead of bending over and accepting their "punishment" like a BDSM starved daemonnette), creating a never ending cycle of conflict. The fluff speaks of two dwarven lords who were fighting each other in a generation-spanning War of Grudges, even while they were being invaded by an Orc warband. The two lords eventually got together and realized that neither of them remembered what their clans were fighting over, forgave each other, and resolved to ally against the Orcs beating down on their gates. Both sides were promptly crushed by a cave-in caused by ''the gods themselves'' for failing to avenge their respective Grudges and the Orcs got to loot another Karak without difficulty.
* The [[Azorius Senate|Azorius]] from [[Magic: The Gathering]]. The guild makes so many laws that they can literally arrest ANYONE, and then justify it by finding one of the myriad of pointless laws they've passed that the individual has undoubtedly broken. They'll even arrest someone for merely ''thinking'' about breaking a law (see the card [https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/47/psychic-spiral| Psychic Spiral] for proof.) This culminates in them, under Dovin Baan, endorsing [[Bolas]] in ''War of the Spark'' - doesn't matter if there's undead killing everyone and everything erupting into war, as long as your guildleader is officially elected everything is fine.
* The Sangheili, or Elites, from the [[Halo]] franchise. With a ridiculously rigid Bushido-style code of honor that makes the Ultramarines seem like pragmatic chaps, the Elites have often lost battles to humans they could have otherwise won, if they weren't so blindingly "honorable" (Ignoring for the minute that they had no problem turning a planet into slag from orbit). Full frontal assaults, suicide charges, blindingly following three shady testicle-looking douchebags, and a stupid insistence on fighting "worthy" enemies fairly are all par for the course (granted, they have no problem massacring unarmed civilians or "dishonorable" opponents). There are also numerous examples of otherwise unarmed Elites preferring death over deigning to touch a fully loaded human weapon at their feet. But the most glaring example of their stupidity has to come from the fact that they consider it a [[What|dishonor to either get their own blood shed off the battlefield or become involved in a medical practice]]. This stigma is to such a degree that the Elite Shipmaster who became the Arbiter was secreted away from his keep in the dead of night to visit a doctor (against his will) after he suffered a severe accident during a training session shortly upon his promotion to Shipmaster. Even Klingons aren't that stupid. The only reason they even win against the Jiralhanae (Brutes) is because the Brutes are more Stupid Evil than the Sangheili are Lawful Stupid. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Well, that, and the fact that they had allied with the Humans by that point and have been inspired to move past some of their ass-backward stances on medicine and weaponry.]]
* The Nugganite religion, from Terry Pratchett's ''Monstrous Regiment'': the decrees of the Borogravian god Nuggan forbid everything from garlic, chocolate, and the smell of beets, to the color blue and ''babies''. Many Borogravians privately acknowledge that most of Nuggan's Abominations are completely ridiculous (and let the most extreme ones slide, because they're virtually impossible to enforce anyway), even while fretting about which Abominations they're currently committing. Due the way belief works in Discworld, Nugganites came to believe in nothing but the Abominations themselves, which diverted worship away from Nuggan himself. In the end, it's revealed that Nuggan has rotted away until nothing is left but a disembodied voice babbling Abominations nonstop.
* For the literature amateurs, Inspector Javert from ''Les Misérables''. As the author himself explained: the man was built upon two simple and good precepts, namely respect of authority and refusal of rebellion; but he made those look evil in his fanatical exaggeration of them. In a rare occurrence for that kind of character, Javert ends up overcoming the stupid part of the alignment as part of his character arc: When finally faced with a Lawful Good convict, he [[Blam|BLAMs himself]] rather than capture him (or let him go and live as an imperfect cop). Way to get out of a Paladin dilemma.
** As Hugo injected a ton of social criticism in his books, public servants putting the law above morals is a recurring theme. Ninety-Three has Cimourdain, a political commissar during the French Revolution, who ends up condemning his own adoptive son to death for freeing a traitor. Much like Javert, he takes his own life during the execution.
*Speaking of [[Commissar]]s, although protagonists like [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Ibram Gaunt]] or [[Ciaphas Cain]] will mostly be sensible individuals (if only because nobody wants to read about a teamkilling fucktard for a dozen or so books), background commissars in the Imperial Guard are often the epitome of Lawful Stupid: You left your post to report vital intel to Headquarters? That's a summary execution for ya. Even "protagonists" aren't immune to this. [[Severina Raine|Critiqued an order that'd get your men killed but didn't refuse to follow it? That's a summary execution for ya (though in this specific instance, this was Raine being a ruthless bitch more than lawful stupid.]]
* [https://oots.fandom.com/wiki/Miko_Miyazaki | Miko Miyazaki] from the webcomic ''Order of the Stick'' is another example. She is an overzealous paladin who sees herself as judge, jury, and executioner. The author of the webcomic specifically wrote her to be a parody of 3.5th edition paladins. Her most notable action was murdering her own lord for conspiring against the paladins (although said lord had [[Chaotic Good|good intentions]]). She is disliked by the other members of her order and is sent on missions far away so no one has to deal with her.
* When written poorly, the heroes in [[Star Trek]] following the Prime Directive turns into this. The rule is that Starfleet isn't to intervene with pre-Warp civilizations in order to prevent their exploitation like European colonizers did to other civilizations. Kirk never followed the Prime Directive at any point since he always felt the pre-Warp civilization was in some kind of danger that warranted violating it. Later shows would give more weight to the Prime Directive by creating situations where it should be followed, and then eventually had characters treat it as a religion that dictated they should never intervene with a pre-Warp civilization under '''any''' circumstances even if it meant preventing their extinction [[What| with the excuse that preventing them from dying out was interfering with their natural development]].

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Wizards of the Coast

2023-01-13T05:22:12Z

2600:1700:D1D0:2220:DF0:ECEC:76CC:ABD3: /* Today */

{{Publisher Infobox
|name = Wizards of the Coast
|logo = [[Image:Wizards_of_the_Coast_logo.svg.png]]
|year = 1990
|notable = [[Magic: The Gathering]], [[Dungeons and Dragons]]
|website = [http://www.wizards.com http://www.wizards.com]}}
'''Wizards of the Coast''' (Abbr: WotC), like so many luminous icons of the tabletop industry, was founded in a dingy basement in the rainy city of Seattle in 1990. Originally, they developed ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'', and, after using their patents on various cardgame staples like "tapping" and "counters" to strangle literally every other competitor but ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' out of business, they made ''so much goddamn money'' on the sucker's market that is the CCG scene that they were able to fulfill every nerd's dream of buying the dying ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property out from under [[Lorraine Williams]], then revitalizing it with its [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular edition]]. Since then, they've been themselves bought out by the [[Call of Cthulhu|cold, emotionless, alien beings taking the form of corporate suits]] at [[Hasbro]], <strike>but in recent times the corporation has adopted a more "hand-off" approach to Wizards, to mutual benefit.</strike> LOL NOT ANY MORE. Reception of their leaked 1.1 update to the OGL document had been a stinking dumpster fire.

They are a source of [[skub|civilized and respectful debate]] on /tg/, but while the [[Old School Roleplaying|old guard]] will probably [[butthurt|never forgive them]] for changing literally anything about the game from the ''[[Chainmail]]'' days, general consensus is that, as evil megacorporations in the tabletop business go, [[Games Workshop|they really could]] [[Catalyst Game Labs|be much worse]]. Besides, they got a bit better, so that's good I guess. Unfortunately nothing good ever lasts with people screaming murder over OGL update 1.1.

==Early History: Oh~ Oh~ Oh~, It's Magic!==
Wizards started out as a small-time game publisher, releasing new editions of defunct old niche games and small dribbles of their own material. They'd probably have gone the route of [[Iron Crown Enterprises]] or be languishing in obscurity today, if not for a stroke of good luck. [[Richard Garfield|Some math major]] with an eye towards game design walked into their office and pitched a board game to them. They liked it, but they didn't have the cash to produce it, so they asked him to come up with something cheaper to produce, something portable and quick to play. Well, to make a long story short, he went home, ran some numbers, and [[Magic the Gathering|the rest is history]].

''Magic: The Gathering'' was (and, if you're into the Skinner Box of CCGs, still is) a damn fine collectible card game, the first commercially successful one of its kind in the world... which isn't actually that impressive, considering the only other CCG at that point was a baseball card game from the early 1900s. Still, it started an industry, won shitloads of game-design awards, and led to Wizards using its patents on various basic card game mechanics ("tapping," counters, etc.) to ruthlessly crush all competitors. Sometimes, they were justified in protecting their IP against hacks and shovelware imitators. Sometimes, they just went after people they didn't like. Let's just say there's a ''reason'' ''L5R'' used to make you lose points if you accidentally said "tap" instead of "bow."

It also made them more money than can easily be imagined, not least because the 90s was the age of know-nothing idiots speculating on "nerd shit," a trend started in the comic-book industry. (Humorously, the cards from this time have sometimes ended up being ''[[Arabian Nights|more]]'' [[Legends|valuable]] than the pointless comics bubble ever would be.) Rather than blowing it all on hookers and blow, in the tradition of the 80's, they funneled it back into their RPG business, buying up various old games and refurbishing them, including ''Ars Magica'' from fellow swaggering new kid on the block [[White Wolf]]. Most of them had enjoyed only moderate success at best, not least because the market then was smaller than it had ever been following the fundamentalist-o-caust of the 80's purge and the company was putting its fingers into too many pies and failing to support all its games, but eventually, they managed to land the biggest fish of all.

==[[Conan the Barbarian|And so, my lord became a king by his own hand...]]==
[[File:WOTClogo.gif|300px|thumb|right|The old yellow logo.]]
As a cash-strapped and [[Lorraine Williams|internal-politics-crippled]] [[TSR]] was folding and dying, Wizards bought them and all their stuff, including the famous and venerable ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property, for a paltry $25 million. They gave all the old TSR guys jobs, called off the lawyers and openly allowed fans to release stuff for [[Dark Sun|poorly-selling]] [[Ravenloft|but much-beloved]] [[Spelljammer|campaign settings]], and put various designers from TSR to work building the [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular and successful edition of D&D ever]]. [[Derp|Then paid to do it again when it needed a shitload of patching,]] leading to the silliest ''D&D'' edition name of all time (3.5). They also held a contest to design a setting that was weird and new for the new edition, ultimately settling on [[Keith Baker]]'s ''[[Eberron]]''.

Along with that edition, they put out the [[Open Gaming License]], offering free reign for other companies to use their rules and produce supplements. While this had the unfortunate side effect of sometimes putting their tacit approval on complete [[fail]], it is generally held to be one of their smartest and most fan-friendly moves ever, generating huge amounts of content for their game without paying a dime for it. Whether you want [[Microlite20|uber-minimalism]], [[Diaspora|hard sci-fi]], or [[Book of Erotic Fantasy|erotically-charged sexventures]], you can generally find it somewhere in the library of OGL content, in varying degrees of quality.

As the decade wound down, they also got the license to make a CCG for ''[[Pokémon]]'', and while we scoff now, it was a pretty good game that wasn't a complete ''Magic'' rip-off, and it probably made them about as much money as ''Magic'' for a while there. The ''Pokémon'' craze was at its height, and children everywhere begged money off their parents, worked menial lemonade-stand jobs, and, in some truly [[fail]]-tastic cases, murdered each other in cold blood for the next sweet, sweet hit of booster pack fever.

==New Management, or the Road to the Great Mistake==
At the turn of the millenium, [[Hasbro|terrible, alien intelligences]] examined our realm of existence. With minds too different from ours to comprehend their motives, and the cold, unfeeling calculations of inhuman thoughts, they reached out their slick black tentacles into our plane and acquired Wizards of the Coast. They also paid nearly ten times as much for the privilege as Wizards spent for TSR, so suck it fanboys!

What happened next is hard to conclusively prove, since nobody involved wants to stop working in the business forever by getting a rep as a fuckin' snitch, but over the course of a decade, most of Wizards' upper management was quietly replaced. Various minor aspects of the property, like GenCon and the ''Dragon'' and ''Dungeon'' magazines were portioned off and outsourced to other producers (notably, Paizo). Keeping a low overhead meant firing all the veterans to hire newbs with lower asking salaries, draining the company's talent pool. Whether these cutbacks were the fault of Wizards, a company run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts with a history of mediocre business sense, or Hasbro, a corporate giant with a history of undermining their acquired brands with needless executive interference and anti-consumer bullshit, is probably never going to be openly known. Either way, eventually, the decision was made to build an entirely new edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

In theory, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Third Edition and ''3.5'' had always had their flaws ([[CoDzilla|Monte Cook's traditional caster-dominance]], weak [[fighter|martial classes]], incoherent high-level play that turned into a maze of magic item abuse and extra turn stacking, a cesspool of bad character options left over from the ill-thought-out "ivory tower" game design, etc.) and the latter was starting to show its age. Furthermore, they decided that this edition wouldn't just be a revamp of the old, but a complete rebuilding of the entire ''D&D'' system from the ground up, intending to fix long-running problems and set a bold new direction for the future. No more would martials announce "I make a weapon attack" and throw a d20 round after round: they would have access to cool techniques and a varied playstyle just like the casters. No more would casters break the game over their knee and [[Cybering|don their robe and wizard hat]] to fuck its corpse: their power would be drastically scaled back, with magic now divided into limited-application combat components and longer-and-more-involved ritual spells.

Unfortunately, this well-intentioned and high-profile project was destined to go horribly wrong...

==Schism and Competition==
Despite what the [[butthurt]] fanboys will tell you, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]'' was (and still sort-of is as they sell off the backlog) a financial success. And the hatred for it was never uniform. Even people that hate 4e will admit that it's not a [[FATAL|terrible]] [[Racial Holy War|game]], but even its fans have to admit that, in many ways, it is utterly unrecognizable from the game that preceded it. The sad truth is that 4e was worse than a bad game: it was a flawed-but-good game which just happened to have a lot of stupid drama to deal with.

To make a long story very short:

The people who love 4e love it for its tightly-defined rule set, tactical depth compared to 3.5 (no more martials flanking and power attacking every turn while the casters fly out of reach or teleport out of sight and spam save-or-die rays from their familiar), strong support for the DM via online materials, ease of play compared to the frequent RULESRULESRULES problems of earlier editions, giving every class, even former low-tier sad-sacks like the [[monk]] a fair shot at being as awesome as the previously-dominant full-casters, and for introducing some genuinely good new ideas to the lore. (Ex. [[The Raven Queen]] replacing the evil death gods as an iconic neutral death goddess, some ''great'' new books and campaign ideas for ''[[Eberron]]'', adding lots of off-beat, niche races like [[githzerai]] and [[goliath]]s to the core rulebooks, and a new, wonderfully revamped version of ''[[Dark Sun]]'' for the first time in two-and-a-half editions that not only brought back all the best parts of that gameline but sanded off all the worst ideas, like the biomechanical halfling empire and the DM taking over a character during the Dragon transformation.)

The people who hate 4e hate it for sharply segregating the game into combat and story sections, focusing heavily on the use of [[miniatures]] and battle mat combat rather than the "theater of the imagination," being hard to run without "power cards," sold separately, to keep all the abilities straight, nickle and diming consumers to try to force them to buy ''[[World of Warcraft]]''-style subscriptions for access to character generators or other online materials, shoehorning all classes into the same sets of mechanics (Leaders heal and buff their allies, Strikers hurt things, Defenders [[tank]], Controllers debuff and throw out area attacks), making a lot of gratuitous changes to D&D lore, from slaughtering the cosmology of ''[[Planescape]]'' to dropping a [[Exterminatus|Spellplague]] on the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', and releasing a castrated new version of the Open Gaming License for the game system.

Worse, it seems many of these problems were corporate mandated from above by Hasbro, seeking to create a more tightly-controlled IP and cut the Open Gaming License off at the roots. While 4e remained a modest financial success, many fans began leaving the oldest roleplaying game of all behind to go looking for other ways to scratch the itch. And many of the Hasbro-based marketeers, being, like most marketeers, dumb blood-sucking [[vampire]]s who only vaguely remember what it is to be human, made the whole situation worse by emphasizing 3.5's flaws as much as they praised 4e's features in a vindictive way that hurt feelings and created a lot of bad blood.

Paizo, the former magazine publishers, took advantage of this to start fully promoting their own D20-based RPG game, [[Pathfinder]], a sort of "D&D 3.75" that attempted to fix the problems without transforming so drastically from the 3.5 model. How successful they were is... debatable (read that page for details), but it drew in the fans like mad. Because it ran on the OGL, it soon had rafts of refugees publishing quality third-party material for its game. Riding that surge of popularity, Paizo began to become a true challenger to WoTC's former dominance over the gaming market, even outselling them at times.

This act, creating one's own worse competitor, was humiliating for Wizards and disquieting to Hasbro. The slimy, icy tendrils of the conglomerate began to withdraw. So long as Wizards did not become a financial liability, the interns through which Hasbro communicated sang (they burn out, bleeding from every orifice, after channeling a single communication and have to be replaced), it would now be free to pursue whatever direction it wished for yet another edition. But it ''must'' have another edition. The insatiable hunger of the otherworldly suits would not be satisfied with ''second place'', no matter how profitable it proved.

Yet, in many ways, as Wizards scrambled to clean up the floors under the intern and move on, this whole experience was good for Wizards. Now that they had actual competitors, product quality could be an actual defense against the bizarre demands of their alien masters, since now they stood to lose customers if they fucked up. And they could dissect what Paizo did leading up to ''Pathfinder'' and take notes.

==Today==
After seeing how much success Paizo had with its open playtests for [[Pathfinder]], Wizards did something similar with the new edition of ''D&D'', which got years and years of hard, careful work and testing put into it. Wizards promised to keep the best aspects of every previous edition, distilling a better product at the end. Despite a frequently-skeptical response, it helped rebuild community confidence, and the eventual result, many years in the making, was ''[[D&D Next]]'', or, as it would inevitably eventually be known, 5e.

So far, 5e has been a roaring critical and commercial success. The game is fun, simple yet deep, streamlined without being dumbed down, and has combined the playability of the early editions with the mechanics of the d20 system and the best ideas from 4e. And with the monthly community surveys and ''Unearthed Arcana'' articles providing anyone with an Internet connection with quality, officially-sanctioned homebrew content and a genuine system of feedback, Wizards has begun to reclaim the reputation they nearly lost after the ill-advised attempt by their corporate masters to chase the MMO dollar. Even Paizo has begun to step up its game to compete, with positive results for fans of both gamelines.

The company has also been centralizing a LOT of their publication. Up until about 2015 or so, Wizards subcontracted a lot of their writing and art duties to others, like some freelancers and authors who would work for them. However, after a rocky reception to the quality of the first five D&D 5e [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Books|books]], the company hired a bunch of new graphical designers, artists, editors, and even some of the players on the official D&D podcasts (including Kate Welch and Amy Falcone) to join their main crew in Seattle. After that, all but one of the 5e books has been radically better-received, even if the release rate of splatbooks is still far lower than what most fans like.

After that step, Wizards began branching out significantly, hiring Fandom, Inc and DriveThruRPG to create officially-licensed and branded websites to augment their own online offerings for D&D and Magic: The Gathering. These sites allow players to create characters, sell adventures, track combat, design custom monsters, and otherwise homebrew material to their hearts' content, and even buy official expansions to the hardback D&D books that are legal at the table for Adventurers' League. The services also actually work, amazingly enough, although there is widespread fan [[rage|discontent]] over how the hardback books cost fifty US dollars but don't unlock their online content on D&D Beyond without spending another 25 bucks.

And then 2023 happened. Not only did the utterly disastrous 30th anniversary celebration for MTG that's seen the brand become a financial liability happen, but WOTC revealed OGL 1.1, asinine leaked changes to the OGL made by corporate greed. Not only did the draft say OGL 1.0 would be permanently voided, but 1.1 would slap a fee of 25% profit (20% if it’s a Kickstarter) for any third party work making more than 750k while giving third party games who use their rule system only one week to comply or be sued. Way to piss off an entire online fanbase by unleashing a grip tight enough to make [[Games Workshop]] jealous.

Then again, they were still making a mint off the [[Magic the Gathering|cardboard crack]] through all of this, so in hindsight we should have seen this coming. At the very least, thanks to an insider leak, we know they [[Capitalism|only see Customers as an obstacle to their money]].

==External Links==
* Drive to Work, episode 40 (the Wizards of the Coast episode) ,[http://media.wizards.com/podcasts/magic/drivetowork40wizardsofthecoast.mp3].
[[category:Publishers]]

Paizo

2023-01-13T03:50:44Z

2600:1700:D1D0:2220:DF0:ECEC:76CC:ABD3: /* ORC */

{{Stub}}

'''Paizo Publishing''' is the company behind [[Pathfinder]] and the former publisher of [[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] and [[Dungeon Magazine|Dungeon]] magazines from 2002-2007. Back when [[Hasbro]] bought [[WotC]], a whole bunch of people from the company jumped ship rather than see it get butchered from the inside. About a year after the purchase, Hasbro started slicing off or shutting down a bunch of stuff they got from buying Wizards. Paizo was started up so that the magazines wouldn't die, and took on all the magazine staff still working at Wizards.

Along with the D&D mags, Paizo also took over ''Star Wars Insider'' and [[Polyhedron Magazine|Polyhedron]] from Wizards, and later tried starting a generalist gamer magazine ''Undefeated'' and a relaunch of ''Amazing Stories'' -- neither of which lasted more than about a year. SW Insider didn't last that long with Paizo either, moving to a different publisher due to politicking over the official Star Wars fan club.

When [[4E]] was around the corner, Hasbro made Paizo give back the magazines, after which they were replaced with a digital app. With nothing better to do, Paizo decided they'd listen to all of us who knew that 4E would be shit, and started up [[Pathfinder]]; the rest is history.

In 2022, Paizo started releasing content for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition starting with a conversion of one of their popular adventure paths. Whether or not this is a sign that <s>Pathfinder isn't doing well</s> Paizo is currently cashing in on the anything-but-5e-core hunger in the 5e fanbase is currently unknown.

==ORC==

In 2023 however, [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|everything changed when]] [[Wizards of the Coast|Wizards]] [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|attacked]]. Releasing the 1.1 edition of the OGL and attempting to destroy the 1.0 version, people thought this would be the end of Paizo, who originated from the system.

Think again. Instead, they ended up announcing the creation of the Open RPG Creative License (shortened to [[Orc|ORC]]. Under this they have chosen to make a system-agnostic document for all tabletop games, in response to Wizards trying to do the opposite. Time will tell whether this will end favorably, though for now Paizo has stated they will fend for itself and other companies like [[Kobold Press]] in court if need be.
[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Publishers]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Pathfinder]]

Paizo

2023-01-13T03:50:04Z

2600:1700:D1D0:2220:DF0:ECEC:76CC:ABD3:

{{Stub}}

'''Paizo Publishing''' is the company behind [[Pathfinder]] and the former publisher of [[Dragon Magazine|Dragon]] and [[Dungeon Magazine|Dungeon]] magazines from 2002-2007. Back when [[Hasbro]] bought [[WotC]], a whole bunch of people from the company jumped ship rather than see it get butchered from the inside. About a year after the purchase, Hasbro started slicing off or shutting down a bunch of stuff they got from buying Wizards. Paizo was started up so that the magazines wouldn't die, and took on all the magazine staff still working at Wizards.

Along with the D&D mags, Paizo also took over ''Star Wars Insider'' and [[Polyhedron Magazine|Polyhedron]] from Wizards, and later tried starting a generalist gamer magazine ''Undefeated'' and a relaunch of ''Amazing Stories'' -- neither of which lasted more than about a year. SW Insider didn't last that long with Paizo either, moving to a different publisher due to politicking over the official Star Wars fan club.

When [[4E]] was around the corner, Hasbro made Paizo give back the magazines, after which they were replaced with a digital app. With nothing better to do, Paizo decided they'd listen to all of us who knew that 4E would be shit, and started up [[Pathfinder]]; the rest is history.

In 2022, Paizo started releasing content for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition starting with a conversion of one of their popular adventure paths. Whether or not this is a sign that <s>Pathfinder isn't doing well</s> Paizo is currently cashing in on the anything-but-5e-core hunger in the 5e fanbase is currently unknown.

==ORC==

In 2023 however, [[Avatar|everything changed when]] [[Wizards of the Coast|Wizards]] [[Avatar|attacked]]. Releasing the 1.1 edition of the OGL and attempting to destroy the 1.0 version, people thought this would be the end of Paizo, who originated from the system.

Think again. Instead, they ended up announcing the creation of the Open RPG Creative License (shortened to [[Orc|ORC]]. Under this they have chosen to make a system-agnostic document for all tabletop games, in response to Wizards trying to do the opposite. Time will tell whether this will end favorably, though for now Paizo has stated they will fend for itself and other companies like [[Kobold Press]] in court if need be.
[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Publishers]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Pathfinder]]