New Campaign, Changes to PDFs due to the OGL, Twitch Channel update, and more! - Narrative Declaration Update - Jan 2023

Narrative Declaration Update - January 2023

My goodness, a LOT has happened this month. I wanted to give everyone a heads-up on what we're working on, how things are changing due to the OGL, and what future projects are on the way! (Hint: it involves finding stars!)

artist: @saltyjub 

Notice on our new Twitch Channel

We've already informed everyone of our new Twitch Channel dedicated to Narrative Declaration's TTRPG shows. Since transferring over, we've found one major issue with adjusting VOD's (video on demand) visibility for subscribers and non-subscribers.

For some odd reason, on the ZoranTheBear channel, I can still select which VODs are only viewable to our subscribers, but on the new Narrative Declaration channel, I do not have this option.

I've contacted Twitch Support, and this is what they sent back.

This is strange, and we'll do what we can to figure this out. We will update everyone when things change. For now, the channel is set on a channel-wide sub-only mode -just for the VODs-. When we're live, everyone can still watch the stream just fine—only the videos available after on the Twitch channel are affected. Youtube and Patreon is not affected by this.

The WOTC changes to the OGL and what that means for us.

A lot has been changing in the TTRPG industry, and it has been highly stressful. We're still determining where the industry will be in the coming years, but we can make a good prediction of what's to come.

WOTC(Wizard of the Coast) is proposing an OGL draft that aims to restrict competition in multiple places in the TTRPG industry. Their "draft" before the current one created a landslide of panic and frustration, causing other publishers in the industry to begin initiatives to shift away from the OGL.

Regardless of what WOTC does, our plans are to separate ourselves from the OGL, along with plenty of other publishers, and join under the new Open RPG Creative License (ORC) once it’s established.

Some may need clarification as to why we care about the OGL changes since we primarily play Pathfinder Second Edition, which Paizo, a separate company, makes. It affects us because Pathfinder Second Edition is published under the OGL, and the game itself has a lot of D&D 5E SRD "isms" that make it an issue. When we make rules content, such as monsters, spells, etc., we have to reference Pathfinder Second Edition and publish those releases under the OGL, which links us to this debacle.

To cover ourselves legally and prepare for a future under the upcoming ORC (Open RPG Creative License), We will focus on lore content for our releases until the ORC can be used. Because the world is our own, Rotgrind lore does not need the OGL. We will only publish rules content (monster stat blocks, feats, spells, items, etc.) on Patreon if it's free and not behind a wall, as that's the most significant legal aspect that would touch the OGL and what would affect us.

In addition to the Lore releases, things like handout cards, tokens, maps, and any other non-rules-related content will still be released on our Adventurer Tier. You'll still get all the content you were getting before, with the only change being that rules content will be available for free for all our fans when we do release them.

For those worried that the OGL stuff will affect the show, it will not, so don't worry. We'll be Rotgrinding for a while yet! In fact...

Starfinder Campaign is in the works!

We've talked for a long time about starting up a Starfinder campaign. To do the type of shows we do, it requires a lot of investment and involvement from myself, the game master, the players, the artists, and everyone else on the team.

To make it happen, I told viewers on Twitch that if we hit a 750 sub-goal on the new Narrative Declaration Twitch Channel before January ended, we would start a Starfinder campaign. You guys smashed it!

OnCallGM has agreed to be the Game Master for the campaign. For those who don't know, OnCallGM is the managing creative director of Starfinder, so this is his baby.

Who will be in it?
I don't want to promise who will be in it, as not all players may be available for another campaign. I wanted to state this so people don't automatically assume one group or another will be involved. Regardless of who is in the campaign, it will be a hilariously good time!

Time frames, schedules, and details are all still being worked out. We will have a dedicated Patreon post once we've figured out a plan! We're hard at work for all of you, and we're very excited about what the future holds!

Your resident busy-as-all-heck host, Game Master, etc,

- ZoranTheBear