OA News – WOTC Lawsuit

Welcome to the Order of Aesthetics News, LIVE! We are broadcasting direct from the Great Library of the Ages in Palanthas Alt Cataclius, and today we are going to discuss the Wizards of the Coast LLC Lawsuit filed by Margaret Weis LLC and Tracy Hickman.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga, Order of Aesthetics: Weekend News Update LIVE episode. It is Bracha, Brookgreen the 13th, My name is Adam and today I was sifting through the Order’s files and ran across this bit of news. Now I know its a bit old, but since I started my channel just after it happened, I thought, what the hey, we’ll get into the whole sordid affair.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can support this channel, and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my affiliate link in the description below.

Discussion

Dragonlance News

  • Margaret Weiss, LLC and Tracy Hickman filed a lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast LLC 10/16/20
    • In 2017 Weis and Hickman approached wotc to start a new Dragonlance Trilogy
    • the new trilogy as the capstone to their life’s work and as an offering to their fans
    • In March 2019 they entered into a new written licencing agreement to write and publish with Penguin Random House
      • Wotc had a full overview of the story and story arc, with considerable detail, of the planned trilogy.
      • 10 year term
      • 1 book a year with other marketing responsibilities
    • June 2019 wotc approved the first book outline
    • November 2019 wotc received the manuscript for book 1 and approved it in January 2020
      • Book 1 was titled Dragons of Deceit
      • By late 2019 Book 2 had substantial work completed titled Dragons of Fate
    • Wotc proposed certain changes in keeping with the modern-day zeitgeist of a more inclusive and diverse story-world.
      • Defendant issued a four-point set of comments dealing with various sensitivity issues ranging from the use of love potions in the story, as referenced in the 5E Dungeons Masters Guide, to concerns of sexism, inclusivity and potential negative connotations of certain character names.
      • 70 pages of rewriteds
    • June 2020 wotc changed the editorial team trilogy, removing Liz Schuh and Hilary Ross and replacing them with Nic Kelman and Paul Morrissey.
      • Mr. Kelman in 2019, his own publication as author of the sexually explicit novel, “Girls: A Paean” was subject to ongoing public discussions of whether his work contained or promoted misogyny and pedophilia
      • contains “trigger warnings” of “implied sexual abuse & statutory rape”).
    • August 13 2020, weis and Hickman had a phone conference meeting with wotc agents and executives who terminated the agreement
  • Lawsuit is voluntarily dismissed without prejudice 12/18/20
    • it leaves the plaintiff free to bring another suit based on the same grounds
  • December 19th 2020 Margaret Weis tweeted
  • December 21st 2020 Tracy Hickman tweeted
  • January 25th 2021 Margaret tweeted
  • On December 11th, 2020 Joe Manganiello teased in a Wired video while answering Twitter questions in relation to abstract ideas for homebrew races.
    • https://youtu.be/OPm3GKmUkNU 18:16 timestamp
      •  “I wanted something between dragon and draconian because, you know, I have the Fifth Edition draconian stats. Don’t tell anyone.”

    Outro

    And that’s it for another episode! What are you most excited about in today’s show? Have you heard any news or rumors you would like me to discuss? Feel free to email me at info@dragonlance-saga.com or comment below. 

    Thank you for tuning in. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and like this video. You can support this channel, and pick up some Dragonlance gaming materials, by using the affiliate link in the description below.

    This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time Slàinte mhath (slan-ge-var).

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