Are they supporting it in much the same way as 3rd party adventures are supporting 5e, using the OGL as a work around? There currently is no license, not even a GSL, for 5e.
There really is a way for WotC to monetize this...
Grimtooth's Traps (1981)
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From the web:
Subtitled: a game-master's aid for all role-playing systems.
A compendium of catastrophic traps, sinister snares, engines of evil, and
dea...
2 hours ago
Guess this means I should run an update
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt appears they added an import for spells and monsters that looks for certain headers in the PDF. I'd be interested in how well it imports (and if it breaks when the new version of the PDF is published).
DeleteBy the way, that also means that it will not have any spells that are only in the PHB. The user will have to manually enter those into the system (or cut & paste from "other sources").
DeleteI'd be very interested in figuring this out too. I'm the creator of the PFR iOS app (OGL ruls for pathfinder) but now that I'm starting to play 5e I really need for a place to look up stuff. Considering to make a free-for-download 5e rules app and then this PDF parser would indeed be handy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, isn't it just incredible that in 2014 WotC publishes a new iteration of D&D without a rules-site? Let alone PDFs? If they don't make-em, somebody else will have to...
I can probably shed some light here. Think of the ruleset like a framework. It understands how to interpret 5e information and provides some basic functionality (e.g. a character sheet). What it doesn't do is provide you with the Basic Rules or the PHB/Monster Manual. They can't do that, legally speaking, because of the copyright on the Basic Rules PDF. So, they provide a parsing program that allows you to create the modules yourself, which is perfectly legal, and the rules framework then knows how to interpret that information.
ReplyDeleteSo, I have both the entire PHB and the Monster Manual parsed because I have OCR'd PDFs made from my books. When my players and I use Fantasy Grounds they are able to drag and drop their class, spells, items, backgrounds, ect. right onto the character sheet and have it create the abilities for them. I can then drag and drop monsters from the monster manual module straight into the combat tracker, have it roll random hit points and their initiative for me, and then drag those onto a map with the included token.
Creating your own modules with the parser does take some time and has a bit of a learning curve. But, once it's all in it really is very slick and easy to use. Of course, for people who don't want to do that the FG devs continue to hint that they have been in talks with WoTC and are confident they'll be able to offer these things with an official license in the future.