Print prices increasing February 1

We were recently informed by our online publishing partner OneBookShelf (the owner of our online web store DriveThruRPG) that they are increasing printing costs by 5%.

The last time the cost of printing was raised, we absorbed the increase, as we felt a small loss in revenue on our part was worth not passing the increase on to our customers.

However, if we were to do so again, it would mean a significant loss of revenue with the two increases on top of one another, especially on books that are found in brick and mortar game stores, who get a hefty discount when they order from us.

Unfortunately, this means that, as of February 1, the cost of many of our hardcover books will go up by approximately $5. A few (such as the Adventures Dark and Deep Lite™ book) will remain unchanged. We are still evaluating the impact on our softcover adventure modules.

I heartily encourage everyone, if you were thinking about getting a hard copy book, or taking advantage of our print upgrade program for those who have already bought a pdf, do so now before the price increase goes into effect.

This will not impact the cost of our pdfs, and all print books will also come with a pdf copy at no cost, as before.

Official Statement on AI-assisted art

The issue of the use of AI art, or AI-assisted art, is a complex one, and we acknowledge that the state of the art in regards to the technology involved is constantly evolving.

That said, BRW Games does not use AI art, or AI-assisted art, in our products. We happily utilize the talents of a large number of human artists for custom work, and make use of human-created clipart, stock art, and public domain art in our products.  If we discover that a piece of art in our products has been created or enhanced by artificial intelligence unbeknownst to us, the art in question will be removed and the artist responsible will be excluded from future projects.

(This “no AI” logo is released into the public domain and may be used freely without attribution)

Updates to Print and Digital Books in Progress

Please note that print options for some of our books and adventure modules may become temporarily unavailable as we update our books to remove references to the Open Game License.
 
We apologize for any inconvenience; the digital books will still be available during this process.
 
Customers who have previously purchased digital versions of our books may also receive notices that new versions are available. This is part of the same process.

Impact of OGL Changes to BRW Games

BRW Games is monitoring the news surrounding the possible de-authorization of the OGL1.0a and the subsequent issuance of a new OGL1.1. We have reviewed the proposed language of the OGL1.1 and have determined that, if the language remains unchanged from the version that was leaked earlier this week, there is no possibility that we will publish anything under the terms it offers, which we view as predatory and offensive.

BRW Games has published a number of books and adventures through the auspices of OGL1.0a, including the Castle of the Mad Archmage and Adventures Dark and Deep core rulebooks. Based on the leaked text of the license, it is entirely likely that Wizards of the Coast, which issued the OGL1.0a, will de-authorize that license, putting those and other titles in jeopardy. In such an event, it is unclear whether only new publications would be disallowed, or if previous publications would be “grandfathered in”.

It should be remembered that, just because it does not seem likely that Wizards of the Coast actually has the legal authority to do so, that does not prevent them from behaving as if they do, and BRW Games does not have the millions of dollars it would take to force the issue in a court of law.

For that reason, if the OGL1.0a is de-authorized, and works that were previously published under its authority are deemed to be a violation of Wizards of the Coast’s IP rights, we will have no choice but to remove them from our catalog of active titles. While adventure modules (including Castle of the Mad Archmage) and rules supplements will be able to be modified and republished without the OGL1.oa, it is unlikely that the Adventures Dark and Deep core rulebooks (Players Manual, Bestiary, and Game Masters Toolkit) will be salvageable.

To summarize, if the OGL1.0a is de-authorized and even previous publications become disallowed (all subject to change based on changing circumstances):

  • The Adventures Dark and Deep core rulebooks will be removed from publication permanently
  • Other titles published under the OGL1.0a, such as Castle of the Mad Archmage, Random Terrain and Encounter Generator, adventure modules V1-3, etc. will be temporarily removed, modified to remove anything that references the OGL1.0a and the accompanying SRD, and re-released
  • Our newer titles, such as the Book of Lost Lore, Book of Lost Beasts, and Swords of Cthulhu were not published under the OGL1.0a to begin with, and are unaffected

Again, we thank you for your patience and support, and will issue further statements as the new legal landscape becomes clearer.