OUT-OF-GAME PRESS RELEASE
Sarbreenar kicked out of Forgotten Realms by Wizards!
The Sarbreenar volunteer committee has received communication from Chris Tulach (Head of Organised Play in the RPGA) about the future of Sarbreenar.
Wizards of the Coast believe Sarbreenar to be in breach of copyright because it is based in the Forgotten Realms and uses non-Open Gaming license products (i.e anything other then the PHB / DMG / MM). The RPGA has the licensing rights to use Wizards products in a convention style 'living' campaign and therefore they have the legal rights to public games using those books.
After long conversations about our options the RPGA will not budge and have issued the following statement –
Sarbreenar uses content outside of the Open Game License (OGL) without consent or approval of Wizards of the Coast. For business reasons, all non-OGL content needs to be removed from the Sarbreenar campaign by the end of 2007.
This means that we have no choice but to close down Sarbreenar as a Forgotten Realms based campaign using Wizards products.
This will be a huge disappointment to many, many players. If you feel strongly you wish to communicate your feelings to the person concerned. Chris.Tulach@wizards.com.
Obviously this leaves a gap in the UK games circuit with regard to a 'living' style campaign, especially one with the Sarbreenar city-based style. It is also particularly sad because Sarbreenar was not a profit making concern. It was run by unpaid volunteers and all moneys raised went to the Macmillan Nurses Cancer charity.
It is hard to see what Wizards will get out of this action other than bad publicity and bad feeling. Certainly it will not boost sales of their products in the UK.
