Cancelling
I am very sorry to announce that I have to cancel this campaign. I will be shutting down OrcPub.com and OrcPub2.com very soon as well. I may reuse the infrastructure to support other games, we'll see. Sorry about any inconvenience this causes, I hope everyone understands I had nothing but good intentions, to help grow and strengthen the 5e community. I poured my heart and soul into OrcPub and received very little in return.
Christian Fredrickson on
Bummer from me too. Only online character builder that worked.
Leo Prusakov on
Aw, no! And your contributions were very much appreciated. Orcpub2 was incredible and I was really excited about the mobile app. You're really talented and I hope you don't let the legal stuff discourage you. D&D Beyond looks like wet garbage in comparison.
craig mooney on
If a Patreon plan is arranged, I'd love to hear about it.
You, hands down, created the best D&D App!
If it switches to SRD, will that get Larry out of the firing line? If so, then take my money, Larry!
craig mooney on
Nooooo! Your App is amazing! This is terrible news :'(
I hope you find a way to keep things going.
All the best
Craig M
RDP
Superbacker
on
This was WAY better than D&D Beyond and hence it had to be taken down by WOTC.
I agree with the others, keep everything SRD only and allow us to homebrew whatever we need to add. With these options, it still beats DDB!
Gerry Campbell on
It a shame. It was so much better than the crap that is D&D Beyond.
Adam Peterson on
If anyone here is still interested in supporting Larry and his great work, he does have a patreon, there is still a chance with our support we can figure out as a community how to get this up and running minus the sources books. As long is it shows no source material (i.e. reference book, page # instead of description) or we just have an option for homebrew it seems he would be in the clear on any legalities. Regardless of what happens he needs our support so if you're interested in still helping out look up OrcPub on Patreon.
Michael Bukraba
Superbacker
on
This makes me very sad. Honestly the best I have seen so far (I've been playing D&D since the 70's).
Adam Peterson on
Dude don't give up! Keep everything SRD only and allow us to homebrew whatever classes (official or otherwise) we want. Oracle and combat tracker and ability to have a game HUD was the most important part. Don't let your work go to waste and we the community will still pay! Just think about it. Good luck with your family stuff in the mean time. Sorry for your loss.
Lorenzo on
I'm realy sorry. It was a realy good tool for character creation, the better I've found.
Tony Black on
This is absurd, but definitely a move out of WotC's playbook. I guess it just goes to show how much they value the creativity of their fans. I, for one, will never purchase material from any of their brands again. It's ridiculous how money hungry a corporation can be.
Andrew wentz on
I just wanted to say thanks, I only discovered orcpub2 last week, when one of the players in our weekly game showed it to me. I might have spent a few hours at work the next day rolling a new characters for fun. In my honest opinion you built something much better then dnd beyond in terms of function and usability. I am deeply saddened that wizards is so money grubbing. It feels like the gaming industry in general is trending that way any more. Anyway while I only used it for a week I still thought this was an amazing application.
Jeremy Kahn on
And now i'm looking for a tabletop game that isnt WotC... Best of luck Larry. Orcpub2 was absolutely fantastic.
Marker Guru on
I'm sorry to hear about the issues. I am just getting into DnD and I would have been so discouraged trying to create characters if not for OrcPub's builder. I understand how frustrating it is to work hard and have little return as well. Thank you for providing us with such a great resource
Damien Leif on
I would also like to chime in and say that as a new entrant to the world of D&D, I found your character manager to be the best and most intuitive to use.
That WotC is threatening legal action is just ridiculous, and I'm not even sure they could even win if anything actually went to court. But that costs money and they know it. Assholes. I mean, just think about all the character creators for all of the damn MMOs out there - I don't think I've ever seen a game publisher threaten them, and it's the same damn thing.
/frustrated
Thank you for all your hard work on such a great site. I'm sorry you have to deal with this nonsense, and I wish there was a way the community could support your efforts enough to keep things running, but completely understand that you're in a tight spot with this.
Tipster on
For what it's worth, your work far surpassed WotC. If they had any brains at all they would bring you on board.
Edgar Schmidt on
I'm very sorry. I hope you find a way to do something similar with the SRD content or by providing the ability for users to bring in their own (like some iOS apps).
For what is worth, I think you created a terrific platform. Thanks for putting the time developing this.
David Dunlap on
I'm sorry to see you go, orcpub2 was the best 5e character builder I have come across and I really enjoyed using it. It made the game so much easier. Thank you for putting your time into this project
Kieran Sedgwick on
I am not at all surprised. WotC is notorious for this sort of thing. I suppose they can't recognize something positive when they see it.
Best of luck with your future projects. If you end up willing to open source the framework let us know. I'd be happy to contribute to development of a generic builder.
Nate on
I am very sorry to see you go.
Like so many other commenters, I am new to DnD. I just got my own noob friends together and started a campaign. I told them to use your site since it is the best and most user-friendly.
Many people, including myself, were blessed by you pouring your heart into OrcPub. Supporting this kickstarter was my way of giving something back to you. I'm sure this was a hard decision for you to make.
Thank you so much for your hard work and love for DnD!
Darren Chamberlain on
This is sad and frustrating; my groups use OrcPub2 all the time.
Is there any chance you'll open source the code?
Matt Fields on
OrcPub was the most user friendly character creation site out there. It was years ahead of dnd beyond. It's fucked up that you have to shut down. I'll have to tell my players to print out their sheets quickly. Please find a way to stay up. We support you.
Kyle Austin on
Just wanted to share my support of your project. Like many of the other comments I am very new to D&D and your site was very helpful in helping me get started. Good luck in your future endeavors.
Ben Morch on
Sorry to hear this. I was really excited about this project, both the web and mobile version. Even with D&DB being released, I thought you had a great product here. Thank you for all that you have put into this project and I hope you have success in the future. Good luck to you!
Jared Prymont on
You beat WOTC at their own game. I'm sad you got wounded in the process.
Everyone wants to shake your hand and buy you a beer though. Please remember this should you try anything else in the future. :)
Brad Kelley on
Well, this is sad news. Like many others, I considered OrcPub2 to be a superior in enough ways that I chose to use it over DDB, after having made characters using both systems. Your efforts are appreciated by the community, and these fantastic tools will be missed. I look forward to whatever future life they may have in another form.
Benjamin Stickney on
Larry, Orcpub is 10x the site that the "PROs" built. It is great, and I was looking forward to the mobiile version. If there is something we can do to help keep this alive let us know. Looking above it looked like you were close to getting the goal. If it is support for the web page please try again. I love this site, I've only just gotten back into D&D after 10 years, this made my transition from AD&D to D&D smooth. Wish you well and will keep eye out for your next project.
Paul Ihrig on
Larry. Orcpub is by far the BEST character tool on the market. Your work is fantastic. I enjoy using it. Please keep channels open, if there is any thing I/we can do to help keep this going, please let me know.
Dr Nathaniel John King on
I am new to D&D and found OrcPub2 a way to make it accessible for someone starting out. It also helped correct a few mistakes we had done manually. Beyond, is awful, lacks races that are in the player handbook, I stopped there as it is so clunky. Personally, they should have bought you out for a far superior experience. Really sad to see OrcPub go and think it is the classic mistake of taking out the community rather than fostering it in attempt to control it. The opensourcing would be amazing but can understand if you really don't want to. But thankyou for all your work it is appreciated here.
Rich on
Just wanted you to know that OrcPub2 is the best character builder out there right now and I use your combat tracker all the time. As others are saying, OrcPub is way superior to D&D Beyond. WoTC are making a huge mistake here, bullying a website that has made it easier to access the hobby and if anything this action will just make them lose customers. I certainly will never purchase D&D Beyond now. So sorry to see OrcPub go.
Morten Haggren on
Well this sucks, the "official" builder is so bad I was making my own which is when I found orcpub. Will you consider releasing the website as opensource ( obviously with only the SRD materials )
Sam on
What a loss for the community. I've only recently started playing D&D myself, but Orcpub and Orcpub2 have been instrumental in helping mine and my friends understanding of character building for the game. It will be deeply missed.
Kevin Gilmartin on
This is sad news, although not surprising now that D&D Beyond has launched; they'll likely be cracking down on every third party tool that does a similar job. OrcPub2 was such a brilliant tool, and much easier than any official WOTC effort I've ever seen.
Claudio Psyco Marinelli on
OrcPub was one of the best character builder around ... i'll fucking miss it . Totaly. Wish you luck
Tim Baker
Superbacker
on
This saddens me to hear. I'd just discovered OrcPub, and already found it more helpful than DDB.
Esben Kamstrup Mortensen on
Would it be possible to put the website out as Open Source?
Nichole Lynn Reynolds on
I am equal parts enraged and grieving right now; OrcPub has been like a blessing from Bahamut himself for me, as I've always wanted to play D&D and thanks to OrcPub, recent attempts at such have been not only easy, but educational and immensely enjoyable. I wish there were some way I could continue to use OrcPub, but if legality is involved...such a wish may not be so...
Know that you will forever have my loyalty, Larry. OrcPub truly was a work of love and of genius, and it pains me dearly to see it cut down before its prime. Continue the good work in whatever you do from here, Larry; I will always support you.
Wizard of AZ
Superbacker
on
To hell with WOTC. They're just mad because you were capable of a superior product than D&D Beyond. Ugh...
Jonathan Kibarski on
This is so sad, been using the site for a while and was waiting for the app.
Best wishes for your future endeavors.
Wes Klaassen on
This sucks so much. Orcpub was by far the best site out there. I am gonna miss it.
Taylor Wicksell on
We all played tonight using OrcPub, and this is just really sad to hear. If WOTC is responsible, I hope others will join me in not giving them another dime. This was a tool that did nothing but expand their player base and make the game easier and more fun to play.
Best wishes Larry. It was obvious your app had a lot of love poured into it. I hope it all works out in the end.
Michael Poletaew on
Ow... What's wrong with legal issues? You don't have a permission to use that information? Or what?
Craig Smith on
So sorry to hear this. I wish you the best. Obviously everyone supporting your endeavor was on your side. Sorry about the legal stuff. I guess this is coming from WOTC. That sucks. This was so superior to anything they had.
David Burkhart on
So sad--not a game session went by (including tonight) where I didn't check OrcPub. WotC is making a mistake here.
Dave Wallin on
I had a feeling it was a matter of time before WotC sent a C&D. It's unfortunate bc this app/site is infinitely better than the digital character tool they took years to finally settle on and launch. I hope you continue to develop this in some incarnation and possibly find a way to make it "lega". Possibly SRD base with the ability to import elements the way Lion's Den's GameMaster 5 does. Thanks for the hard work on an excellent project.
Adam Peterson on
Dude that sucks, what about still doing the combat tracker and character builder? Maybe the homebrew stuff? None of the stuff from handbooks maybe? You have the best product on the market and others make android apps that do the same with no recourse all the time.
Jeff Abbott on
I am so upset at this. OrcPub is so superior to D&D Beyond. If WofTC is behind this, you can be sure I will never support their alternative!
Jake on
I'm very sorry to hear this. I really loved your work and thought that this was much better than Beyond. Thank you for all you've done, your work allowed me to become a DM from never having played and I've used orcpub every single session.
rbailey952 on
Well this is heartbreaking, I'm going to have to scramble to notify my players to go save their characters ASAP
Mark Edwards on
Damn legal issues. :(
I hope you know that we as the players very much support you and wish this great resource was able to continue.
Thanks for trying!