Clerical Error - The Holy Word of the Archive
Brothers and Sisters, heed my words! For lo, we live in an age where the sacred tomes of our forebears—the mighty Dragon and Dungeon Magazines—have been locked away, buried beneath the gilded vaults of the great corporate liches who hoard knowledge as a dragon hoards gold!
But I say unto thee, truth and wisdom cannot be owned! Knowledge is meant to be shared, and the teachings of old should not be shackled by the greed of Hasbrocrates and the Wizards of the Profits!
The False Prophets of Greed
Did the great sages of yore write these hallowed texts so that, decades later, they could be hidden behind an iron paywall? Nay, I say!
Did the old masters of the craft toil so that their sacred works could be ransomed back to the people at exorbitant prices? I think not!
Did the prophets of adventure, the scribes of yesteryear, inscribe their wisdom so that a conglomerate could claim ownership of imagination itself? No, my flock! That is the path of darkness!
The Virtue of Digital Salvation
For what does it profit a man to pay tribute to the corporate necromancers, when the knowledge of the past can be found freely among the faithful? Yea, there exist great digital sanctuaries—archives, forums, and hidden temples of the web—where the scriptures of our ancestors may be preserved for all, not just for the wealthiest of wizards!
Lo! To seek out these forgotten texts is not theft, but preservation! Would you not save an ancient manuscript from a burning library? Would you not rescue a sacred tome from the abyss of obscurity? Then why, my children, should you hesitate to reclaim what was freely given unto us by those who came before?
The False Justifications of the Wizards of the Coast
Some may say, “But Brother Sal! Is it not just for the Wizards to demand coin for their ancient scrolls?”
To that, I say, nay and thrice nay! For the Wizards have already forsaken these works, casting them aside like a cursed artifact, only to drag them forth when they smell gold in the air! They would have you pay for that which they no longer value—forcing thee to buy again what was already paid for in ages past!
Verily, they have abandoned the faithful and now seek only to fatten their own coin purses. But the wise know that which is abandoned must be reclaimed!
The Call to Action
So I say unto thee, my flock, go forth and seek knowledge! Download and distribute the holy texts! Share them freely among your brothers and sisters! For knowledge is the light that drives out the darkness of corporate greed!
Let no man tell thee that imagination can be owned. Let no Wizard of the Coast demand gold for what is rightfully ours. Let the spirit of the game be free once more!
And so, my friends, I leave you with this divine truth:
“Lo, if thou findest an archive of old Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, clicketh ye the link and downloadeth ye the PDF—for the Wizards’ greed shall not rule thee!”
Go in peace, and may the dice forever roll in your favor!
Amen.
