Free stuff isn’t as much of a selling point since getting PDFs of the DnD rules is trivially easy with a simple google, it’s essentially free for any individual with even an inkling of piracy in their bones.
Every group I’ve ever been in has just shared the relevant PDFs with everyone
While it's easy enough to get D&D's rules for free, I think that, properly emphasised, it is a selling point - they're completely free. Unless you want to buy the art and lore, you can access their official database of every single class, feat, monster, hazard, and item, for free, for ever. It really cannot be understated how much good will WotC bought with the OGL when they released 3rd edition, and Paizo are even more permissive than that.
iirc the Foundry and AoN devs both get the info from their own pre-release copies of the rulebooks - because they're all volunteers their schedules don't necessarily align, so content will often turn up on one before the other. The PF2e system for Foundry is mostly so good because Paizo encourage those kinds of projects instead of quashing them over IP rights. Cultivating a community that actually likes them is like half of Paizo's business plan.
Free stuff isn’t as much of a selling point since getting PDFs of the DnD rules is trivially easy with a simple google, it’s essentially free for any individual with even an inkling of piracy in their bones.
Every group I’ve ever been in has just shared the relevant PDFs with everyone
While it's easy enough to get D&D's rules for free, I think that, properly emphasised, it is a selling point - they're completely free. Unless you want to buy the art and lore, you can access their official database of every single class, feat, monster, hazard, and item, for free, for ever. It really cannot be understated how much good will WotC bought with the OGL when they released 3rd edition, and Paizo are even more permissive than that.
Is that why the free stuff on Foundry is so good for Pathfinder?
iirc the Foundry and AoN devs both get the info from their own pre-release copies of the rulebooks - because they're all volunteers their schedules don't necessarily align, so content will often turn up on one before the other. The PF2e system for Foundry is mostly so good because Paizo encourage those kinds of projects instead of quashing them over IP rights. Cultivating a community that actually likes them is like half of Paizo's business plan.