Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Morrus" data-source="post: 8918173" data-attributes="member: 1"><p>Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons.</p><p></p><p>So, what's happened?</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a which most of the D&D third party industry relies on, will be left untouched for now.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The whole of the D&D 5E SRD (ie the rules of the game less the fluff text) has been released under a Creative Commons license.</li> </ul><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439-ogl-1-0a-creative-commons[/URL]</p><p></p><p>WotC has a history of 'disappearing' <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060106175610/http://www.wizards.com:80/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f" target="_blank">inconvenient FAQs and stuff,</a> such as those where they themselves state that the OGL is irrevocable, so I'll copy this here for posterity.</p><p></p><p>[callout]When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.</p><p></p><p>Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.</li> </ul><p>These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.</p><p>The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You choose which you prefer to use.</li> </ol><p>This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.</p><p></p><p>Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.</p><p></p><p>So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?</p><p></p><p>We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.</p><p></p><p>We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.</p><p>Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong><a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/attachments/39j2li89/SRD5.1-CCBY4.0License.pdf" target="_blank">SRD 5.1-CC</a></strong></li> </ul><p>We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.</p><p></p><p>We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.</p><p></p><p>Kyle Brink</p><p>Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons[/callout]</p><p></p><p>What does this mean?</p><p></p><p>The original OGL sounds safe for now, but WotC <strong>has not admitted that they cannot revoke it</strong>. That's less of an issue now the 5E System Reference Document is now released to Creative Commons (although those using the 3E SRD or any third party SRDs still have issues as WotC still hasn't revoked the incorrect claim that they can revoke access to those at-will).</p><p></p><p>At this point, if WotC wants anybody to use whatever their new OGL v1.x turns out to be, there needs to be one heck of a carrot. What that might be remains to be seen.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pathfinder</strong> publlsher Paizo has also commented on the latest developments.</p><p></p><p>[callout]We welcome today’s news from Wizards of the Coast regarding their intention not to de-authorize OGL 1.0a. We still believe there is a powerful need for an irrevocable, perpetual independent system-neutral open license that will serve the tabletop community via nonprofit stewardship. Work on the ORC license will continue, with an expected first draft to release for comment to participating publishers in February.[/callout]</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.enworld.org/threads/over-1-500-publishers-support-paizos-upcoming-open-rpg-creators-license.694661/[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Morrus, post: 8918173, member: 1"] Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons. So, what's happened? [LIST] [*]The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a which most of the D&D third party industry relies on, will be left untouched for now. [*]The whole of the D&D 5E SRD (ie the rules of the game less the fluff text) has been released under a Creative Commons license. [/LIST] [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439-ogl-1-0a-creative-commons[/URL] WotC has a history of 'disappearing' [URL='https://web.archive.org/web/20060106175610/http://www.wizards.com:80/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f']inconvenient FAQs and stuff,[/URL] such as those where they themselves state that the OGL is irrevocable, so I'll copy this here for posterity. [callout]When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously. Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said: [LIST] [*]88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2. [*]90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2. [*]89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a. [*]86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy. [*]62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons. [/LIST] These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons. The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now. [LIST=1] [*]We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched. [*]We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license. [*]You choose which you prefer to use. [/LIST] This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back. Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted. So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process? We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature. We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play. Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question. [LIST] [*][B][URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/attachments/39j2li89/SRD5.1-CCBY4.0License.pdf']SRD 5.1-CC[/URL][/B] [/LIST] We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now. We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts. Kyle Brink Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons[/callout] What does this mean? The original OGL sounds safe for now, but WotC [B]has not admitted that they cannot revoke it[/B]. That's less of an issue now the 5E System Reference Document is now released to Creative Commons (although those using the 3E SRD or any third party SRDs still have issues as WotC still hasn't revoked the incorrect claim that they can revoke access to those at-will). At this point, if WotC wants anybody to use whatever their new OGL v1.x turns out to be, there needs to be one heck of a carrot. What that might be remains to be seen. [B]Pathfinder[/B] publlsher Paizo has also commented on the latest developments. [callout]We welcome today’s news from Wizards of the Coast regarding their intention not to de-authorize OGL 1.0a. We still believe there is a powerful need for an irrevocable, perpetual independent system-neutral open license that will serve the tabletop community via nonprofit stewardship. Work on the ORC license will continue, with an expected first draft to release for comment to participating publishers in February.[/callout] [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.enworld.org/threads/over-1-500-publishers-support-paizos-upcoming-open-rpg-creators-license.694661/[/URL] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons
Top