D&D and Wizards of the Coast OGL Breakdown: All You Need to Know
By LUKE SPENCE/Staff Writer, BREANNA BOLLE/Staff Writer
After announcing a new edition of Dungeon & Dragons, called “One D&D”, Wizards of the Coast announced a revision to the Open Gaming License, worrying many in the community.
What is D&D?
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) in which players make up an unlikely group of heroes exploring a world led by the Dungeon Master (DM), who guides them on a quest. When a player makes a decision, they roll for whether those actions work as the DM calls for it. It is a collective creative game, where the constant actions of the group form the world they play in.
Open Gaming License:
Photograph: Wizards of the Coast
The OGL (Open Gaming License) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) allowing developers to use its rules for redistribution and publishing means. This allows companies such as Paizo to create varied TTRPGs such as Pathfinder and Starfinder that share some rule and lore aspects without infringing on WotC’s creative properties.
The OGL v1.0a was published in the year 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, three years after acquiring Dungeons & Dragons from its parent company Tactical Studies Rules, Inc.
To define what was allowed under the OGL, WotC created a Systems Reference Document (SRD) that included the basic rules or mechanics of the game that would be available for publishers to use.
“One D&D” & Leaked Updated OGL:
A D&D game pack in 1983. Photo Courtesy: David Pimborough/Alamy
However, in light of WotC’s new revised D&D rules, called “One D&D”, it was announced there would be an updated OGL in place.
This revised draft, the OGL v1.1, was leaked in early January and revealed that the OGL v1.0a would be unauthorized and replaced by the new version. This meant that many TTRPG publishing companies that created products under the original OGL would be forced to quickly change their content and distribution to comply with the new set of rules and allowed for the potential of WotC imposing royalty payments and creative control on the third-party publisher’s work.
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” Movie Poster. Photo Courtesy: IMDb
Fans Revolt
The leak of the document, first reported by Gizmodo, who says was “provided to [them] by a non-WotC developer,” was spread among content creators within the TTRPG community, inciting a massive backlash.
A prominent leak included the full OGL 1.1 document as shared by Roll for Combat, an actual play podcast.
Amid the silence from WotC, fans started an #OpenDND petition, shared by thousands. The petition included an open letter to the company as an outcry for what ending the OGL v1.0a could mean and resistance to what the leaked OGL 1.1 document implicated.
Fans united through social media platforms, with influential activists inciting mass cancellations of WotC’s online toolset subscription, D&D Beyond, and the boycotting of the upcoming movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
WotC’s Response
Due to this backlash, WotC retracted their OGL 1.1 on Jan. 13, claiming that it was meant to be a draft subjected to content creator and publisher feedback.
D&D Executive Producer Kyle Brink. Photo Courtesy: LinkedIn
On Jan. 18, the executive producer of D&D, Kyle Brink, announced another OGL draft (OGL 1.2) in a post on D&D Beyond. He discussed that there will be a survey and a new draft of the OGL 1.2 which would be open to anyone willing to provide feedback on the draft.
Jan. 19 Brink released another post on D&D Beyond describing implications of an OGL 1.2 and the accompanying survey, what their goals would be with the new draft, as well as the full OGL 1.2 document, with the survey releasing the next day on Jan. 20.
While they claimed the survey would remain open until Feb. 3, a post on Jan. 27 announced the closing of the survey, discussing the results beforehand. WotC revealed that with over 15,000 responses, it was made clear that the OGL 1.2 was unwanted, providing that 88% of the responses would not publish content in the OGL 1.2 and that 89% were dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.
They continued, asserting they would leave the OGL 1.0a untouched, as well as make the entire SRD available under a Creative Commons license, effectively enabling the free distribution and manipulation of D&D’s rules.
Since then, the company has fulfilled its promise, providing the SRD 5.1 a Creative Commons license that is available online now. As WotC says, putting the SRD under a Creative Commons license is irrevocable, and remains in the public domain indefinitely, but despite this victory for the TTRPG community, there remains irrefutable damage between many of its members and WotC.
A New Future?
Before WotC responded to the initial backlash, many smaller publishing companies rallied under the aforementioned Paizo to create an Open RPG Creative License (ORC) in favor of an agnostic system that would no longer rely on D&D’s then-uncertain future within the OGL. Presently, Paizo has not stood down on the ORC license creation, which may signify a new start in the TTRPG community.
OTHER STORIES
Valentine’s Day: The Violent History
The Mentoring Alliance Provides Blessings with UT Tyler Scholarship