We Still Need ORC

[Clint_L]

Right -- I am forgetting that WotC isn't an entity, it's made up of people. Whoever wrote those initial goals aren't necessarily the ones holding the reins now.

I think they are definitely not.

 

[Clint_L]

Nobody knows. It doesn't exist yet.

Will it exist? That becomes quite the question, now. WotC just potentially de-incentivized a lot of its supporters. Kobold Press, for example, is a lot more secure than it was.

I suspect it will go ahead because it would be bad optics for it not to, and I am sure that groups like Paizo will still see an upside, but I don't know that it will have much wind in its sails.

 

[Morrus]

Will it exist?

I'm part of the discussion, and there's been no hint of a change of course. Paizo at the very least needs it so it can move off the OGL dependency on WotC to enable its creator community.

 

[tetrasodium]

It might be good to see some sort of orphaned system/orphaned work provision to be included in ORC. For example 2e 4e & oh so many forgotten 90s era systems are good examples of orphaned systems that are no longer in print & might not even be a thing you can purchase digitally their publisher abandoned them or shut down. Plenty of classic old school adventures are in a similar limbo where nobody knows who (if anyone) owns the rights because the author died so long ago. Having a way that allows orphaned works to be more broadly used even if they are initially restricted while supported by their creator would clear up a lot of those type of problems.

 

[Reynard]

It might be good to see some sort of orphaned system/orphaned work provision to be included in ORC. For example 2e 4e & oh so many forgotten 90s era systems are good examples of orphaned systems that are no longer in print & might not even be a thing you can purchase digitally their publisher abandoned them or shut down. Plenty of classic old school adventures are in a similar limbo where nobody knows who (if anyone) owns the rights because the author died so long ago. Having a way that allows orphaned works to be more broadly used even if they are initially restricted while supported by their creator would clear up a lot of those type of problems.

Going out of print doesn't port a work into the public domain, I don't think. Nor does the death of the author. I don't think it is possible to simply take the 4E SRD that was released under the GSL (for example) and release it under ORC and call it a day.

 

[Morrus]

Going out of print doesn't port a work into the public domain, I don't think. Nor does the death of the author.

Well, it does eventually. But not on a timescale that's any use here.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Well, it does eventually. But not on a timescale that's any use here.

The length of time that takes is a travesty in and of itself, but that's neither here nor there.

I really do hope that ORC does eventually grow to be a valid replacement for the dominance of the OGL in the industry. The shakeup would be great to see, from a more global open content perspective.

 

[Umbran]

Lots of choices of license can only be good.

Well, to a point. When each license does things slightly differently, it is easy to get confused, and screw up. And this isn't like using a D&D rule when playing Pathfinder - it is legally relevant.

Also, option paralysis is a thing.

 

[Morrus]

And this isn't like using a D&D rule when playing Pathfinder - it is legally relevant.

Is it now? Who knew!

 

[Reynard]

Do we have a timeline on a publicly available draft of ORC? They said "early February" maybe?