D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[jimmifett]

I personally saw it all as the Atari Meltdown in the early 80s. Then with heavy licensing terms to get the brand seal of potentially not sucking (at first anyway), Nintendo cleaned it up.

Now we have the intertubuals to research before most of us buy, but parents looking for a neat rpg for their kid doesn't know what's on the shelf, and with OGL style glut, the owner probably doesn't know either, so no one is happy with the end product. Like looking for a decent game on iOS app store or for the wii/wiiU, too much garbage titles creating noise.

 

[Nylanfs]

So with the C&D's going out to Pathguy's (and others?) and the posting of the Ass. Manager to deal with licensing. What's everyones thoughts that the license may be coming out soon? And by soon I'm defining within 3 months.

 

[Gilwen]

personally I'm not expecting anything on the OGL licensing front until at least summer. I could see more third party licenses coming out before then.

 

[DocSun]

Considering that the position expects the person to be at full efficiency within 3 months of being hired. I would expect 3 Months to be the soonest due to the fact that even if they hired someone today and that person was able to start tomorrow they will still have training to go through. I am sure they have received thousands of resumes to go through so it might still be a while. I don't want to get my hopes up, though in my heart I am hoping anyway!

 

[lkj]

Is there an assumption that there isn't someone already there working on licensing? I would be surprised if they really had to wait on this position. But I could easily be wrong.

AD

 

[DocSun]

Is there an assumption that there isn't someone already there working on licensing? I would be surprised if they really had to wait on this position. But I could easily be wrong.

AD

Oh I am sure there is a manager in the position now; hence the role being assistant manager, but to me that means that once they get the person they are looking for they are expecting to need help in that department because of more influx of license applications. Hopefully that denotes a broader license but again I would think they would train the person on the current licensees that use the 5e brand before subjecting them to basically open season.

 

[lkj]

Oh I am sure there is a manager in the position now; hence the role being assistant manager, but to me that means that once they get the person they are looking for they are expecting to need help in that department because of more influx of license applications. Hopefully that denotes a broader license but again I would think they would train the person on the current licensees that use the 5e brand before subjecting them to basically open season.

Oh, I agree that the person won't be up and running in full capacity for a bit. I was responding to the perceived (by me) implication that this meant they wouldn't do anything with licensing for months. Looking back, I fear I read more into your post than was there. My apologies.

AD

 

[Kramodlog]

So with the C&D's going out to Pathguy's (and others?) and the posting of the Ass. Manager to deal with licensing. What's everyones thoughts that the license may be coming out soon? And by soon I'm defining within 3 months.

They need to find that person first and then let him/her settle in the job a bit first. A couple of months are to be expected for this.

What isn't clear is whether that person will oversee RPG and swag licenses or just swag licenses.

Which ever it is, I wouldn't expect a licensed product (that isn't already in the pipeline, if any) before 2016. The products needs to be designed, approved by new license person, produced, distributed and whether I'm forgetting. Maybe 2017 for digital initiatives.

I would be surprised if the new license person was in charge of 3PP licensed RPG products if the new OGL demanded that products need pre-approval from WotC. They are hiring a manager, not a designer. I'm sure pre-approval for 3PP RPG products would need to be oked by the (over worked) design team.

 

[Mark CMG]

personally I'm not expecting anything on the OGL licensing front until at least summer. I could see more third party licenses coming out before then.

Considering that the position expects the person to be at full efficiency within 3 months of being hired. I would expect 3 Months to be the soonest due to the fact that even if they hired someone today and that person was able to start tomorrow they will still have training to go through. I am sure they have received thousands of resumes to go through so it might still be a while. I don't want to get my hopes up, though in my heart I am hoping anyway!

Oh I am sure there is a manager in the position now; hence the role being assistant manager, but to me that means that once they get the person they are looking for they are expecting to need help in that department because of more influx of license applications. Hopefully that denotes a broader license but again I would think they would train the person on the current licensees that use the 5e brand before subjecting them to basically open season.

I don't think this new position has anything to do with the OGL. The OGL requires no applications or licensing oversight. The OGL needs someone on staff to create OGC or a 5E SRD, which would require them to be a writer/editor and maybe have some legal background or a deep understanding of the OGL over the last decade plus. As near as I can tell, they aren't hiring someone with that expertise. The new position looks more like someone to ride herd over the folks to whom they have granted limited licensing to produce 5E compatible material, perhaps with an eye toward adding a few more. I see no reason to believe this will further the idea of WotC working with the OGL in the 5E era. I have seen nothing done that makes me believe there will be use of the OGL in the 5E era. I have seen only a few lines in interviews that reference the OGL and it being part of the WotC plans for the 5E era and only insofar as to kick the idea down the road.

 

[delericho]

I would be surprised if the new license person was in charge of 3PP licensed RPG products if the new OGL demanded that products need pre-approval from WotC.

I really can't see WotC going with any license that requires pre-approval. The problem with doing so is that then they need to employ someone to do the approving. But there's no money in it, so either WotC are going to take the financial hit themselves (yeah, right), or the third-party company needs to pay a fee/royalties for the right to do so. But either the fee would need to be so low that, effectively, WotC are paying for it, or it would be so high as to effectively kill third-party publishing.

However, neither can I see WotC going with the OGL again. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that.

Which means that my best guess is that we'll see something more like the GSL - a license that allows for the creation of certain things (probably adventures and not much else), and allows products to be marked with a designated logo, and which doesn't require any pre-approval but does have some enforcement clauses so WotC can have problematic items pulled if and when they spot a problem.

I further expect such a license to be about as popular as the GSL was - that is, some people will use it, but not many.

All of that assumes we see a license at all. It's fair to say I have my doubts.