The Day Has Come! It's An OGL! And A Store To Buy & Sell D&D 5E Products!

The day has finally come! WotC has just announced a Dungeon Master's Guild. "There’s a new way to buy and share D&D adventures. With the Dungeon Master’s Guild, you’ll be able to self-publish material set in the Forgotten Realms using monsters, spells, characters, and locations." You can self-publish D&D materials, and buy, sell, and share it. It's a partnership between WotC and OBS (the company which runs DTRPG and RPGNow) and they take 50% of the revenue. The guild is only accepting 5E material set in the Forgotten Realms. Not only that, but there's also a new SRD (System Reference Document) for use with the Open Gaming License (OGL)!

The day has finally come! WotC has just announced a Dungeon Master's Guild. "There’s a new way to buy and share D&D adventures. With the Dungeon Master’s Guild, you’ll be able to self-publish material set in the Forgotten Realms using monsters, spells, characters, and locations." You can self-publish D&D materials, and buy, sell, and share it. It's a partnership between WotC and OBS (the company which runs DTRPG and RPGNow) and they take 50% of the revenue. The guild is only accepting 5E material set in the Forgotten Realms. Not only that, but there's also a new SRD (System Reference Document) for use with the Open Gaming License (OGL)!

So the store, called the Dungeon Master's Guild, is here. It already has some stuff in it. The System Reference Document is here. I'm sure that over the coming days, there will be plenty of in-depth analysis of what all this means. The SRD is an enormous 360-page PDF containing the rules of the game - as yet I haven't had chance to look closely art what's there and what's not. You have two options - publish under the OGL using the SRD, or publish in the Dungeon Master's Guild. The former lets you do more varied stuff, while the latter has tempting nuggets like the possibility of publication by WotC. The OGL route - as far as I can see at first glance - doesn't offer a way to indicate compatibility, or any kind of logo you can use.

There's a bunch of information on the DG (I'll call it that for the moment, because typing out the whole thing is already getting arduous - we need an acronym, and DMG is already taken!), and here are the salient points as far as I can tell:

  • You can use a bunch of WotC's IP, including brand names and other vital stuff.
  • It's affiliated with DTRPG, and if you charge money it costs you 50% of your revenue (DTRPG normally charges 40% or so).
  • There are resources - templates stock art, et. you can use.
  • Your work has to be set in the Forgotten Realms. Additional settings may open up later. [UPDATE - you can publish setting agnostic stuff, but if it's in a setting, that setting must be FR]
  • You have to agree to a Community Content Agreement (below).
  • You cannot sell your stuff elsewhere. It's an exclusive deal.
  • You keep ownership of your own IP, but others can use it.
  • Your work might be selected for use in an official D&D product or video game.
  • There's no approval process, but they reserve the right to withhold payment and pull your content if you break the content guidelines.



DMsGuild-Logo.png


[h=4]The Community Content Agreement[/h]
For those having trouble finding it, here it is:

This Community Content Agreement (this “Agreement”) is a binding agreement between you, the individual identified by your customer account on this website or the legal entity you represent, and OneBookShelf, Inc. (“OBS”) the parent company of website marketplaces including DriveThruRPG, RPGNow and more.


This Agreement covers your participation in and use of the Dungeon Masters Guild and the website, www.DMsGuild.com (the “Program”).
1. Acceptance
You accept this Agreement by clicking “I Agree” to set up and submit a new title (the “Work”) to OBS.


2. Intellectual Property Definitions
(a) Hasbro, Inc. d/b/a Wizards of the Coast LLC (collectively, the “Owner”) has granted OBS the right to use elements of Owner’s Dungeons & Dragon tabletop roleplaying game (“Owner’s IP”) and sublicense certain limited rights to you under the terms of this Agreement.
Owner’s IP includes any and all Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying materials and content made available to you through the Program including, but not limited to:
Dungeons & Dragons rule sets
Portions and elements of Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings
Artwork and other graphic templates and materials
Owner’s IP may be amended at any time and for any reason whatsoever without liability to you. However, any Work published in the Program prior to the removal of Owner’s IP will not require the removal or amendment of that Work.
(b) “Program IP” shall be defined as any User Generated Content (defined, below) distributed by the Program.
(c) “User Generated Content” shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement.

3. Account Information; Account Suspension.

(a) Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must have an active user account in order to participate in the Program. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with establishing your account, such as your name, address and email, is accurate when you provided it, and you must keep it up to date as long as you use the Program. You may maintain only one account at a time. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You also consent to our sending you emails related to the Program and other publishing opportunities. This consent regarding contacting you by email takes precedence over any contrary directions you may have given us, including through a Wizards website.
(b) Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorized the activities. You may not permit any third party to use the Program through your account and will not use the account of any third party. You agree to immediately notify OneBookShelf.com of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account.
(c) Account Suspension. We may suspend your account or your participation in the Dungeon Masters Guild at any time. You acknowledge that if we do so, you may be prevented from accessing communications and content on the Dungeon Masters Guild. If we suspend your account, you must stop using all Dungeon Masters Guild accounts and you will not create any new accounts.

4. Rights Granted to You.

(a) Subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, OBS grants you the limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, personal, worldwide and revocable right to use and otherwise incorporate Owner’s IP and Program IP into your Work(s) for distribution through the Program or other platforms and channels at the sole discretion of Owner.
(b) Except for short promotional excerpts used to promote your Work, you may not display, recreate, publish, distribute or sell your Work (or derivatives thereof) outside of the Program administered on OBS websites or through other platforms or channels authorized or offered by Owner.

5. Rights You Grant to OBS

(a) No Reversion. Due to our licensing arrangement with the Owner and the collaborative nature of the Program, you are granting us broad licenses in your Work and your User Generated Content included in your Work, and the rights to your Work will not be reverted once it is published in the Program. You will have the ability through online tools at OBS websites to stop public display and sale of your Work on OBS marketplaces, but not to stop the sale of works of other authors in the Program even when such works use your User Generated Content that you originally created in your Work and thereby became part of the Program IP for other authors to use.
(b) Exclusive License to your Work. Effective as of the date you setup your Work through the Program on OBS’s website, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to develop,
license, reproduce, print, publish, distribute, translate, display, publicly perform and transmit your Work, in whole and in part, in each country in the world, in all languages and formats, and by all means now known or later developed, and the right to prepare derivative works of your Work.
(c) Exclusive License to all User Generated Content in your Work. Effective as of the date we first make your Work available through the Program, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to all User Generated Content included in your Work. You agree that the User Generated Content is available for unrestricted use by us without any additional compensation, notification or attribution, including that we may allow other Program authors, the Owner and other third parties to use the User Generated Content.
6. Waiver of Claims; Waiver of Moral Rights.
In order to prevent legal claims that could be disruptive to the Program participants or impede the ability of you and other Program authors to participate in the Program, you irrevocably waive any legal claim you may have under any theory of law in any territory that your rights were infringed due to any use of your User Generated Content by us, the Owner or its affiliates, licensees and sublicensees, and/or any other Program authors, including copyright infringement. This waiver does not apply to royalty payments we may owe you under Section 7. You also irrevocably waive any moral rights in your Work and agree not to assert any moral rights in your Work against us, the Owner, and/or other Program authors. If, under any applicable law, this waiver of moral rights is not effective, you acknowledge that your Work is subject to the licenses you grant in Section 4 without any credit obligation, that you intend for your Work to be used in this way, and that this form of use will not be contrary to your moral rights.

7. Royalties and Payments

(a) Royalties. As full consideration of the rights you grant us under this Agreement, we will pay you a 50% royalty of the price paid on digital download format sales of your Work, and a 50% royalty on the print margin of print-on-demand sales of your Work. Print Margin is the amount paid less the print cost to physically manufacture the book as listed on OBS websites.
(b) Sales taxes and freight charges are not considered part of the price paid.
(c) No royalties accrue on sales resulting in consumer refunds, charge backs, or fraud.
(d) Royalties are computed in US dollars.
(e) Royalties are paid via PayPal. You shall have access on OBS websites to a webpage that allows you to withdraw accumulated royalties to your PayPal account. OBS may deduct a fee of $2 or PayPal’s prevailing fee for its MassPay service from each payment to you.
(f) OBS or Owner may send complimentary copies of your work for reasonable promotional and administrative purposes. No royalties shall be paid to you on such copies.
(g) You shall set the sale price of your Work. OBS may include your Work in site promotional sales events at discounts up to 40% off your normal sale price.
(h) Royalties on a sale of your Work shall be eligible for your withdrawal 60 days after the sale.

8. Representations, Warranties and Indemnity.

You represent and warrant that:
(a) You are old enough to form a legally binding contract.
(b) If you are accepting this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the legal authority to bind that company or legal entity.
(c) Excluding the Owner’s IP and Program IP which we license to you, you are the sole owner of all rights in your Work.
(d) Your Work does not contain material that is libelous; that violates the copyrights or trademarks of another party; that violates the law; or that the general public would classify as pornography.
You will indemnify and hold OBS and Owner harmless from any liability or cause of action arising from any breach of your representations and warranties including all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

9. No Obligation to Make Available or Sell. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to market, distribute, or offer for sale your Work, or to continuing marketing, distributing or selling your Work after we have started doing so. We may remove your Work from the Program and cease further exploitation at any time in our sole discretion without notice to you.

10. Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE AND THE OWNER WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR (OR OWNER) LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY US TO YOU UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM AND (II) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00). WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE PROGRAM, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU AGREE THAT WE CANNOT ENSURE THAT EDITIONS OF YOUR USER GENERATED CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. ONEBOOKSHELF WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT OUR SYSTEMS WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTEM OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES; AS SUCH THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN ITS ENTIRETY.

11. Execution of Further Agreements and Documents. Protection of rights sometimes requires formal filings of paper documents and it may be helpful for us to have physical signed versions of this Agreement or other documents. You agree to sign and deliver to us any further documents that we may reasonably request to confirm your grant of rights to us (and Owner) under this Agreement, following all instructions we provide for signature and return (“Additional Documents”). If you do not complete and return any such Additional Documents within 30 days after we request them, you agree that we can sign the Additional Documents on your behalf and, to make your agreement legally enforceable, you hereby irrevocably appoint us as your attorney-in-fact with full power to execute, acknowledge and deliver the Additional Documents as required to confirm our rights. In legal terms, your appointment is a power coupled with an interest.

12. No Rescission or Injunctive Relief. All rights granted to us (and Owner) under this Agreement are irrevocably vested. No breach by us (or Owner) of this Agreement will entitle you to equitable relief, whether injunctive or otherwise, against or with respect to your User Generated Content or any other works produced pursuant to the rights granted under this Agreement or their exploitation. If the rights granted to OBS (or Owner) under this Agreement should revert to you under any copyright law or similar law, and if you are at any time thereafter prepared to enter an agreement with a third party for the license, exercise or other disposition of all or any of those rights, you will, before entering into the agreement, give OBS and Owner notice of the proposed terms (and all modifications of the terms) and the party involved. In each case, both OBS and Owner will then have 10 business days in which to elect to acquire the rights involved on the terms you offered to that third party.

13. General Provisions.
(a) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court or other tribunal with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement does not waive the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision.
(b) The parties are independent contractors with respect to each other. This Agreement does not constitute and shall not be construed as constituting a partnership or joint venture among the parties hereto, or an employee/employer relationship.
(c) This Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns.
(d) You agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Program, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of the United States and by the laws of the State of Washington without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts in King County, Washington, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue. The preceding provision regarding venue does not apply if you are a consumer based in the European Union. If you are a consumer based in the European Union, you may make a claim in the courts of the country where you reside. Any claim under this Agreement must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause of action is barred. You expressly acknowledge and agree that no recovery may be sought or received for damages other than out-of-pocket expenses, except that the prevailing party will be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. In the event of any controversy or dispute between us and you arising out of or in connection with your use of the Program, the parties shall attempt, promptly and in good faith, to resolve any such dispute. If we are unable to resolve any such dispute within a reasonable time (not to exceed thirty (30) days), then either party may submit such controversy or dispute to mediation. If the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation, then the parties shall be free to pursue any right or remedy available to them under applicable law.
Changelog


We will update this section if/when we make updates to this Agreement.
 

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Kite474

Explorer
Ok, sure, but you'd still need a copy of the Player's Handbook or Basic PDF to actually play your adventure. That's fine for an adventure, but would be unfortunate for someone looking to make a new not-quite-d&d core book or something. One of the main things I like about a system with an OGL SRD available is the theoretical ability to keep the game alive past the point where WotC (or whoever) is supporting the game. Ideally, a playable subset of the game would be available in OGL content so you could relatively easily make a pathfinder style new game if WotC closes up shop or goes off the deep end or something. This SRD is very close to being that, I'm totally sure it could be done, but there are some weird omissions like this that make it harder (as opposed to the obviously intentional omissions, like the lack of almost all of the backgrounds and feats, which also make it harder, but are unlikely to be changed in a revised version of the SRD).
Well they are intending for this Edition to last as long as humanly possible. Also I have a feeling that if for some reason they would leave this Edition behind the CRB would most likely be available via PDF from their site by that point and if not...... There are other ways, ways in which the internet is really really good at.
 

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designbot

Explorer
Legally speaking, it's really not clearly defined what you can or can't do on the Dungeon Master's Guild. You're supposed to read the Content Guidelines, which explicitly grant permission to use the Forgotten Realms, but do not place any restrictions on creating your own campaign setting. Then you're supposed to click through a Community Content Agreement, which grants permission to use "Owner's IP" including "Portions and elements of Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings", but again, places no restrictions on using your own setting.

It looks like there's nothing stopping you from hosting stuff using your own campaign setting on the Dungeon Master's Guild—you just might not want to if you want to retain any exclusive copyright to it:

“User Generated Content” shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement.
 

carmachu

Explorer
Meh.
That's not an unvalid complaint. But it's pushing. It's a weak complaint.

We've never been able to publish using any of their IP before. Fanzines have done so, but toed the line in the process. Now they're opening up their most popular world for free use and people are complaining.
Even Paizo doesn't let you make money off their IP. You can use their settings, but ONLY for non-commercial ventures.

It's like giving everyone iced cream and having them complain is isn't their favourite flavour.
But further some of us want stuff that can be dropped into any setting and not have to constantly reskin it like the last 3 AP's that have come out for 5th.

Its only weak to you, if you like FR. If you dont, its more valid, but its still good to have it then not(OGL)

Not really. Not everyone likes FR, although quite a few do.
 

rooneg

Adventurer
I think the omissions are the point that it is for adventures, NPC templates, monsters, etc not for someone to try and create 5e clone. However, I am of the opinion that this is last of the "reboot" editions like what happen between 2e and 3e or 4e and 5e. The definition of what an edition is from here on out will similar to the 1e and 2e transition as "wintergreen" edition.

Oh, I think it's pretty clear (based just on the single feat and background that were included) that WotC doesn't want it to be trivial to bootstrap a new game based on this SRD. That said, I hope they look at the bug reports and at least tweak some of the spell lists so that the content they've released can be internally consistent, just because it's weird to refer to spells that don't exist in the SRD.

As to new versions post 5e, I'm not sure. We'll have to see where WotC is in 10 years. Regardless, I LOVE the fact that this SRD exists and could be used to bootstrap a new 5e style game in the future. It's truly my favorite version of D&D, and I'm extremely pleased to see that the elements I like (pseudo-vancian casting with spells that scale based on spell slot level, advantage/disadvantage, the idea of backgrounds) are clearly there in OGL content so they can be reused. Yes, you probably could have done that with judicious use of older OGL content, but it's far easier now, which means it's now essentially certain that there will always exist a 5e style RPG I can use.
 

Bugleyman

First Post
Personally, 5E won't be viable for me until I can get the complete rules in a stand-alone digital format -- I'm done being at the mercy of books going out of print -- but this is a step in the right direction, and I applaud it as such.
 
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WotC_Trevor

First Post
But further some of us want stuff that can be dropped into any setting and not have to constantly reskin it like the last 3 AP's that have come out for 5th.

Its only weak to you, if you like FR. If you dont, its more valid, but its still good to have it then not(OGL)

Not really. Not everyone likes FR, although quite a few do.

I'll drop this in here again because the conversation is moving so fast. Something like what you're talking about, something that isn't specific to any setting and isn't skinned with any specific campaign or IP in mind, is totally able to be hosted, shared and sold on the DMs Guild site. You can do this right now, and several people already have (new class and class features from Matt Mercer, Monsters as PCs from Kobold press, etc.).
 
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BoldItalic

First Post
Am I right in thinking that the reason for including just one subrace/subclass/feat etc. in the SRD is not to provide a complete game but rather to provide a precedent (and thus implied permission) for creating your own custom subraces/subclasses/feats and so on for your OGL content?
 

Shadow Demon

Explorer
Oh, I think it's pretty clear (based just on the single feat and background that were included) that WotC doesn't want it to be trivial to bootstrap a new game based on this SRD. That said, I hope they look at the bug reports and at least tweak some of the spell lists so that the content they've released can be internally consistent, just because it's weird to refer to spells that don't exist in the SRD.

As to new versions post 5e, I'm not sure. We'll have to see where WotC is in 10 years. Regardless, I LOVE the fact that this SRD exists and could be used to bootstrap a new 5e style game in the future. It's truly my favorite version of D&D, and I'm extremely pleased to see that the elements I like (pseudo-vancian casting with spells that scale based on spell slot level, advantage/disadvantage, the idea of backgrounds) are clearly there in OGL content so they can be reused. Yes, you probably could have done that with judicious use of older OGL content, but it's far easier now, which means it's now essentially certain that there will always exist a 5e style RPG I can use.

Yep, there is nothing here that I disagree with. It is just so extremely unlikely that Hasbro/WoTC would have ever put out an 5e OGL if the plan wasn't to keep "core" forever. Especially, considering how they got burned the last time they abandoned their ruleset. Yeah, archetypes are going to change over time, monsters are going to get tweaked, spells are going to be added. This SRD "core" is going to be D&D for the long haul.
 

Staffan

Legend
Note: There is a long paragraph of Product Identity at the start of the SRD. Creators should play attention. Also, the actual text of the SRD is Open Content! What does that mean? You can't copy it and sell it as a book. Frankly, that inclusion is subtly brilliant. Also, for 5e purists, the DM's Guild + D&D Marketplace is looking like a nice opportunity...

That's not how Open Content works. Open Content is the stuff people get to use under the OGL. Product Identity is reserving a portion of what would otherwise be open content as off-limits.

For example, let's say you're writing a book about the gods of your setting. You could do a Open Content/Product Identity declaration that goes something like this: "All spells, feats, magic items, stat blocks, and other game mechanics in this book are Open Content. Names of people, places, organizations, and so on are Product Identity." You should probably be more specific than that, but it works for the purposes of this example.

Then, your book contains this feat:

Blessing of Anderia

You have been blessed by Anderia, goddess of war. Once per encounter, you can call upon her power to gain advantage on all attacks for a round, and any attacks against you have disadvantage until the start of your next turn.

Then, another creator could include that feat in a hypothetical book, as long as they didn't mention Anderia. Perhaps they could instead call it "Blessing of the War Goddess".


On the downside...

You write a book of archetypes for the dmsguild. You publish them there and they sell pretty well.

I come along and cherry pick the 4 best out of that, republish them in my guide for fighters that includes some of my own info and archetypes. I say it was from "CapnZapp" really tiny print at the beginning where most contributions are. It steps up to the front page and makes a lot of money, you get nothing even though those were your original ideas.

I'm a bit more protective of my ideas, so I don't see this as a good deal. If your ideas haven't been seen anywhere or are radically different than the normal tropes of D&D yet you want to use 5E as a base, I would advise selling elsewhere and keeping your rights a bit more.
What you're missing is that the DM's Guild is under the control of Wizards, which means they can say "That's not how this is supposed to work. Bad Barantor! No soup for you!" Moreover, they have explicitly said that they will do that:

DM's Guild Content Guidelines said:
Create, don’t copy. We reserve the right to stop publishing and selling your work if we think it goes against the spirit of the Dungeon Masters Guild program. All authors should respectfully use the content originally created by Wizards of the Coast or other Dungeon Masters Guild creators. For example, if a Dungeon Masters Guild author releases a trilogy of adventures, and another author takes those three adventures, compiles them, and republishes them as a single collection, without substantive original additions or changes, then we would stop publishing and selling that collected work because it adds no value to the Dungeon Masters Guild community content. It’s simply one author copying another author’s work and looking to make a royalty on it.

Also, if you were releasing stuff under the OGL instead, people could do exactly what you say, without any recourse at all. And still, people have been releasing a lot of stuff under the OGL over the last 15 years. Paizo are releasing their whole Pathfinder RPG under the OGL, and they seem to be doing fine. There are numerous settings released as OGL, and they have been doing OK.
 

Barantor

Explorer
What you're missing is that the DM's Guild is under the control of Wizards, which means they can say "That's not how this is supposed to work. Bad Barantor! No soup for you!" Moreover, they have explicitly said that they will do that:

It is, but they won't go after me if I give credit to you for the original idea, and I add new content on to it to make it more of my own. I could have 2 of your archetypes, 8 of my own and it wouldn't go against their Terms of Service so long as I give you text credit.

From the DMsg Site: http://www.dmsguild.com/whatisdmsguild.php
If I use content from other DMs Guild authors, do I need to credit them?
As more authors contribute to the DMs Guild’s pool of community content, we do not expect to maintain perfect attribution every time an author re-uses elements originally contributed by another author. Such attributions are not strictly required. However, we do think two things would be best practices for all DMs Guild contributors:


  1. When re-using a larger element that you have taken from another DMs Guild author’s work, include a reference to the original work as a link to it on DMsGuild.com within your PDF. For example, if you are using a Rainbow Unicorn creature that you found in another author’s work, you might reference that inside your own work where you provide stats for the Rainbow Unicorn the first time, using an internal citation such as, "(Rainbow Unicorn from Cloud Forest by Jane Doe)"
  2. On your title’s credit page, make a list of such references.

Also this:
Create, don’t copy. We reserve the right to stop publishing and selling your work if we think it goes against the spirit of the Dungeon Masters Guild program. All authors should respectfully use the content originally created by Wizards of the Coast or other Dungeon Masters Guild creators. For example, if a Dungeon Masters Guild author releases a trilogy of adventures, and another author takes those three adventures, compiles them, and republishes them as a single collection, without substantive original additions or changes, then we would stop publishing and selling that collected work because it adds no value to the Dungeon Masters Guild community content. It’s simply one author copying another author’s work and looking to make a royalty on it.

It remains to be seen where their 'line' is on this as it is a new program. I'm of the mind of keeping my ideas out of this pool since I don't care for FR and can sell things just using the OGL/SRD instead. The only temptation I might have is if they put in Greyhawk as an IP, but they seem to be slowly writing that setting out of existence or incorporating it's ideas into FR.
 

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