D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[dmccoy1693]

I don't recall the "90 day" deadline. I remember Mearls talking somewhere (the final Legends & Lore article?) about planning to announce the details of the OGL in the new year and release sometime after that. We haven't heard a peep about the OGL since then.

It feels less like they're working around a delay and more like they silently killed it and are hoping if they remain silent long enough, people will stop asking and they won't have to generate any negative publicity by announcing its cancellation.

Also, I'm uncertain of the influence of jury duty in this situation. They've been forthcoming regarding the delayed conversion guides because of jury duty but have ignore direct questions relating to the OGL and jury duty, being unwilling to comment if it's a factor or not. Invoking "jury duty" would get people off their back regarding the OGL and quiet threads like this. While people are irritated by the delays, it's certainly an understandable situation.But they haven't.

Of course, even if it is delayed by Jury Duty that doesn't mean it'll be ready right after things ends, it just means they can resume working where they left off. If things were ready and just needed a rubber stamp then it's September. But if work still needed to be done it'll be much longer. Getting back to work after 6+ months way is a painful process and it takes a while to become efficient again and remember where you left off. Half-finished projects often have to be restarted from scratch. And there'll be all the urgent stuff and new work that has been generated over the absence. It's very likely old projects people have demonstrated they can live without will be cancelled or sidelined. So even IF the OGL was delayed due to jury duty, the licence might still end up never seeing the light of day.

My crew and I pretty much came to this conclusion.

Coincidentally, check out Deadly Delves: Rescue from Tyrkaven for 5e and Pay What You Want for it.

 

[dmccoy1693]

The GSL was out a month after the 4e books.

Don't forget, this delay of one month after the launch of the system was one of the main factors that created Pathfinder. Paizo had employees to pay and a production schedule to keep. A delay like this would have cost jobs. Had Wizards moved about 6-8 months before launch (like they talked about several times beforehand), Paizo, Green Ronin and others might have had time to negotiate the revised license (or possibly an even better license) and D&D might have stayed king.

The fact that 1) there is no license at this point in time and 2) no one at Wizards is willing (or possibly able) to talk publicly (or even privately to me) about a license tells me that it is dead in the water and my only real option to proceed is to go with existing avenues.

Edit: Even if it ever does come out, a delay this big is going to make me read it with a much more scrutenous eyes than had it come out in January. A delay of this long has told me it is not a priority at best and viewed as a potential threat at worst. Kill clauses like the GSL had would be non-starters for me at this point. It would have to be of OGL level of forever lasting to make me sign on.

 

[delericho]

I disagree. I think the original plan was to announce something 90 days or so after the LAST of the core books (which would have been around March 10)...

I don't recall the "90 day" deadline. I remember Mearls talking somewhere (the final Legends & Lore article?) about planning to announce the details of the OGL in the new year...

The fact that 1) there is no license at this point in time and 2) no one at Wizards is willing (or possibly able) to talk publicly...

Just a thought: has anyone actually asked them specifically if there's any update on the OGL recently? After all, the last update on the conversion guides was in response to someone asking directly.

(I would, but I'm not on Twitter.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

I've got no problem with one thread.

AND I think that no news isn't necessarily bad news on the OGL front. They'll tell us when they're ready and if they've quietly killed it, I expect that to be telegraphed, too.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Deleted post.

 

[Wicht]

Tough luck, you subscribers. Any real news will most probably not arrive in this particular thread.

Let it rest. Your opinion has been duly noted more than once. More than once today even.

 

[Wicht]

Edit: Even if it ever does come out, a delay this big is going to make me read it with a much more scrutenous eyes than had it come out in January. A delay of this long has told me it is not a priority at best and viewed as a potential threat at worst. Kill clauses like the GSL had would be non-starters for me at this point. It would have to be of OGL level of forever lasting to make me sign on.

Yeah - I really find it hard to see how intentionally delaying a 5e OGL for a few years is in anyway going to make it better received.

I admit, when I read some months back that individuals in Wizards had made private assurances of an OGL for 5e I allowed my hopes to get up, but its looking like a real no show.

 

[Wicht]

They'll tell us when they're ready and if they've quietly killed it, I expect that to be telegraphed, too.

How would you expect them to telegraph it? Perhaps by refusing to talk about it anymore?

 

[dmccoy1693]

I admit, when I read some months back that individuals in Wizards had made private assurances of an OGL for 5e I allowed my hopes to get up, but its looking like a real no show.

You and me both. I hold out hope, but not enough to make me delay releases.

 

[Jester David]

Just a thought: has anyone actually asked them specifically if there's any update on the OGL recently? After all, the last update on the conversion guides was in response to someone asking directly.

(I would, but I'm not on Twitter.)

I've fired a few tweets at Mearls, once after the jury duty delay was announced. No response.