D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[Parmandur]

"d20 system" was a terrible marketing move; say "works with Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover, maybe have controls in place.

 

[delericho]

I've got a similar view: What is there that clearly forces there to be a 5e OGL?

WotC have said they intend there to be one. Had they not done so, then by this stage they could quietly drop it and there would probably be little or no reaction.

But having said there will be one, they need to deliver something, or we'll never hear the end of the complaints about their "broken promise".

 

[delericho]

I imagine it would work in that your could reference rules and options (feat names, class features, etc) but would be unable to reprint them. So you could make a new fighter subclass for dragonborn and reference a fighter class feature, the dragonborn race, and a dragonborn race feature but not copy and reprint the text of the powers.

Yep.

(An alternative would be limiting reprinting to, say, the free Basic rules. Which would be a lovely compromise.)

And yep.

Based on the compromises they've struck with some of the Character Builder software offerings, it does appear that they're reasonably happy for people to use the Basic Rules, and adding the ability to at least reference material from the full rules makes providing support much easier (lots more monsters to use for adventures, for example).

 

[Kramodlog]

"d20 system" was a terrible marketing move; say "works with Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover, maybe have controls in place.

How do they get to review content with the small crew they have? They have trouble just overseeing the work of the third parties they have now, thus why SKR was hired.

 

[Kramodlog]

Too much bran is a driving force all its own.

I'm not sure I get what you're saying here. Unless it is about how All Bran helping with numbers twos.

 

[delericho]

How do they get to review content with the small crew they have? They have trouble just overseeing the work of the third parties they have now, thus why SKR was hired.

I agree that they won't have any sort of pre-publication check in place - it would be a really poor use of resources for something that isn't ever going to make any significant money for them.

However, they could phrase the license such that some material and/or topics are off limits, coupled with either a simply kill clause (most likely) or even some sort of punishment for products that are later found to be infringing.

 

[Kramodlog]

I agree that they won't have any sort of pre-publication check in place - it would be a really poor use of resources for something that isn't ever going to make any significant money for them.

However, they could phrase the license such that some material and/or topics are off limits, coupled with either a simply kill clause (most likely) or even some sort of punishment for products that are later found to be infringing.

A kill clause in the OGL would kill the OGL.

Punishment would lead to court, so no different from regular copyright infringement disputes.

As for off limit, aside from deciding what in the core books is open content and what is not, I see nothing good coming from WotC saying stuff like "you can't do psychic stuff" or "steampunk is not tolerated" or "magic mechs are no welcomed". Besides, there are too many ways to find loopholes and it is impossible to cover everything they don't want to be made by 3pp.

 

[delericho]

A kill clause in the OGL would kill the OGL.

Perhaps I misspoke - I meant a clause where they could insist that infringing products be pulled and destroyed, rather than a termination clause for the license as a whole.

As for off limit, aside from deciding what in the core books is open content and what is not, I see nothing good coming from WotC saying stuff like "you can't do psychic stuff" or "steampunk is not tolerated" or "magic mechs are no welcomed".

All the same, I can't imagine them not having some sort of "community standards" clause like the one they inserted into the d20 license to try to block "The Book of Erotic Fantasy".

FWIW, I'm inclined to agree that anything less than the OGL will lead to the new license being essentially ignored. All the same, I have a hard time seeing WotC not tightening up the controls at least a bit.

 

[Kramodlog]

If after SCL is release we do not hear from them on the OGL, I'll consider the OGL to have been dropped.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

I think they should ditch it; 5th Ed is phenomenally successful, it would seem, cannot find a copy of the core books in London (UK).