D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[Umbran]

It would have to be a dire mistake to result in a C+D. Aside from protecting trademarks, the violation would have to include wholesale copying of layouts and wordings before I think WotC would take the PR chance of issuing a C+D.

I thought they'd already done several in the past, with no major PR result. Someone correct me if I am incorrect on that. And honestly, if you try to take their current game using a back door, few are going to blame them for saying no. They are not quite so Big Bad Evil Corporation that taking their current baby is seen as ethically sound.

At least 99% of 5e could be sourced from exist OGC.

Numbers out of our butts make our arguments sound solid, without actually making them solid.

And that attention might result in a C+D but that doesn't mean it would result in a full lawsuit if someone had the money to force their hand.

If you have the money to force Hasbro's hand, what are you doing mucking about trying to publish 5e material?

 

[Morrus]

Numbers out of our butts make our arguments sound solid, without actually making them solid.

I don't think it's too far off, to be honest. At least technically (not ethically). What the OGL does for you is open up a whole lexicon of words ("hit points", "armor class", "saving throw", etc.) to you, most of which 5E uses. Even if the meaning or usage of a term changed between editions, the term itself is still available. There are a few new terms in 5E, but I'm struggling to think of many. Backgrounds, traits, bonds, ideals - that stuff is new terminology, as is advantage/disadvantage. Most of the class names, spell names, names of mechanics, names of monsters, all those terms are all carried over though. 99% is a guess, but I don't think it's a wild one.

 

[SigmaOne]

Concentration and inspiration are pretty key new words, though a developer could get by with ignoring them.

 

[jmucchiello]

Concentration and inspiration are pretty key new words, though a developer could get by with ignoring them.

Concentration is not a new key word? It's a 3e skill. It's application is different. But that can be written around. Inspiration is a 3e bard ability. Again, it's application is EXTREMELY different but RPG awards exist in many games. With good writing, you can get past the name "inspiration".

Edit: This bothered me. Concentration is in the d20 srd:

Concentration

The spell lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can also break your concentration while you’re maintaining one, causing the spell to end.

You can’t cast a spell while concentrating on another one. Sometimes a spell lasts for a short time after you cease concentrating.

There is one difference between that and concentration in 5e. The 3e caster cannot attack (standard action) while concentrating on a spell. The 5e caster can. That change is not a stumbling block to creating a 5e SRD.

No, the only real stumbling blocks would be the words advantage and disadvantage: sure they exist in common parlance. But associating them with die rolls would be tricky. There are probably a couple other things like that I'm overlooking at the moment. But the rest is just minor stuff.

I don't want to derail this thread with a "how-to OGL 5e" discussion though. I doubt anyone is going to do it. Until 6th edition comes out.

 

[neobolts]

Numbers out of our butts make our arguments sound solid, without actually making them solid.

This is way too evocative of an elderly person talking about their stool consistency. LOL

 

[jmucchiello]

Numbers out of our butts make our arguments sound solid, without actually making them solid.

True for random butts. But I've lived by the 3e SRD and studied other SRDs, and read how OSRIC and the similar OGCification projects have worked. And I've written 5e material for my own games. 99% is taken strictly from my small intestine where it's still swimming in nutrients. I don't have to wait for to reach my butt before making up that number.

 

[aramis erak]

You didn't note that the legal update was about a *settlement*, not a ruling, so it was initiated by the companies, not the courts, and so on the company timelines? And you figure all those bigwigs from Hasbro and WB who are quoted did so under time pressure from the Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, and had no control on when the articles appeared? And the remarkable structural and content similarities between the various articles are just convergent reporting, and not a number of outlets all basing off the same orchestrated press release?

My understanding is that those magazines collude quite a bit with companies in respect to timing of such articles. The Monday announcement was no accident.

In the US, settlements for an already filed suit still have to go through the judge anyway. And the judges can (and sometimes do) reject them.

 

[prosfilaes]

What the OGL does for you is open up a whole lexicon of words ("hit points", "armor class", "saving throw", etc.) to you,

I'm not aware that WotC had trademarks on those words. Copyright simply doesn't protect words like that*, and most of those words have seen use elsewhere in other games. As was said at the dawn of the OGL, copyright didn't stop Palladium Fantasy and Rifts from being written.

* "Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases." US Copyright Office FAQ

 

[Morrus]

I'm not aware that WotC had trademarks on those words. Copyright simply doesn't protect words like that*, and most of those words have seen use elsewhere in other games. As was said at the dawn of the OGL, copyright didn't stop Palladium Fantasy and Rifts from being written.

* "Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases." US Copyright Office FAQ

It's not about copyright. That's not its intent. The OGL is a safe harbour declaration. An agreement.

You absolutely don't *need* the OGL. But it makes your life a thousand times easier. You know that WotC will not challenge you on those items.

 

[prosfilaes]

It's not about copyright. That's not its intent. The OGL is a safe harbour declaration. An agreement.

Agreements are made because there's a colorable claim on one side. There may be other factors besides copyright, but copyright was a huge factor in the OGL. Nobody needed a safe harbor from those terms.

You absolutely don't *need* the OGL. But it makes your life a thousand times easier. You know that WotC will not challenge you on those items.

When it comes to 5E, it's important to know what you need the OGL for. If you're stressing about words, then you're not stressing about larger things, the things that WotC might have a much more solid case on. You can have red wizards, but you can't have Ed Izards if they are a copy of the Red Wizards of Thay. Stress not about the word "dragonborn", but the concept of "dragonborn".