D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[Miladoon]

The wave of the future is announce a 5E compatible product with all the appropriate wording changed to comply with an old OGL, even though the intent is to make money off of a current system that is clearly not an open game product.

Obfuscation, everyone is doing it.

 

[Charles Wright]

The last time he spoke about licensing, it was for a fan license. Which is all well and good, but still leaves me wondering if they will officially support 3PPs filling the holes in product development that they are apparently unwilling to fill themselves. (Or don't have the staff to do so, or are barred from doing, or whatever the situation is.)

I'm just hoping it's not another 4E-like license.

 

[Morrus]

I dunno. But their officially licensed virtual tabletop partner is explicitly supporting a third party's content.

 

[Miladoon]

yeah, when I read that I kind of expect an announcement by WoTC soon. I can only assume that there is stuff going on behind closed doors.

 

[darjr]

He did say in a podcast that the license would not be what people are expecting but be great none the less.

 

[Wicht]

I'm just hoping it's not another 4E-like license.

Well, at this point the 4E license, by dint of actually existing, is far superior.

 

[Charles Wright]

Well, at this point the 4E license, by dint of actually existing, is far superior.

I know that you're joking, but at least you can make 5E compatible material and not have to cease producing any other OGL material.

 

[Morrus]

I know that you're joking, but at least you can make 5E compatible material and not have to cease producing any other OGL material.

You could do that then, too, by doing with 4E what folks are currently doing with 5E. For some reason, nobody did. Probably because the GSL existed so they felt it was use that or nothing.

 

[Charles Wright]

I think that it's because it was much more difficult to emulate 4E with the OGL than it is to emulate 5E. (No reflection on how FGG is doing it as I wasn't involved in that part of it.)

 

[Hussar]

It would be pretty hard to make OGL 4e products since so many of the terms that are used in 4e don't exist in the SRD. Push, pull, slide jump to mind, and that, right there, would make doing an OGL 4e product pretty tricky.

5e doesn't use a whole lot of new terms, although the terms might be defined differently. So, you can use the OGL with a 5e product, without too much of a language issue.