Battlezoo Shares The OGL v1.1

Battlezoo, the YouTube channel which shared the initial leak of the new Open Game License, has shared the PDF of the OGL v1.1 draft which is currently circulating. This draft is, presumably, the same document obtained by Gizmodo last week. It's not currently known if this is the final version of the license.

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[FitzTheRuke]

Even if the agreement were reasonable starting from scratch (as @Haplo781 notes, it isn't), it wouldn't be reasonable for WotC to impose it on content that it's spent the last 20 years promising will be freely and perpetually available.

I mean, I agree that I liked the OGL as it stood - I think it's a better approach. The only part I don't get is the absolute vitriol against the new one. It's disappointing, for sure. But it strikes me more as "there goes that era of good times" rather than "here come the dark ages".

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Well that’s not going to happen, since Winninger left the company.

That would certainly be the thing that would appease 3rd party publishers and the fans who are upset about this. I’m not convinced WotC is going to perceive it as the smartest move though.

Yeah I'm pretty sure OGL 1.1 was why, but you kill OGL 1.1 and offer him a promotion to WotC President I suspect he'll come back.

 

[Charlaquin]

“Why the tiers? For one thing, it’s Dungeons and Dragons (and even Our lawyers play); it’s possible We’re not actually sure how to design something without some form of leveling up.”

 

[JDragon]

I mean, I agree that I liked the OGL as it stood - I think it's a better approach. The only part I don't get is the absolute vitriol against the new one. It's disappointing, for sure. But it strikes me more as "there goes that era of good times" rather than "here come the dark ages".

For a number of reasons...
People and companies have put a lot of time & money into making products that use OGL 1.0(a) based on the fact they were told it wouldn't get changed on them and if it did they could still use the current license.

It will likely drastically reduce the amount of content that is available for the game as very few people will have any in writing stuff that essentially then can be used by WotC for free.

 

[OB1]

REVENUE? Yeah, that would be where your only profits lie. I'm on board with this one. that would kill most of the bigger publishers, AFAICT. Which sounds like they're purposefully trying to keep their bigger publishers small. (You'd be much better off making $745K than 1M in that case, which seems strange). It seems to me to be a way of keeping publishers from becoming actual competitors.

To be clear, on $745k in revenue, you pay $0 royalty, but on $1M you pay $50k (with kickstarter) or $62,500 (any other distribution). Which is high, but if you are expecting to reach that level of revenue, you can also go to WotC for a custom agreement.

 

[Charlaquin]

Do they still publish PF1 material? If so, that would suck for them, yes. But again, didn't Paizo essentially use D&D's ruleset to build D&D's biggest competition?

Ironically, they only did that in the first place because WotC tried to get rid of the OGL. Had 4e been published under the OGL, Paizo would have been happy to just keep making 3rd party content for it. It was the GSL and its “poison pill” that made Paizo go “well, guess we’ll just keep making 3.5e then.”

Is that really "fair" to D&D? Is it unreasonable for D&D's owners to have a problem with that?

What’s unreasonable is D&D’s owners spending decades benefiting from having everyone and their mother making content for D&D on their own dime, all the while promising they’d be able to keep doing so forever, only to pull the rug out from under them and say “now start paying us or shut down.” Forgive me if I’m more concerned about what’s fair to the small independent publishers than what’s fair to the billion dollar corporation.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

For a number of reasons...
People and companies have put a lot of time & money into making products that use OGL 1.0(a) based on the fact they were told it wouldn't get changed on them and if it did they could still use the current license.

It will likely drastically reduce the amount of content that is available for the game as very few people will have any in writing stuff that essentially then can be used by WotC for free.

I completely understand why someone who makes their living as a 3PP would be upset (angry even, if that's how they roll). And those of us who feel like we're "friends" with publishers like Morrus (even if only because we hang out here) can reasonably "defend" our friends.

But what I've seen goes quite a bit beyond all that. People who have never bought a 3PP are OUTRAGED. At least, that's how it appears.

I'm sure that most D&D fans haven't even heard about it yet.

 

[Ghost2020]

There's a movement trying to gain some traction on facebook .... "Cool Name RPG"

Making a new 5e replacement with a creative commons license, that will be safe from lawsuits, an open license forever, and free.
I can't imagine they can SRD it anymore, but a new independent system to give content creators a place to build and grow.

I think this would be cool if it actually happened.

 

[TerraDave]

It is confusing. As presented, even the technical/legal parts come across as strangely glib. Especially as it is putting most 3PP companies out of business (at least if they use it). And what SRD is covered? Just "5.1"?

Yet only a corporation could have produced this. And as noted upthread, WotC would have denounced it days ago if it was not real.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ironically, they only did that in the first place because WotC tried to get rid of the OGL. Had 4e been published under the OGL, Paizo would have been happy to just keep making 3rd party content for it. It was the GSL and its “poison pill” that made Paizo go “well, guess we’ll just keep making 3.5e then.”

What’s unreasonable is D&D’s owners spending decades benefiting from having everyone and their mother making content for D&D on their own dime, all the while promising they’d be able to keep doing so forever, only to pull the rug out from under them and say “now start paying us or shut down.” Forgive me if I’m more concerned about what’s fair to the small independent publishers than what’s fair to the billion dollar corporation.

Yeah, I'm on board with that last bit. (And that's how I remember the creation of Pathfinder as well).