Paizo Announces New Irrevocable Open RPG License To Replace the OGL

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Paizo, the maker of Pathfinder, has just announced a new open license for use with RPGs. The license will not be owned by Paizo - or by any TTRPG company, and will be stewarded by Azora Law, a company which represents several tabletop gaming companies, until it finds its home with an independent non-profit. This new license is designed to be irrevocable.

We believe, as we always have, that open gaming makes games better, improves profitability for all involved, and enriches the community of gamers who participate in this amazing hobby. And so we invite gamers from around the world to join us as we begin the next great chapter of open gaming with the release of a new open, perpetual, and irrevocable Open RPG Creative License (ORC).

The new Open RPG Creative License will be built system agnostic for independent game publishers under the legal guidance of Azora Law, an intellectual property law firm that represents Paizo and several other game publishers. Paizo will pay for this legal work. We invite game publishers worldwide to join us in support of this system-agnostic license that allows all games to provide their own unique open rules reference documents that open up their individual game systems to the world. To join the effort and provide feedback on the drafts of this license, please sign up by using this form.

In addition to Paizo, Kobold Press, Chaosium, Green Ronin, Legendary Games, Rogue Genius Games, and a growing list of publishers have already agreed to participate in the Open RPG Creative License, and in the coming days we hope and expect to add substantially to this group.

The ORC will not be owned by Paizo, nor will it be owned by any company who makes money publishing RPGs. Azora Law’s ownership of the process and stewardship should provide a safe harbor against any company being bought, sold, or changing management in the future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license. Ultimately, we plan to find a nonprofit with a history of open source values to own this license (such as the Linux Foundation).

Read more on Paizo's blog.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

ORC is viable for Paizo because (at least in Paizo's view) nothing about Pathfinder 2e depends on OGL 1.0. But I'm not sure where this leaves publishers who primarily create products for D&D 5E (or for that matter PF1E). ORC won't be enough because the underlying D&D material won't be licensed under ORC.

That's what the law firm is for, in part.

 

[Steel_Wind]

This is probably the best of both worlds.

• WotC get their 5e IP back to build their platform for their players.

.

Respectfully, there is no reason -- indeed, LESS THAN ZERO reasons with this announcement -- to think that this first point is true. Paizo has said, quite clearly, that the OGL 1.0a is not revocable and it will go to court if necessary to fight for that result. Unlike a myriad of small publishers in this field, it has the resources to do this and it has just declared that it will, if necessary, do so.

On a practical basis, it also has the witnesses to do this and key personnel who made all of those decisions -- wrote all the memos, provided legal instructions, and fulfilled those legal instructions and wrote the OGL -- all on its side and willing to tender that evidence before a court in affidavit or viva voce form. I cannot imagine that Clark Peterson, now a judge in Illinois, will not give evidence if asked -- even if for appearances sake, he asks to be served with a subpoena before he provides it.

In comparison? WotC has... nothing. They have money to pay lawyers, but at a certain point, that doesn't matter. Practically speaking, that only really matters when the other side doesn't. In terms of evidentiary resources? They got diddly.

What they really have is the 5.1 SRD published under the OGL 1.0a and so, consequently, they have their system compatibility with One D&D hanging out there waiting to get whacked like a piñata.

In other words, what they have is the most to lose.

 

[Voadam]

So this seems to solve some problems but leaves a lot up in the air. Everything made under the 1.0 OGL is still under the cloud of the deauthorization as to whether there are rights to use it under the new license.

The new ORC license will make things under the new license a safe harbor, but only if people have the rights to the things they want to put under ORC.

So for Pathfinder which uses the SRD under the 1.0 OGL, and all the 3e, 5e, and OSR OGL stuff it is still undetermined whether they can be used at all to put under the new license. Most everything hinges still on the actual effect of deauthorization.

It is good to hear their declaration on deauthorization though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A great day for pantomime!

SO MANY FOLK SONGS

 

[Parmandur]

True. A lot will depend on whether or not anyone is going to just damn the torpedoes and publish D&D-compatible material under the ORC licence and force WotC to either accept it or else sue and establish a legal precedent about the finer points of copyright etc over game mechanics.

The 3pp market is built around D&D compatibility because that's where the customers are. If that goes away, then a lot of 3pps are in trouble, ORC or not.

Alternatively, if the customers being with D&D doesn't go away, then ORC based games have another problem.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Years later Paizo is bought by Amazon who immediately revokes it.

WINKY FACE

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

we'll almost certainly have the PF2 SRD on it. probably also the SRD for kobold press' thing. beyond that, who knows?

I would bet on Castles & Crusades and Dungeon Crawl Classics as well.

 

[Art Waring]

Thank you to paizo for some good news today. I needed some considering its been a really hard week.

 

[kenada]

So for Pathfinder which uses the SRD under the 1.0 OGL, and all the 3e, 5e, and OSR OGL stuff it is still undetermined whether they can be used at all to put under the new license. Most everything hinges still on the actual effect of deauthorization.

Paizo said in the announcement that they are removing the OGL from Pathfinder and Starfinder going forward because it’s not needed.

 

[Incenjucar]

Years later Paizo is bought by Amazon who immediately revokes it.

Per the announcement, Paizo is not going to control the license.