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.

 

[BlueFin]

I quite enjoy the veiled implication that this is a raid.

I am a massive fan if only for the logo possibilities and the deliberate departure from a meaningless stuffed shirt Mister Business Esquire language acronyms previously applied.

Ok, ok ... you've changed my mind, I'm onboard with ORC!!

 

[DMZ2112]

At this point it seems like what companies shouldn't be doing is getting together to release a Pathfiver (or whatever other name you want to give it). Because isn't that just acknowledging that all people really want is to just play D&D? They want to play "D&D" without playing actual D&D. Seems to me that is giving a whole bunch of advertising to the game and company that everyone is trying to break away from, isn't it?

At some point shouldn't people just make a clean break, rather than try and hang on to a vestigial limb of a game they now hate?

I know that as a 36-year veteran of D&D, a single open-source alternative to oneD&D is absolutely not what I want.

But I wouldn't mind 1,000 open-source alternatives to oneD&D, all iterating off each other's SRDs and allowing me to do the same.

Because I do like D&D a lot.

I would play it in a boat;
and I would play it with a goat.
I would play it in the rain,
And in the dark, and on a train,
And in a car, and in a tree--

--Just do not make me play 4e.

 

[rknop]

Normally I'd call that correction extremely pedantic (you know what I meant), but given the amount of legal jargon flying around this forum as of late, I actually kind of appreciate it, haha.

Well, to be fair, it was extremely pedantic....

 

[Staffan]

I quite enjoy the veiled implication that this is a raid.

Like this?

 

[overgeeked]

Like this?

Still love this one...

 

[MrGrenadine]

At this point it seems like what companies shouldn't be doing is getting together to release a Pathfiver (or whatever other name you want to give it). Because isn't that just acknowledging that all people really want is to just play D&D? They want to play "D&D" without playing actual D&D. Seems to me that is giving a whole bunch of advertising to the game and company that everyone is trying to break away from, isn't it?

At some point shouldn't people just make a clean break, rather than try and hang on to a vestigial limb of a game they now hate?

But I don’t hate the game. Hasbro/WotC have recently proven themselves to be unworthy stewards of the game’scurrent iteration, so I can easily avoid their work, and still play the game I love.

 

[Siltoneous]

Quibble -- there will be no SRD's in ORC.

ORC will be a license, totally detached from any given rules set.

People who release rules sets or SRD can choose to release them under the ORC if they wish.

I suspect that Paizo will announce that Pathfinder 2e (and also Starfinder?) SRDs are available under the ORC at the same time as the ORC is released, but we'll see.

Amen, and I appreciate the distinction. Because too many people are getting hung up on "but that system is too crunchy for me".

Lastly, I'd be stunned if Kobold Press's "Project Black Flag" isn't released under the new ORC license as well. Heck, I wouldn't mind 50 different SRD's released under the ORC license.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I know that as a 46-year veteran of D&D, a single open-source alternative to oneD&D is absolutely not what I want.

But I wouldn't mind 1,000 open-source alternatives to oneD&D, all iterating off each other's SRDs and allowing me to do the same.

I agree, except that 1000 (I would sttle for 10-20) can't all just be minor vernation on roll d20 add stat

 

[schneeland]

(apologies if this was posted already)

 

[FallenRX]

Tbh, I think while the gesture is nice, i feel like the point wasnt that it was a good RPG license(This was a secondary effect).

The point of the OGL, is that it made DND and its mechanic's open source, so that Wizards wouldnt have to sue you to death for using dnd expressions/mechanics, and not have to fight in the legal grey area of how similar can a work be before its too similar to the thing your basing it off.

This does not avoid that mess, and doesnt really help at all.

Its just a "Nice" RPG license, which is fine, but not really the point