WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons

Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons.

So, what's happened?

• The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a which most of the D&D third party industry relies on, will be left untouched for now.
• The whole of the D&D 5E SRD (ie the rules of the game less the fluff text) has been released under a Creative Commons license.

OGL 1.0a & Creative Commons

Over the past few weeks you, the community, have made your voices heard. And we’ve listened. OGL 1.0a will remain untouched AND the entire SRD 5.1...

www.dndbeyond.com

WotC has a history of 'disappearing' inconvenient FAQs and stuff, such as those where they themselves state that the OGL is irrevocable, so I'll copy this here for posterity.

When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.

Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:

• 88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.
• 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.
• 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.
• 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.
• 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.

These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.
The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.

1. We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.
2. We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license.
3. You choose which you prefer to use.

This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.

Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.

So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?

We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.

We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.
Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.

• SRD 5.1-CC

We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.

We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.

Kyle Brink
Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons

What does this mean?

The original OGL sounds safe for now, but WotC has not admitted that they cannot revoke it. That's less of an issue now the 5E System Reference Document is now released to Creative Commons (although those using the 3E SRD or any third party SRDs still have issues as WotC still hasn't revoked the incorrect claim that they can revoke access to those at-will).

At this point, if WotC wants anybody to use whatever their new OGL v1.x turns out to be, there needs to be one heck of a carrot. What that might be remains to be seen.

Pathfinder publlsher Paizo has also commented on the latest developments.

We welcome today’s news from Wizards of the Coast regarding their intention not to de-authorize OGL 1.0a. We still believe there is a powerful need for an irrevocable, perpetual independent system-neutral open license that will serve the tabletop community via nonprofit stewardship. Work on the ORC license will continue, with an expected first draft to release for comment to participating publishers in February.

Over 1,500 Publishers Support Paizo's Upcoming Open RPG Creator's License

Paizo has revealed some of the 1,500+ tabletop RPG publishers who have expressed an interest in their new Open RPG Creator's License (ORC), describing the group as the 'ORC Alliance'. The license itself is still being worked on, so these 1,500 publishers have not actually seen it or signed...

www.enworld.org

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I just meant that they were going to make a move to change the game enough that it couldn't be retro-cloned off the 5.1 SRD, not that it would look anything like 4E.

They won't. And they don't need to. There is no money to be gained by retrocloning the current edition.

 

[Maxperson]

Psst... don't tell anyone. I have been doing this all along.

It hasn't even been an issue for my group. Nobody has taken that spell in the 4 years that we've been playing 5e.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It hasn't even been an issue for my group. Nobody has taken that spell in the 4 years that we've been playing 5e.

I cast it all the time from my robe of stars. Cast at very high level when you wer still a newb up to 7 times per day was priceless. (I only used it in dire circumstances, to not made the DM regret it too much that he gave it to me).

 

[Olrox17]

Wow. They went above and beyond what I would have expected.
Congratulations to D&D community and 3PP for being united in this battle, and good job WotC for realizing the best path to repair a terrible misstep.

 

[Dausuul]

Goodness gracious, how many edge cases do we feel WotC needs to worry about before we are just okay with it all?

Yeah, seriously. They took us back to the status quo ante, and then they gave us a great big present on top of that, which ensures that they have basically no incentive to ever mess with the OGL again.

Some folks are just done with Wizards regardless, and that's okay, everybody gets to decide when or if they're willing to come back. But for anybody who was open to coming back... I mean, really, how much more can you ask for?

 

[Justice and Rule]

It hasn't even been an issue for my group. Nobody has taken that spell in the 4 years that we've been playing 5e.

If they were to do something wild like go to that "Greyhawk Initiative" from a while back (Which was easily my favorite idea from UA in forever) and give spells a casting time in segments equal to the spell's level, suddenly Magic Missile becomes a fantastic spell denial/spell failure tool again.

 

[Reynard]

They won't. And they don't need to. There is no money to be gained by retrocloning the current edition.

I wasn't clear: if their goal is to release 1D&D/6E under a new, restrictive license, in order to ensure that folks can't circumvent that license just be reffering to the 5.1 SRD (in the same way they retrocloned earlier editions) they will have to make the changes to 1D&D/6E significant (as they did with 4E vs 3.x).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So, that is the FIRST step to rebuilding trust, not the last.

To be fair, it was the first and the second.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

To me, it's more about taking a stand. They screwed up. I'm leaving. I'm not coming back just because they apologized, because I can't trust that they're sincere. Especially since we know they apologized because they were losing money, not because they really accept that they screwed up.

I most likely wont get to give this pitch again for a wile... so

May I suggest TORG, it isn't OGL so it in no way supports D&D, it IS still roll d20 roll high, but it has a much more skill focused aspect (weapon skills are just a type of skill) and the best part is that even though by defualt setting it is a modern world being invaded by fantasy worlds, each fantasy land has it's own sub set of rules...

SO you want to play Rifts, this system can do it. You want to play Deadlands this system can do it. You want to play SHadowrun this system can do it. You want to play in the DC or Mavel (or generic superhero) you can mostly do that if you keep it to street level. You want high fantasy you can do that. You want to do a more sword and sorcery feel it can do that...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't know, Tome of Horrors has a lot of weird stuff. Night of Frozen Shadows specifically uses Blindheims, Caryatid Columns, and Executioner's Hoods. You might make a case for the columns, but the other two seem like D&D-isms.

The columns are definitely fine, unless WotC wants to take a time machine and sue the ancient Greeks.

Executioners Hoods are in 5E as darkmantles.

I don't know that there's enough of a constituency invested in blindheims for it to matter. Just call them "deep frogs," the way that OSR calls slaadi "chaos frogs," and I think everyone will understand.