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

 

[Alzrius]

I'm also personally gratified that they issued an actual apology as well:

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yes, from what I've heard KP has been working on Black Flag for a long time. So this kinda worked our for them, at least initial. I know I have become immensely less interested in black flag now. Might was well stick with standard 5e and A5e.

I'm more interested because now it absolutely doesn't need to be a 5e clone and is incentivized to not be.

 

[Maxperson]

To me, the real power of the OGL is not just opening up Wizards' stuff. That's a strong foundation, but the real strength is in letting people build not just on that but on the stuff that's built on it.

Or heck, take Pathfinder 1 which in addition to listing the SRD in its section 15 also listed the Book of Experimental Might from Malhavoc Games. That's a company that's been lying fallow for years.

Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a win. But putting the 5e SRD, or even older SRDs, under CC doesn't entirely remove the risk to older stuff.

There's always some amount of risk in life. This is pretty good as far as low risk goes.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm more interested because now it absolutely doesn't need to be a 5e clone and is incentivized to not be.

Yeah I'm legit excited for that and MCDM's game, and honestly anything else people come out with. 1D&D is looking fairly boring even without all this. I hope they do something further out than a clone. A5E already has the close-clone with some real improvements space pretty well locked down tbh.

 

[Zaukrie]

That's good. Of course, they burned their relationships with the big (and many/most small) publishers. None of them are going to stop their plans for their own games. For me, as a tiny publisher, this is a relief. I didn't want to lose you all as potential customers, but I also don't know other systems, and I'm getting too old for too much new stuff.....and time is limited given I have other hobbies.

 

[Justice and Rule]

I'm also personally gratified that they issued an actual apology as well:

Really feeling like corporate told the DnD team to handle it because that feels distinctly not-corporate.

 

[Zaukrie]

Yeah I'm legit excited for that and MCDM's game, and honestly anything else people come out with. 1D&D is looking fairly boring even without all this. I hope they do something further out than a clone. A5E already has the close-clone with some real improvements space pretty well locked down tbh.

1DnD is no Level Up, and LU is good, but not AWESOME.

 

[Ydars]

The optimistic side of me thought that there were people inside WotC who thought revocation of OGL 1.0a was bad idea but couldn't say it outright. So they used the cover of a survey to get what they wanted.

Maybe I'm wrong.

But in any case I used the survey to say my perception of WotC was low. That I was a longtime D&D fan with a bookshelf full of TSR/WotC product. The implementation of OGL 1.0a was great idea to regain trust in D&D after TSR. OGL 1.0a was great business for WotC because it stamps out competing systems. I had already bought hundreds of dollars of competing product in protest. I have no problem giving WotC my money in general. Sell me licensed owlbear plushies but keep OGL 1.0a!!!

I ended by saying goodwill and a good rules system was the D&D brand, imo. And they had lost the former.

I don't know if they read my comments but I have no regret in what I wrote.

You are quite correct. Many WoTC staffers leaked the OGL plans to a YouTuber called DnDShorts and he and Linda Codega broke the story. They also told us alot more information about the internal workings at WoTC. The person to blame for all this is Chris Cao...

 

[Zaukrie]

That's good. Of course, they burned their relationships with the big (and many/most small) publishers. None of them are going to stop their plans for their own games. For me, as a tiny publisher, this is a relief. I didn't want to lose you all as potential customers, but I also don't know other systems, and I'm getting too old for too much new stuff.....and time is limited given I have other hobbies.

Quoting myself, this proves how insane my idea of playing a different system every month is.

 

[Xyxox]

So this restores a bit of faith in WotC. I can go see the movie and resubscribe to Paramount+ now. I can resume my purchases of OOP TSR products on DriveThruRPG. I think I'll still be moving to PF2E though.