Open RPG Creative (ORC) License Draft Published

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Paizo Publishing and Azora Law have published the initial draft of the Open RPG Creative license (ORC) for public feedback. This license was concieved of during January's Open Gaming License (OGL) controversy and was designed as an independent, irrevocable replacement for that license. Also available is an FAQ, or the 'Answers & Explanations" (AxE) which explains the structure.

Commentary can be left until April 21st, and the intention is to finish the license by the end of April.

So what is ORC? It's an open license which can be used by any creator to 'open' their game up so that other creators can use it. It is independent and irrevocable, and cannot be updated or revised.

First Draft of the ORC License Ready for Public Comment | Paizo Blog

<p>In January, Paizo and an alliance of more than 1,500 tabletop RPG publishers announced our intention to support the development of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license, a system-agnostic, perpetual, irrevocable open gaming license that provides a legal “safe harbor” for sharing rules mechanics...

paizo.com

 

[darjr]

paizo.com - Community / Paizo Blog

paizo.me

Alternate link here

ORC License – Azora Law

azoralaw.com

 

[Ondath]

Interesting to see they ended up registering the license at the Library of the Congress instead of leaving the license's control to a neutral organisation. The license doesn't seem that different from what the OGL 1.0 set out to do, let's see if the large number of adopters makes a difference!

 

[bedir than]

My first glance is that it is very long, which makes me feel like it is rather complex

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We need all these folks to not drop their big alternative-to-WotC news on the same Fridays.

What kind of resistance movement are you folks running here?

 

[Cergorach]

This is not future proof! What about when we venture out into space, can the ORC license not follow?

...for the Term Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide...

I initially thought of this as a joke, until I read that the license can't be changed later, which is a problem when you don't future proof your language...

 

[Alzrius]

Interesting note in the draft FAQ:

Wizards used CC BY 4.0, which gives everyone the right to use the contents of the SRD they designated. This was a wonderful assurance for the gaming community that 5e could confidentially be used forever. Unfortunately, when another company builds on their SRD, their innovations are trapped in their product and not automatically relicensed to the gaming community. This effectively kills the virtuous circle that open-source communities are built on.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is not future proof! What about when we venture out into space, can the ORC license not follow?

I initially thought of this as a joke, until I read that the license can't be changed later, which is a problem when you don't future proof your language...

I suspect the 10,000 ENWorld lawyers will weigh in here, but I imagine the courts will recognize "worldwide" as meaning "across our civilization," although probably only after a few lawsuits. IN SPAAAAAAACE.

 

[Dragonhelm]

What is the benefit of continuing with this license as opposed to using Creative Commons?

 

[bedir than]

Interesting note in the draft FAQ:

The ORC FAQ also mentions that people can use the ORC to set up a game that isn't part of the virtuous circle, using an example of a sports organization.