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Battlezoo Shares The OGL v1.1
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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8886192" data-attributes="member: 50987"><p>Nord Games has posted a comment about the OGL 1.1 on all of their Kickstarter projects; I saw it because I backed their "Ultimate Guide to Foraging, Harvesting, & Natural Discovery" back in the day. The way it's written, I get the impression it was posted on all of their Kickstarters. Here's the message:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Greetings Adventurers...</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">We have entered the realm of the unknown. For 23 years OGL 1.0 has enabled everyone who abides by the rules in it to publish content for D&D. It was updated after 5th Edition was published and Nord Games has been using it since 2016 to play in Wizards of the Coast's (WotC's) sandbox, publishing many books and card decks to enhance your gaming experience. </span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Last week a copy of OGL 1.1 was leaked. The new version of the OGL which WotC intends to force 3rd party publishers onto. It contains A LOT of really bad stuff so I'll break it down:</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">1. The new license attempts to invalidate all other licenses. This would mean all of our books and PDFs designed for 5E would be unsellable and we will not be able to publish 5E content moving forward, unless of course we sign the new OGL 1.1 license...</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">2. The new license puts a 25% fee on all of our revenue after we've sold more than $750,000 in a calendar year. This might not seem like a big deal, but it actually is. Nord Games currently sells a lot more than this every year and giving 25% of it to WotC would have a major impact on how many products we are able to publish and how many people we employ such as staff, contractors, artists, writers, etc. This could literally kill thousands of jobs across the industry.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">3. The new license states that all of our content using the OGL 1.0 and 1.1 becomes the property of WotC. Additionally, they do not have to pay us for the use of that content. They can also terminate our license at any time for any reason, even if we do not violate the terms of the new license. So for example they could take our Treacherous Traps book, re-publish it word for word as their own, AND demand that we destroy all of our physical copies in our warehouse AND demand we not sell it in PDF format ANYWHERE.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">There are many other issues with the OGL 1.1 but these are the main 3 to focus on for Nord Games. The OGL 1.0 was never designed to be unauthorized, only revised and updated as time went on. This has been WotC's stance in the past on their website and in various statements over the years. Even the person who wrote the original version of the OGL has come out declaring it was not meant to expire or be nullified by any subsequent licenses. </span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">This whole thing is an obvious attempt to squash the competition AND steal all of our IP in one motion. Pathfinder and many other game systems use the OGL 1.0 as the basis for their game system. Let that sink in for a moment and you start to understand just how insane this situation is.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">We plan to continue honoring our part of using the OGL 1.0 and delivering to our fans high quality supplements for your 5E games. If WotC wants to sue us over it we're ready to challenge them in court, as are dozens of other publishers we have spoken with. The hope is that WotC and their parent company Hasbro (who appears to be the instigator of this entire debacle) back off and leave the OGL 1.0 out of the contract for OGL 1.1. We really don't care if they want to close things up for One D&D which is what OGL 1.1 is meant to go with. We hope it's a good system and many people will enjoy playing it, but it's allegedly backward compatible which means our 5E products would work with it anyway.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">What can you do? Well #OpenDnD has been trending all over social media, so that can't hurt to continue to share. You can also go to WotC's website and let them know how you feel through the contact form, or even the One D&D playtest survey...</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Thank you all for your continued support. We couldn't do this without you and the OGL 1.0, so we are doing what we can to keep our fans happy and keep D&D truly open.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">Stay tuned for more updates about our progress on The Ultimate Guide to Foraging, Harvesting & Natural Discovery as the PDFs are made available and we begin production of the physical products!</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px"><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)">-Chris</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 8886192, member: 50987"] Nord Games has posted a comment about the OGL 1.1 on all of their Kickstarter projects; I saw it because I backed their "Ultimate Guide to Foraging, Harvesting, & Natural Discovery" back in the day. The way it's written, I get the impression it was posted on all of their Kickstarters. Here's the message: [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Greetings Adventurers...[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]We have entered the realm of the unknown. For 23 years OGL 1.0 has enabled everyone who abides by the rules in it to publish content for D&D. It was updated after 5th Edition was published and Nord Games has been using it since 2016 to play in Wizards of the Coast's (WotC's) sandbox, publishing many books and card decks to enhance your gaming experience. [/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Last week a copy of OGL 1.1 was leaked. The new version of the OGL which WotC intends to force 3rd party publishers onto. It contains A LOT of really bad stuff so I'll break it down:[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]1. The new license attempts to invalidate all other licenses. This would mean all of our books and PDFs designed for 5E would be unsellable and we will not be able to publish 5E content moving forward, unless of course we sign the new OGL 1.1 license...[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]2. The new license puts a 25% fee on all of our revenue after we've sold more than $750,000 in a calendar year. This might not seem like a big deal, but it actually is. Nord Games currently sells a lot more than this every year and giving 25% of it to WotC would have a major impact on how many products we are able to publish and how many people we employ such as staff, contractors, artists, writers, etc. This could literally kill thousands of jobs across the industry.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]3. The new license states that all of our content using the OGL 1.0 and 1.1 becomes the property of WotC. Additionally, they do not have to pay us for the use of that content. They can also terminate our license at any time for any reason, even if we do not violate the terms of the new license. So for example they could take our Treacherous Traps book, re-publish it word for word as their own, AND demand that we destroy all of our physical copies in our warehouse AND demand we not sell it in PDF format ANYWHERE.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]There are many other issues with the OGL 1.1 but these are the main 3 to focus on for Nord Games. The OGL 1.0 was never designed to be unauthorized, only revised and updated as time went on. This has been WotC's stance in the past on their website and in various statements over the years. Even the person who wrote the original version of the OGL has come out declaring it was not meant to expire or be nullified by any subsequent licenses. [/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]This whole thing is an obvious attempt to squash the competition AND steal all of our IP in one motion. Pathfinder and many other game systems use the OGL 1.0 as the basis for their game system. Let that sink in for a moment and you start to understand just how insane this situation is.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]We plan to continue honoring our part of using the OGL 1.0 and delivering to our fans high quality supplements for your 5E games. If WotC wants to sue us over it we're ready to challenge them in court, as are dozens of other publishers we have spoken with. The hope is that WotC and their parent company Hasbro (who appears to be the instigator of this entire debacle) back off and leave the OGL 1.0 out of the contract for OGL 1.1. We really don't care if they want to close things up for One D&D which is what OGL 1.1 is meant to go with. We hope it's a good system and many people will enjoy playing it, but it's allegedly backward compatible which means our 5E products would work with it anyway.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]What can you do? Well #OpenDnD has been trending all over social media, so that can't hurt to continue to share. You can also go to WotC's website and let them know how you feel through the contact form, or even the One D&D playtest survey...[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Thank you all for your continued support. We couldn't do this without you and the OGL 1.0, so we are doing what we can to keep our fans happy and keep D&D truly open.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Stay tuned for more updates about our progress on The Ultimate Guide to Foraging, Harvesting & Natural Discovery as the PDFs are made available and we begin production of the physical products![/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][/INDENT] [INDENT=2][COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]-Chris[/COLOR][/INDENT] [/QUOTE]
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