Community Posts Open Letters To WotC About New OGL

Over the past week there have been several petitions and open letters posted regarding the upcoming Open Game License v1.1, asking Wizards of the Coast to reconsider its current path.

This Open Letter, posted under the social media hashtag #OpenDnD, has already been signed by over 4,000 people, including many small publishers. Behind it are Mike Holik (Mage Hand Press) and Noah Downs (an IP lawyer).

#OpenDND

www.opendnd.games

If this new license gains wide adoption, the tabletop industry will shrink to a fraction of its current size, shuttering the small businesses that populate your local cons and putting a stop to their creations. Innovation in the gaming industry will evaporate; your favorite games will be trapped in the past, instead of being allowed to migrate to your phone, virtual reality, and beyond. Diversity in the industry will shrink away, as projects from marginalized creators are effectively written out of the future.

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This isn't the only such Open Letter -- there's another one authored by Jon Brazer Enterprises which has a number of signatories from various OGL publishers.

As small publishers and individual creators who create considerable content under the OGL 1.0a, we the undersigned call upon you to reverse course in regards to the leaked, alleged text of OGL 1.1. As the leader of the tabletop roleplaying game industry, your direction guides us all. We believe that this new version of the OGL will hurt both us and, by extension, you, and we ask that you hear our concerns.

An Open Letter to Wizards of the Coast Concerning the Leaked OGL 1.1

Dear Wizards of the Coast, As small publishers and individual creators who create considerable content under the OGL 1.0a, we the undersigned call upon you to reverse course in regards to the leake…

jonbrazer.com

There are also several petitions on change.org.

 

[Nikosandros]

I don't much believe in online petition, but I've signed it. Unless I missed them (entirely possible), there are none of the bigger companies among the signatories.

 

[BrassDragon]

Signed... online petitions are unlikely to sway but Hasbro BUT if enough people sign, that may fuel the news cycle surrounding this debacle which is worthwhile to keep up the pressure.

 

[Dreamscape]

I don't much believe in online petition, but I've signed it. Unless I missed them (entirely possible), there are none of the bigger companies among the signatories.

That's fine, WotC already knows who the big ones are. This will help them find the small ones.

 

[Plokman]

Might of been hasty, I accidentally uh sent my name twice I thought it was a glitch so only one example of Joseph Tripp Nimmo should be on this. Sorry my dad also signed as he know DnD is cool.

 

[Mike Myler]

so many people signed that it broke, I think

 

[wingsandsword]

I agree. I also think the only voices that matter to bean counters and shareholder-capitalists at Hasbro are the responses of major 3rd party publishers.

The thing is, that attitude really, REALLY misjudges the gaming community.

I'm sure this is an outgrowth of that shareholder's conference call last year that was reported on, where a Hasbro exec said "D&D is under-monetized", and they're trying to find ways to extract more money from it.

. . .but they're doing it in the most ham-fisted, inept, tone-deaf way that reflects no knowledge of the field. This sounds all like some exec with an MBA but zero knowledge of gaming going "Companies are making add-ons to our products, or even competing products, from a license we put out? Revoke that license and replace it with one where we get royalties!"

They've got no clue how the OGL has helped the hobby grow over the last 22+ years, and just want to be able to tout the money coming in from those royalty clauses (or from contracts signed with 3pp's) as accomplishments to help them get promoted in the corporate hierarchy.

. . .and the long term damage it does to the industry is something they don't care about both because it won't really show until after they're on to another job, and because it can't be as easily quantified.

 

[bedir than]

There's several people who have written official 5e material on the list.

One of the harns of 1.1 is that it shrinks the incubation of future talent.

One of the 5 lead designers came directly to that role from a 3pp. Multiple other designers came from 3pp. Almost all of the editors do full time work at 3pp.

Names like that showing up these lists, and the thousands of others will have their personal development hamstrung are a long term issue that the creator of 1.1 clearly didn't account for

 

[Cyriande]

Disclaimer: I know very little about how small publishers work and the margins they have to operate under. I assume they can be razor thin so any amount of time not gaining revenue and having to come up with new material out of the blue may be difficult and have major ramifications on their business. I've also despised DnD and it's model for the last few years. That said:

As much as I recognize it really sucks these other companies have employees who need jobs and this may hurt those people I am hoping they are able to shift. A part of me thinks DnD and WotC's steam engine needs to be knocked down a peg and hope if they go through with this it is. This could be an opportunity for other games to flourish and get content from publishers who's whole platform is all 5e compatible. Since the OGL has raised the whole hobby up maybe that momentum will stay if DnD is removed as the favorite and the community can bring more games to the front. Wishful thinking.

 

[Bravesteel25]

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so many people signed that it broke, I think

Yeah, I tried to go sign it and couldn't.

 

[Dausuul]

It auto-signed me as soon as I filled in the information, with the result that some wrong autofilled data is now on the petition. Anyone know if there's a way to undo my signature and re-do it with the correct data?