Legal Discussion of OGL 1.2

[Matt Thomason]

I'm not a lawyer, but to my untrained eye what you've done here is just repost the content, and haven't made it a separate work. What you should probably do is:

• Go over the files and make sure there's nothing in them that the original publisher has called out as product identity. For example, I understand that there's a spell in the 3.5e SRD that uses umber hulk blood as a component, and you probably want to get rid of that.
• Write your own legal statement with declarations of product identity and open game content. Look at the legal.rtf file in the 3.5e SRD for an example. You should almost certainly not copy their declaration verbatim, because in doing so you'd declare that the terms Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, etc. are your product identity, and that seems like a big no-no.
• Update section 15 of the OGL in each of your publications.

That seems like a minimum you'd need to do, and I can't guarantee that that would be enough.

(edit: removed after seeing there was express permission to redistribute that file)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

For those interested, esp. the first 1:30 minutes or so… better yet the first 4

I mean that is just a brutal point, it really is, and it totally demonstrates how WotC are not "bargaining in good faith" here, but just trying to score a cheap win in the court of public opinion, but still apparently failing to do so lol

I still can't get over how they didn't think D&D players, of all people, wouldn't be ornery about this. Like, have you MET us? I mean according to DND Shorts video, no, Chris Cao has not met us lol but jeez.

 

[jgbrowning]

I'd also add that the actual SRD PDF from WotC is not legally redistributable. You're entitled to copy the bits of text from it that the license specfies you can, but their layout is not included in the license. Of course, if you make the above changes, you're presumably making your own thing anyway. Just don't be tempted to use a PDF editor directly on it.

You can redistribute the exact file as WotC expressly provides you that permission in the first paragraph of the file: (WotC: Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD5”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.).

joe b.

 

[Matt Thomason]

You can redistribute the exact file as WotC expressly provides you that permission in the first paragraph of the file: (WotC: Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD5”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.).

joe b.

d'oh. Post edited - thanks I was making the assumption the only permission granted was via the OGL, which wouldn't have allowed it.

 

[Enrahim2]

d'oh. Post edited - thanks I was making the assumption the only permission granted was via the OGL, which wouldn't have allowed it.

Well, strictly speaking isn't that exactly what it is saying: "Permision to (...) is granted solely trough the use of (OGL1.0a)"?

 

[pemerton]

You can redistribute the exact file as WotC expressly provides you that permission in the first paragraph of the file: (WotC: Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD5”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.).

I am looking at this <https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/SRD-OGL_V1.1.pdf> and this <https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/SRD-OGL_V5.1.pdf>.

Both open with the phrase you cite:

Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document 5.0 (“SRD5”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.

Permission to copy, modify and distribute the files collectively known as the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD5”) is granted solely through the use of the Open Gaming License, Version 1.0a.​

The OGC - which sets out the conditions for copying, modifying and distributing - permits copying, modifying and distributing Open Gaming Content. Both the files I've linked to have statements of what is OGC in them - "All of the rest of the SRD5 is Open Game Content as described in Section 1(d) of the License."

So I don't think you can redistribute the exact file relying on the WotC licensing you under the OGL. The file contains material which is not OGC and hence is not licensed under the terms of the OGL. (There may be other permissions - express or implicitly granted by WotC, or under copyright law itself - which apply. I don't have a view on that.)

d'oh. Post edited - thanks I was making the assumption the only permission granted was via the OGL, which wouldn't have allowed it.

The only permission that I can see is granted "solely through the use of" the OGL, which as you say does not extend to the whole of the file.

 

[mamba]

I mean that is just a brutal point, it really is, and it totally demonstrates how WotC are not "bargaining in good faith" here, but just trying to score a cheap win in the court of public opinion, but still apparently failing to do so lol

if I look around here, then they mostly succeeded. Everyone is talking about what loopholes to close in 1.2 and miss the forest for the trees

 

[Ruin Explorer]

if I look around here, then they mostly succeeded. Everyone is talking about what loopholes to close in 1.2 and miss the forest for the trees

I feel like that's reductive and misses the fact that as soon as they put out another version and it's also got big problems people will get mad again.

I sincerely doubt they do more than cosmetic work on the morality clause, for example, and just doing that won't actually calm people down.

 

[mamba]

I feel like that's reductive and misses the fact that as soon as they put out another version and it's also got big problems people will get mad again.

I hope you are right

 

[Saracenus]

Just a side note on the whole Microsoft Teams thing, the WotC employees should know better than to use any system that WotC controls. They should be setting up an encrypted messaging system like Signal on their cell phones so they can talk with each other without fear of WotC IT finding it. Even if IT somehow detects the encrypted messages passing across their LAN/WiFi they won't be able to crack them. For even more security, turn off WiFi on their phones and use Signal only when they are on their cell phone's carrier data.
Whoops, wrong thread…