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<blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 8909820" data-attributes="member: 6680772">This is why I think the release to CC is a bigger deal than people have been making of it. Even at the limited degree currently announced, it makes D&amp;D truly free, not beholden to SRDs or licenses administrated by Wizards, or the vagaries of court rulings in potential lawsuits. Before it was ostensibly &quot;free,&quot; in as much as everyone (including Wizards) bought into Wizards' willingness to license the material and not try any legal chicanery. Now it would be in a perpetual, irrevocable, third-party open license (if Wizards goes through with it), and there's no way Wizards go ever take it back.Which is not to say that 3PP don't have a legitimate grievance vis-a-vis the body of OGC built up over 23 years.I just want to point out that Wizards didn't have to go back to the OGL with 5e. By 2016, 5e was already wildly successful. My speculation has always been that there was, and perhaps still is, a pro-OGL contingent within Wizards, but they couldn't convince the suits to go along with it until they hit upon the idea of the DM's Guild. That created a 3PP environment that kicked back straight to Wizards, making the suits happy, and gave them the cover to release the 5e SRD under the OGL. But then, new suits, new objectives.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Iosue, post: 8909820, member: 6680772"] This is why I think the release to CC is a bigger deal than people have been making of it. Even at the limited degree currently announced, it makes D&D truly free, not beholden to SRDs or licenses administrated by Wizards, or the vagaries of court rulings in potential lawsuits. Before it was ostensibly "free," in as much as everyone (including Wizards) bought into Wizards' willingness to license the material and not try any legal chicanery. Now it would be in a perpetual, irrevocable, third-party open license (if Wizards goes through with it), and there's no way Wizards go ever take it back. Which is not to say that 3PP don't have a legitimate grievance vis-a-vis the body of OGC built up over 23 years. I just want to point out that Wizards didn't [I]have to[/I] go back to the OGL with 5e. By 2016, 5e was already wildly successful. My speculation has always been that there was, and perhaps still is, a pro-OGL contingent within Wizards, but they couldn't convince the suits to go along with it until they hit upon the idea of the DM's Guild. That created a 3PP environment that kicked back straight to Wizards, making the suits happy, and gave them the cover to release the 5e SRD under the OGL. But then, new suits, new objectives. [/QUOTE]

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