OGL: Kobold Press 'Raising Our Flag' For New Open RPG

Kobold Press has announced its plans regarding the upcoming new OGL v1.1, which involves a new, open game codenamed Project Black Flag.

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Kobold Press has been and always will be committed to open gaming and the tabletop community. Our goal is to continue creating the best materials for players and game masters alike.

This means Kobold Press will release its current Kickstarter projects as planned, including Campaign Builder: Cities & Towns (already printed and on its way to backers this winter).

In particular, Deep Magic Volume 2 will remain fully compatible with the 5E rules. We are working with our VTT partners to maintain support for digital platforms.

As we look ahead, it becomes even more important for our actions to represent our values. While we wait to see what the future holds, we are moving forward with clear-eyed work on a new Core Fantasy tabletop ruleset: available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it—Code Name: Project Black Flag.

All Kobolds look forward to the continued evolution of tabletop gaming. We aim to play our part in making the game better for everyone. Rest assured, Kobold Press intends to maintain a strong presence in the tabletop RPG community. We are not going anywhere.

Raising Our Flag - Kobold Press

Kobold Press is committed to open gaming. We are moving forward with clear-eyed work on a new Core Fantasy tabletop ruleset: available, open, and subscription-free for those who love it—Code Name: Project Black Flag.

koboldpress.com

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

There's barely been any new monsters in D&D that have appeared in more places than a one time monster manual entry since AD&D: New “canonized” D&D monsters from the last two decades – Spriggan's Den

I remember -- and approve of -- WotC's goal to make more new "sticky" monsters in 3E. They mostly didn't work, but the various versions of the shadar-kai and kython caught on, at least. (Kython may be from Planescape.) I do wish all of the Plane of Mirrors stuff had caught on and that the plane itself had stayed around (it's a great transitive plane, IMO).

 

[darjr]

 

[rknop]

I keep seeing the conflation of license and system that happened with the OGOGL. Too often people used "OGL" to mean compatible with the open parts of D&D.

They're not the same thing, just as GPL doesn't imply (say) Linux.

Going forward, it would be nice to have one standard open gaming license that most used, just as we've had in the last 20 years. It would also be nice to have one or a few consensus systems so that many things that come out will be compatible with what many people play. But those are two separate issues.

The game system is not the license.

 

[Incenjucar]

With a shared license making it easier, I like the idea of writing rules for multiple systems in a single book. Have a cool new dragon-squid monster you want to share with the world? Give it stats for five different systems so that many more GMs can throw them at their players.

 

[Aldarc]

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Some people are so used to wearing WotC's yoke that even when they will soon be free of their yoke, they go around begging others to build a new yoke for them to wear.

 

[Umbran]

I've never read that. Now I must!

Matriarchal society of blacked-skinned people, ruled by a queen/goddess. Live underground, take slaves from among the surface dwelling people....

Oh! I wonder if a game could be based on that now!

The last Barsoom book, Liana of Gathol, was published in 1941. Assuming laws don't change, it is due to come into the public domain in 2036. So making a Barsoom game without license from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc, would be difficult.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Some people are so used to wearing WotC's yoke that even when they will soon be free of their yoke, they go around begging others to build a new yoke for them to wear.

Simmer down, Spartacus.

 

[humble minion]

If that. Life of the author or 50 years, whichever is longer. The person who creates the thing should be able to reap the benefits of the creation (since that's the crapsack world we live in). There's no reason people later on (who had nothing to do with the creation) should exclusively benefit from the creation. But people create things when they're older and/or die young, so there should be a period the creation is protected, but it certainly shouldn't be the current madness. Everything's derivative. Even the "original" ideas are just remixes in disguise.

I do get the logic with copyright outlasting the author's life. If copyright ceases immediately on author's death, or even shortly after, then it guts the creator's ability to have their kids and/or other heirs benefit from their work, and it also guts the ability of authors to benefit from their work by licencing it out, because any such licence has an unpredictable and possibly short shelf life and therefore would-be licencees will find it of less value and pay less for it. Copyright is an asset built by a creator's work, no less than (for example) a savings account full of money is, or a house that they built. I get the logic with not having that asset arbitrarily disappear one day, but it's also ridiculous that (for instance) Disney is still hanging on to Mickey Mouse with a deathgrip a hundred years later.

 

[Aldarc]

Simmer down, Spartacus.

There are many people who are pulling out their lit torches and sharpened pitchforkes threatening revolution about this new OGL fiasco. I am not one of them. If I simmered, then I would be heating up and not down.

 

[Steel_Wind]

You might get to the same place with goblin, but ghoul and kobold would be so far from the D&D version that the light from them would take 10,000 years to arrive.

I'm not sure if that's true -- but I AM sure this is a great line!