D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
Yeah I see no harm in the thread, and I am not sensing the passive aggressive snark. Looks like it's just a single point for people to go on a monthly basis to check in on the topic, without having to start a new thread every time. Probably a good idea which could be applied to some other topics.
 

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I think at this time it's fair to say an OGL isn't happening. It's almost been a year and five months into 2015 and we haven't even gotten the "walkthrough" of the planned OGL yet. It's safe to say the OGL cannot be agreed on internally and just isn't happening.

Which is a shame, but wouldn't be so bad if the fan site policy wasn't the gaming equivalent of a human rights violation. I mean, if the Geneva Convention considered gamers to be human, the WotC Fan Site Policy would be a crime against humanity.
 

delericho

Legend
I think at this time it's fair to say an OGL isn't happening. It's almost been a year and five months into 2015 and we haven't even gotten the "walkthrough" of the planned OGL yet. It's safe to say the OGL cannot be agreed on internally and just isn't happening.

I've long since taken the view that I'd believe it when I see it. But it's probably still premature to say it's not happening - after all, I was convinced that Dragon was never coming back (actually, ever since it went on hiatus) and that surprised me, so...

If it is indeed really not happening, it would be good if WotC would tell us that, though.
 

Mistwell

Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
I think at this time it's fair to say an OGL isn't happening.

I disagree. I think the original plan was to announce something 90 days or so after the LAST of the core books (which would have been around March 10). But the jury duty may have delayed that by another 6 months, putting that date around September 10. We're only in May. Still four months to go. And that's assuming the OGL was that guy's highest priority and he'd resume work on it the moment he got back from jury duty, which may be a bad assumption.

I don't think WOTC is done with the idea. It was not that long ago that Mearls mentioned it on Twitter. I think it's just on the back burner.
 

I disagree. I think the original plan was to announce something 90 days or so after the LAST of the core books (which would have been around March 10). But the jury duty may have delayed that by another 6 months, putting that date around September 10. We're only in May. Still four months to go.

So months to go of this being in the air...
 

delericho

Legend
So months to go of this being in the air...

'Fraid so. Unless WotC tell us something one way or another, this will just continue.

(That "one way or another" could be "Here it is!", or it could be "It's not happening", or if could be "Don't expect anything before X". Either way, at least we'd know where we stand. Without that, there will no doubt be another monthly check each month.)
 

DEFCON 1

Legend
Supporter
Heck... for all we know they do intend to eventually release 5E under the OGL... but just not do it until they've released everything they want to release for the game first-- at the pace they themselves want to release it at.

Cause let's be honest... as soon as 5E material gets opened up to the OGL, we are going to see a deluge of product for it... all of varying quality... all from different manner of "companies" trying to make a couple sheckles off the 5E teat (how's that for a mixed metaphor!). Once that happens... players are going to buy as much crap as they themselves want to spend on it, eventually burning themselves out in the process. The more stuff available via an OGL, the faster that occurs, and the sooner 5E's lifespan comes to a close.

But... if WotC holds off until several years down the road, once they've got a solid baseline of product out on the market themselves already... they might be more willing to let other people enter their playground at that point. The upside of that is they don't flood the 5E market too early, burn people out, plus get their own ideas for potential future products usurped by smaller companies who produce and release them earlier. The downside of that is many people who potentially would want to make product and money off of 5E might not be inclined to try and do so once the game is four or five years old. But then again... WotC might actually see that as an upside, as it weeds out the folks hoping to just make a quick buck off of product-starved players rather than actually producing quality product to help sustain the long-term future of the game. If you start in to produce product for a five year old game, it means both that you think you have a viable product idea that people will buy even after five years of WotC-released product... and you think the game has long enough legs where your product will still be viable (and thus you'll do everything you can to help sustain the legs of the game as well.)

Not exactly the kind of answer many players (and design companies) would want to hear... but quite possibly could be true.
 

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