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*Dungeons & Dragons
So, 5e OGL
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6665598" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>Not to pick nits... but isn't the issue *not* a '5E OGL', but rather a 5E SRD to <em>add</em> to the OGL?</p><p></p><p>If I'm not mistaken... the Open Game License is not about any one specific game or one specific set of mechanics. It's a universal license. <em>Any</em> game that is released under it has their System Reference Document added to the pile of allowable mechanics and terms that other people can use to publish their own supplements for, so long as they rewrite them in their own particular way. And they do not need to be related to D&D or use the d20 mechanic at all. Heck, FATE has been released under the OGL and that's about as far from D&D as you can get. </p><p></p><p>This is why people and companies are already releasing adventure and setting products that are "compatible" with 5E. Because they are using or adapting mechanics and terms from the D&D 3.0/3.5 System Reference Document to create their own products (which are all close enough to 5E to still be useful). The 3.0 SRD includes things like certain spell names like 'Magic Missile', or monster names like 'Kobold', and thus anyone can write an adventure that says "In Room 3 there are five Kobolds sitting at a table and should you enter, one will stand up and cast Magic Missile at you". Now sure, you can't paste in the <em>statblock</em> of the 5E version of the Kobold nor the Magic Missile spell (because 5E has not yet been released under the OGL or produced an SRD)... but you can certainly write their terms down (since they are 3.0 terms) under the expectation that the DM himself will have the requisite 5E stat info on hand.</p><p></p><p>This is why I don't think WotC will necessarily do anything with the OGL as it relates to 5E. Because they don't have to. If people can already make 5E compatible products using that which is already out there in SRD land... why would they need to release the mechanical statblocks of 5E races, classes, spells, and monsters to the OGL too? To be "nice" to other companies so that they can reproduce said statblocks in their own products (rather than expecting the DM to have a PH or MM on hand to reference back to?) That seems to me to be one of the problems that WotC found themselves caught in in the first place when all their information got re-released elsewhere and you no longer needed to have any of the 3.0 core books at hand.</p><p></p><p>The <em>only</em> real thing that having 5E released under the OGL nets people is the <strong>assurance</strong> that they could then write 'Compatible with <strong>Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition</strong>' on their products and not get C&D'd (since I think another company's "brand identity" is one of the things the OGL specifically says you can only reference so long as that brand identity has been released under the OGL. Until then, you instead have to play the game of saying things like 'Compatible with the World's Most Famous RPG!" or other such tiptoes.</p><p></p><p>So go ahead. Write a module or a setting with the intention that players can use their 5E D&D mechanics with it. It pretty much seems to be allowed. Just don't expect to eventually get the chance to include any of the already-written 5E specific info that comes from an SRD in it. Because that might not possibly ever come.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 6665598, member: 7006"] Not to pick nits... but isn't the issue *not* a '5E OGL', but rather a 5E SRD to [i]add[/i] to the OGL? If I'm not mistaken... the Open Game License is not about any one specific game or one specific set of mechanics. It's a universal license. [i]Any[/i] game that is released under it has their System Reference Document added to the pile of allowable mechanics and terms that other people can use to publish their own supplements for, so long as they rewrite them in their own particular way. And they do not need to be related to D&D or use the d20 mechanic at all. Heck, FATE has been released under the OGL and that's about as far from D&D as you can get. This is why people and companies are already releasing adventure and setting products that are "compatible" with 5E. Because they are using or adapting mechanics and terms from the D&D 3.0/3.5 System Reference Document to create their own products (which are all close enough to 5E to still be useful). The 3.0 SRD includes things like certain spell names like 'Magic Missile', or monster names like 'Kobold', and thus anyone can write an adventure that says "In Room 3 there are five Kobolds sitting at a table and should you enter, one will stand up and cast Magic Missile at you". Now sure, you can't paste in the [i]statblock[/i] of the 5E version of the Kobold nor the Magic Missile spell (because 5E has not yet been released under the OGL or produced an SRD)... but you can certainly write their terms down (since they are 3.0 terms) under the expectation that the DM himself will have the requisite 5E stat info on hand. This is why I don't think WotC will necessarily do anything with the OGL as it relates to 5E. Because they don't have to. If people can already make 5E compatible products using that which is already out there in SRD land... why would they need to release the mechanical statblocks of 5E races, classes, spells, and monsters to the OGL too? To be "nice" to other companies so that they can reproduce said statblocks in their own products (rather than expecting the DM to have a PH or MM on hand to reference back to?) That seems to me to be one of the problems that WotC found themselves caught in in the first place when all their information got re-released elsewhere and you no longer needed to have any of the 3.0 core books at hand. The [i]only[/i] real thing that having 5E released under the OGL nets people is the [b]assurance[/b] that they could then write 'Compatible with [b]Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition[/b]' on their products and not get C&D'd (since I think another company's "brand identity" is one of the things the OGL specifically says you can only reference so long as that brand identity has been released under the OGL. Until then, you instead have to play the game of saying things like 'Compatible with the World's Most Famous RPG!" or other such tiptoes. So go ahead. Write a module or a setting with the intention that players can use their 5E D&D mechanics with it. It pretty much seems to be allowed. Just don't expect to eventually get the chance to include any of the already-written 5E specific info that comes from an SRD in it. Because that might not possibly ever come. [/QUOTE]
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