Ath'kethin
Elder Thing
You mean the way Frog God Games and Sasquatch Game Studio are? Both have some excellent 5e material out and/or in the works.
Sorry about the lack of links; I guess I haven't posted enough to be allowed to include them yet
D&D 5E Still no OGL (or other license) for 5e? Why not clone 5e with the OGL?
- Thread starter the_redbeard
- Start date
Sorry about the lack of links; I guess I haven't posted enough to be allowed to include them yet
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
That's cynical. More likely that the folks that want to write for 5E are also playing 5E. If 5E is the most popular game, it stands to reason that since a percentage of all players are writers then more writers play 5E than any other game. Unless it is your contention that 5E isn't the most popular game? Naw, then your logic doesn't work either since folks wouldn't be playing it nor wanting to write for it. Yup, I'm guessing you were just looking to say something rude because you don't like the OGL. You win again!
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Kramodlog
Naked and living in a barrel
You know, it could just be some internal policy/politics at WotC/Hasbro. Ryan Dancey did say he met a lot resistance when it came to pitching the OGL.
Right now the philosophy at Hasbro seems to be licenses and subcontracting. They sold their MtG printing division recently. With that logic in mind, why would high ups give the rules of D&D when they can license them?
Right now the philosophy at Hasbro seems to be licenses and subcontracting. They sold their MtG printing division recently. With that logic in mind, why would high ups give the rules of D&D when they can license them?
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Warmaster Horus
Explorer
What is the incentive for WotC to provide an OGL for 5e? With the model they're using now there are fewer products but WotC gets to review/approve everything that gets produced. I think they learned their lesson from 3e, with it's gazillion 3rd party source books and the spawning of a major market competitor.
Actually, I don't care or mind the OGL. I'm fine with it. And I acknowledge absolutely 5E is the most popular game so I can certainly understand people wanting to write up rules for it. Coming up with new adventures, new classes, new races, new core concepts all working with 5E... I definitely understand the appeal, and I've done it myself for a PC in my home game.
But... you don't need 5E to be Open to do that. Because we have all manner of people who are doing this very thing and posting all of it to our House Rules and Homebrews forum here on EN World (as well as other message boards, blogs, and websites.) WotC seems fine with all of that until the cows come home. It's only if you wished to get paid for your writing that you'd want/need 5E to be Open without needing to check with an attorney first or just roll the dice by releasing it via the 3E SRD. And that's my point. WotC is slowing those people down so that the market doesn't get flooded with a lot of material that might not be of the highest quality because they aren't established designers who already know the ins-and-outs of the OGL process and the legality of how 5E relates.
Is it rude to point out that out? That the people who want 5E Open want it so that they can actually sell the stuff they create? I don't think so. Because it's true. If it wasn't true, everyone would just be posting all the stuff they wrote for free and the topic of an Open 5E would never come up.
pming
Legend
Hiya!
Er...if you want to write stuff for 5e and plaster "Compatible with 5e Dungeons & Dragons*" [*stuff about non-permission from WotC] right on the cover, go for it! It is 100% LEGAL for anyone to make anything that is compatible or otherwise for use with some other companies product. And, as an added bonus, the rules of 5e are not subject to copyright anyway.
There are some things you can't do...like make your cover 'look and feel' like a WotC D&D product, or have the "Dungeons and Dragons" really big on the cover, or use the "Dungeons & Dragons" graphic text, etc. That all falls under Trademark and Trade Dress. Basically, if a "reasonable person who uses the product(s) would likely be confused as to if WotC is the producer of what they are looking at"... then you have a problem.
That said... there is still nothing stopping WotC/Hasbro from suing you anyway. They don't even have to have even a mediocre chance in h-e-l-l of winning. They just have to file and you have to defend. They have billions, you have....your kids college fund? How long will that last you? A couple days? That is the problem...the legal system (in the USA in particular; "He with the most money, wins").
I am not a lawyer, but I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject. The internet is your friend, as is DuckDuckGo.com or Google or even BING ....just search, read, and decide for yourself.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Er...if you want to write stuff for 5e and plaster "Compatible with 5e Dungeons & Dragons*" [*stuff about non-permission from WotC] right on the cover, go for it! It is 100% LEGAL for anyone to make anything that is compatible or otherwise for use with some other companies product. And, as an added bonus, the rules of 5e are not subject to copyright anyway.
There are some things you can't do...like make your cover 'look and feel' like a WotC D&D product, or have the "Dungeons and Dragons" really big on the cover, or use the "Dungeons & Dragons" graphic text, etc. That all falls under Trademark and Trade Dress. Basically, if a "reasonable person who uses the product(s) would likely be confused as to if WotC is the producer of what they are looking at"... then you have a problem.
That said... there is still nothing stopping WotC/Hasbro from suing you anyway. They don't even have to have even a mediocre chance in h-e-l-l of winning. They just have to file and you have to defend. They have billions, you have....your kids college fund? How long will that last you? A couple days? That is the problem...the legal system (in the USA in particular; "He with the most money, wins").
I am not a lawyer, but I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject. The internet is your friend, as is DuckDuckGo.com or Google or even BING ....just search, read, and decide for yourself.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
You do to legally put them out there for folks to buy. And forget about people making money. Nobody would really make any real money selling 3PP 5E stuff anymore than they would or do sell 3PP stuff for any other system. So the whole diatribe earlier about "we need to question whether you actually want to write gaming material or do you just want to to have the biggest game at the moment open to you because it's the most likely way you can make as much money as you can?" is just you being rude. But you, I, and everyone else understands all this so no need to pretend otherwise.
Searching, reading, and deciding for yourself will not impress a court if you get called on something.
If you really want to publish, speak to an IP Lawyer.
Remathilis
Legend
One issue you'd have right away is that there are elements of 5e (warlocks and dragonborn for example) that aren't in the 3e SRD.
redrick
First Post
The OGL isn't the only solution to allow small, independent publishers to easily create their own supplements for D&D 5e.
There is a ton of middle ground between a completely open license with 90% of the game in an SRD that can be reproduced in full, and a completely closed game which doesn't authorize any licensed compatibility. Wizards has repeatedly said that they plan to release a general license. As long as that license allows third parties to release adventures and settings without investing in a prohibitively expensive license or run the risk of a bankrupting lawsuit from Wizards, I'm happy.
I certainly would like to see whatever it is that Wizards is planning at some point. The existence of things like En5ider, Fifth Edition Foes, Quests of Doom, etc, Primeval Thule, etc, show that there is demand for some more niche style products that differ from the broad-appeal stuff Wizards is putting out. Fifth Edition Foes, for one, would have benefited from a license that allowed them to use more of the proper 5e language and 5e look and feel. (Uniformity of interface and style is valuable for rapid ease of use. Look at what Microsoft, Apple and Google have done with style guidelines for 3rd party developers.)
There is a ton of middle ground between a completely open license with 90% of the game in an SRD that can be reproduced in full, and a completely closed game which doesn't authorize any licensed compatibility. Wizards has repeatedly said that they plan to release a general license. As long as that license allows third parties to release adventures and settings without investing in a prohibitively expensive license or run the risk of a bankrupting lawsuit from Wizards, I'm happy.
I certainly would like to see whatever it is that Wizards is planning at some point. The existence of things like En5ider, Fifth Edition Foes, Quests of Doom, etc, Primeval Thule, etc, show that there is demand for some more niche style products that differ from the broad-appeal stuff Wizards is putting out. Fifth Edition Foes, for one, would have benefited from a license that allowed them to use more of the proper 5e language and 5e look and feel. (Uniformity of interface and style is valuable for rapid ease of use. Look at what Microsoft, Apple and Google have done with style guidelines for 3rd party developers.)
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