D&D 5E Still no OGL (or other license) for 5e? Why not clone 5e with the OGL?

[77IM]

That is really sketchy advice. IANAL either, but since no part of 5E is covered by the OGL, if you are accused of infringing on 5E your adherence to the 3E/3.5 license is pretty irrelevant. Trying to use the 3.0/3.5 OGL as a smoke-screen seems like a pretty flimsy defense: it is certainly possible to produce a work that is derivative of both 3.0 and 5E and that's what WotC's lawyers would demonstrate, if it ever came to that. And it would be very easy for them to demonstrate that. Most judges are not stupid and really hate rules-lawyering. ;}

The companies producing material for 5E right now are doing so not because they have a strong legal case, but because they have balls. Even with a strong legal case, legal fees could drive a small company bankrupt really fast, while not even registering a blip on Hasbro's bottom line. That's a risk you take using someone else's IP without explicit permission to do so.

 

[weldon]

I'd imagine that the recent news of Hasbro and Warners Bros teaming up to make a new Dungeons & Dragons movie probably doesn't bode well for any attempts to stretch current D&D licensing. With both Hasbro and a Hollywood studio interested in protecting their brand and capitalising on any spin-offs in the event of a successful movie, they're more likely than ever to want to keep things buttoned down tight.

Two ways to look at it…

1) The money going into this movie will probably spur Hasbro on to produce a lot of licensed products (Lego? Lunchboxes? Pajamas?). Probably way more licensed products than we currently see.
2) The money going into this movie will probably sour Hasbro on working with small shops, or using an OGL/SRD setup to allow an open license