Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Still no OGL (or other license) for 5e? Why not clone 5e with the OGL?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Doctor Futurity" data-source="post: 6677124" data-attributes="member: 10738"><p>It's very simple to produce content for 5E under the existing OGL. Follow these rules (IANAL but this is how all the smart 3PP are doing it so far<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>1. stick to the OGL as given, so adhere to its stipulations and requirements rigorously.</p><p></p><p>2. Do not duplicate stat block formats or other visuals that could lead to your product being mistaken for official D&D 5E content. Do not use any material you can attribute to open content or original content.</p><p></p><p>3. You are deriving mechanical equivalence from the 3rd edition OGL product, so do not reference 5E official products, and for the love of all gods don't label your product D&D compatible; it's not....it's compatible with the 5th edition of everyone's favorite fantasy game, nod nod wink wink. Strictly speaking this is very conformist with the OGL because you are not duplicating the exact mechanics of the source (3.5 rules). Mechanical equivalency with 5E is not forbidden in the OGL at all. It's how the retroclones were legally produced; the OGL was specifically written to allow 3PP to create derivative works founded on 3.5, and mechanical equivalency with 5E seems to satisfy that criteria. Odds are any OGL that might be considered by WotC will not be as permissive as the existing OGL, for the record.</p><p></p><p>4. Do not duplicate 5E text. Only duplicate identified useable OGL open content text if you absolutely must. </p><p></p><p>5. Rigorously adhere to the OGL IP exceptions. No mind flayers in a 5E compatible product because they are protected IP in the OGL 1.0a, for example.</p><p></p><p>6. If you convert or derive material from OGL sources make sure you attribute them correctly. </p><p></p><p>7. If you're nervous, look for name-equivalency when necessary; i.e. negative energy vs. necrotic. I think you don't need to worry that much, though. </p><p></p><p>8. Do not stick D&D anywhere on your product. (Second warning). 5E or 5th edition compatible is fine, apparently. Or if you're really nervous just label it "compatible with the very latest edition of the game as of 2015" or something.</p><p></p><p>9. Make sure you identify and protect your own IP in the OGL, but feel free to identify anything that is open content you want, or which derives from other open content.</p><p></p><p>10. As a reminder make sure your use of art is legal (i.e. you paid for it and attribute it correctly, and most likely make sure it's not designated as open content unless you and the artist intend for it to be).</p><p></p><p>....So stick to the OGL as written and you can already do this. It's just like writing for OSR retroclones, and you don't even need to emulate the rules, just the numerics and mechanical equivalency.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Doctor Futurity, post: 6677124, member: 10738"] It's very simple to produce content for 5E under the existing OGL. Follow these rules (IANAL but this is how all the smart 3PP are doing it so far:) 1. stick to the OGL as given, so adhere to its stipulations and requirements rigorously. 2. Do not duplicate stat block formats or other visuals that could lead to your product being mistaken for official D&D 5E content. Do not use any material you can attribute to open content or original content. 3. You are deriving mechanical equivalence from the 3rd edition OGL product, so do not reference 5E official products, and for the love of all gods don't label your product D&D compatible; it's not....it's compatible with the 5th edition of everyone's favorite fantasy game, nod nod wink wink. Strictly speaking this is very conformist with the OGL because you are not duplicating the exact mechanics of the source (3.5 rules). Mechanical equivalency with 5E is not forbidden in the OGL at all. It's how the retroclones were legally produced; the OGL was specifically written to allow 3PP to create derivative works founded on 3.5, and mechanical equivalency with 5E seems to satisfy that criteria. Odds are any OGL that might be considered by WotC will not be as permissive as the existing OGL, for the record. 4. Do not duplicate 5E text. Only duplicate identified useable OGL open content text if you absolutely must. 5. Rigorously adhere to the OGL IP exceptions. No mind flayers in a 5E compatible product because they are protected IP in the OGL 1.0a, for example. 6. If you convert or derive material from OGL sources make sure you attribute them correctly. 7. If you're nervous, look for name-equivalency when necessary; i.e. negative energy vs. necrotic. I think you don't need to worry that much, though. 8. Do not stick D&D anywhere on your product. (Second warning). 5E or 5th edition compatible is fine, apparently. Or if you're really nervous just label it "compatible with the very latest edition of the game as of 2015" or something. 9. Make sure you identify and protect your own IP in the OGL, but feel free to identify anything that is open content you want, or which derives from other open content. 10. As a reminder make sure your use of art is legal (i.e. you paid for it and attribute it correctly, and most likely make sure it's not designated as open content unless you and the artist intend for it to be). ....So stick to the OGL as written and you can already do this. It's just like writing for OSR retroclones, and you don't even need to emulate the rules, just the numerics and mechanical equivalency. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Still no OGL (or other license) for 5e? Why not clone 5e with the OGL?
Top