• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

The Day Has Come! It's An OGL! And A Store To Buy & Sell D&D 5E Products!

The day has finally come! WotC has just announced a Dungeon Master's Guild. "There’s a new way to buy and share D&D adventures. With the Dungeon Master’s Guild, you’ll be able to self-publish material set in the Forgotten Realms using monsters, spells, characters, and locations." You can self-publish D&D materials, and buy, sell, and share it. It's a partnership between WotC and OBS (the company which runs DTRPG and RPGNow) and they take 50% of the revenue. The guild is only accepting 5E material set in the Forgotten Realms. Not only that, but there's also a new SRD (System Reference Document) for use with the Open Gaming License (OGL)!

The day has finally come! WotC has just announced a Dungeon Master's Guild. "There’s a new way to buy and share D&D adventures. With the Dungeon Master’s Guild, you’ll be able to self-publish material set in the Forgotten Realms using monsters, spells, characters, and locations." You can self-publish D&D materials, and buy, sell, and share it. It's a partnership between WotC and OBS (the company which runs DTRPG and RPGNow) and they take 50% of the revenue. The guild is only accepting 5E material set in the Forgotten Realms. Not only that, but there's also a new SRD (System Reference Document) for use with the Open Gaming License (OGL)!

So the store, called the Dungeon Master's Guild, is here. It already has some stuff in it. The System Reference Document is here. I'm sure that over the coming days, there will be plenty of in-depth analysis of what all this means. The SRD is an enormous 360-page PDF containing the rules of the game - as yet I haven't had chance to look closely art what's there and what's not. You have two options - publish under the OGL using the SRD, or publish in the Dungeon Master's Guild. The former lets you do more varied stuff, while the latter has tempting nuggets like the possibility of publication by WotC. The OGL route - as far as I can see at first glance - doesn't offer a way to indicate compatibility, or any kind of logo you can use.

There's a bunch of information on the DG (I'll call it that for the moment, because typing out the whole thing is already getting arduous - we need an acronym, and DMG is already taken!), and here are the salient points as far as I can tell:

  • You can use a bunch of WotC's IP, including brand names and other vital stuff.
  • It's affiliated with DTRPG, and if you charge money it costs you 50% of your revenue (DTRPG normally charges 40% or so).
  • There are resources - templates stock art, et. you can use.
  • Your work has to be set in the Forgotten Realms. Additional settings may open up later. [UPDATE - you can publish setting agnostic stuff, but if it's in a setting, that setting must be FR]
  • You have to agree to a Community Content Agreement (below).
  • You cannot sell your stuff elsewhere. It's an exclusive deal.
  • You keep ownership of your own IP, but others can use it.
  • Your work might be selected for use in an official D&D product or video game.
  • There's no approval process, but they reserve the right to withhold payment and pull your content if you break the content guidelines.



DMsGuild-Logo.png


[h=4]The Community Content Agreement[/h]
For those having trouble finding it, here it is:

This Community Content Agreement (this “Agreement”) is a binding agreement between you, the individual identified by your customer account on this website or the legal entity you represent, and OneBookShelf, Inc. (“OBS”) the parent company of website marketplaces including DriveThruRPG, RPGNow and more.


This Agreement covers your participation in and use of the Dungeon Masters Guild and the website, www.DMsGuild.com (the “Program”).
1. Acceptance
You accept this Agreement by clicking “I Agree” to set up and submit a new title (the “Work”) to OBS.


2. Intellectual Property Definitions
(a) Hasbro, Inc. d/b/a Wizards of the Coast LLC (collectively, the “Owner”) has granted OBS the right to use elements of Owner’s Dungeons & Dragon tabletop roleplaying game (“Owner’s IP”) and sublicense certain limited rights to you under the terms of this Agreement.
Owner’s IP includes any and all Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying materials and content made available to you through the Program including, but not limited to:
Dungeons & Dragons rule sets
Portions and elements of Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings
Artwork and other graphic templates and materials
Owner’s IP may be amended at any time and for any reason whatsoever without liability to you. However, any Work published in the Program prior to the removal of Owner’s IP will not require the removal or amendment of that Work.
(b) “Program IP” shall be defined as any User Generated Content (defined, below) distributed by the Program.
(c) “User Generated Content” shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement.

3. Account Information; Account Suspension.

(a) Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must have an active user account in order to participate in the Program. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with establishing your account, such as your name, address and email, is accurate when you provided it, and you must keep it up to date as long as you use the Program. You may maintain only one account at a time. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You also consent to our sending you emails related to the Program and other publishing opportunities. This consent regarding contacting you by email takes precedence over any contrary directions you may have given us, including through a Wizards website.
(b) Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorized the activities. You may not permit any third party to use the Program through your account and will not use the account of any third party. You agree to immediately notify OneBookShelf.com of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account.
(c) Account Suspension. We may suspend your account or your participation in the Dungeon Masters Guild at any time. You acknowledge that if we do so, you may be prevented from accessing communications and content on the Dungeon Masters Guild. If we suspend your account, you must stop using all Dungeon Masters Guild accounts and you will not create any new accounts.

4. Rights Granted to You.

(a) Subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, OBS grants you the limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, personal, worldwide and revocable right to use and otherwise incorporate Owner’s IP and Program IP into your Work(s) for distribution through the Program or other platforms and channels at the sole discretion of Owner.
(b) Except for short promotional excerpts used to promote your Work, you may not display, recreate, publish, distribute or sell your Work (or derivatives thereof) outside of the Program administered on OBS websites or through other platforms or channels authorized or offered by Owner.

5. Rights You Grant to OBS

(a) No Reversion. Due to our licensing arrangement with the Owner and the collaborative nature of the Program, you are granting us broad licenses in your Work and your User Generated Content included in your Work, and the rights to your Work will not be reverted once it is published in the Program. You will have the ability through online tools at OBS websites to stop public display and sale of your Work on OBS marketplaces, but not to stop the sale of works of other authors in the Program even when such works use your User Generated Content that you originally created in your Work and thereby became part of the Program IP for other authors to use.
(b) Exclusive License to your Work. Effective as of the date you setup your Work through the Program on OBS’s website, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to develop,
license, reproduce, print, publish, distribute, translate, display, publicly perform and transmit your Work, in whole and in part, in each country in the world, in all languages and formats, and by all means now known or later developed, and the right to prepare derivative works of your Work.
(c) Exclusive License to all User Generated Content in your Work. Effective as of the date we first make your Work available through the Program, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to all User Generated Content included in your Work. You agree that the User Generated Content is available for unrestricted use by us without any additional compensation, notification or attribution, including that we may allow other Program authors, the Owner and other third parties to use the User Generated Content.
6. Waiver of Claims; Waiver of Moral Rights.
In order to prevent legal claims that could be disruptive to the Program participants or impede the ability of you and other Program authors to participate in the Program, you irrevocably waive any legal claim you may have under any theory of law in any territory that your rights were infringed due to any use of your User Generated Content by us, the Owner or its affiliates, licensees and sublicensees, and/or any other Program authors, including copyright infringement. This waiver does not apply to royalty payments we may owe you under Section 7. You also irrevocably waive any moral rights in your Work and agree not to assert any moral rights in your Work against us, the Owner, and/or other Program authors. If, under any applicable law, this waiver of moral rights is not effective, you acknowledge that your Work is subject to the licenses you grant in Section 4 without any credit obligation, that you intend for your Work to be used in this way, and that this form of use will not be contrary to your moral rights.

7. Royalties and Payments

(a) Royalties. As full consideration of the rights you grant us under this Agreement, we will pay you a 50% royalty of the price paid on digital download format sales of your Work, and a 50% royalty on the print margin of print-on-demand sales of your Work. Print Margin is the amount paid less the print cost to physically manufacture the book as listed on OBS websites.
(b) Sales taxes and freight charges are not considered part of the price paid.
(c) No royalties accrue on sales resulting in consumer refunds, charge backs, or fraud.
(d) Royalties are computed in US dollars.
(e) Royalties are paid via PayPal. You shall have access on OBS websites to a webpage that allows you to withdraw accumulated royalties to your PayPal account. OBS may deduct a fee of $2 or PayPal’s prevailing fee for its MassPay service from each payment to you.
(f) OBS or Owner may send complimentary copies of your work for reasonable promotional and administrative purposes. No royalties shall be paid to you on such copies.
(g) You shall set the sale price of your Work. OBS may include your Work in site promotional sales events at discounts up to 40% off your normal sale price.
(h) Royalties on a sale of your Work shall be eligible for your withdrawal 60 days after the sale.

8. Representations, Warranties and Indemnity.

You represent and warrant that:
(a) You are old enough to form a legally binding contract.
(b) If you are accepting this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the legal authority to bind that company or legal entity.
(c) Excluding the Owner’s IP and Program IP which we license to you, you are the sole owner of all rights in your Work.
(d) Your Work does not contain material that is libelous; that violates the copyrights or trademarks of another party; that violates the law; or that the general public would classify as pornography.
You will indemnify and hold OBS and Owner harmless from any liability or cause of action arising from any breach of your representations and warranties including all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

9. No Obligation to Make Available or Sell. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to market, distribute, or offer for sale your Work, or to continuing marketing, distributing or selling your Work after we have started doing so. We may remove your Work from the Program and cease further exploitation at any time in our sole discretion without notice to you.

10. Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE AND THE OWNER WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR (OR OWNER) LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY US TO YOU UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM AND (II) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00). WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE PROGRAM, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU AGREE THAT WE CANNOT ENSURE THAT EDITIONS OF YOUR USER GENERATED CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. ONEBOOKSHELF WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT OUR SYSTEMS WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTEM OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE DISCLAIMER OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES; AS SUCH THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN ITS ENTIRETY.

11. Execution of Further Agreements and Documents. Protection of rights sometimes requires formal filings of paper documents and it may be helpful for us to have physical signed versions of this Agreement or other documents. You agree to sign and deliver to us any further documents that we may reasonably request to confirm your grant of rights to us (and Owner) under this Agreement, following all instructions we provide for signature and return (“Additional Documents”). If you do not complete and return any such Additional Documents within 30 days after we request them, you agree that we can sign the Additional Documents on your behalf and, to make your agreement legally enforceable, you hereby irrevocably appoint us as your attorney-in-fact with full power to execute, acknowledge and deliver the Additional Documents as required to confirm our rights. In legal terms, your appointment is a power coupled with an interest.

12. No Rescission or Injunctive Relief. All rights granted to us (and Owner) under this Agreement are irrevocably vested. No breach by us (or Owner) of this Agreement will entitle you to equitable relief, whether injunctive or otherwise, against or with respect to your User Generated Content or any other works produced pursuant to the rights granted under this Agreement or their exploitation. If the rights granted to OBS (or Owner) under this Agreement should revert to you under any copyright law or similar law, and if you are at any time thereafter prepared to enter an agreement with a third party for the license, exercise or other disposition of all or any of those rights, you will, before entering into the agreement, give OBS and Owner notice of the proposed terms (and all modifications of the terms) and the party involved. In each case, both OBS and Owner will then have 10 business days in which to elect to acquire the rights involved on the terms you offered to that third party.

13. General Provisions.
(a) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court or other tribunal with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement does not waive the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision.
(b) The parties are independent contractors with respect to each other. This Agreement does not constitute and shall not be construed as constituting a partnership or joint venture among the parties hereto, or an employee/employer relationship.
(c) This Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns.
(d) You agree that all matters relating to your access to or use of the Program, including all disputes, will be governed by the laws of the United States and by the laws of the State of Washington without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts in King County, Washington, and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue. The preceding provision regarding venue does not apply if you are a consumer based in the European Union. If you are a consumer based in the European Union, you may make a claim in the courts of the country where you reside. Any claim under this Agreement must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause of action is barred. You expressly acknowledge and agree that no recovery may be sought or received for damages other than out-of-pocket expenses, except that the prevailing party will be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees. In the event of any controversy or dispute between us and you arising out of or in connection with your use of the Program, the parties shall attempt, promptly and in good faith, to resolve any such dispute. If we are unable to resolve any such dispute within a reasonable time (not to exceed thirty (30) days), then either party may submit such controversy or dispute to mediation. If the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation, then the parties shall be free to pursue any right or remedy available to them under applicable law.
Changelog


We will update this section if/when we make updates to this Agreement.
 

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lkj

Hero
Seems like they want to, I really hope for Greyhawk but my gut says that one would be dead last in the list.


Well, this DM Guild idea seems well in line with the comments some of the folks (Perkins?) were making about finding non traditional ways to support other settings. I'm cautiously optimistic.

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pukunui

Legend
Does this mean that we might finally see some kind of statblock management software? Typing up customized statblocks for monsters and NPCs is one of the most time-consuming parts of being a 5e DM (at least for me). It'd be nice to be able to, say, take one of the generic NPC stats in the back of the MM, select a race other than human, and have all the racial traits and adjustments slotted in automatically. Or, say, take your basic generic hobgoblin and switch up their gear, add a few hit dice, maybe even an extra ability or two, and not have to make all the adjustments myself.
 

CapnZapp

Legend
On the downside...

You write a book of archetypes for the dmsguild. You publish them there and they sell pretty well.

I come along and cherry pick the 4 best out of that, republish them in my guide for fighters that includes some of my own info and archetypes. I say it was from "CapnZapp" really tiny print at the beginning where most contributions are. It steps up to the front page and makes a lot of money, you get nothing even though those were your original ideas.

I'm a bit more protective of my ideas, so I don't see this as a good deal. If your ideas haven't been seen anywhere or are radically different than the normal tropes of D&D yet you want to use 5E as a base, I would advise selling elsewhere and keeping your rights a bit more.
Nah.

If you want to play in somebody else's playground, you need to follow their rules.

Feel free to hold your ideas close to your chest. I won't hold my breath for you successfully publihsing them anytime soon.

In the meanwhile, everyone wanting to add their contribution to a vibrant rpg scene, with no other recompense than a lot of joy provided, will find this deal fantastic!
 

Staffan

Legend
I don't think PF is actually a clone, though. It's got plenty of differences from 3.5 D&D, enough that it's more like AU than say S&W is to (O)D&D.

I'd say that Pathfinder in 2009 is pretty much a clone of D&D as per 2003, with some extra spice added (rage powers for barbarians, bloodlines for sorcerers, and such). I would have very little trouble running The Bastards of Erebus using the 3.5e core rules. Pathfinder in 2016 has gone on to be a beast of its own - running Pyramids of the Sky Pharaoh with the 3.5e core rules would be very difficult, because it's full of monsters I've never heard of, NPCs using weird classes, traps with strange magic, something called "haunts", and so on.
 

Barantor

Explorer
People would be just as able to copy your stuff if you use the SRD instead, with about as much attribution (except it would be in the SRD Section 15 instead of on the credits page).

That's entirely dependent on what you claim as product identity. If you claim basically everything that isn't a game rule then there's relatively little of your adventure/supplement/whatever that can be safely reused.

Exactly as rooneg says. If I create a world setting and name it etc and claim all of that as my IP and state very clearly that the rules are Wotc's IP, then I can sell that setting as I like under the OGL and go after folks that infringe on my IPs.

If I were to publish things in the DMsg (dungeon master's guild) then I cannot claim those IPs. If I were to post "Gilliam the Swordsman" NPC in a book of NPCs and another author in the DMsg posted that NPC and gave me text credit, he/she can still make money off their creation and I get nothing but the text credit from them.

I could take that same swordsman, post it in Drivethrurpg and not DMsg and claim his name as a unique NPC name, use the OGL and then nobody could copy me willy-nilly from the DMsg.
 

Shemeska

Adventurer
I'd wager that, as WotC explores more worlds in an official capacity, they'll add more worlds to the playground for people to support. But you know, they don't want you publishing Shemmy's Guide to the Planes before they put their official stamp on it.

Though if they don't hire you, me, and [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION] to write their 5e PS presentation, I don't know WHERE their priorities are. ;)

I've managed to dip my toes into the setting in each of the last two editions, and I'd love to do something for 5e as well. I'd also be more than happy collaborating with either you and/or Quickleaf, and a number of others as well that I've collaborated with before, or just had drinks with at GenCon. :D

The chances are slender to see Shemmy's 'Guide to Sigilian Dress Makers and Soul-Gem Purveyors', 'The Big Book of Baernaloths', or 'Why Yugoloth-Blooded Tieflings are the Best Tieflings'. But I'd love to work on Planescape/Sigil/the 'loths in 5e either officially or through the DM's Guild should that ever be possible.

The irony is that the same day that WotC came out with this, I added more freelancing to my plate from others.
 

Inglorin

Explorer
Ok, that was a lot to read. Happy gaming.

Some questions remain (at least for me):
- Am I in any way limited to english products? It could be VERY interesting for other markets, even if the basic rules are not available in translation, to produce monsters, scenarios and such.
- Can I use this new 5.0 SRD in combination with other (older) SRDs like the 3.5 one?
 

Barantor

Explorer
People would be just as able to copy your stuff if you use the SRD instead, with about as much attribution (except it would be in the SRD Section 15 instead of on the credits page).

That's entirely dependent on what you claim as product identity. If you claim basically everything that isn't a game rule then there's relatively little of your adventure/supplement/whatever that can be safely reused.

Nah.

If you want to play in somebody else's playground, you need to follow their rules.

Feel free to hold your ideas close to your chest. I won't hold my breath for you successfully publihsing them anytime soon.

In the meanwhile, everyone wanting to add their contribution to a vibrant rpg scene, with no other recompense than a lot of joy provided, will find this deal fantastic!

Oh I'm not completely against the idea of the system, only that folks need to understand what they are getting into is all. Many seem to be very, very confused about this system.

I might dip in the pool if they ever let loose with Greyhawk, but I like my other ideas staying mine. :D
 


Mark CMG

Creative Mountain Games
I'd say that Pathfinder in 2009 is pretty much a clone of D&D as per 2003, with some extra spice added (rage powers for barbarians, bloodlines for sorcerers, and such). I would have very little trouble running The Bastards of Erebus using the 3.5e core rules. Pathfinder in 2016 has gone on to be a beast of its own - running Pyramids of the Sky Pharaoh with the 3.5e core rules would be very difficult, because it's full of monsters I've never heard of, NPCs using weird classes, traps with strange magic, something called "haunts", and so on.


I hear what you're saying and I understand your point but I think the word "clone" gets misused including in this case. Someone could run a 1E adventure in C&C but I wouldn't call C&C a clone either. "Clone" implies identical such as S&W with (O)D&D or as was said above "Dark Dungeons and BECMI D&D" by rooneg. Even the first PF was a departure from 3.5, hence folks immediately calling it 3.75. I think with the current SRD and some help from the 3.5 SRD, as well as some OGC from other OGL products, a reasonable 5.25 could be produced in the next couple of months. I don't think it is necessary but it appears quite possible. Of course, if someone wants to put in that much work, they might be better off going with the DMGuild avenue and rake in the cake. The conditions for producing another PF just don't exist currently. We'll see what happens in a couple/few years if/when WotC wants to start working on a 6E, the DMGuild begins to show signs of no longer being a revenue source for them, and core books sales have dropped to the point of making new printings a losing bargain. Then a 5.25 might be a consideration, particularly if the rumblings are that 6E won't support the OGL right out of the gate. Having their fortunes too closely tied to D&D and no prospect of a clean 4E OGL was what triggered PF. WotC unleashed a golem designed by Paizo but not of their choosing.
 

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