We got an official leak of One D&D OGL 1.1! Watch Our Discussion And Reactions!

[Greg Benage]

That claim was a big part of why the OGL was originally created. The belief, espoused by Ryan Dancey in particular, that "network externalities" drove the popularity of D&D.

I'm very familiar, Owen, thanks. I haven't had a dog in the hunt for a long time, so I have no pressing urge to argue it either way. The fact that 5e became a pop culture phenomenon without an SRD even being released makes me much less confident than I would have been twenty years ago.

 

[Stonesnake]

Over the past 24 hours, several leaks have appeared concerning OGL 1.1 and how it will affect gamers and content creators. Unfortunately, many of people's worst fears might be coming true if this leaked OGL 1.1 is correct, so we decided to sit down with expert contract lawyer Alan L. Bushlow, Esq., to discuss this license and the possible future of One D&D and the hobby at large.

Join us today at 5 pm EST to ask your questions LIVE!

 

[Random Task]

The idea was that more people knowing D&D rules meant more people played D&D. And, therefore, if you could make those rules even MORE commonly known, the biggest company with the biggest market share (WotC) would be the one that benefits the most from network growth.

My non professional idea would be that you're getting small publishers free riding off the bigger publisher. How many people are buying D&D in order to play amazing third party products?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My non professional idea would be that you're getting small publishers free riding off the bigger publisher. How many people are buying D&D in order to play amazing third party products?

Me.

Just glancing over at my shelves, I have the full complement of Lazy DM books, Roll & Play: The Gamemaster's Fantasy Toolkit, Magical Industrial Revolution, The Dungeon Alphabet, The Monster Alphabet, The Stygian Library, Ptolus: City by the Spire, Ptolus: Secrets from the Delvers Guild, Ptolus: City of Adventure, Monsters of the City, The City Watch, Empire of the Ghouls, Monsters of the Underworld, Monsters of Feyland, Fey Encounters, Latin American Monsters, An Unexpected Wedding, Incantations, Adventures in Oz: Campaign Setting, Adventures in Oz: Beasts & Beings, and the complete run of Goodman Games' Original Adventures Revisited (those could probably exist under the new license, since they're a special agreement with WotC).

The WotC stuff I have out and available: PHB, MM, DMG, Xanathar's, Tasha's, Monsters of the Multiverse, Wild Beyond the Witchlight, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Van Richten's, Strixhaven and Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel.

This doesn't count what I've got in storage (less than I've got out -- I'm pretty minimalist nowadays), in PDF form or via D&D Beyond.

I DM for more than a dozen of folks, many of whom have started DMing as a result of our long-term campaign, generating lots more sales of WotC core books and supplements.

WotC is not losing out on money because of my third-party purchases. They don't have comparable material that I'm choosing not to buy. Likewise, they are not crowded out of the marketplace by the presence of these third party products. If they wanted to create a Jane Austen-inflected adventure, the existence of An Unexpected Wedding wouldn't even rate as a speed bump to them.

The presence of a vibrant third party scene helped bring me back to D&D. The loss of it would not suddenly mean I'd be buying Ravnica or Storm King's Thunder. I would just play with what I've got and do even more homebrew.

The OGL helps everyone and expands the hobby. A gaming industry without it would be smaller and have a significantly smaller audience, along with a much smaller pool of designers for WotC to draw from.

Tightening up or shutting down open gaming is a stunningly stupid idea.

 

[mamba]

My non professional idea would be that you're getting small publishers free riding off the bigger publisher. How many people are buying D&D in order to play amazing third party products?

if they are not playing them, they are also not buying them

 

[Morrus]

if they are not playing them, they are also not buying them

Now THAT is famously not true. The cliche of the gamer with shelves of unplayed games is a real thing.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Now THAT is famously not true. The cliche of the gamer with shelves of unplayed games is a real thing.

I not only buy new games regularly but when my fiancé moved into my house I realized I still had systems I purchased 20 years ago I have never played... and now re in storage

 

[Nikosandros]

Now THAT is famously not true. The cliche of the gamer with shelves of unplayed games is a real thing.

I promise I'm going to run an Imagine campaign. One day.

 

[mamba]

Now THAT is famously not true. The cliche of the gamer with shelves of unplayed games is a real thing.

touche, but still, that is not a lost sale for WotC, it's either the 3PP or nothing, and without the broad 3PP support I might not use 5e at all, that to me feels like its biggest advantage

 

[Bedrockgames]

Now THAT is famously not true. The cliche of the gamer with shelves of unplayed games is a real thing.

I am small potatoes but I hear this enough from people who buy my books to suspect it is broadly quite true. I've heard from RPG book collectors and from people who maybe want to play the game one day but have only just had a chance to read it (so the cliche with the shelves of unplayed game). One thing I will say though is even in the latter case, the read material often makes its way to the table in some form (even if it is just an idea for a type of encounter or something).