WotC Backs Down: Original OGL To Be Left Untouched; Whole 5E Rules Released as Creative Commons

Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons. So, what's happened? The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a which most of the D&D third party industry relies on, will be left untouched for now. The whole of...

Hundreds of game publishers sigh in relief as, after extensive pressure exerted by the entire open gaming community, WotC has agreed to leave the original Open Gaming License untouched and put the whole of the 5E rules into Creative Commons.

So, what's happened?
  • The Open Gaming Licence v1.0a which most of the D&D third party industry relies on, will be left untouched for now.
  • The whole of the D&D 5E SRD (ie the rules of the game less the fluff text) has been released under a Creative Commons license.

WotC has a history of 'disappearing' inconvenient FAQs and stuff, such as those where they themselves state that the OGL is irrevocable, so I'll copy this here for posterity.

When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.

Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:
  • 88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.
  • 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.
  • 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.
  • 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.
  • 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.
These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.
The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.
  1. We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.
  2. We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license.
  3. You choose which you prefer to use.
This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.

Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.

So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?

We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.

We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.
Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.
We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.

We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.

Kyle Brink
Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons


What does this mean?

The original OGL sounds safe for now, but WotC has not admitted that they cannot revoke it. That's less of an issue now the 5E System Reference Document is now released to Creative Commons (although those using the 3E SRD or any third party SRDs still have issues as WotC still hasn't revoked the incorrect claim that they can revoke access to those at-will).

At this point, if WotC wants anybody to use whatever their new OGL v1.x turns out to be, there needs to be one heck of a carrot. What that might be remains to be seen.

Pathfinder publlsher Paizo has also commented on the latest developments.

We welcome today’s news from Wizards of the Coast regarding their intention not to de-authorize OGL 1.0a. We still believe there is a powerful need for an irrevocable, perpetual independent system-neutral open license that will serve the tabletop community via nonprofit stewardship. Work on the ORC license will continue, with an expected first draft to release for comment to participating publishers in February.


 

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MNblockhead

A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
As a few noted, this does not cover ONE DND. I fully expect a separate usage license for it. I wonder if they think the immense player base will shift to it and leave 5e behind relatively swiftly. There's more to this than just ending the fight over the OGL.
Not for me. They put 5e, my favorite edition under CC. And 1a looks secure (though I still would like moves to clearly make it irrevocable) so all the various OSR stuff are safe. If they close off the next edition, I'm sure that there are plenty of talented creators who will continue to innovate the 5e engine. Really it would be their loss to close off future editions like they did with 4e.
 

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Alzrius

The EN World kitten
So here's something interesting: the CC release of the 5.1 SRD makes mention of the terms "beholder" and "mind flayer" (albeit with no stats for either), as per pages 216 and 254. No stats, but also no Product Identity listing declaring those terms off-limits.
 

Well, I for one said I wouldn't be buying anything else unless they gave us 1.0a in a form that makes 3PP safe. It seems that they did, so the only barrier from me now is the quality of the individual products. I'll probably buy some, but not others as I always have.

That sounds more than reasonable.
Safety of 3PP was the most important thing for me too. I just put more trust in WotC to come to their mind, actually listen to feedback, and opted to leave the door open.
 

Steampunkette

A5e 3rd Party Publisher!
Supporter
So here's something interesting: the CC release of the 5.1 SRD makes mention of the terms "beholder" and "mind flayer" (albeit with no stats for either), as per pages 216 and 254. No stats, but also no Product Identity listing declaring those terms off-limits.
I just made a thread about this...

Also Strahd von Zarovich, The City of Brass, Dispater, and more.
 

Maybe, but I'm not sure things are ever returning to normal now. You can only take the mask off once. Even if everything is available under CC, now the risk is that people just don't move over to the next edition. While it won't be the biggest hit it could be, I suspect it'll still be something.
I mean, it's not like Paizo et al are just going to cancel plans for the ORC. So yeah, definitely going to be different going forward, especially if the ORC ends up more permissive than the OGL and attracts a lot of content. But honestly, I see that as a good thing. I think WotC might have hesitated to try the 1.2 gambit if there was already a healthy, competing ecosystem that 3pp could sidestep to with little effort.
 



As a few noted, this does not cover ONE DND. I fully expect a separate usage license for it. I wonder if they think the immense player base will shift to it and leave 5e behind relatively swiftly. There's more to this than just ending the fight over the OGL.

How can you leave behind 5e woth an edition that is very similar?
I do trust some people at WotC to actually be honest. Jeremy Crawford always seemed like someone who cared about the community and 5e as his game.
 



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