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 the D&D 5E SRD (ie the rules of the game less the fluff text) has been released under a Creative Commons license.

OGL 1.0a & Creative Commons

Over the past few weeks you, the community, have made your voices heard. And we’ve listened. OGL 1.0a will remain untouched AND the entire SRD 5.1...

www.dndbeyond.com

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.

• SRD 5.1-CC

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.

Over 1,500 Publishers Support Paizo's Upcoming Open RPG Creator's License

Paizo has revealed some of the 1,500+ tabletop RPG publishers who have expressed an interest in their new Open RPG Creator's License (ORC), describing the group as the 'ORC Alliance'. The license itself is still being worked on, so these 1,500 publishers have not actually seen it or signed...

www.enworld.org

 

[kerleth]

To paraphrase a great man, or at least a good man, well I guess he was alright.

"Do you know what the first rule of gaming is? Love. You can own all the IP in the verse but you sit down with a game you don't love, it'll fall apart just as sure as a turn of the worlds. Love keeps her runnin' when she oughta bog down. Tells you she's hurtin' before she keens. Makes a game a home."

-Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of the Serenity

 

[Scribe]

• They're leaving 1.0a untouched
• They're putting 5.1 in CC

Are we overlooking the changes that have come in the last few years, around races, alignments, not to mention the upcoming D&D One changes, which aren't addressed by either of these moves? All the people who wanted to empower 3pp, I don't see anything in this announcements that makes it easy for them to publish 6e/One D&D material.

I'm not seeing anything of value lost.

 

[dave2008]

Here's a Q?

Is there a path forward for a OneD&D that is extremely similar to 5e if 5e is ALL in Creative Commons?

Or does this mean One D&D has to take a hard turn to compete with 5e?

Yes, they just stay on the path they are on. They could (and should) release the 1D&D SRD on the CC as well, but they may not. I'm pretty sure you don't need an updated SRD to make 1D&D content.

 

[dave2008]

• They're leaving 1.0a untouched
• They're putting 5.1 in CC

Are we overlooking the changes that have come in the last few years, around races, alignments, not to mention the upcoming D&D One changes, which aren't addressed by either of these moves? All the people who wanted to empower 3pp, I don't see anything in this announcements that makes it easy for them to publish 6e/One D&D material.

You can publish 1D&D material right now with the 5.1 SRD, assuming they (WotC) are continuing with the previous plans for 1D&D. Some speculate they will change plans now that they lost this battle. I, however, think these were two separate and mostly unrelated ideas.

Remember, people published 5e supplements before there was a 5e SRD.

 

[grimslade]

 

[JEB]

Wow. We're back to where we were in December, and even beyond with the completely shocking Creative Commons release of the 5.1 SRD. This is far more than I expected or hoped! I'm certainly ready to end my boycott, and set up that private watch party for the movie again...

However, I still need two more things before I can really trust Wizards again.
1) The release of the other SRDs (3.0, 3.5, Modern) into Creative Commons, so they are also truly irrevocable.
2) I don't care how they do it, but they need to legally bind their hands and make it impossible to revoke OGL 1.0a. So the OGL ecosystem can continue without requiring everything to be re-released under ORC or CC or other licenses. (Though those that can, should.)

Until those happen, I will be keeping an eye out for more shenanigans...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So does this mean we can start taking about the game again?!

I'm sorry, no. Now we have to focus all our energies on fighting about Xbox vs. Playstation.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wow.

I’m honestly floored.

I hope they remember those numbers next time someone brings up axing OGL 1.0a.

Haven’t read the SRD link yet, is it just the same SRD we’ve been using for 5e?

 

[JEB]

Haven’t read the SRD link yet, is it just the same SRD we’ve been using for 5e?

Other than replacing the OGL text with the Creative Commons text, I think so. My copy of SRD 5.1 even has the beholder references etc.

EDIT: One clarification. As pointed out in another thread, the OGL text protected terms like "beholder" while CC does not. So while the text of the SRD is the same, technically more of it is open-source now. (Surely an accident, but too late.)

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

I'm sorry, no. Now we have to focus all our energies on fighting about Xbox vs. Playstation.

I thought we had moved on to Purple Drazi versus Green Drazi now.