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

 

[wingsandsword]

Slaying the OGL is was likely to be an attempt at creating a chilling effect to corral people into a contract and hedge out competition.

And then they found out the chilling effect wasn't working and the whole thing was convincing people to make more competition.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems slip through your fingers." - Princess Leia Organa

 

[Alzrius]

Perhaps. Just as likely (if not more so) that it was something else/instead, too. I expect there were other metrics and data points involved in an about face like this.

I imagine having their parent company shed a thousand jobs was one of them:

Layoffs coming to Hasbro as Monopoly maker, D&D publisher to shed 1,000 jobs

Pawtucket-based Hasbro, Inc., says it will lay off 1,000 employees, about 15% of its global workforce, after a drop in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

While I am super-stoked with this news for the 3PPs out there whose livelihood has been so threatened, and for all gamers who are happy to walk back and continue giving wotc their money (I mean this genuinely), I for one will only be giving my money to the 3PPs and all the new games and content that will come from this sh1tstorm that wotc created for nothing but their own greed.

Hopefully Kobold, MCDM, C7 etc will follow through and create the games they have announced. Hopefully they can now do so without the fear of legal action. And hopefully out the muck will come a new golden age for our hobby.

Yeah, this makes me feel a lot better about Deep Magic 2 and Uncharted Journeys. But after this crap, I'm also definitely picking up the Monster Overhaul, so that I have a solid OSR bestiary ready to go in case I end up DMing Beyond the Wall or something full time.

 

[guachi]

Full disclosure: I haven’t read this whole thread.

But I’m totally sure this change of heart is because Hasbro desperately wants to improve goodwill with the community before the D&D movie comes out. Hasbro sees the movie, media, and merch as their meal ticket, not any of this gameplay stuff.

I think so, too. I specifically mentioned how WotC should make money by selling me licensed stuff like Owlbear plushies and D&D Lego sets based on the movie.

 

[TheSword]

Wait a minute… Wizards of the Coast are evil and hate players right? Why on earth would they do this…

 

[Steel_Wind]

I imagine having their parent company shed a thousand jobs was one of them:

Layoffs coming to Hasbro as Monopoly maker, D&D publisher to shed 1,000 jobs

Pawtucket-based Hasbro, Inc., says it will lay off 1,000 employees, about 15% of its global workforce, after a drop in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022.

sports.yahoo.com

Honestly? No. I think that was just Wall Street driven layoffs, same as we have seen from many companies over the past 10-14days. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta/Facebook. No shortage of those whether the company's profits were up or down.

I would not think that or the day-to-day share price was at work in this decision. What the metrics were? Unclear. We'll find out someday, most likely.

 

[Dausuul]

I look forward to the future day we get an inside story piece of journalism on just what happened inside WotC over the last couple months.

This is total speculation, but based on what we saw from Wizards, here's what I think happened:

The initial decision to revoke the OGL was not seen as a big deal by whoever was calling the shots at the time (supposedly Chris Cao, but since we don't know for sure, I'll just call this person Cersei). They considered the OGL an obstacle to be swept aside, and didn't anticipate much pushback.

Then things leaked and there was PUSHBACK like whoa. This set off an internal struggle between Cersei and some other person or faction whom I'll call Tyrion. Tyrion wanted to drop the whole thing and re-commit to the original OGL. There were many acrimonious meetings -- this was the period of about a week when there was total radio silence from Wizards.

Eventually everyone realized that something had to be said, and Cersei, who was still nominally in charge, issued the 2.0 proposal and the "We all win!" statement. This did not help matters. At this point, someone higher up the chain whom I'll call Tywin said, "This has got to stop. Cersei, you need to fix this right now."

Cersei came up with the OGL 1.2 proposal. Tyrion slipped a limited Creative Commons release into it, then argued that it should be put to a trial by comb... er, public survey, to see if it would in fact be enough. This was done and the survey came back with results that could be summed up as "Gregor Clegane versus Drogon."

Tywin said, "You had your chance, Cersei. I'm putting Tyrion in charge. Tyrion, do whatever you have to do, but I have a meeting Monday with the Iron Board of Haasbros, and I want this whole thing gone."

Tyrion said, "The one thing everybody liked in the survey was this Creative Commons bit. If we put the whole 5E SRD under it, and agree to back off the OGL, I think that would do the trick."

To which Tywin replied, "I don't care what you do as long as I can bring good news to the Iron Board. But if I have to give them bad news..."

"I know. Heads. Spikes. Walls."

Tyrion released the original OGL from the black cells and put the 5E SRD into Creative Commons, and the common people rejoiced, and Tywin got to bring good news to the Iron Board. But none of them knew about the AI Dungeon Masters gathering beyond the GPT Wall...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Really feeling like corporate told the DnD team to handle it because that feels distinctly not-corporate.

Or the person or persons behind the previous initiative and tone is no longer working there.

 

[Minigiant]

Full disclosure: I haven’t read this whole thread.

But I’m totally sure this change of heart is because Hasbro desperately wants to improve goodwill with the community before the D&D movie comes out. Hasbro sees the movie, media, and merch as their meal ticket, not any of this gameplay stuff.

Hasbro has to keep up goodwill with the only part of the corporation that makes significant profit over expenses.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm a little bittersweet on this. Part of me is glad that things return to normal, or better than normal now that SRD5.1 is CC. Part of me is sad that the blue-sky possibilities of a post-Hasbro world have been traded for another epoch under the dominion of a (hopefully) benevolent overlord.

All of those third party games are still out there. They're still as great as they were a week ago. Even people who like 5E should try something different once in a while. At worst, it will make you better D&D players/DMs by expanding your knowledge base.