I've heard from members of DM's guild and other places that WoTC is updating its OGL, but I don't quite understand what ramifications that will have on the community. Can someone please explain?
Until the new OGL is released, it is mostly speculation. If leaks are to be believed, it will force many creators away from from using the OGL and D&D. This is due to several factors, one of the primary ones being that anything published under the new OGL gives Wizards the rights/ownership of that material to use as they please.
It won't hit DDB directly. Basically, it will mean no 3rd party content, possibly no more fan videos/art, even critical role might switch away from d&d.
If the OGL leaks are to be true (and lets face it, they probably are), then making anything D&D related is basically theirs. Monitization is impossible, they can steal your ideas and all they'd need to do is change one word, you'd need to copy paste a legal document into the body of your content, you can't make content for anything outside of SRD.
Making content expanding on any world or setting not introduced by the free SRD is banned, such as Eberon or Wild Space. You cannot make subclasses for Artificer, or make subraces for anything outside of the original races (so no changing Warforged or using the new and changed races by mordenkanin). You can't even use monsters because the SRD doesn't have any.
They can sue you at any time for violating any reason they see fit, if you get sued they can interject in your place, and the document pushes any and all legal costs onto you. If they have a similar idea (or worse yet, like your idea) they can take it without even crediting you, and you are not allowed to even try it, because the new OGL doesn't let you. It forces creators to give up any rights they have to any content they make that even refrences any edition of D&D, and is retroactively applied to all works.
The OGL will kill D&D. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Down with OGL 1.1! Anything less is a crime on TTRPGs everywhere!
I just decided to go digital about 3 months ago and bought several books here that I already purchased and some new ones. I've been excited for the new movie and Baldur's Gate 3 to go live. We live in a renaissance of D&D...and the the new OGL dropped.
First, WOTC with OGL 1.0A created the vibrant landscape that only comes with competition and is killed with monopolization and can lead to implosions when things go off the rails (see recent examples Facebook/Meta, Twitter, etc). But they did it smartly, and D&D was at it's core, with all the third party published material just reinforcing D&D as it's core, increasing D&D's IP. it's why we Critical Role switched to them from Pathfinder, why you see their IP them in Stranger Things, why Hollywood greenlight a movie with A list actors, why Larian Studios restarting Baldur's Gate 3 has been shaping up to be a block buster, it's created a way for creatives to contribute to the vibrance of D&D and made Kickstarter campaigns possible and why my YouTube feed is full of D&D keeping their IP front of mind and my hobbiest money.
I think Hasbro instead of re-embracing what kept WOTC alive after 4.0 was a disappointment and able to ride the wave into the digital era and come out on top with 5.0 and all the related increase in brand value is so focused on monetization it is at risk of killing the golden goose and is right now tarnishing it's brand. It's leaning more towards what I see out of Meta/Facebook; like all those games that decided to walk off their gardens with dedicated launchers in PC gaming now announcing they will go back to allowing purchase through Steam, or worse the embrace not just of micro transactions but the scammy NFT/loot-box/pay-to-win.
Litigiousness and isolation almost killed the D&D brand, it was hobbling as an after thought prior to OGL 1.oa. If this situation doesn't improve and WOTC and Hasbro don't commit to living up to their commitments to keeping their perpetual OGL 1.0a intact for 5.0 content and the thousands of people who made the D&D Renaissance possible and whose livelihoods are on the line, I'm done with buying future official D&D content, and will not support their IP via movies, video games etc.
It’s a shame that WOTC are doing this now just when D&D was having its moment. I think the other posters got it right when they used the word renaissance. That renaissance was due in large part to individual creators that now won’t be able to make a living creating content and therefore will stop creating content.
For the last few years especially I’ve consumed a lot of third party D&D content and that is largely what has fueled my desire/inspiration/motivation to DM and play more and get other friends and family playing and paying for D&D content. In the last few years I’ve introduced the game to at least two dozen new people that had never played before. With the announcement of the new OGL a lot of us are looking for new systems to play instead.
I am really disappointed because I love D&D but I don’t support this new change at all. #OpenDnD
I’m all for some changes. Things to prevent NFT’s for instance. I’m also ok with royalties being charged to the big money makers in 3rd party stuff. I may not like corporate greed, but the first stuff put out on dnd beyond seemed reasonable. Then the leak happened. Damn near nothing in it is ok. I cancelled my subscription earlier. Won’t be spending a penny on dnd until this is resolved for the betterment of all parties.
Changing the OGL 1.0a to Unauthorized is the issue that is causing all the backlash. They can make a new GL (because its not open so lets not call it that). But they need to leave the OGL 1.0a alone.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DND should always be FREE. OGL SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED. We Demand that NO changes be made to the 1.0a OGL.
TL:DR: You will see a drastic reduction in 3rd party D&D content.
As unbiased as possible. An updated version of the OGL was leaked to the press that included among other things:
a royalty imposed on all projects making above $750,000
a requirement to register ALL content regardless of monetization with WotC
allowing WOTC to use any of the above content for free
a possibility that they will try to retroactively enforce this on existing OGL 1.0a content
This would mean that 3rd party shops like Paizo and Green Ronin as well as D&D projects on Kickstarter would lose upwards of 25% of their REVENUE as well as pretty much all intellectual property protections.
The metric that Hasbo/WOTC is tracking to measure community displeasure is D&D Beyond Subscriptions. So if you have a DDB subscription and don't like the changes, cancelling it with the reason of OTHER: OGL UPDATES until they reverse course is the best way to tell them.
I’m all for some changes. Things to prevent NFT’s for instance.
Ironically, their statement about having to change the OGL in order to prevent NFTs is a lie. There is nothing in the current OGL that allows NFTs. NFTs have not been licensed under the current OGL. It's a lie meant to make the rest of it seem easier to swallow by hoping people don't know enough about the OGL to realize that needing to change it to prevent NFTs is a lie.
I am really sorry for all the people working hard on excellent products at dndbeyond. but it looks like the decision to sell out to wotc will cost them.
For me it was dndbeyond why i played 5e, not 5e that made me use dndbeyond.
My d&dBeyond subscription is paid until 11/23. I will make sure to NOT renew if OGL is updated and it screws people. I have played and purchased D&D since the 1980s.
I am really sorry for all the people working hard on excellent products at dndbeyond. but it looks like the decision to sell out to wotc will cost them.
For me it was dndbeyond why i played 5e, not 5e that made me use dndbeyond.
My d&dBeyond subscription is paid until 11/23. I will make sure to NOT renew if OGL is updated and it screws people. I have played and purchased D&D since the 1980s.
You should cancel the subscription now. You will still keep.your benefits until the renewal time, but the cancellation is a metric they are using to measure community backlash.
I've heard from members of DM's guild and other places that WoTC is updating its OGL, but I don't quite understand what ramifications that will have on the community. Can someone please explain?
Orange Juice!
Until the new OGL is released, it is mostly speculation. If leaks are to be believed, it will force many creators away from from using the OGL and D&D. This is due to several factors, one of the primary ones being that anything published under the new OGL gives Wizards the rights/ownership of that material to use as they please.
It won't hit DDB directly. Basically, it will mean no 3rd party content, possibly no more fan videos/art, even critical role might switch away from d&d.
If the OGL leaks are to be true (and lets face it, they probably are), then making anything D&D related is basically theirs. Monitization is impossible, they can steal your ideas and all they'd need to do is change one word, you'd need to copy paste a legal document into the body of your content, you can't make content for anything outside of SRD.
Making content expanding on any world or setting not introduced by the free SRD is banned, such as Eberon or Wild Space. You cannot make subclasses for Artificer, or make subraces for anything outside of the original races (so no changing Warforged or using the new and changed races by mordenkanin). You can't even use monsters because the SRD doesn't have any.
They can sue you at any time for violating any reason they see fit, if you get sued they can interject in your place, and the document pushes any and all legal costs onto you. If they have a similar idea (or worse yet, like your idea) they can take it without even crediting you, and you are not allowed to even try it, because the new OGL doesn't let you. It forces creators to give up any rights they have to any content they make that even refrences any edition of D&D, and is retroactively applied to all works.
The OGL will kill D&D. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.
Down with OGL 1.1! Anything less is a crime on TTRPGs everywhere!
I just decided to go digital about 3 months ago and bought several books here that I already purchased and some new ones. I've been excited for the new movie and Baldur's Gate 3 to go live. We live in a renaissance of D&D...and the the new OGL dropped.
First, WOTC with OGL 1.0A created the vibrant landscape that only comes with competition and is killed with monopolization and can lead to implosions when things go off the rails (see recent examples Facebook/Meta, Twitter, etc). But they did it smartly, and D&D was at it's core, with all the third party published material just reinforcing D&D as it's core, increasing D&D's IP. it's why we Critical Role switched to them from Pathfinder, why you see their IP them in Stranger Things, why Hollywood greenlight a movie with A list actors, why Larian Studios restarting Baldur's Gate 3 has been shaping up to be a block buster, it's created a way for creatives to contribute to the vibrance of D&D and made Kickstarter campaigns possible and why my YouTube feed is full of D&D keeping their IP front of mind and my hobbiest money.
I think Hasbro instead of re-embracing what kept WOTC alive after 4.0 was a disappointment and able to ride the wave into the digital era and come out on top with 5.0 and all the related increase in brand value is so focused on monetization it is at risk of killing the golden goose and is right now tarnishing it's brand. It's leaning more towards what I see out of Meta/Facebook; like all those games that decided to walk off their gardens with dedicated launchers in PC gaming now announcing they will go back to allowing purchase through Steam, or worse the embrace not just of micro transactions but the scammy NFT/loot-box/pay-to-win.
Litigiousness and isolation almost killed the D&D brand, it was hobbling as an after thought prior to OGL 1.oa. If this situation doesn't improve and WOTC and Hasbro don't commit to living up to their commitments to keeping their perpetual OGL 1.0a intact for 5.0 content and the thousands of people who made the D&D Renaissance possible and whose livelihoods are on the line, I'm done with buying future official D&D content, and will not support their IP via movies, video games etc.
It’s a shame that WOTC are doing this now just when D&D was having its moment. I think the other posters got it right when they used the word renaissance. That renaissance was due in large part to individual creators that now won’t be able to make a living creating content and therefore will stop creating content.
For the last few years especially I’ve consumed a lot of third party D&D content and that is largely what has fueled my desire/inspiration/motivation to DM and play more and get other friends and family playing and paying for D&D content. In the last few years I’ve introduced the game to at least two dozen new people that had never played before. With the announcement of the new OGL a lot of us are looking for new systems to play instead.
I am really disappointed because I love D&D but I don’t support this new change at all. #OpenDnD
It's not mostly, it's all speculation.
I’m all for some changes. Things to prevent NFT’s for instance. I’m also ok with royalties being charged to the big money makers in 3rd party stuff. I may not like corporate greed, but the first stuff put out on dnd beyond seemed reasonable. Then the leak happened. Damn near nothing in it is ok. I cancelled my subscription earlier. Won’t be spending a penny on dnd until this is resolved for the betterment of all parties.
Changing the OGL 1.0a to Unauthorized is the issue that is causing all the backlash. They can make a new GL (because its not open so lets not call it that). But they need to leave the OGL 1.0a alone.
DND should always be FREE. OGL SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED. We Demand that NO changes be made to the 1.0a OGL.
TL:DR: You will see a drastic reduction in 3rd party D&D content.
As unbiased as possible. An updated version of the OGL was leaked to the press that included among other things:
This would mean that 3rd party shops like Paizo and Green Ronin as well as D&D projects on Kickstarter would lose upwards of 25% of their REVENUE as well as pretty much all intellectual property protections.
The metric that Hasbo/WOTC is tracking to measure community displeasure is D&D Beyond Subscriptions. So if you have a DDB subscription and don't like the changes, cancelling it with the reason of OTHER: OGL UPDATES until they reverse course is the best way to tell them.
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Dont forget that the 25% royalty is BEFORE profit
Also don't forget that WotC has the right to change the % and the minimum amount with only a 30 day notice.
They can also just decide you can't make any content anymore whether you agreed to pay them or not...
There is A LOT shady with this draft if the OGL.
Ironically, their statement about having to change the OGL in order to prevent NFTs is a lie. There is nothing in the current OGL that allows NFTs. NFTs have not been licensed under the current OGL. It's a lie meant to make the rest of it seem easier to swallow by hoping people don't know enough about the OGL to realize that needing to change it to prevent NFTs is a lie.
I am really sorry for all the people working hard on excellent products at dndbeyond. but it looks like the decision to sell out to wotc will cost them.
For me it was dndbeyond why i played 5e, not 5e that made me use dndbeyond.
My d&dBeyond subscription is paid until 11/23. I will make sure to NOT renew if OGL is updated and it screws people. I have played and purchased D&D since the 1980s.
Same.
You should cancel the subscription now. You will still keep.your benefits until the renewal time, but the cancellation is a metric they are using to measure community backlash.
Seem if you can be refunded the unused months as well. May have to submit tickets (when you are able to).