A new draft of the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License, dubbed OGL 1.2 by publisher Wizards of the Coast, now available for downloadThe announcement was made Thursday by D&D Executive Producer Kyle Brink. On the D&D Beyond websiteAccording to Wizards, this draft could put OGL out of the publisher’s control — which should sound like a good thing to fans outraged by recent events. Time will tell, but public comment will be accepted from January 20th to February 3rd.
OGL was developed and refined up to the 3rd edition of D&D, and that version has been in use for over 20 years. It’s part of the legal framework that allows creators to build their own tabletop RPGs, alongside brands owned by Hasbro. I created a game like Pathfinder, successful companies Paizo, Kobold Press and many others.However, proposed changes to OGL were leaked and first reported io9, seemed to create a hostile relationship between Wizards and its community of creators. That situation only intensified after Wizards’ prolonged silence over the leak.
Thursday’s release of the OGL 1.2 draft was in a more friendly tone. This is in line with his second apology made on Wednesday.There’s also a surprise: Wizards here creative commons license. Creative Commons, in its own description, is a non-profit organization that “helps overcome legal obstacles to sharing knowledge and creativity to address the world’s most pressing challenges.” So once the Creative Commons license is enacted, OGL 1.2 may eventually be permanently out of Wizards’ control.
“We provide the core mechanics of D&D to the community through a Creative Commons license, which means they are completely in your hands,” Brink said in a blog post. “If you want to use SRD’s typical D&D content, such as Owl Bear and Magic Missile, OGL 1.2 gives you a perpetual, irrevocable license to do so.”
With so much trust lost in the past few weeks, it will no doubt take some time for legal experts (such as Armchair) to reveal the details of the new OGL. However, here are the bullet points Wizards promotes in this official statement:
– Protects the comprehensive playing experience of D&D. As mentioned above, content more specifically related to D&D (classes, spells, monsters, etc.) falls under OGL. With OGL 1.2, we can see that if offensive or harmful content is published using the subject’s D&D, it can be dealt with. We want to provide an inclusive and safe playing experience for everyone. This is very important to us, and OGL 1.0a didn’t have the ability to guarantee it.
– TTRPG and VTT. OGL 1.2 applies only to TTRPG content, whether published in print, electronic publication, or virtual tabletop (VTT). No one should wonder or worry if it applies to anything else. it’s not.
– Decertification of OGL 1.0a. We know this is a big concern. The Creative Commons license and 1.2 open conditions are intended to help with that. One of the main reasons for having to deauthorize is that if someone could choose to publish harmful, discriminatory, or illegal content in 1.0a, they wouldn’t be able to use the protection options in 1.2. Again, content already published under OGL 1.0a will always be licensed under OGL 1.0a.
– Very limited license modifications are allowed. that’s all Once OGL 1.2 is published, there are two sections you can change: It’s how we quote wizards in our work and how we communicate with each other. We do not know what the future holds or what technology we will use to communicate with each other. So we thought those two sections should be future-proof.
Fans are encouraged to read the finer points of intellectual property law to educate themselves and reply to Wizards through their official channels. This is pretty much how new in-game content is tested.
A revised version of this draft will be presented to the community again “no later than February 17”.
“This process will be extended as long as necessary,” said Brink. “We will continue to iterate on the feedback until the issue is resolved.”
