Open Gaming License

The Open Game License (OGL) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast that may be used by tabletop role-playing game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, notably game mechanics. However, they must share-alike copies and derivative works.

Language of the license

The OGL states that "in consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content". The OGL defines two forms of content:

Open Game Content (or ''OGC'')
:

Product Identity (or ''PI'')
:
Use of another company's Product Identity is considered breach of the licensing agreement.

History

3rd Edition

The OGL (v1.0) was originally published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to license the use of portions of the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', via a System Reference Document (SRD), thus allowing third-party publishers to produce compatible material. This move was spearheaded by Ryan Dancey. Publishers could also use the separate d20 System Trademark License to include a logo indicating compatibility. In an interview, Dancey stated:

I think there's a very, very strong business case that can be made for the idea of embracing the ideas at the heart of the Open Source movement and finding a place for them in gaming. ..One of my fundamental arguments is that by pursuing the Open Gaming concept, Wizards can establish a clear policy on what it will, and will not allow people to do with its copyrighted materials. Just that alone should spur a huge surge in independent content creation that will feed into the D&D network.

Academics Benoît Demil and Xavier Lecocq, in the economic journal ''Revue d'économie industrielle'', highlighted that a business goal of the OGL was to have competitors institutionalize a standardized rule system – "if WOTC could get more people in the industry to use the same system, players would learn only one system and be able to migrate from product to product and game to game without learning and transaction costs. While it would reduce the number of original gaming systems in the market, the idea was to increase the audience for everybody, especially for the leader. The ultimate goal was to establish 'd20' as a recognizable trademark, like 'VHS' or 'DVD'".

In 2004, Wizards of the Coast addressed what would occur if the license was changed – the OGL "already defines what will happen to content that has been previously distributed using an earlier version, in Section 9. As a result, even if Wizards made a change you disagreed with, you could continue to use an earlier, acceptable version at your option. In other words, there's no reason for Wizards to ever make a change that the community of people using the Open Gaming License would object to, because the community would just ignore the change anyway".

4th Edition

In June 2008, Wizards of the Coast transitioned to a new, more restrictive royalty-free license called the Game System License (GSL), which is available for third-party developers to publish products compatible with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 4th edition. The GSL is incompatible with the previous OGL. However, by its own terms the OGL is irrevocable, and remains in widespread use.

Greg Tito, for '' The Escapist'' in 2011, commented that the GSL "released in conjunction with 4th edition took away many of the freedoms that the industry had come to expect with the ''D&D'' rules, such as reprinting text for clarity in new products". Andy Collins, a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' designer who became the "Design & Development Manager around the release of 4th edition", stated that:

I remember arguing pretty hard to retain something like what Wizards had done for 3rd edition; an open license that included the core rules and a few basic guidelines on how to use it. I argued that without some kind of OGL, Wizards risked leaving behind the body of customers and potential customers who saw the open license as an assumed part of the D&D. ..In hindsight, I wonder if it might simply have been better to et the OGL dierather than guilting the company into crafting a Frankenstein's monster of an open license that ended up pleasing basically nobody.

5th Edition

On January 12, 2016, Wizards of the Coast released the 5th edition SRD under v1.0a of the OGL, marking a return to the Open Gaming format.

Additionally, content creators can access an additional license option by publishing through the Dungeon Masters Guild storefront; this license goes a step further by allowing individuals and third party publishers to create and sell content based on specific Wizards of the Coast intellectual property such as the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, and the ''Magic: The Gathering'' planes. Content creators are allowed to set their own price, however, Wizards of the Coast and OneBookShelf take a 50% cut of the proceeds.

''One D&D''

In August 2022, Wizards of the Coast launched a public playtest of the next version of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' under the '' One D&D'' initiative. In November 2022, there was reported speculation that the OGL would be discontinued for this new iteration of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' based on unconfirmed leaks. ''Game Rant'' commented that "many players are not happy with the implication of this rumor. Tons of creators and companies have made their living on selling third-party ''Dungeons and Dragons'' homebrew. If Wizards of the Coast does not use the OGL in ''One D&D'', many of these creators will be unable to make content for the evergreen system–or will at least have to tiptoe around the law by only using the ''5th Edition'' SRD to do so". ''ComicBook.com'' highlighted that "while not creating a new System Reference Document for One D&D wouldn't snuff out third-party material, it would certainly discourage publishing or force publishers to turn to the DMs Guild" which "uses a separate license" and requires a 50% cut of the proceeds. In response to the speculation, Wizards of the Coast stated in November 2022: "We will continue to support the thousands of creators making third-party D&D content with the release of One D&D in 2024. While it is certain our Open Game License (OGL) will continue to evolve, just as it has since its inception, we're too early in the development of One D&D to give more specifics on the OGL or System Reference Document (SRD) at this time".

Following concerns raised by third-party ''Dungeons & Dragons'' creators on the potential changes to the OGL, in December 2022, Wizards of the Coast released additional details on the upcoming OGL 1.1 which will go into effect in 2023. This new license will clarify that it only applies to "printed media or static electronic files (like epubs and PDFs)" and "only covers material created for use in or as TTRPGs"; OGL 1.1 will not cover other content such as video games or virtual tabletops (VTTs). Content creators using OGL 1.1 will be required "to put an official OGL badge on their products". Revenue related to OGL content must be reported to Wizards of the Coast if that revenue exceeds $50,000 annually; creators who make at least $750,000 in income annually will be required to pay a royalty starting in 2024. Christian Hoffer, for ''ComicBook.com'', wrote: "Wizards noted that this royalty should impact less than 20 'creators,' which include major publishing companies like Kobold Press and Ghostfire Gaming". Chase Carter, for ''Dicebreaker'', commented that "this vision of an updated OGL paves a path for Wizards of the Coast to muscle in on ultra-successful crowdfunding projects without crushing existing communities, which the blog post says are 'a critical part of the D&D experience'. It also said existing virtual tabletop agreements will not be affected by whatever shape the OGL takes, even though the company has announced their own version to launch close to OneD&D's release in 2024".

Impact

Open Game License

Those individuals, groups and publishing companies that license their works under the OGL and similar documents are sometimes collectively referred to as the "open gaming movement". The OGL led to the development of the stand-alone ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game'' which is a modified version of the 3.5 game.

Academics Benoît Demil and Xavier Lecocq, in the economic journal ''Revue d'économie industrielle'' in 2014, stated that the OGL had an immediate impact on the tabletop role-playing industry with an increase in new TTRP publications where the "majority of the new entrants adopted" the d20 license; d20 products sold at a higher rate than non-d20 products until the mid 2000s. It "was considered by WOTC's managers as a huge success due to the large movement of adoption it created among publishers". They also highlighted that the "success was amplified by the rise of electronic publishing".

Mike Whelan and Bob Tarantino, for ''Law Insider'' in 2021, commented that "the scope of the Open Game License is incredibly broad. The license is perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, and not exclusive. You never have to worry about your license expiring or any jurisdictional issues. You never have to worry about making a single royalty payment even when you monetize your content". Tarantino attributed the OGL to part of the game's "tremendous audience growth" over the past twenty years.

Christopher B. Seaman and Thuan Tran, for the academic journal ''Iowa Law Review'' in 2022, highlighted that the release of the OGL "created a major shift in the RPG industry" and "led to a boom in the RPG industry in the early 2000s". They commented that "the emergence of open source licensing for RPGs facilitates user creativity and innovation, as dozens of ''D&D''-compatible supplements have been created under the Open Game License".

Game System License

In August 2008, '' ICv2'' highlighted that "the reaction to the ''4th Edition'' GSL has been mixed at best. While some companies such as Mongoose and Goodman are producing third party ''4th Edition'' product, others such as Green Ronin and Necromancer are not".

Mordicai Knode, for ''Tor.com'' in 2012, highlighted that the GSL "had a 'poison pill' clause that prevented anyone using it from publishing under the old license—effectively forcing anyone who wanted to publish third-party Fourth Edition supplements to stop publishing anything compatible with the Third Edition. Wizards of the Coast ended up removing a lot of the more restrictive language in the end, but the damage was done". Bob Byrne, for '' Black Gate'' in 2015, commented that the GSL "drove out nearly all third party producers for the to-be short-lived 4th Edition. Two of them, Goodman Games and Mongoose Publishing, signed on for 4th Edition, though to not much benefit for themselves. ..Necromancer effectively packed it in, while Paizo created ''Pathfinder'' to compete directly with Wizards' new version of ''Dungeons & Dragons''".

See also

* List of OGL publishers

References

External links

*

THE (UNAUTHORIZED UNOFFICIAL) OPEN GAMING LICENSE OGL D20 FAQ

Wizards of the Coast: The Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Game System License

Open Game Definitions: Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.0 -- January 26, 2004

Open Gaming Foundation

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Public copyright licenses