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D&D Community Outrage over leaked OGL 2.0 document

Wizards of the coast (WoTC) have recently announced the OGL 2.0 to major community backlash.

By Solace Fri 13 Jan, 2023 8:29 PM - Last Updated: Fri 13 Jan, 2023 8:35 PM
Name:  DND Shorts Tweet.png
Views: 233
Size:  74.9 KBIf you've ever played a tabletop rpg (TTRPG) then you'll have heard of Dungeons and Dragons. Originally released in 1974, the game has seen many new editions over its long and storied history. In 2016 the owner of Dungeons and Dragons, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) announced their latest iteration of the game: D&D 5e or 5th edition.

Recent editions of D&D have released with a special licensing agreement known as the OGL 1.0a (Open Gaming License) which allowed 3rd party creators such as Kobold Press and Paizo to create and sell 3rd party supplements to the core gameset of 5th edition. This has resulted in fantastic additions to the game in the form of monsters, classes, spells, magic items, adventures and campaigns that have helped generate an incredible ecosystem of additional content to supplement the game.

Sadly it appears that all good things must come to an end as Wizards (WoTC) have recently announced their intention to release a new version of the OGL referred to as OGL 2.0. The contents of the new version of the OGL have been leaked by employees of D&D Beyond (which was purchased by WoTC in 2022 for $146.3 million dollars) out of concern for the continued health of the game and ecosystem.

Originally posted by popular D&D tiktoker DnD Shorts that the new draft version of the OGL contained shady and underhanded corporate moves to monetize the D&D brand by demanding royalties in excess of 25% gross income on all 3rd party published works under the new and previous OGL.

The leaked document also included provisions that 'deauthorized' the previous version of the OGL making it illegal for 3rd party publishers to publish content that uses or are in active developement using the previous version. Additionally new stipulations also gave WoTC unequivocal, irrevocable access and the right to take 3rd party work and publish it without credit, express permission or financial compensation.

This has been met with massive community backlash that has sent D&D trending into mainstream media for the last few days with bigger platforms such as Gizmodo and The Guardian picking up the story. In response the popular D&D content creators have been urging players to cancel their subscription to D&D Beyond as the WoTC executives have been using this as the primary metric to gauge how severe the backlash will get in response to the new version of the OGL.

It seems to have had an impact as player in droves have been tweeting and posting screenshots (myself included) of them cancelling their subscriptions to send a message to WoTC that they won't stand for this underhanded attempt to shut out 3rd party creators from being able to continue publishing their amazing work under the D&D brand.

A number of promnient legal minds and members of the D&D 'sphere' have posted numerous videos about this topic, however a video posted by Youtuber Critcrab covers this whole debacle in more detail and I highly suggest you give it a watch below:


What do you think of the recent fiasco? Have you ever played D&D or other TTRPG's?

WRITTEN & EDITED BY Solace
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13 Comments
Fri 13 Jan, 2023 9:44 PM
I think they backtracked HARD on this.

EDIT:
Link to the DnDB article addressing this:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1423...me-license-ogl
Fri 13 Jan, 2023 9:55 PM
I think they backtracked HARD on this.

EDIT:
Link to the DnDB article addressing this:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1423...me-license-ogl
I saw this, while I'm glad they've backtracked on some of the more controversial aspects, I'm waiting to see the final version of the new OGL. Its still a win but it should never have come to this.
Fri 13 Jan, 2023 10:32 PM
I saw this, while I'm glad they've backtracked on some of the more controversial aspects, I'm waiting to see the final version of the new OGL. Its still a win but it should never have come to this.
I like how they try to spin it as a "win-win" and that they always had planned on getting community feedback. I'm sure the DDB sub cancellation campaign plus all the biggest beneficiaries of the current OGL getting ready to turn around and become major competitors to WOTC had nothing to do with any of it. Cool
Fri 13 Jan, 2023 11:16 PM
Its a Corporation doing Greedy Corporation things. I'm glad they backpedaled like Quark being caught by Odo, but Quark could redeem himself....HASBRO.....CAN'T. Their catching heat from the MTG players & community as well,
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 12:52 PM
From looking into this at first WotC plan was to just let it blow over and hoped no one would read it seeming to forget the community this is aimed at created the title of Rules lawyer and they are more than willing to read through hundred page documents and debate meaning of it. Then they tried to phrase it like the community won in a hope that they would give up. Now the community doubling down as the statement just says things that either were true in the first place, you own what you make (Wizards just gets the money from it), or things contradicted by multiple sources inside the company, WotC cares about consumers. For positive though it's the first time I have seen people across all TTRPG scene with not only basically every DnD player banding together but also Pathfinder, WarHammer and basically every other TTRPG fan and other companies helping out. Like the amount of how to transfer DnD ideas to other systems post I've seen across al social media is great to see.
I just hope Star Trek Adventures won't get hit by this mess as I was looking forward to playing that when I find a group.
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 2:11 PM
From looking into this at first WotC plan was to just let it blow over and hoped no one would read it seeming to forget the community this is aimed at created the title of Rules lawyer and they are more than willing to read through hundred page documents and debate meaning of it. Then they tried to phrase it like the community won in a hope that they would give up. Now the community doubling down as the statement just says things that either were true in the first place, you own what you make (Wizards just gets the money from it), or things contradicted by multiple sources inside the company, WotC cares about consumers. For positive though it's the first time I have seen people across all TTRPG scene with not only basically every DnD player banding together but also Pathfinder, WarHammer and basically every other TTRPG fan and other companies helping out. Like the amount of how to transfer DnD ideas to other systems post I've seen across al social media is great to see.
I just hope Star Trek Adventures won't get hit by this mess as I was looking forward to playing that when I find a group.
Star Trek Adventures is a product of Modiphius and uses their own system so I doubt any outrange around WOTC/DnD will affect that.
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 2:35 PM
Star Trek Adventures is a product of Modiphius and uses their own system so I doubt any outrange around WOTC/DnD will affect that.
I hope so. The original OGL was pretty far reaching so hoping if it was covered by it the new one makes it exempt or they can go under the Pazio Open RPG license.
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 3:11 PM
I hope so. The original OGL was pretty far reaching so hoping if it was covered by it the new one makes it exempt or they can go under the Pazio Open RPG license.
STA wouldn't be covered by WOTC/Hasbros licence as it's an entirely original system by the company who made the game.
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 3:24 PM
STA wouldn't be covered by WOTC/Hasbros licence as it's an entirely original system by the company who made the game.
Good to hear. I wasn’t aware the system was an in house creation.
Sat 14 Jan, 2023 4:36 PM
Figures this happens right when im thinking about getting into the game.
Mon 16 Jan, 2023 2:45 PM
Figures this happens right when im thinking about getting into the game.
It wouldn't impact your gaming experience, it only affects those writing adventures, and other material who want to use the D&D branding. If you just wanted to play the game, it changes nothing, the OGL 1.0 didn't impact that either.

Legal Eagle has done a video on the legal aspects.

Fri 27 Jan, 2023 10:50 PM
Seems they've made a 180-degree turn. Ah, sweet victory.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1439...eative-commons
Sat 28 Jan, 2023 9:08 AM
IMO, they tried to do this because of how OUT OF CONTROL successful Critical Role has gotten. This attempted move made them lose money like a waterfall.
Money talks...and it has a loud voice.