My Thoughts on WotC's OGL Statment

Mind you I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but after looking over the satement on WotC's new OGL plan. My reading of it comes into three bullet points.

1. This does not look like smokescreen for something more sinister. By stating publicly that they are not longer going to try to deauthorize the OGL 1.0a in such a public way, they are making it harder to try to deauthorize it in the future.

2. The SRD 5.1 being released under Creative Commons is a nothing-burger legally. The SRD is just common ideas to fantasy gaming and game rules, both things that re not copyrightable. However, by releasing it into the CC, they're ensuring that people will still use their derivative works. This is a bit sinister, as it completely undercuts Paizo/Kobold Press/Green Ronin's ORC license.

3. This is a double-edged sword for the industry at large. While it brought people's attention away from D&D for a time and got more attention on other games, it also ensures that D&D5E will be the industry standard going forward. Even if 6E/1D&D is the greatest thing since sliced milk, 5E's core being free means it is now The Standard.

Basically, the OSR and 5E cottage industries are fine, but that also means the reign of Have You Tried Not Playing D&D? isn't over.

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