D&D BREAKING – New “OGL 1.1 Leaks” To Render OGL 1.0 Unauthorized
A recent draft of Wizards of the Coast’s new Open Gaming License has reportedly leaked, and seems aimed at tightening the WotC’s control.
Last year ended with WotC revealing that big changes were coming to the Open Gaming License in early 2023. And now, it seems, someone has leaked a draft of what those changes might look like. It’s a much more restrictive license, by all accounts.
Originally reported by Gizmodo, who received “a leaked draft of the document, dated mid-December” which states, among many things, that the original OGL will become an “unauthorized” agreement.
WotC’s OGL 1.1 Leaks
According to Gizmodo, the OGL 1.1 is over 9000 words long, whereas the original open gaming license weighs in at just under 900 words.
And while the new license does take aim at things that the community will want to keep out of D&D—blockchain and NFTs, as well as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other kind of bigoted or discriminatory content—it also seeks to curtail the scope of the original OGL by declaring it “no longer an authorized license agreement.”
Which could potentially have a huge impact on many licensed publishers of 5th Edition content, who have been operating under the auspices of the OGL 1.0/a. Which is a completely intentional move on WotC’s part. As Gizmodo reports:
The new agreements states that “the Open Game License was always intended to allow the community to help grow D&D and expand it creatively. It wasn’t intended to subsidize major competitors, especially now that PDF is by far the most common form of distribution.
[The] OGL wasn’t intended to fund major competitors and it wasn’t intended to allow people to make D&D apps, videos, or anything other than printed (or printable) materials for use while gaming. We are updating the OGL in part to make that very clear.”
But Gizmodo aren’t the only ones reporting on the leak. In a video from RPG content creator The Rules Lawyer, we get a closer look at some of the leaked language as well.
What Does It Mean
Image credit: The Rules Lawyer
If the new OGL 1.1 does in fact “revoke without revoking” the original OGL, every publisher will be hit by it. Commercial creators will need to report products, old and new, and with little time to adapt to it.
According to Gizmodo the leaked document was intended for January 4th release, with language that reads: “if you want to publish SRD-based content on or after January 13, 2023 and commercialize it, your only option is to agree to the OGL: Commercial.”
The OGL 1.1 leaks also touch on everything from ownership to crowdfunding royalties and favored platforms. It’s a lot. You can find a breakdown of all the changes here:
Yesterday, I received the full text of the OGL 1.1 from a reputable source. The updated Open Gaming License is incredibly restrictive, demands community surveillance and, most importantly, renders the previous WotC OGL an unauthorized agreement. https://t.co/MjEWmw2pol
— linda codega (@lincodega) January 5, 2023
It’s a heck of a tone to set for the next 50 years of D&D. But perhaps this was always how it should have been. TSR was once known as They Sue Regularly. And they did.
The new license has not been officially revealed yet.
What do you think of the reported changes? Is the Open Gaming License still open, gaming, or even a license?
