I am sure by now you have seen/read/heard of the potential leak of the new OGL 1.1.
I mentioned last month that we knew very little, which is still true, but we have heard some troubling things.
Here is a brief rundown.
Dungeons & Dragons’ New License Tightens Its Grip on Competition
Bat in the Attic - Rob Conley's Blog
- The proposed OGL 1.1 is not an open license. Fight for your hobby.
- Section 9 of the Open Game License
Designers & Dragons - Article: Is the OGL Era Over?
Ryan Dancey -- Hasbro Cannot Deauthorize OGL
There is more. A lot more really, but a lot of it is rehashing what is known above.
Lots of people, who are not lawyers, are saying their piece. Lots of people whom this affects their livelihood are saying their piece as well.
The truth is we really don't know much of anything just yet. At least not until the OGL 1.1 is released and not until some clarification on what this means for the OGL 1.0a.
Which kind of sucks, honestly.
I had plans this year. I had my Monstrous Maleficarum I was doing for 5e. I had my Basic Bestariary I wanted to do. Another monster-related project and even something I was calling my last witch book. All under the auspices of the OGL. I liked working under the OGL. It gave me room to move, it let me know what was and was not allowed. Now all of that is up in the air for me.
What I can say for sure is this.
NIGHT SHIFT will continue. With the material released in the Night Companion, we have moved away from needing the OGL or OGC. The base mechanics are generic, and the newer character advancement rules are not OGC or SRD derived.
Jason is planning on releasing his new fantasy game using the same system as NIGHT SHIFT (O.G.R.E.S.) with the modifications suggested in the Night Companion. But more on that from him later.
So there will be continued, if not more vigorous, support of NIGHT SHIFT.
For all my other projects?
Damn, if I know yet.
5 comments:
Yeah. I'm actually writing stuff again, and...now this. Ugh. I'm just going to wait for things to shake out and then adjust stat blocks accordingly. So stupid.
Reading the Bat in the Attic posts makes me think there's not too much to worry about for third party publishers, but it kinda sucks that WotC has embraced, and then pushed away, open content again. It seems like a good way to burn a lot of goodwill really fast.
But then again, I've played all of two small sessions of 5e so I guess I'm not their target audience anyways. It just strikes me as a shame.
I have a project in the works for the OSR which now is in question if the 1.0a can be and is unilaterally “deauthorized”. Am I going to have to design an entire system now? Honestly what’s asserted in these leaks of the alleged 1.1 seems both practically and legally preposterous.
I know this is a bit self promoting, but I've decided to seize the moment and stick with my system generic/agnostic format that I've done for Fishwife Games for so long and make myself become better, my products more diverse. I anticipate, for better or for worse, that there will be quite a few new published game systems that will arise from the ashes of all of this, as well as many more home brew rules sets. I want to take it upon myself to make my supplemental products even more supportive for all of that, while still keeping a universal feel. I've decided to challenge myself to design better, more innovative, and market my system generic approach in ways that I can best support everyone in the industry that decides to take another path and create something of their own.
I think Wotc is trying to recoup losses due to them getting way off track from what made D&D great and fun. Without getting into the weeds of their politics there are too many peripheral agendas that don't resonate with the the mass of average players.
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