Wizards of the Coast made a major announcement on Friday, announcing that the proposed Open Gaming License (OGL) 1.2 will not be implemented. Instead, the previously established OGL 1.0 will remain in effect, while the latest Dungeons & Dragons Systems Reference Document (SRD 5.1) will be published under a Creative Commons License. This news came as a result of a community survey with over 15,000 respondents, with an overwhelming majority not wanting to publish content under OGL 1.2 and being dissatisfied with the deauthorization of OGL 1.0a.
The original OGL was created in 2000 with the third edition of D&D, allowing other companies and creators to use the d20 system without payment or oversight from Wizards. However, a draft of the revised OGL 1.1 leaked early in January, which proposed royalty payments and creative control by Wizards over derivative works. This caused fans backlash, leading Wizards to backpedal and introduce OGL 1.2.
The survey results made it clear that the community did not want OGL 1.2, so Wizards of the Coast has chosen to leave OGL 1.0 in place and place the SRD 5.1 under Creative Commons. This license cannot be altered or revoked by Wizards, and allows for the free distribution and use of the material.
While the OGL controversy is now over, there are still questions to be answered. Senior Editor Robin Valentine has wondered if the OGL was even worth fighting for, as it is still bound to decisions made 50 years ago. Additionally, the Open RPG Creative License (ORC) created by Paizo had the support of 1,500 TTRPG publishers last week. Have the smaller publishers and independent creators left for good?
