(Twitter / @ollywright)

If you're a content creator or fan of Dungeons and Dragons, then you might want to read the supposedly leaked Open Gaming License 1.1 update that is believed to be coming from Wizards of the Coast soon.

The current Open Gaming License (1.0) is what everyone who uses D&D-based monsters, mechanics and story elements for their own ideas has been operating under, but according to sources who purportedly received the new 1.1 update, all agreements or beliefs that stem from the 1.0 agreement will supposedly become null once 1.1 hits, with new agreements needing to be signed that follow 1.1's strict guidelines.

If this supposed "leaked document" is correct and 1.0 becomes delegitimized, everyone who has a current agreement with Wizards of the Coast, or was planning on creating an idea that involved DnD in any regard, will have to agree to the new 1.1 agreement, which on its own seems like a pretty easy thing to do.

Where the devil lies in the details, however, is what exactly is being waived and agreed to this time, with the purported leaked document being over 10 times as long as the original agreement that fans are used to, with some curious things being baked in that are raising several red flags online.

Chief among these issues some have expressed online are that creative endeavors that use DnD characters are believed to then become the property of Wizards of the Coast for their own monetization purposes.

Due to the length of the document and the intricacies involved, if it does come to pass, it's likely there will be a long period of legal litigation while the lines are drawn in the sand as to what is okay or not under the new rules.

Regardless of this, the rumored changes are already starting to poison some of the fanbase against WOTC and Hasbro (the parent company) over them, with memes and vitriol coming en masse on platforms like Twitter today.


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Comments 13 total

brawnhilda

Welcome to Late Stage Capitalism, y'all; greedy corporations are going to keep squeezing and squeezing ever harder to extract the last drops of blood and money from us peasants. We must fight back.

0

Nue7ra1

do you think watching WoTC flounder and burn will be enough to scare GW into pulling their heads out of their asses?

0

hexcaster

GW exists a full galaxy up their own ass. They won't even be aware of this.

3

ExcessiveKnife

So, did WotC get nostalgic for the old stampede to Pathfinder?

0

Revic

It's a big misunderstanding. They need to make sure nobody's adding new classes to the game. Aside from one slip-up with the Artificer, that's an incredibly important goal for D&D 5E. Why? I haven't the slightest goddamn idea. But apparently one new class was all the last eight years had room for. Much like having races besides "Human," "Small human," and "Furry" aside from, again, when Eberron briefly messed up the streak.

1

drossbots

Fucking knew this shit was coming after that report about D&D being "under-monetized" came out.

Risky play from WotC in a market filled with alternatives and homebrew. Not to mention how easy D&D is to "find" online.

14

wisehowl_the_2nd

Worth pointing out that Director of Games Jon Ritter essentially confirmed the leaks were true by clarifying a statement about the Kickstarter part.

5

Rhettorical

Didn't something like this happen with Games Workshop and WH40K not too long ago?

0

wisehowl_the_2nd

Sorta-not-really, it's hard to explain. Basically 40k had some units in some of their rulebooks that didn't have physical models, some third party companies made some, GW sued… and subsequently lost. Afterwards they scrapped that model from their roster and made all future models copyrightus-namus and renamed a bunch of factions and models to avoid this from repeating. It's why Imperial Guard got changed to Astra Militarum and Tau got changed to T'au.

4

Rhettorical

I was more referring to GW shutting down fan projects due to their license changes.

0

seacliff

To be honest, WotC's DnD content these past few years has been shit. Following that up with shitty legal stuff just feels like the natural next step.

5

Ten Shadows

Sticking with WotC has felt like Stockholm Syndrome almost ever since 5e came out.

All my bros do 1e or OSR.

1

seacliff

Love OSR, though our table is eying something like 13th Age as our replacement.

0
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