Let’s talk about the OGL (Patreon)

I have been silent on this topic, but I have been following the discussion closely. It has definitely impacted my work for the past couple of weeks, as I have not found the motivation to work much on the MPMB tools.

I am also (still) working on catching up with the discontinued Sorcerer and Soothsayer rewards, which is now in the final stages of completion. For example, I’ll soon be able to share the Inventor class by KibblesTasty with you.

You can probably skip this section if you have been following the news of the OGL changes.

For you who are out of the loop, OGL stands for Open Game License. D&D 5e is published under this license and it makes it easier/possible for anybody to publish content/tools for D&D 5e and have those include any of the content in the SRD 5.1 (System Reference Document) verbatim and for free.

Wizards of the Coast(WotC) made a statement on December 21st (link) about them making a new version of the OGL for the next edition of D&D. This got people worried, for why change something that has made the game better by allowing everybody to expand on it.

Two weeks ago, Gizmodo reported (link) that WotC sent out a new version of the OGL along with their contracts. This OGL v1.1 is very different in tone and purpose than the original and it would change the landscape of third-party publishers forever (i.e. kill it).

Due to the community backlash, WotC has since gone back on this v1.1, calling it just a “draft” and claiming that "we all won because of this change" (link). Their statement from Wednesday is a lot better, as they promise to make the draft of the new OGL public and hold a survey on it (link).

This brings us to yesterday, when WotC posted a draft of OGL v1.2 and a Virtual Tabletop Policy, both open for feedback (link).

An increasing amount of sources are talking about the impact of the OGL changes and I’m unable to follow them all. Many others have said it better and in a more comprehensive fashion, so I am not going to try and recap everything that has happened or how it will affect third-party publishers going forward. If you want to read more about it, I found this megathread on reddit to have a very helpful overview of the events and people's reaction to it.

Yes, unfortunately. Although I originally made these sheets for personal use and later published them on DMs Guild (which has its own license), I used the OGL to publish the source code on my GitHub. Then when the sheets were kicked off DMs Guild (just before DnD Beyond launched, which I don’t consider a coincidence), I used the OGL to host the sheet here on Patreon and my website. This is why the base PDFs have just the SRD content (see my FAQ).

I am not located in the United States and the copyright laws in the Netherlands are rather different than those in the US. It seems likely that I don’t need the OGL to publish this tool, but I am not a lawyer. Using the OGL v1.0a was an easy way to ensure I am playing by WotC’s rules. This is important when dealing with these kind of legal matters, because it really doesn’t matter who is right, just who can afford the longer legal battle (spoiler: that won’t be me).

Not if it is up to me! I plan to keep working on these or similar tools as long as I play tabletop RPGs.

For now it seems like when OGL v1.2 drops, I will be making my work available without using the OGL. Mainly due to the fact that the new OGL isn’t applicable to a digital character sheet, but also because the current OGL v1.2 draft doesn't seem appealing to use.

Only the future will tell if my sheets are here to stay or if WotC is going to start taking down projects like mine after they release OGL v1.2 and “deauthorize” OGL v1.0a.

I will probably consult a lawyer on how to best continue with this project, once the new OGL is finalised. I don't think it is worth the money and effort to do that before the new OGL drops. I'll keep you informed when I do!

I have gotten a lot of questions about making sheets for another system, especially Pathfinder 2. The simple answer is that I will be happy to make something for another system if and when I decide to play that other system.

Making a character sheet requires in-depth knowledge of the rules and a good idea what information a player needs during a session. I don’t think I could do justice to a character sheet for a system that I don’t play myself. That combined with the fact that my sheets require a rewrite of all the features to fit in their allotted space, means that I don’t feel it worth my time to learn a system this thoroughly without getting to enjoy playing that system.

Currently, I play in one and DM another D&D 5e group. I’m very much invested in those campaigns and don’t have time for any more groups at the moment. This might change, but for now this is where I’m at.

I wrote a draft this post on Tuesday and was planning to post it on my Wednesday morning (Tuesday evening in the US), only for WotC to make an announcement just as I was sitting down for dinner. Then, as I was revising and happy with it on Thursday, they go ahead and post the OGL 1.2 draft version… so please forgive me for any inaccuracies, as I am done rewriting this.