abyssalbrews
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The Open Gaming License v1.1
🕑 Added 2023-01-08 23:24:18 +0000 UTCGreetings everyone,
I'm coming to you in a very different capacity today. Instead of a plucky adventurer sharing magic items with a kraken twist, we're sadly in a place where creators like us are looking at possible tough choices ahead.
Many of you will already know this, but in case you haven't heard, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) are considering a change to the Open Gaming License. The OGL is the license we use to be able to create items, creatures, systems, subclasses and more while being able to reference specific terms that convey mechanics in D&D. The OGL was created roughly 22 years ago and has fostered creativity in the community since then with next to no changes.
On Thursday of this past week, a version of the license was leaked to a journalist at Gizmodo. I heavily recommend reading Linda's article if you can make time for it: https://gizmodo.com/dnd-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl-1-1-open-gaming-license-1849950634
A quick summary is that many of the changes are quite problematic for small creators like us and would remove the ability for us to retain creative control over the work we make. It would also harm artists, freelancers, virtual tabletops, and several other adjacent creators.
I should note before I continue, it was indicated in the leak that this version wasn't finalized and a final version should have released on January 4th. That date has come and gone without comment from WotC. We're not sure what that means, but it may be that changes are being considered. I'm sure you're wondering about a lot of things, so I figured I would answer some of them up front:
What does this mean for AbyssalBrews right now?
Not much of anything at the moment. We will continue to produce our magic items on the same schedule that we always have. We have a really fun "One More Thing" planned for this month, and everything is proceeding as scheduled at this moment. We're not going anywhere.
What does this mean for AbyssalBrews in the long run?
Sadly, this is something we're not able to determine at this time. If WotC decides to pull back from these changes, we will continue to produce as we have. If they do make changes to the OGL, then we will update you with our plans going forward. Fernando and I have already discussed next steps, but there's not much point getting into them until we know more.
Will AbyssalBrews shut down if the changes are implemented?
Not a chance. We're not going anywhere, we'll just have to make some changes.
What can I do to help?
In the leaked document, Wizards indicated that they were open to hearing feedback on the OGL changes and willing to be convinced that they are taking a wrong step with it. Currently, sharing your opinions is the best thing you can do. You can do that in a number of ways.
- Post to social media using the #OpenDnD
- There are a number of petitions and open letters going around that I will link in the resources below.
- Wizards of the Coast has a feedback form used to accept customer sentiments that I'll link below
One thing that I ask is that if you are going to share your feelings, make sure to do so in a way that isn't abusive to individual members of the company. If statements from some ex-WotC employees are accurate then there are many people working there who are against these changes, yet have no ability to do anything about them. That's why it's important to go through official channels that are logged and reported to the correct people.
Resources
Here are some resources that you can use to get informed or make your feelings known to Wizards of the Coast:
- The original Gizmodo article
- IGN coverage of the leak
- A laymen breakdown of the changes by an IP lawyer
- Change It Petition
- Change.org Petition
- Open letter from the community to WotC
- Wizards of the Coast feedback form
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this and I'm happy to help field any questions you might have. We know that things are uncertain right now, but what's definitely for sure is that we're not going anywhere. We look forward to creating more in the future. Your support means everything to us.
Thank you for believing in us,
Matthew & Fernando
