A leaked version of the new Open Gaming Licence (OGL) for Dungeons & Dragons has been picked up by the gaming community, and many creators are not happy. The OGL is a framework in which Wizards of the Coast allows third-party companies to use the mechanics and rules of D&D to create their own tabletop products. The OGL in its original form has existed since 2000, but is claimed to be fully replaced by the 1.1 draft document, it is claimed.
Wizards of the Coast has stated that the changes to the OGL reflect a change in the distribution of roleplaying games (now most commonly in PDF), and that the OGL was originally designed to allow the D&D community to grow, not to be a way of subsidising major competitors as they have put it.
Larger publishers like Paizo, Green Ronin and Kobold Press may be effected by the news, with a new tiered royalty system asking for 25% royalties on anything over $750,000. While this sounds a lot, many successful Kickstarters can fall into this bracket. There are also concerns around the new OGL’s requirement to report on earnings at certain thresholds.
These publishers have announced various responses to the potential OGL changes, with Paizo creating an ‘OGL of their own’ in the form of the Open RPG Creative license (ORC). Other large publishers such as Chaosium have joined cause with a hope to create something in the spirit of the original OGL for D&D with their own games and systems.