Thread by @andreas_mwg

So i finally got my hands on the full legal text of the OGL 1.1, and now I can safely look at all of its parts, and how they would affect me as a publisher (and other small publishers) #DnD #OneDnD #dnd5e #wotc

Starting from the top, they really go out of their way to define commercial and non-commercial.
especially when it comes to KS and patreon

"If you’re giving your work away for free, on Patreon or otherwise, and asking that people support your work if they enjoy it, that’s not commercial. But your work must be given without strings attached if it’s going to be considered “noncommercial.”

Only commercial-use projects have to register/sign the agreement.

And oddly enough, where to do so is listed as "dndbeyond.com" so all tracking is going to happen on what I expect is expected to be the central hub of dnd, D&DBeyond

Furthermore, they're calling out the recinding of the OGL 1.0 as truth.
"if you want to publish SRD-based content on or after January 13, 2023 and commercialize it, your only option is to agree to the OGL: Commercial."

"OGL wasn’t intended to fund major competitors and it wasn’t intended to allow people to make D&D apps, videos, or anything other than printed (or printable) materials for use while gaming. We are updating the OGL in part to make that very clear."

We've all seen that statement, but one thing to note, is what does this mean for the tool makers and VTTs, we'll see if they go more in detail further down.

they mention they comments to make it easier to understand, but honestly, they should have made comments stand out differently from the legal text, because it feels more confusing now.

"This license only applies to materials You create for use in or as roleplaying games and as game supplements and only as printed media and static electronic files such as epubs or pdfs. It does not allow the distribution of any other form of media."

in the comment they note for Non-Commercial only allows printed media and 'static electronic files', kicking out any uses for any other uses, including vtts, music, videos, unless its under the fan use policy or separate agreement

as a note, it appears im reading the non-commercial section first, though not clearly shown since its in weird formatting.

so the whole wotc owns your stuff, I'm kinda curious about, because in the non-commercial section it goes as follows,
-Licensed (srd-stuff),
-Unlicensed (product identity)
-Your Content (stuff you create)

and then theres the ownership section,
which states that they own "licensed" (srd) and 'Unlicensed" content (wotc product identity),
and that you're not necessarily giving up ownership (in this case)

Subsequent to that, there is this phrasing, which essentially allows other non-commercial creators to use Your Work (stuff you create) and that can only be used as non-commercial (under share-alike terms),

Now, there is some really terrible verbiage at the end:

Where you cannot speak harm the reputation of WotC or licensed creators (non-commercial + commercial), but apparently does not apply to criticism??

and you cannot circumvent this agreement (which I guess prevents 1.0 uses)

Termination section,
the part where they void the OGL 1.0, unauthorizing that agreement, but hey, at least they give you 30 days notice 🤷‍♂️

So termination section, pretty standard fare otherwise,
though it is pretty stilted in
"their sole discretion" to decide whether you have violated the agreement, you know, great rational for a relationship.

but this part stuck out to me (esp with my Owlbear Plush), where they can terminate your agreement if:

c. You bring an action challenging Our ownership of the Licensed Content, Unlicensed Content, or any patent or trademark owned by Wizards of the Coast.

I think this is intended that
if I created content that featured say a mindflayer (something I don't own, challenging their ownership of IP), they could terminate my license.

However in my case, i've released an owlbear plush, where they've reached out to me and have stated that they believe that is a breach of the OGL
and thusly they could terminate my license just over that separate disagreement with them, and would give me no way of recourse

Here is the IP stuff, but this is under the non-commercial license.
"you own the content you create BUT You agree to give Us a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license to use that content for any purpose."

kinda weird they dont post this above with the rights section, where you're discussing ownership and rights.

But lets see if this holds true for the commercial license

Just a friendly open license agreement, just be sure that you waived any right to a trial for any dispute and we hope you consulted your lawyers before agreeing to this agreement (on the non-commercial agreement)

ALRIGHT, everything above was the NON-COMMERCIAL license,
and now we move into the COMMERCIAL license.
This will be the meat and potatoes that really affects us.

starting off strong

"Any commercial use of Licensed Content (defined below) is subject to this agreement"
don't matter what you do, you're beholden to the new OGL.

Works Covered in commercial-use:
ONLY roleplaying games and as game supplements and only as printed media and static electronic files such as epubs or pdfs.

just like in non-commercial, this is now explicitly stating that
any commercial and non-commercial uses of the OGL that include videos, virtual tabletops or VTT campaigns, computer games, novels, apps, graphics novels, music, songs, dances, and pantomimes, are illegal.

im still trying to understand what kinds of videos they're trying to get rid of, because that's a hell of a category to block. Like videos that recite parts of the manuals, since they would actually regurgitate licensed material?

"it displays the following “Creator Content” badge in the manner specified in the Creator Content Badge Style Guide:"

I sure hope its not a badge called Creator Content, cause that's gonna be ugly as hell

Now we're on the new stuff, Tiers, you've seen this in all the articles,
-Initiate (less than 50k revenue from OGL products
-Intermediate (more than 50k, less than 75k)
-Expert: generate more than 750k/yr

this is only revenue on OGL product

and then theres the Royalty section, also as previously publicly discussed
Initiate and Intermediate tiers 0% royalty (so far)
and Expert is 20/25% depending on if the funds come from KS or not.

for some reason, royalty payments are due on/before the end of Q1 (march 31st)

if you don't they can charge interest (comforting)

and then allowances for records and calculation, though if you're more than 10% off they'll charge you for their time

Fundraising
i. You may only crowdfund the production of Licensed Works.
ii. No infringing materials are given out as perks or rewards.
B. The primary product for Your campaign must be a Licensed Work,
C. The entire campaign is considered one product for royalty calcs:

this will have the biggest effects to the larger KS creators out there that hit this threshold, because this prevents them from offering 5e content and something else, without it triggering the royalty.

So not only could they view infringing products, as anything else tangential to D&D, if you include any dnd content with it, you get caught under the umbrella.
All merch and content will have to be produced separately

They give some examples, which using Bruenor as an author which isn't really helpful.
but in so reading there is an interesting outcome I forsee something happening. (cant fit it in this box tho, next one)

So I Kickstart the Owlbear Plush, an adorable stuffed animal not under the OGL, and normally as stretch goals I would want to include game content with it.

With the new OGL what would happen is that I would Crowdfund just the Plush (and any other physical non-game media)

Then when all the backers get into backerkit, I would then offer the game content to them, as a separate add-on purchase.

The main thing is that your campaign has to be free of any mention of having licensed works.

and you cannot mention them as stretch goals, so you have to run the entire campaign on the physical product, and any addons are purely add-ons you made available.
Now in theory a creator could make these addons free for the backers.

now thats just purely hypothetical, but, as you know they can terminate the agreement with you for whatever reason or change the agreement so there's that 🤷‍♂️

And there you have it.
"J. You will not attempt to circumvent or go around this agreement in any way, such as by creating separate entities to try to evade payment of royalties."

now offering the content for free would likey be viewed as circumvention.
but offering the product at full or slight discounted price would not be.
but you don't have the disgression to argue that so it would be a slippery slope

ah there it is
Nothing stops us from creating a product similar to yours,
and you grant WoTC a license to use it as they see fit.

now its true that similiar conditions exist on the DMsGuild
" expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner (WoTC) as described in this Agreement."

but at least in that sense, there was talk about if we're going to use your content, we'll contact you. But I haven't heard of any event where that has happened, rather they seem to just boost the adepts creators

so yeah, anything you create, they too can create.
And with the financial reporting aspect of it, I can see how this can be used to a terrible extent.

reassurances don't help in this case, that text needs to go.

Personally for the things I create, I'm not really worried about them 'taking my stuff'
rather, id be more worried about them using the hammer of enforcement (like telling me to stop selling owlbears or they'll cancel my license) as a point of manipulation

Now, for the creators in the higher amounts, they are truly in a bind. And honestly, a lot less 5e content will be coming out, and a lot of other system content will be coming out if they don't change anything about these licenses.,

MWG has created only three hardcover 5e books (Awakened, Dragon Stew, Incantations), and we were looking at creating another. But our true start was in Systemless content, stuff that anybody could use. And it seems like we're going to be moving back to our roots more.

and, probably be developing a new game or two here and there too, but we'll see.