Some of you, perhaps all of you, will already know about the current storm brewing amongst the tabletop RPG community: the Open Game License version 1.1.
If you don’t already know what I’m talking about, then it’s worth getting familiar with the issue. If you play other games based on the d20 system or buy books that are compatible with Dungeons & Dragons then it affects you because it affects your favourite publishers, who even now are having to make hard choices and many of which have announced their intention to pivot away from D&D compatible content.
In brief, the text of Wizards of the Coast’s intended Open Game License version 1.1 has leaked, and it appears to be verified by multiple creatives who claim to have been sent copies of the text. Its terms are extraordinarily anti-competitive, full of clauses that are extremely bad for third party creators. No one in their right mind would sign onto it. Worse still, the text of the new license seeks to de-authorize version 1.0a, under which publishers like Spilled Ale Studios currently release books. To continue creating compatible content we would need to agree to version 1.1, which among multiple other examples of terrible corporate greed grants Wizards of the Coast the right to take and use anything we create without compensation. For a summary of exactly what’s wrong with version 1.1 and links to other useful reading, see Mike Shea’s article on the subject. The absolute worst thing of all is that even if the intended change is walked back, the intent behind it can’t be. We now know that relying on content published under the OGL to make a living isn’t safe. WotC has shown their willingness to burn it all down.
Spilled Ale Studios will not publish content under any version of the Open Game License that strips away even some of the rights currently granted by version 1.0a, let alone a version as draconian as the current text of version 1.1. Furthermore, even if WotC reacts to the bad press they’ve received by announcing their continued intent to use version 1.0a, I can’t continue making content after learning that the text of 1.0a is vulnerable to future attempts at de-authorization. Thus the only way I continue creating content under the OGL is if a new version is released with only one change to its text: wording that makes it eternally irrevocable.
This seems unlikely. In the balance of probability, Spilled Ale Studios will have to pivot as other publishers are doing. To what system remains in question, and it will take some time to explore options and decide on a new project. I know that my 5e compatible content is why you’re reading this in the first place, but I hope that when I find that new direction some of you will take that journey with me!
When the leak was reported I rushed to get out one last book under the terms of the current OGL: Wasteland Warriors. It’s available right now! Originally I planned to include the three post-apocalyptic classes in its pages in a larger project, but since it seems unlikely that said project will come to fruition I wanted to share them with you while I still could.
In light of what’s going on I’ve had to rethink the Wasteland Woes early access program. As those of you who are already taking part in the program know, I was releasing content in a series of individual issues, each of which included the text of the OGL. That’s no longer a practical solution, since the text of the OGL may change before I release all issues - and more importantly, before I would have had the opportunity to publish Wasteland Woes itself.
Therefore I’ve made the decision to publish Wasteland Woes immediately, so that the final product has been released under the terms of the OGL v1.0a.
Consider Wasteland Woes a living document subject to regular errata that will add in missing content over time. In the meantime, until all of the content from previously published issues is transferred to Wasteland Woes those issues will remain in your accounts. More details about this change are provided on the Wasteland Woes product page.
I had a few 5e compatible products in the pipeline. I expect that for many of you my future plans for the Wasteland Worlds product line would have been of the greatest interest. Regrettably all such products are now indefinitely on hold but might just escape being cancelled given the slim chance that the OGL ends up being protected, not obliterated. Some products might also be converted to another system in the fullness of time.
This is obviously an evolving situation. More news about the future of Spilled Ale Studios will be shared as soon as I know it myself!
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