A Final Update on the OGL - We Won!
Added 2023-01-28 11:29:37 +0000 UTCHey everyone!
Many of you will already know about what has been happening with the Open Game License, Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro's attempt to revoke and change it, and our group effort as a community to fight against these changes. If you have managed to stay away from the news you can read a good summary of it here.
Yesterday Wizards and Hasbro finally capitulated after weeks of pressure from you and us, putting the entirety of SRD 5.1 into Creative Commons and promising to leave the original OGL1.0a alone. This means that we have an even more open license than before to continue creating 5e compatible content, and it is irrevocable, perpetual and no longer under Wizards or Hasbro's control. It cannot be understated how huge this is.
WotC are also very aware of the damage and harm they have caused to the community, and are making efforts to repair some of the burned good will. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen, we still have many questions for them.
Kyle Brink, the executive producer for D&D, has offered to sit down with the likes of Ginny Di and Ted from Nerd Immersion to answer these questions in the name of transparency. I have passed some questions along to Ginny and Ted, but if there is anything you want to know, tell me in the comments and I'll try to pass those on too. I believe the interview(s) will be recorded.
What does this mean for Tom Cartos?
The past few weeks have been tumultuous to say the least. As I said in my previous post, my maps are system agnostic and were never going to be effected. However we also release a lot of bonus content for 5e and that was possibly going to have to end. These new changes mean we can continue creating for 5e indefinitely, but do I want to?
Despite WotC ultimately giving us a better deal than we could have imagined, I cannot forget the pain and anguish they have caused to many of my friends over the last few weeks in the way this has all been handled. The new CC license didn't come from a change of heart, but fear for their bottom line.
Ultimately however this game is not theirs, it is yours, and for as long as you still want to play D&D we will keep creating for it. I will not be giving WotC any of my money in the near future, they have a long way to go to earn back my trust, but we can all keep playing this game without them. With the rules in Creative Commons it is truly our game now, forever.
One upside of the last few weeks is that I have been introduced to a whole new collection of games and systems. In particular the folks at Paizo have been incredibly welcoming and I am currently in talks with them about an official partner license to create content for Pathfinder 2e (thanks Andrew for the introductions!)
My plan going forwards is to continue to create content for D&D 5e, but also to start releasing Pathfinder 2e content. It will take me a little while to figure out exactly what this looks like, I have a whole lot to learn about Pathfinder having only played my first session this week! When I have more concrete plans I will let you know. For now I have half a dozen Lost Omens books to get through.
There are also lots of other systems out there that I am interested in, including the upcoming Project Black Flag from Kobold Press, Savage Worlds, Call of Cthulhu and many more. Over time I hope to add more and more content for a variety of games and systems. The time of creators focussing solely on one system is over.
Thank you!
Finally I want to thank you all. Your support over the last few weeks has made this much more manageable, and without all of you adding your voices to the #OpenDnD movement, we could never have achieved this. This is your victory.
Thanks also to all of the WotC employees who have helped us fight against this from the inside, and those of who who broke your NDAs to give us this information.
This was a team effort and an incredible example of what can happen when our TTRPG community works together towards a common goal.
I am forever grateful to be part of this community.
Tom
Comments
I'm a PF1e GM - I'm super excited to see you getting into 2e! A lot of the 2e creatures are the same as 1e, so I look forward to using any 2e tokens in my 1e games, and adapting 2e adventures back to 1e ♥
Heather
2023-02-06 17:38:37 +0000 UTCPF2e group here, checking in. Yay! Paizo seems very favorable to work with. Here's hoping for monthly AP map packs. You put out so much quality content now, I don't know how you could possibly add more to your plate.
Bonzai
2023-02-03 18:03:33 +0000 UTCCannot wait to see what the PF2e content looks like. We switched to PF2e at the beginning of the pandemic and it has become our "go to" fantasy system.
Peter Medrano
2023-01-30 17:22:40 +0000 UTCIf you are enjoying Cypher, you should also check out Underground Oracle. They recently switched from 5e to Cypher content.
Tom Cartos
2023-01-30 09:01:52 +0000 UTCI am glad that WotC finally came to their senses and because they gave us (the #OpenDND movement) everything we wanted and more (with the SRD 5.1 creative commons move), I am not going to hold their actions against them. I get why people do not trust them anymore, but I want to reward their "coming to Jesus" moment with positive reinforcement. So I will be going to see the D&D movie, I will be continuing to buy D&D 5th Edition (official and 3rd party) content, and I will evaluate 6e/OneD&D when that lands, but probably will stick with 5e until the 2nd or 3rd year of 6th.
virtuadept
2023-01-30 05:35:42 +0000 UTCVery excited about the PF2e content, I recently converted myself!
DM Dan
2023-01-29 00:36:44 +0000 UTCIt will be sometime before I'm ready to commit back to giving money to WotC. I'm looking forward to more updates from Demiplane instead now.
Akshay Arora
2023-01-28 21:51:27 +0000 UTCI feel exactly the way you do Tom. I'm glad that this is finally happened, however, I do not trust WotC anymore. I'm going to explore Pathfinder 2, I enjoyed the first version when 4E came out. I have also been playing cypher for the past several months and it's great so far.
Akshay Arora
2023-01-28 21:50:53 +0000 UTCMy question/concern involves protecting VTT's from future power grab or changing the rules around what they can create and how they operate. Most of my friends that I DM for are far away, and being able to play with them again the last few years have been grand. And that is why I back you, and a few other content creators, for maps I can plug into campaigns. I am staying with 5e for now, I have too much content to walk away, but like others have said, it will be a long while before my gaming dollars go back to wizbro again. Thanks!
Dharmatrails
2023-01-28 20:21:01 +0000 UTCGlad to see PF 2E content is planned for a future, it's a system I very much eenjoy using for fantasy games.
Silveressa
2023-01-28 18:59:36 +0000 UTCThanks! This was one of the questions I already asked. I will let them know more people want an answer to it.
Tom Cartos
2023-01-28 17:26:25 +0000 UTCI still love D&D and will keep creating for it as long am I am able. We will have to wait and see what happens with 6e.
Tom Cartos
2023-01-28 17:25:01 +0000 UTCUnlike the younger people in the community, my gaming group will likely stay with 5e. I hope Tom Cartos will continue making 5e content and potentially 6e (if their offered license is acceptable by the upcoming association of content creators.) I just wanted to raise my hand as part of your Patreon who is giving WOTC a chance. I sincerely hope all will be well moving forward. 😊
MagicGamerDad
2023-01-28 17:21:49 +0000 UTCVery possible, but I and the rest of my creator friends are making sure to plan ahead for when they do try something like this again
Tom Cartos
2023-01-28 17:12:30 +0000 UTC> I have passed some questions along to Ginny and Ted, but if there is anything you want to know, tell me in the comments and I'll try to pass those on too. - Are there plans for the licensing of the next version of D&D, and if there are, which are they? (Disclaimer: I don't really care, I plan on moving on PF2)
paercebal
2023-01-28 17:12:21 +0000 UTC> Despite WotC ultimately giving us a better deal than we could have imagined, I cannot forget the pain and anguish they have caused to many of my friends over the last few weeks in the way this has all been handled. The new CC license didn't come from a change of heart, but fear for their bottom line. Yeah, exactly. This was a betrayal, and this did hurt people for as long as it lasted. I still fear this is motivated by their D&D Movie, and that after that, they will go back to backstab up
paercebal
2023-01-28 17:07:53 +0000 UTC
