Gamers Roll Natural 20 as DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Announces OGL Will Not Change and SRD 5.1 is Completely Under Creative Commons

The last several weeks have been a crazy one for Dungeons & Dragons fans. At the beginning of the month, a leaked document showed changes to the Open Gaming License (OGL) dubbed OGL 1.1 that creators and fans were extremely furious about. Then, the company made a half-hearted apology a week later that was full of PR bullcrap. Executive Producer Kyle Brink then announced a feedback survey and an initial draft of OGL 1.2 designed to update OGL 1.0a in a manner that would benefit the company and fans.

Then, on January 27, Brink made a new post on D&D Beyond announcing that D&D would end this campaign. The survey for OGL 1.2 was launched on January 19 which means that after about a week, they’ve ended that and have decided to leave OGL 1.0a untouched and they’ve launched the entirety of System Reference Document (SRD) 5.1 under a Creative Commons license. This is huge!

In about a week, over 15,000 surveys were filled out and Brink highlights the following statistics:

• 88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.

• 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.

• 89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.

• 86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.

• 62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.

This led them to the decision stated above. The one sad part of the outcome is that they are not touching OGL 1.0a at all which means they’re not adding the language many are requesting which would make it irrevocable. This is important because as-is, D&D could try something like this again in the future. However, having the SRD 5.1 under a Creative Commons license is huge!

This move is irrevocable and D&D cannot take it back. For the rest of time, anyone can use SRD 5.1 for their projects as long as it is permitted under a CC-BY-4.0 license. Also, there’s no more stupid VTT policy that said you can’t have animations on your virtual tabletop. This is a pretty substantial win for content creators and fans. D&D has lost a lot of trust and goodwill the last month or so from the community and this isn’t a magic bullet. However, it’s a good and strong step forward.

Now, some are still upset that OGL 1.0a isn’t irrevocable and are predicting that One D&D will be under a more restrictive license when it launches. This is a possibility. That would suck and start up this fight once again, but that’s also something that we can deal with when it comes. Right now, let’s celebrate the natural 20 that we’ve collectively rolled. I’ve included the entirety of Brink’s post below.

When you give us playtest feedback, we take it seriously.

Already more than 15,000 of you have filled out the survey. Here's what you said:

88% do not want to publish TTRPG content under OGL 1.2.

90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.

89% are dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a.

86% are dissatisfied with the draft VTT policy.

62% are satisfied with including Systems Reference Document (SRD) content in Creative Commons, and the majority of those who were dissatisfied asked for more SRD content in Creative Commons.

These live survey results are clear. You want OGL 1.0a. You want irrevocability. You like Creative Commons.

The feedback is in such high volume and its direction is so plain that we're acting now.

We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.

We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license.

You choose which you prefer to use.

This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use. We don't control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It's open and irrevocable in a way that doesn't require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there's no need for a VTT policy. Placing the SRD under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There's no going back.

Our goal here is to deliver on what you wanted.

So, what about the goals that drove us when we started this process?

We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature.

We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.

Here's a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license. By simply publishing it, we place it under an irrevocable Creative Commons license. We'll get it hosted in a more convenient place next week. It was important that we take this step now, so there's no question.

SRD 5.1-CC

We'll be closing the OGL 1.2 survey now.

We'll keep talking with you about how we can better support our players and creators. Thanks as always for continuing to share your thoughts.

Kyle Brink

Executive Producer, Dungeons & Dragons