Breaking Nerd News: Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast have completely reversed their controversial plans to deauthorize the Open Gaming License 1.0 and replace it with a far more restrictive one that would have put many content creators at serious risk.
Check out the DungeonCraft video above and this piece on Polygon:
Wizards of the Coast, publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, will abandon attempts to change the Open Gaming License (OGL). The announcement, made on Friday, comes after weeks of virulent fan and third-party fury that made the story hit international headlines – and on the eve of a high-profile film starring Chris Pine.
The OGL was developed and refined in the run-up to D&D 3rd Edition, and a version of it has been in use for more than 20 years. It provides a legal framework through which people could build their own tabletop RPGs alongside the Hasbro-owned brand. It has also given a boost to the roleplaying industry as a whole, spawning popular products from Paizo, Kobold Press and many individual developers. But proposed changes to the OGL, leaked to io9 on January 5 and first reported by io9, seemed like creating a contentious relationship between Wizards and its community. The story has since made headlines around the world — including a nearly 10-minute segment this week on NPR’s All Things Considered and lengthy articles from organizations like CNBC.