Thoughts on the OGL News
13 Jan 2023 by AJ
Taking a moment to reflect on the possible changes to the OGL and what they mean to me.
I would say the #1 reason I play D&D over other systems is the existence of D&D Beyond and VTT integration with Roll20 and the like. There are other great things about 5e of course, but if similar tools were built for other systems I would find it a lot easier to move my games elsewhere.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not playing D&D and supporting Wizards because they’re the game with the best open source support for creators or that they do the best job supporting the community. I play because they build and offer tools and services that make playing the game more accessible.
This may be partially colored by the fact that I run & play in remote games. Without good VTT support and the ability to manage content/characters/campaigns online it makes life much much harder on the GM. To me D&D has offered me the best tools to make my life easier. I don’t know how these OGL changes are going to change that cold fact.
It seems that the community backlash to the OGL changes have already had an impact on the WotC approach for the better. I hope that the community continues to be as passionate & outspoken as they have been for these issues that matter.
The best case scenario here is that WotC backs down from the changes to the OGL and instead continues to support the open license that they have in the past, and creators continue to invest in D&D. If not that, then hopefully we get some true competition to D&D - especially in the digital space.
Tabletop games will never grow beyond a certain point without the support of online tools. Maybe something like the ORC will enable creators to build a rival to D&D Beyond on another system. This would be an exciting change for the better in the world of tabletop.
Like they say - all press is good press. Hopefully this newfound focus on the community of this awesome game will have a positive outcome in the end for the TTRPG world at large.