By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Hasbro’s hugely successful Wizards of the Coast faced a fan revolt this week over its new licensing rules.
At one point, as Games Radar reported, so many fans cancelled their subscriptions to the online hub D&D Beyond that it apparently caused the site to crash.
So, what touched off this fury among the Dungeons & Dragons fan base?
As was originally reported by Gizmodo, a draft version of the new Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License, or OGL, was leaked online. This is the document that allows vast numbers of independent publishers to use the basic game rules created by Wizards of the Coast, which is the division of Hasbro that owns the IP for D&D and Magic: The Gathering.
The OGL essentially allows dungeon masters to create their own content and potentially to sell their version of the game to other D&D fans. Some publishers have become quite large, although they pale in significance to the sales from Wizards of the Coast, and the OGL specifically put in rules that would see any publishers earning more than $750,000 annually paying 25% royalties. That includes money received in a Kickstarter campaign, which is a common way publishers fund their D&D derivative games.
That said, the royalties only kick in AFTER the game receives more than $750,000, meaning that if a game received $750,001, the publisher would only owe 25 cents.
Acquisitions: Hasbro Brings D&D Beyond Into Its Corporate Dungeon
Smaller publishers wouldn’t pay royalties, but anyone earning more than $50,000 annually would have to report their earnings to Wizards. As well, anyone producing a licensed work under the OGL 1.1 would have to register that work with Wizards. In the past, publishers could create a game version without reporting or registering the content.
Another controversial provision is that OGL 1.1 grants ownership of the fan-created works to the creator, but also gives Wizards of the Coast the perpetual, irrevocable right to use their works in any way it sees fit without payment to the creator. Fan creators said that clause meant their work could be sold by the company without any compensation to the people creating it.
“I almost cried about it two nights ago,” said Baron de Ropp, who is 36 and lives in Tennessee.
De Ropp has been playing D&D since he was nine years old, and learned how to create ‘adventures’ from older relatives. While some adventures are written by D&D, many are written by dungeon masters like de Ropp, and under the proposed license, his adventures could be owned by Hasbro.
“It honestly feels like your grandfather paid for your college education, and now that you’re 40 years old and have a stable career, he says you owe him 25% of all the money you’ve been making,” he said.
D&D has long been popular, but it really exploded during the pandemic, with more than 13 million dedicated players worldwide. Many of those fans say it was the open, creator-based aspect of the game that made it so successful, allowing fans to create their own adventures or versions of the basic gameplay.
Within a couple of days of the OGL 1.1 being leaked, 66,000 fans signed an open letter protesting the new license, and a large number cancelled their D&D Beyond subscriptions.
WIZARDS BACKS AWAY FROM OGL 1.1
While it was drafting the new Open Gaming License that became OGL 1.1, Wizards was clearly aware they could face a player backlash, as the document did note that if the company overstepped with its new licensing requirements, they were aware they “will receive community pushback and bad PR, and we’re more than open to being convinced that We made a wrong decision.”
As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened.
Wizards has always been very tuned in to its player base, which is a major reason for its dominance in the tabletop RPG sector. When players, fans and D&D publishers revolted, the company quickly issued a statement that it would be rewriting the OGL to address concerns.
The statement, released on the DnD Beyond hub, said the intent was not to punish fans or small publishers, but to prevent large companies from profiting from Wizard’s games with unlicensed products.
“When we initially conceived of revising the OGL, it was with three major goals in mind,” the company said. “First, we wanted the ability to prevent the use of D&D content from being included in hateful and discriminatory products.
“Second, we wanted to address those attempting to use D&D in web3, blockchain games, and NFTs by making clear that OGL content is limited to tabletop roleplaying content like campaigns, modules, and supplements.
“And third, we wanted to ensure that the OGL is for the content creator, the homebrewer, the aspiring designer, our players, and the community—not major corporations to use for their own commercial and promotional purpose.”
Wizards also said the leaked OGL was just a draft, and that it had always planned to consult with its fan base. “That draft language was provided to content creators and publishers so their feedback could be considered before anything was finalized,” Wizards said. “In addition to language allowing us to address discriminatory and hateful conduct and clarifying what types of products the OGL covers, our drafts included royalty language designed to apply to large corporations attempting to use OGL content. It was never our intent to impact the vast majority of the community.
“However, it’s clear from the reaction that we ‘rolled a 1’,” Wizards added, referring to the ‘low roll’ in a game that results in a missed attack or unsuccessful spell.
Wizards explains in its statement that it will be going back to the drawing board, and issuing a new OGL that protects the rights of its creator community.
BASIS OF THE NEW D&D OGL
“The next OGL will contain the provisions that allow us to protect and cultivate the inclusive environment we are trying to build and specify that it covers only content for TTRPGs (Table Top RPGs),” the statement says. “That means that other expressions, such as educational and charitable campaigns, livestreams, cosplay, VTT-uses, etc., will remain unaffected by any OGL update. Content already released under 1.0a will also remain unaffected.
“What it will not contain is any royalty structure,” Wizards adds. “It also will not include the license back provision that some people were afraid was a means for us to steal work. That thought never crossed our minds.
“Under any new OGL, you will own the content you create. We won’t. Any language we put down will be crystal clear and unequivocal on that point.”
Wizards also explained that the language drafted in OGL 1.1 was created to “protect us and our partners from creators who incorrectly allege that we steal their work simply because of coincidental similarities. As we continue to invest in the game that we love and move forward with partnerships in film, television, and digital games, that risk is simply too great to ignore. The new OGL will contain provisions to address that risk, but we will do it without a license back and without suggesting we have rights to the content you create. Your ideas and imagination are what makes this game special, and that belongs to you.”
The timing is not coincidental. Hasbro and the Wizards division are increasingly working on other entertainment ventures based on the IP in both the Dungeons & Dragons and the Magic: The Gathering franchises. A good example is the upcoming film Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, starring Chris Pine, or a new series adaptation to run for eight episodes on Paramount+.
While Wizards says its new language will still address the threat of larger companies profiting off its IP, it will also be extremely careful to ensure that the upcoming OGL supports its all-important creator community.
Who’s News: Hasbro Hires Dan Rawson as Wizards of the Coast Executive