I was going to wait until we had more facts and knowledge before addressing the big turmoil in the TRPG, but I think this issue is so big and important that I need to address it now. First let me state my support for Open Game Content, and being a person whos main source of income is to create TRPG content and giving it away for free I try my best to live up to the idea of a free and open gaming community.
For information on what is going on and add your name to the open letter to support the Open Gaming framework that have been the foundation for most of the TRPG industry for over two decades, please go to: https://www.opendnd.games
My Greyhawk related content is not released under OGL, it is released under the less known Fan Creation Policy (https://company.wizards.com/en/legal/fancontentpolicy). If the OGL v1.1 takes effect as written I can still continue to do this, as long as I publish it using the Non-Commercial OGL v1.1. The sacrifice would be that I would have give WotC the right to use all my content for any purpose without attributing or compensating me. An OGL v1.1 world would force me to change how I do things and what I focus on. The lore related content will be something I keep away from my patreon and website, and even names and labels might need to go. It depends on the Fan Creation Policy and what additional requirement that might come with it.
Like I wrote in my last post, edition changes are never easy, but this is the worst one (yet). Just the uncertainty around all this is causing a lot of problems with publishers and creators scrambling to work on contingency plans and seeking legal advice. And yes I'm trying to figure out what I want to do in an OGL V1.1 world as well. Thankfully this is all speculative, we don't know if WotC will try to overturn the current order under OGL v1.0a, and if they could succeed if they try to. The date stated in the OGL v1.1 for it to be published was January 13th and it we still haven't got anything from WotC, so whatever comes will probably be different. I expect more leaks and cat and mouse games before we know for sure and even a statement of "we are not going to change anything" will be hard to believe when the trust is no longer there.
I was set to run a series of games for D&D in a Castle in England, but opted out of it. Now that feels like a good decision, being paid to take part in an officially sponsored WotC event is not something I want to be connected with. The last product I bought from WotC are the Ghost of Saltmarsh and that might very well be the last D&D product I will ever buy.
I will continue to work on and publish my maps for the community as Fan Content using the Creative Commons license, as long as WotC doesn't officially change the rules. What happens if they change the policy depends on what those changes are, we don't know yet. Rendering the first set of textures for Altimira for Troll Lord Game's and work on Shield Lands and more is going on right now. My new computer is rendering while I'm writing this!
Change means that there are also opportunity and I'm sure that we are in for a time of huge changes in the TRPG hobby, in many ways. The digital revolution is coming big time which are changing how we purchase out games, learn the rules, prep and play our games.
I played Pathfinder for until two years ago, then had a short stint with 5E before switching to Level Up. Today Kobold Press announced a new Core Fantasy tabletop ruleset - Project Black Flag, definitely something I will look into for running my games. https://koboldpress.com/kobold-press-a
Troll Lord Games are discontinuing all their 5E products and that seem to be the trend in the TRPG industry. Paizo is going to announce something soon so stay tuned, lots of change is coming.
For me all this means business as usual while I'm keeping an close eye on the developments and keep an open mind for the future. Thank you so much for all the help and support for small independent creators and publishers like me, it is you guys who keep our hobby alive and thriving!
