DND: Do Not Disturb
A leaked document was almost the end of this beloved game
By Ava Jax with art by Sana Ikramuddin
In all the ways I could’ve spent my teenage years in the suburbs, a large majority of it was spent playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. While pulling all-nighters to over-indulge details of a goblin fight isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I strongly feel there is something for everyone to appreciate.
DND:
The basics of this 1970s tabletop roleplay game consist of 3 parts: dungeon master prep, player decisions, and dice outcomes. I like to view the game as collective storytelling. It’s collaborative, improvised, and there aren’t winners or losers unless you’re roped into playing with your older cousins. There are conventions. There are 500+ hour podcasts. There ~apparently~ are people anxiously waiting to see Chris Pine as a bard for 2 hours in the upcoming DnD movie.
Whether you’re a seasoned DnD fanatic or only know the Demogorgen, the recent events in the RPG world are important to tune into. These decisions may influence what creative licensing will look like and, ultimately, what creating 3rd-party work looks like.
OGL:
Open Game Licensing, which has existed for 23 years, is a public copyright license. Created by Hasbro wizards themselves, it grants permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, notably game mechanics. This creates opportunities for 3rd-party developers to make their own content, allowing people to customize the game beyond the cookie-cutter framework DnD gives you. Basically, OGL is like if your One Piece Wattpad fanfic could become a part of the franchise and make money (you wish).
As seems to happen these days, a file was leaked to the public early; It stated that the newest version of the game would not be carrying-over OGL laws. Some of these changes were to be:
Invalidating all existing ODL
Royalty fees
Mandatory reporting of all new ODL content, etc.
WTF:
A change that stifles creativity in a game built for creativity caused an insane amount of revolt, understandably. It’s looking tough, with 25,000 signatures on a petition against the changes, and “more people than ever [looking to] Pathfinder as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons.” Since then, Wizards of the Coast has gone back on a few of the more controversial changes, however, this would’ve and still will put many developers’ jobs on the line.
The truth of te matter is that developers are writers and artists. Their work and time are valuable. Even if you find the 7 books of official material sufficient, homebrew content still holds a place in the DnD community. Especially considering that third-party creators are responsible for much of the innovation in Official DnD content. Not only is changing OGL damaging to smaller artists, but it also stunts the growth of DnD in the future. This is all to say that even if restricting OGL wasn’t morally wrong, it’d be destructive to the game itself.
To DnD or not to DnD:
Of course, DnD wouldn’t fully lose its magic…maybe just its sorcery... However, I think this brings up a more important point. Open Game License restrictions contribute to the current culture of undercutting smaller artists in the name of corporate-churned content. What makes the game special is that you, your friends, and the community make it special. DnD should simply support the ideas of its community. Developers that contribute to that deserve to be paid and credited as such. And not to digress, but I think it could be argued that DnD isn’t collective storytelling without these rights to create.
Much of this discussion—and the future of DnD—remains unfinished. It’s easy to find these current conversations on OGL, AI art, and commissioned work disheartening. I know I’ve been frustrated.
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