This last week I've seen videos, tweets, and articles all repeating an unsourced rumour that the OGL (Open Gaming License) will be going away with the advent of OneD&D, and that third party publishers would have no way of legally creating compatible material. I wanted to write an article...
  • Ghast@lemmy.ml
    2·
    2 years ago

    Branding! Using the OGL you can’t use the term “Dungeons & Dragons” (you never could).

    Well…you could say ‘this is compatible with Dungeons & Dragons’ if you do not accept the OGL.

    The OGL is not relevant to copyright law

    Right - in fact I’m not sure what good it is at all. If you agree to it, you agree to not use:

    product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts; creatures characters; stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs;

    …what a mouthful! And all quite subjective.

    I’ve gone with GPL over OGL, as the OGL isn’t open. Full post here:

    gemini://ttrpgs.com/gen/ogl.gmi

  • 💉😷🌿🇺🇦🇺🇳🇺🇸🇪🇺Oiselarius (he/him)@dice.camp
    2·
    2 years ago

    @kyonshi @Arkanjil

    1. I’m not a lawyer and nothing I post constitutes legal advice.

    2. game mechanics cannot be protected by copyright, e.g. Role Aids and Stars Without Number

    3. the lack of an OGL will mean that content for the newest game to bear the name, which looks to be an online experience that merges TTRPGing, video conferencing, and MMORGs, can’t be published by third-parties. It won’t affect the 3.5 or 5 OGLs and SRDs.