D&D will change to defend against crypto, other forms of exploitation

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Wizards of the Coast will release a new licensing agreement for the next iteration of Dungeons & Dragons, called One D&D, in early 2023. This new framework will only cover written materials, but its existence will impact creators of all persuasions. , including but not limited to. authors, independent publishers, video producers and real theater groups.

The announcement, made in a blog post on Dec. 21, follows a big year for publishers of alternative D&D content, including high-paying crowdfunding campaigns and even a new start-up trying to combine D&D content. existing with blockchain cryptographic technology. .

The new licensing deal is still ongoing, Wizards said, and is expected to launch in early 2023. So last week’s announcement is an effort to ease concerns among players and creators while attorneys sort things out. background.

You all matter to us, Wizards said on its newly acquired digital platform, D&D Beyond, promising to provide transparency on how D&D will continue to support third-party creators.

But the message, which has just over 700 words, is sorely lacking in detail. So let’s unpack what it says, and what it doesn’t, about the future of D&D.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

Wizards currently maintains its relationship with game content creators through the Systems Reference Document (SRD), which is publicly licensed under the Open Gaming License (OGL). Think of the SRD as a truncated version of the largest 5th edition D&D content library, bigger than what’s in your base Starter Set, but much smaller than what’s available in the main D&D rulebooks like the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide. This content is legally exposed to the in-game audience, under the terms set forth in the OGL, as a resource for creating new content that is compatible with the D&D ruleset.

But, according to Wizards, the OGL is not specific enough as it is currently written.

OGL needs an update to make sure it continues to do what it was meant to do, Wizards said, which is to empower independent creators in D&D communities to build, play and play. develop the game we all love without allowing things like third parties to create D&D. NFTs and large corporations to exploit our intellectual property.

Image: Gilmores Glorious Goods/Ten Speed ​​Press/Random House

The SRD and OGL are almost a decade old at this point, created in preparation for the launch of D&D 5th Edition in 2014. A lot has happened since then. D&D is more popular than ever, of course, thanks in part to a surge in interest in tabletop role-playing games sparked by shows like Stranger Things and Critical Role. Real game performance has grown from an oddity to a multi-million dollar segment of the entertainment industry. High-profile projects based on 5th Edition D&D rules, such as Blizzard: Coils of the Serpent Director Chris Metzens Auroboros, are making big money through crowdfunding. Meanwhile, a startup called Gripnr intends to build 5th on-chain TTRPG, somehow applying crypto blockchain technology to D&D.

Given this landscape, you can easily imagine a Hasbro executive somewhere in a corner office closing the door to have a panic attack. Local competition of this type can have a significant impact on the future of a media brand. Look no further than Metzen owns Warcraft, which helped bring video game MOBAs to life nearly 20 years ago. The globally popular MOBA genre, which includes League of Legends, began as the Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft 3, a mod that eventually grew out of Blizzards control into a major competitor to franchises like Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.

Seen in that light, Wizards’ announcement makes a lot of sense. Hasbro needs to protect itself from potential competition from its own community of gamers and fans, and that will mean changes to the status quo, especially as D&D embarks on a digital future.

Image: Publications FR

But D&D is a naturally creative pursuit. Fans and small creators must have access to something like the systems reference document to develop the hobby in the future. Therefore, Wizards said, the changes to the Open Gaming License will apply only to material created for use in or as [tabletop role-playing games]. Of course, that naturally excludes…well…literally everything else.

Other types of content, like videos and video games, are only possible through Wizards of the Coast’s Fan Content Policy or a custom agreement with us, Wizards said. To clarify: outside of printed media and static electronic files, OGL does not cover it.

Wizards then sets benchmarks for revenue generated from that OGL-related content. Creators who earn more than $50,000 per year from SRD-related projects must report those earnings directly to Wizards of the Coast. Later, for anyone earning more than $750,000 a year, a new royalty system will come into effect from 2024.

What that means for the thousands of YouTubers, Etsy creators, 3D modelers, and small real-life gaming troupes earning a modest income from D&D-based work remains unclear. The OGL is still under review, and no matter what it says, the document ultimately doesn’t make sense until Wizards backs it up with an attempted legal action in the future. Will you need to pay Wizards every time you pour d20 resin and sell it to a customer? No, that’s absurd. But, in the future, if your at-home campaign spawns an animated series on Amazon, or if your nifty new setting ends up earning you millions on Kickstarter, you can expect Wizards of the Coasts lawyers to come to you. to call.

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