A grassroots campaign has gathered thousands of signatures for an open letter protesting the reported terms of a new Open Game License set to be published by Wizards of the Coast. Last week, details emerged about the OGL 1.1, the legal framework which allows third-party publishers to make Dungeons & Dragons material. While Wizards of the Coast previously confirmed that a new OGL would be issued, details about the new framework included highly controversial language surrounding the rights of material published under the OGL, a 25% royalty fee on all work published under the OGL that generated more than $750,000 of income per year, and the “de-authorization” of the previous OGL despite previous claims by Wizards that publishers would be able to use old versions of the OGL should a new version be issued with less than favorable terms.
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Although the new OGL has not yet been officially published by Wizards of the Coast for public review, many creators have already begun to organize protests. An Open Letter written by a group of third-party publishers was posted to the Internet last night, organized by Mike Holik of Mage Hand Press. “Nothing about this new license is “open,”” the letter reads. “It chokes the vibrant community that has flourished under the original license. No matter the creator, it locks everyone into a new contract that restricts their work, makes it mandatory to report their projects and revenues to Wizards of the Coast, and gives WotC the legal right to reproduce and resell creators’ content without permission or compensation.”
The letter has attracted thousands of D&D content creators and fans, with over 2,800 people signing the letter less than 2 hours after its publication. Hundreds more signed overnight, although an updated count was not available as of press time. [Editor’s Note: as of 5 PM ET on January 9th, over 15,000 people had signed.] The letter is signed by several well-known D&D community members, including Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus writer M.T. Black, prominent D&D streamer Mark Hulmes (who recently ran a streaming show for Wizards of the Coast on D&D’s streaming channel), and Mike Shea, publisher of Sly Flourish.
“[Wizards of the Coast] has shown that they are the dragon on top of the hoard, willing to burn the thriving village if only to get a few more gold pieces,” the letter states. “It’s time for us to band together as adventurers to defend our village from the terrible wyrm.”
Other prominent creators and former Wizards of the Coast employees have also spoken out about the proposed changes to the OGL. Ray Winninger, who headed the D&D design studio until last year, spoke out against the reported changes and recommended speaking out about the changes through the “usual channels.” Brandy Camel, previously D&D’s community manager until last year, also spoke out about the changes, although she expressed her skepticism that Hasbro would change course. Even Ginny Di, who Wizards of the Coast hired to announce the new upcoming edition of D&D, spoke out about the changes on Twitter.
Wizards of the Coast has yet to comment to ComicBook.com about the reported changes to the OGL outside of a statement in late November.
