The internet is aflame with the news. No not David Bowie's death and not the president's state of the union address. What's up is WotC has finally released an Open Gaming License (and SRD) for 5E! Well about time, right? It's progress yes, but for aspiring Greyhawk creators, it's not quite time to celebrate.
According to Wizard's official article, writers can now use the OGL and sell their material through the approved Dungeon Masters Guild website (from what I seen Wizards gets a 50% cut) provided your 5E product uses original IP or is set in the Forgotten Realms. Well that of course crushes the hopes of many Greyhawk fans such as myself who want to share some quality material for the new edition. Of course it's mentioned in their FAQ that other settings' IP may be opened later, but the pessimist in me says this will be hew closer to 6th Edition than the start of the OGL. Then again, with so many people potentially developing FR maybe Wizards' staff will focus on Oerth for once (pipe dream?).
Greyhawk gripes aside, this new OGL set-up is indeed great news for everyone, especially for people who want to develop and sell a homebrew setting. In the very least it will be good to get into the practice of self-publishing in the event Greyhawk or some other loved setting comes open for general use. Who knows, maybe then a clever team of Greyhawk fan-writers can revive the setting like they did almost two decades ago...
According to Wizard's official article, writers can now use the OGL and sell their material through the approved Dungeon Masters Guild website (from what I seen Wizards gets a 50% cut) provided your 5E product uses original IP or is set in the Forgotten Realms. Well that of course crushes the hopes of many Greyhawk fans such as myself who want to share some quality material for the new edition. Of course it's mentioned in their FAQ that other settings' IP may be opened later, but the pessimist in me says this will be hew closer to 6th Edition than the start of the OGL. Then again, with so many people potentially developing FR maybe Wizards' staff will focus on Oerth for once (pipe dream?).
Greyhawk gripes aside, this new OGL set-up is indeed great news for everyone, especially for people who want to develop and sell a homebrew setting. In the very least it will be good to get into the practice of self-publishing in the event Greyhawk or some other loved setting comes open for general use. Who knows, maybe then a clever team of Greyhawk fan-writers can revive the setting like they did almost two decades ago...