Open Game License/1.1

<Open Game License

Open Game License 1.1 – Intro

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is all about creativity, both yours and ours. Throughout the nearly 50 years since the first release of D&D, Wizards of the Coast and its predecessor, TSR, have encouraged people to build new campaigns and material on the foundation of the Dungeons & Dragons base game. Historically, we have allowed fans, through our Open Game License, to make and sell commercial content using our intellectual property via the Systems Reference Document (SRD). This practice has continued for more than 20 years, and we continue to support it today.

A lot has changed over the last half century, including the rise of the internet, apps, Web 3, and even virtual TTRPGs. Now in 2023, we are updating the Open Game License to address some of these new realities and fix some of the loopholes and contradictions that made their way into the Open Game License during the time since its first release. One aspect of that is dividing the old Open Game License into two pieces: first, a license covering non-commercial uses of SRD content (OGL: Non-Commercial), and second, a license that applies to commercial uses of SRD content (OGL: Commercial). The OGL: Non-Commercial and OGL: Commercial together make up the updated OGL. This revised license is intended to protect the D&D brand by reducing creator confusion, preventing bad actors from tarnishing it, and preventing large businesses from profiting off it without proper checks and balances.

The actual license is available through the hyperlinks below, and if you’re comfortable with legalese (or somehow actually enjoy reading legalese) feel free to jump ahead to those links. We’ve included explanations and examples alongside the legal language to help make the OGL easier to understand and comply with. You can get to those comments by clicking the link after each section. If on the other hand you would like to start with a in plain language of how the OGL works, you can start here with the FAQ section. In addition to that, we have included a set of comments in the license itself that accompany the legal language and provide explanations and examples to help make the License easier to understand and comply with. You can get to those comments by clicking the link after each section.

Below are a few FAQs about the new license and its parts.

What is non-commercial use of SRD content? If no money (or anything else of value) is changing hands to get access to the things you create using SRD content, that’s noncommercial use and is covered by – and subject to – the terms of the OGL: Non-Commercial. If any form of payment or income for access to your work is involved, or is specific to a particular work, even if it’s just a dollar, it’s covered by the OGL: Commercial License. To be clear: crowdfunding a new project is commercial use. Accepting subscriptions or membership fees or Patreon patrons as a condition of accessing your work is commercial; accepting voluntary donations via any tipping mechanism or sites where you’re providing your content for free regardless of those donations/tips is not. If you’re giving your work away for free, on Patreon or otherwise, and asking that people support your work if they enjoy it, that’s not commercial. But your work must be given without strings attached if it’s going to be considered noncommercial.

What are my options for making D&D-related content? If you are going to use SRD content to make tabletop roleplaying games and game supplements on a noncommercial basis, the OGL: Non-Commercial applies. If you are going to use the content we make available for third-party use to make tabletop roleplaying games and game supplements on a commercial basis, and only want to use material from the SRD – but not other material, like the Forgotten Realms setting – the OGL: Commercial has you covered. If you want to publish work that uses the Forgotten Realms setting or other content not included in the SRD, that’s under the Dungeon Master’s Guild. If you want to make videos or other content and monetize it via ads, that’s going to be covered under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy.

What does the OGL: Commercial mean for me as a small creator? For most of the community’s content creators, those making under $750,000 per year in SRD-based content, the OGL: Commercial changes very little and is primarily designed to help us simply know you better. Under the OGL, those creators will need to register their commercial content with us so we know what’s out there, tell us a bit about their products and products sales, and start adding a Creator Product badge to their materials so that everyone in the community knows they are publishing under OGL license from Wizards of the Coast.

Making Dungeons & Dragons is a labor of love for us, but it’s also a business. We, like you, want to keep doing what we love and pushing D&D forward. The Open Game License was always intended to allow the community to help grow D&D and expand it creatively. It wasn’t intended to subsidize major competitors, especially now that PDF is by far the most common form of distribution. So moving forward, hugely successful businesses that generate more than $750,000 of annual revenue will also need to share some of that success with us by paying a royalty of 20 to 25% of the qualifying revenue they make in excess of $750,000. But even for these wildly successful creators, they will not owe anything on any sales made before January 1, 2024, no matter how much money they make in 2023. We’re doing it this way so that creators have time to plan for the transition and adjust their business plans accordingly.

How do I agree to the OGL: Commercial? Anyone publishing content under the commercial license will need to register that content with us, by creating an account at dndbeyond.com, providing us with identifying information (such as the name of the person or entity creating the work), the title of the new work, a summary of the work, and – once the work is available to others – a copy of the work. When you complete that registration, you will also be confirming your agreement to the terms of the OGL: Commercial. You can find the registration form here [link].

What if I don’t like these terms and don’t agree to the OGL: Commercial? That’s fine – it just means that you cannot earn income from any SRD-based D&D content you create on or after January 13, 2023, and you will need to either operate under the new OGL: NonCommercial or strike a custom direct deal with Wizards of the Coast for your project. But if you want to publish SRD-based content on or after January 13, 2023 and commercialize it, your only option is to agree to the OGL: Commercial.

Why is Wizards of the Coast updating to OGL 1.1 and subdividing it into Commercial and Non-Commercial terms? A lot has changed since the old OGL was launched, and that means the old license has some unintended applications we need to fix. For example, when we released OGL 1.0a, YouTube, apps, blockchain, crowdfunding, and other now every-day technologies and distribution channels didn’t really exist in the way they do today. OGL wasn’t intended to fund major competitors and it wasn’t intended to allow people to make D&D apps, videos, or anything other than printed (or printable) materials for use while gaming. We are updating the OGL in part to make that very clear.

Additionally, over time the old OGL incorporated some confusing and even contradictory provisions. It was also written in fairly dense legal language. So while we’re updating it to take into account developments since it was last revised, and breaking out commercial use into a separate category, we’re also simplifying the language and streamlining the provisions so that it’s easier to understand and comply with. For even more clarity, we’ve included comments that should help illustrate what the provisions do, which you can access by clicking the relevant comment links in the license documents.

We strongly believe in the power of creativity and the goal of the old OGL – and this new OGL revision, in both Commercial and Non-Commercial form – is helping our incredible community to build and share campaigns, supplements, and other content that enriches the way we play D&D.

Who can I contact if I don’t understand something or need help? If you have any questions about what you read in the OGL: Non-Commercial or OGL: Commercial, please reach out to us at [TBD] before using or signing either part of the license.

The preceding material is not part of the OGL 1.1. To access the subdivision of OGL 1.1 that applies to your use of SRD content, click below:

• OGL 1.1: Non-Commercial
• OGL 1.1: Commercial