Tyler Goza's Blog

Wizards of the Coast SRD 5.1

Wizards of the coast managed to make a bunch of D&D fans angry with the modifications they were wanting to make to the OGL. But as the dust from the backlash settled they made a move that should be better for the D&D community as a whole.

Moving forward the SRD will be released under a Creative Commons License, this move cannot be taken back later and all of the SRDs released under this will be available for others to use as they please.

Basically Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro decided that they wanted to take control of fan made content being made for D&D and wanted to be able to police the adventures and classes being made. They wanted to provide a way that they could remove content that they disagree with.

To top that off they wanted to ensure that anyone makeing money off of D&D content would be forced to share they money with them if it was above a specified amount. They also wanted to be able to make money using work made by third parties if they wanted to bring third party content into their official work.

It doesn't take much to see why players had issues with this. No one likes the idea that something they worked on could be shut-down or taken away from them. Wizards initially opted to remain silent to try and avoid making the situation worse, and finally solicited feedback from the community.

The surprising part of the story is that Wizards/Hasbro decided to listen to the community feedback. They have released the new version of the SRD under a Creative Commons License. The license they choose is a good one and they can't change their minds later, they do not own this license and have no control over it.

While nothing is stopping Wizards from releasing a completely new SRD for D&D One that is not Creative Commons, if they continue using Creative Commons this is the best possible outcome for the community. Being able to use the SRD in content you write or as part of a Virtual Table Top is good for the community as a whole and will help D&D remain alive for years to come.