Bailing on the OGL: 3 Companies, 3 Directions

When Wizards pulled their OGL nonsense back in January and February, several major companies made announcements about their plans to forge ahead on their own. Now it’s nearly a year later, and we’re seeing the results. Three companies, three directions, let’s dive in.

Background

For those not tracking or who need a refresher, around this time in 2022, Wizards moved on their plan to change the OGL. Namely, they wanted to scrap the OGL 1.0a and introduce the OGL 1.1. The new OGL introduced a royalty scheme on creators making over 750k in gross revenue, cut Wizards in on Kickstarter money, and introduced a “we own your ideas” plan around IP created by people using the OGL 1.1 even if they weren’t publishing with the DM Guild. You can read the break down of it here. Wizards would eventually back down, and switch the 5e D&D SRD to a CCBY Creative Commons licence, but concern remains about future developments and editions given that there’s no guarantee that they’ll be equally as available.

Needless to say, the fandom revolted, as did the handful of companies whose gross revenue put them in Wizards’ sights. Paizo, Kobold Press, and MCDM were the most strident, and have all taken different directions since. With MCDM’s recent Backerkit campaign launching, it’s a good time to examine their choices.

Paizo Chooses Evolution

Pathfinder was already well into its second edition when the OGL issue launched, and while confident they could win in court, they also knew they don’t have Hasbro money. So Paizo did a lateral move and opted to scrub their game of everything that was OGL and launch their own licence, the ORC, to make a perpetual licence available.

Pathfinder was already on an evolutionary arc away from D&D with the second edition, and that’s what made this viable. If this had happened during first edition, it would have been a nightmare as the game was much more closely tied to 3e and 3.5e D&D. But second edition was already sufficiently different that the changes didn’t do much to it, and with Starfinder Second Edition in the works already? The solution was easy. So now Paizo has two D&D-alike games on their own developmental trajectory away from 5e and One D&D, making them secure against any future choices by Wizards.

Kobold Press Knuckles Up

Kobold Press is, arguably, the largest independent producer of 5e D&D content that isn’t Wizards, and the OGL changes were a serious threat to their operations. They swiftly announced they would be building their own system. This would ultimately result in them streamlining, rebalancing, and reworking the Creative Commons release of 5e under for Black Flag Roleplaying, a reference document. Their new game, Tales of the Valiant, which is based on their Black Flag Roleplaying system, was successfully Kickstarted over May and June and received over $1.15 million USD in support.

The route that Kobold Press is on, in my opinion, is the most challenging one. They’re afforded protection by the CCBY International 4.0 licence, which is good. It means Wizards can’t snatch anything back in the future if they have a change of heart as long as it was made under that licence. However, it also means that Kobold Press has hitched its star to 5e for the foreseeable future. Which means that they’re inevitably going to be competing with Wizards directly once One D&D launches, and with subsequent editions. If they can secure a large enough fanbase that it becomes self-perpetuating, they should be okay. If not? Then they’re back to square one.

MCDM Pops Smoke and Throws Frags

Of the three, MCDM started development the soonest, and was the last to launch. After months of playtests and teases, their Backerkit campaign is currently underway and at only a few days in has already got over $2.8 million USD in support. But they’re breaking D&D ties completely with their game. At best it could be called a D&D-alike, but even that’s stretching “alike” significantly. Where Pathfinder and Starfinder are direct evolutions of D&D, and where Black Flag Roleplaying/Tales of the Valiant is retooled and tuned 5e D&D, the MCDM RPG is at best an example of convergent evolution. Like how a palm tree and a pine tree are both “trees”, but have wildly different genetic makeups and origins. The path they’re on is a hard break from D&D and may pay out well for them given their reputation and existing fanbase.

The MCDM RPG is designed for “tactical heroic cinematic fantasy”, and it is laser focused on that. They’re super blunt in the fundraiser as they lay it all out. The game is made for tactical tabletop RPG action, with an emphasis on “tactical tabletop”. The strong vibe I got is Shining Force or Final Fantasy Tactics meets D&D meets better tabletop mechanics meets the player desire to throw opponents into or through walls. It deeply embraces a lot of modern gaming preferences while at the same time high-fiving some old design methodologies. MCDM knows their target audience, and they’re going after them hard.

Thoughts on Choices

Paizo’s choices were what I’d expect from an established company with an established game. They took a solid, low-risk choice that pushed them further along a path they were already on. Pathfinder is well on its way to becoming a distinct RPG from D&D both in play and design, and they already have solid fanbase that’s flourishing. I’ve already looked at their new remasters here and here, so I know they’re on a good trajectory. You can check out the remaster books here. There are no real cons to this approach, mostly because it’s an established operation. Paizo doesn’t need to scramble for customers or prove their system.

Kobold Press took the riskiest path in my opinion. I understand why, they’re in a similar position to where Paizo was in 2008 with 3.5e; Kobold Press are masters of 5e and the sea is changing. So, I have absolute confidence in them to be able to pull off a better 5e game than Wizards; but it’s not 2009 anymore and the D&D fanbase is more insulated and enmeshed with the D&D ecosystem. I think it’s looking at an uphill battle to establish a solid fanbase. With the recent accidental leak from Wizards that indicates that One D&D is going to be a staged release, I think that they’ll have a window of opportunity to establish. You can read up about Tales of the Valiant here. The pro to this approach is that it’s worked before; the con is what I outlined above, that they’re going to have to establish a fanbase and poach 5e fans out of the D&D ecosystem.

MCDM is taking the nuclear option and forging ahead with something completely new. Now, I’ve had differences of opinion with Matt Colville around world building, but I respect not just what he’s built, but also the quality of the materials he’s put out there. He’s got the solid creative background, good team assembly skills, good business practices, and an established fanbase to make this choice work. Based on listening to his vision and looking at the material publicly released for it, I think that the MCDM RPG is going to succeed not just because of its content, but because MCDM is focusing on a specific demographic and building a game for it. This means a strong initial start. You can see more about the MCDM RPG here. The pros to this approach are an all but guaranteed baseline fanbase and an entirely new system. The con is the complexity of the route to long term success; a game like this needs to hit the ground running and have ready community content and organized play aspects on top of access to new players.

Final Thoughts

When the OGL 1.1 debacle went down, it shook up the hobby, and we’re finally hitting a stage where we’re seeing the results. Paizo is a forgone conclusion; barring an unmitigated, unpredictable disaster, we’re not going to see Pathfinder or Starfinder go belly up any time soon. Kobold Press’ choice to try to pull a Paizo and beat Wizards at their own game is bold, and I have concerns about the slowdown in coverage; the next eight months are going to make or break their effort an independence. MCDM is charting a whole new course that is almost guaranteed to work, as long as they keep making the right moves. So what I’m saying is that between now and the release of the final One D&D book in late 2024 or early 2025, it’s going to be make or break for Kobold Press and MCDM, and a time to shore up for Paizo. It’s more interesting times.