The OGL & How It Affects Me


Hi folks, today I wanted to open my first blog entry with a small introduction and maybe a bit about my work, but recent news developments have forced me to make a statement regarding news of the upcoming 1.1 update to the original 1.0a Open Gaming License.

As many of you may have heard in the news there are changes coming to the Open Gaming License, changes that affect every ttrpg publisher using the OGL in the future (if you don't know about the OGL debacle, the changes are not something I am in favor of).

This affects me as a future publisher, because the game I am designing "Splicer Gears: Shards of Chimerix" has a long history of independent development going back to 2015. I had created my original homebrew system for Splicer Gears using the 3rd Edition SRD (System Reference Document) well over a decade past, then I began migrating it over to 5th edition several years ago. I worked with the OGL & its SRD's exclusively, primarily because I have been using the OGL & the accompanying SRD's for over twenty years under the premise that the OGL was in fact an open system and a safe harbor to publish under, as have many other independent publishers before me under the same precedent for the past 23 years.

All of this changed with the new announcement. I was beside myself to say the least. Years devoted to migrating into 5e gave me a deep insight into the 5e SRD & its rules system, along with 3e before it. I love the game, and I love making things for games, it is my passion. What I learned from this is that I can still continue to create and continue to design my ttrpg, but it will be taking its own path forward depending on what happens.

Rather than publishing under the OGL, we will be moving forward with a creative commons license. That way our game can have a truly irrevocable game license free from outside interference, so that you can always publish for Splicer Gears in the future, forever.

This will take more time, and money, as we will be changing rules, layout, and artwork to go on our own path. This choice does not come easily, but I feel that it is the best way forward in order to ensure that what I create is free and independent of any large corporation.

Halo Zix is an independent art studio dedicated to artists and creators. We will always support creatives over companies, and we will always support the open gaming community.

#opendnd


[Originally posted by Art Waring of Halo Zix on January 12th, 2023]