Jeffrey Talanian has sent out the January 2023 Hyperborea RPG newsletter and has finally addressed the OGL controversy and what it might mean for the Hyperborea RPG.  He had declined to comment previously on this matter.

The rust monster (above, illustrated by John Bingham) is one of many critters that may no longer be available for us to use in future publications. This is due to Wizards of the Coast's intention to revoke the Open Gaming License (OGL), established in 23 years ago (2000) by Ryan Dancey, et al.

While many fellow gamers enjoy following tabletop RPG news and trends on the internet and at various social media outlets, it is quite likely that several readers of this monthly newsletter may be unaware of these events or their implications. For that reason, I will provide an explanation.

What is the OGL and what is happening to it?

The original OGL (1.0) is what North Wind Adventures (publishers of HYPERBOREA RPG) and other tabletop publishers use to create products (games, adventures, supplements, etc.) that make use of reproducible (open) content that was created for Dungeons & Dragons throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.

The OGL gives access to another document called the System Resource Document (SRD), which includes character races, character classes, equipment, spells, monsters, magic items and more. Nearly all of these things were created by Gary Gygax and his contemporaries over a two-decade period. The current overseers of these properties, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and their parent company Hasbro have no connection to the original creativity that went into birth these concepts and creations.

For the last 23 years, the OGL 1.0 has allowed countless designers and publishers -- amateur and professional alike -- to make new products that used terminology such as armor class, hit points, saving throw, hold person, magic missile, ring of elemental command, gelatinous cube, and you guessed it -- rust monster.

The arrangement was incredibly beneficial to the D&D brand for many years, even if some products became direct competitors to that brand. It allowed for the most ubiquitous concepts, spells, items, and monsters to become a kind of universal language that ultimately promoted the growth of tabletop gaming, which contributed to D&D prospering.

Now, the greed-driven overlords at WotC are attempting to end the OGL, despite the fact that the license is stated to be perpetual. They intend to replace it with a new OGL through which they assume far greater control over the concepts and creations that they did not invent. Some would suggest that, largely, this is being done to establish control over the digital market, for which they forecast the greatest growth of their property. But in so doing, they intend to strip the rights away from every publisher that has been accessing this license for the last two plus decades -- including North Wind Adventures and its industry peers. 

So, what does this mean for Hyperborea?

It means, going forward, we may be losing the right to access a lot of the terminology that the HYPERBOREA RPG utilizes. This impacts future games supplements and other materials. It is detrimental to publications planned for 2023 and beyond. Presently, we are being assured that the new license will not impact the continued sale of products already published, but their statements have been inconsistent, contradictory, and seemingly ignorant of the ramifications of all their proposed actions.

What can we do?

Some of you may have already heard about other publishers gathering to create a new type of license, while other publishers intend to wipe away, revise, and rewrite all OGL/SRD content from their games. Others may even agree to the new OGL by Wizards of the Coast, surrendering their independence to the changing whims of a faceless master. I have not yet decided what to do. We just recently published a new rules set (HYPERBOREA 3E), and we have a lot of great adventure modules that it supports. I have no inclination to make a hasty decision, but I am quite certain that I will not -- for any reason -- sign the new license deal by WotC.

Thank you for your support and understanding as we work out what is next for North Wind Adventures and the HYPERBOREA RPG. 2023 looks to be even more strange and uncertain than the "supply chain" year of 2022, but we will endure.

Jeffrey Talanian
North Wind Adventure

His approach makes sense to me. The information set has been changing frequently and will likely keep changing for a while. Best to stay nimble and see what shakes out. Regardless, he was never attempting to make a clone, so there are already a lot of departures of various sorts, and core appeal of Hyperborea is the setting - not a specific rule, spell or monster, at least for me. I don't foresee any disruptive changes. YMMV.

Sucks to have to do that, but realistically, he is selling his game on other merits than faithful AD&D adherence. That gives him more leeway than if he was doing a faithful clone.

Quote from: Melan on January 24, 2023, 06:05:18 PM
Sucks to have to do that, but realistically, he is selling his game on other merits than faithful AD&D adherence. That gives him more leeway than if he was doing a faithful clone.

100%

Quote from: Melan on January 24, 2023, 06:05:18 PM
Sucks to have to do that, but realistically, he is selling his game on other merits than faithful AD&D adherence. That gives him more leeway than if he was doing a faithful clone.

Exactly! Jeffrey is a bright guy and I think he is handling this in an intelligent manner.

Quote from: Batjon on January 24, 2023, 06:52:39 PM

Quote from: Melan on January 24, 2023, 06:05:18 PM
Sucks to have to do that, but realistically, he is selling his game on other merits than faithful AD&D adherence. That gives him more leeway than if he was doing a faithful clone.

Exactly! Jeffrey is a bright guy and I think he is handling this in an intelligent manner.

Agreed. Jeffrey is a stand up guy for sure. And damn, Hyperborea is a cool game.

Pretty reasonable response. I can appreciate waiting and seeing what happens in his situation.

If D&D Shorts is even on the right page, then revoking the OGL isn't really about claiming the industry; it's flipping the table to drive the player-base onto whatever VTT platform they make. Creators like this can totally survive without the OGL.

I appreciate the slow and steady approach to the problem and the promise to not sign any new OGL. Really, I think the internet would be a better place if businesses all agreed that short of calling the police, no degree of internet sewage warrants making a decision faster than one week.

Quote from: Chainsaw on January 24, 2023, 05:46:40 PM
His approach makes sense to me. The information set has been changing frequently and will likely keep changing for a while. Best to stay nimble and see what shakes out.

100% agree. I don't think we know enough to make any certain plans and decisions at this point. There's something to be said for keeping you own counsel and watching as things develop.

I think this highlights the gravity of the mess hasbro made... it really dose not matter how much they walk this back or if they release the "perfect" OGL now... the fact is that all these other creators and publishers now realise that there is a real problem with having their livelihoods tied to a separate corporation they do not have any say in. One that could, I mean maybe they never will, but they could at some point, make decisions that affect them, their family and employee incomes.

So there is no fixing this I do not think. They can release anything, even something great... but anyone who is even slightly competent at business will be looking for a way to remove the threat of a corporation having any kind of say in their own business.

I doubt things will ever be the same.

Quote from: Fheredin on January 24, 2023, 09:10:20 PM
If D&D Shorts is even on the right page, then revoking the OGL isn't really about claiming the industry; it's flipping the table to drive the player-base onto whatever VTT platform they make. Creators like this can totally survive without the OGL.

I appreciate the slow and steady approach to the problem and the promise to not sign any new OGL. Really, I think the internet would be a better place if businesses all agreed that short of calling the police, no degree of internet sewage warrants making a decision faster than one week.

Even independent of that, it seems legally you don't even need the OGL - even for stuff like the Rust Monster - it was just convenient and gave creators the confidence to make their game without worrying about being sued. It may well be that he doesn't need to change much in terms of content, just go through and re-word a bunch of things.