Open gaming is a movement within the tabletop role-playing game (RPG) industry with superficial similarities to the open source software movement. The key aspect is that copyright holders license their works under public copyright licenses that permit others to make copies or create derivative works of the game.
28-458: A number of role-playing game publishers have joined the open gaming movement, largely as a result of the release of the original System Reference Document (SRD) by Wizards of the Coast , which consisted of the core rules of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition. Open gaming has also been popular among small press role-playing game and supplement authors. The use of the term open gaming began with
56-697: A free culture license. A number of fans and publishers have used existing open game content to create rules systems which closely emulate older editions of games that are no longer supported, and released those rules systems under an open license. The term "retro-clone" was coined by Goblinoid Games, the publisher of Labyrinth Lord. Notable examples of retro-clone games are Basic Fantasy RPG (based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons ), OSRIC (based on 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ), Labyrinth Lord (based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons ), and Swords & Wizardry (based on original Dungeons & Dragons ). System Reference Document In
84-484: A SRD as a "handy guide on how to use, hack and implement an existing game system for your own purposes". The first SRD was published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and is based on the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons ; it was released under their Open Game License (OGL). it was revised following the release of D&D version 3.5 in 2003. That SRD allowed for third-party publishers to freely produce material compatible with D&D . It also formed
112-642: A plan by Gawker to integrate io9 with Gizmodo . io9 's 11-member staff joined Gizmodo 's 22 person staff, under Newitz's overall supervision. One of the reasons for the merger was to better coordinate content: io9 is a science and science fiction blog, while Gizmodo is a technology blog, which resulted in what Gawker assessed as roughly a 12% rate of overlapping content. After a nearly eight-year run, Newitz retired from both io9 and Gizmodo on November 30, 2015, explaining that they had grown to disliking managing both sites at once and having taken them away from their passion of writing articles. Newitz moved to take
140-455: A position as tech culture editor at Ars Technica . Anders remained as head editor of io9 . Besides Newitz, several other longtime core staff members left their positions at io9 during this transitional period. On 26 April 2016, Charlie Jane Anders left the site to focus her attention on her then untitled second novel and Rob Bricken took over as editor. On July 31, 2018, Rob Bricken stepped down as editor of io9 , saying that managing
168-558: A web site and a series of mailing lists, including the OGF-L list (for general discussion of open gaming licensing issues) and the OGF-d20-L list (for discussion of d20-specific issues). The most common criticism of the OGF was that it was primarily a venue for publicizing Wizards of the Coast. Ryan Dancey was an employee of WotC, and discussion on the mailing lists tended to focus on d20 and
196-565: Is a sub-blog of the technology blog Gizmodo that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism . It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under Gawker Media . In 2015, io9 became a part of Gizmodo as part of a reorganization under parent company Gawker. The blog was created in 2008 by Annalee Newitz under Gawker Media . Newitz had been approached by Gawker shortly after another of Newitz's projects, other magazine , ceased print publication—and
224-553: Is that the author released it under the "FUDGE Legal Notice", a license that removed most restrictions on non-commercial use. However the FUDGE Legal Notice (more commonly known as simply "the Fudge license") was never intended to cover any work other than its eponymous role-playing game. Derivative works which were to be distributed for a fee required written permission from Fudge's author, Steffan O'Sullivan. The details of
252-541: The CC-BY-4.0 license. Some other game systems, such as FATE , the Mongoose Publishing editions of RuneQuest , Traveller , and Zweihänder Grim & Perilous RPG have also released their own mechanics under distinct OGL-licensed "System Reference Documents". Chase Carter, for Polygon in 2022, highlighted that the indie game design scene "has moved toward extremely permissible SRDs and
280-577: The System Reference Document under the Open Game License. This move was driven by Ryan Dancey then Brand Manager for WotC, who drafted the Open Game License and first coined the term "open gaming" with respect to role-playing games. The Open Gaming Foundation (OGF) was founded by Ryan Dancey as an independent forum for discussion of open gaming among the members of the fledgling open gaming movement. The OGF consisted of
308-556: The WorldForge project under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Gods & Monsters, created by Jerry Stratton, was also distributed under GFDL in 2013. Despite Fudge and other games, the open gaming movement did not gain widespread recognition within the role-playing game industry until 2000, when Wizards of the Coast (WotC) published portions of the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons as
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#1732779703358336-408: The open gaming movement, a System Reference Document ( SRD ) is a reference for a role-playing game 's mechanics licensed under a public copyright license to allow other publishers to make material compatible with that game. In 2000, Wizards of the Coast pioneered this by releasing a SRD for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition under their Open Game License (OGL). Dicebreaker described
364-534: The 4e SRD presents only lists of concepts and tables from the 4e rulebooks that may be used in a compatible product. The 5th edition of D&D was released in 2014. A new OGL-licensed SRD based on 5th edition was released in January 2016, and updated to version 5.1 in May 2016. In January 2023, Wizards of the Coast announced that the full D&D System Reference Document 5.1 (SRD 5.1) would be released under
392-547: The Fudge Legal Notice were modified and expanded from time to time as O'Sullivan updated his work, but the essential elements of the license remained unchanged. The 1993 FUDGE Legal Notice allowed reprinting of the Fudge rules, including in otherwise commercial works, as long as certain conditions were met. The 1995 FUDGE Legal Notice permitted the creation of derivative works for personal use and for publication in periodicals. In March 2004, Grey Ghost Games acquired
420-513: The OGL (both owned by WotC) rather than on open gaming in general. The OGF maintained a definition of an "open game license" while it was active, with two criteria: The Foundation explicitly stated that the first condition excludes licences that ban commercial use. The second requirement is intended to ensure that the rights granted by the licence are inalienable. The OGL gained immediate popularity with commercial role-playing game publishers. However,
448-499: The OGL was criticized (primarily by independent role-playing game developers) for being insufficiently "open", and for being controlled by the market leader Wizards of the Coast. In response to this, and in an attempt to shift support away from the OGL and toward more open licenses, several alternatives to the OGL were suggested and drafted. Similarly, the popularity of the OGL inspired others to create their own, specific open content licenses. Virtually none of these gained acceptance beyond
476-558: The basis for independent role-playing games from other publishers, such as Mutants & Masterminds and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game , among others. The 4th edition of D&D , released in 2008, was not licensed under the OGL, but under the more restrictive Game System License . Subsequently, the 4e System Reference Document is quite different. Instead of the full texts of the OGL-licensed rules,
504-588: The copyright of Fudge, and on April 6, 2005, they released a version of Fudge under the Open Game License , making it open for commercial use. The phrase "opensource roleplaying" was used as early as 1999 by the Dominion Rules role-playing system, the license of which permitted supplementary material to be written for its rules. Another "open" system was the Circe role-playing system, published by
532-583: The first System Reference Document, and many which make their products available under the OGL but which use game systems not based on the SRD. Wizards of the Coast used the non-open Game System License for the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons , but released a new System Reference Document in 2015 for the 5th edition licensed under the OGL. The Open Gaming Foundation describes these licences as ‘Known Open Gaming Licenses’. The following games are fully or partly under an Open Gaming Foundation-approved license or
560-469: The future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license". The ORC was released in July 2023. Free League Publishing announced two licenses, for its Year Zero game system and another for its upcoming fantasy RPG Dragonbane . The most common open gaming license in use by commercial role-playing game publishers is the OGL. There are many publishers currently producing material based on
588-541: The leaked OGL 1.1 draft document is that WotC is keeping power close at hand". Following this, Paizo announced a new Open RPG Creative License (ORC) as a direct response to the reported changes to the OGL. Additional publishers, such as Kobold Press , Chaosium , Green Ronin , Legendary Games, and Rogue Genius Games, will be part of the ORC development process. The ORC will be an open, perpetual, and irrevocable system-agnostic license with legal development paid for by Paizo "under
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#1732779703358616-409: The legal guidance of Azora Law", however, the license "will not be owned by Paizo, nor will it be owned by any company who makes money publishing RPGs". Paizo plans to find a "nonprofit with a history of open source values to own this license" and stated that "Azora Law's ownership of the process and stewardship should provide a safe harbor against any company being bought, sold, or changing management in
644-458: The open plains of collaboration. [...] When SRDs do pop up in indie games, they read more as political statements about art and creation under capitalism". Carter commented that "independent designers are looking toward a future divested from the weight of D&D. [...] SRDs, or whatever their next form might look like, may provide fledgling artists waystones through an open field instead of fence posts around private property". Io9 io9
672-486: The publication of the original SRD and the simultaneous release of the Open Game License (OGL). However, role-playing games had been licensed under open and free content licenses before this. The Fudge role-playing game system was created in 1992 by Steffan O'Sullivan with extensive help from the rec.games.design community. The name stood for "Freeform Universal Donated Game Engine" until Steffan O'Sullivan changed 'donated' to 'DIY' in 1995. One reason why Fudge succeeded
700-506: The site was taking up too much time and he would rather spend writing articles for it. His place as editor was filled by Jill Pantozzi, former editor-in-chief of The Mary Sue , who had originally joined io9 as a managing editor and took up the deputy editor position after Bricken's departure. Following the departure of Pantozzi, who left the site entirely in December 2021, James Whitbrook, who had been an io9 staff writer since 2014,
728-494: The works of the licenses' own authors, and many have since been abandoned. Linda Codega, for Io9 in January 2023, reported on the details from a leaked full copy of an update to the OGL including updated terms such as no longer authorizing use of the OGL1.0. Codega highlighted that "if the original license is in fact no longer viable, every single licensed publisher will be affected by the new agreement. [...] The main takeaway from
756-555: Was asked to start a science and science-fiction blog. Staff at founding included Charlie Jane Anders , Geoff Manaugh ( BLDGBLOG ), Graeme McMillan ( Newsarama ), Kevin Kelly (Joystiq, Cinematical) and feminist retro-futuristic writer Lynn Peril (author of Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons ). Newitz described the ethos of the site as about looking into the future and science fiction. In February 2010, it
784-465: Was named one of the top 30 science blogs by Michael Moran of The Times ' Eureka Zone blog, who wrote, "Ostensibly a blog for science fiction enthusiasts, io9 finds space for pieces on cutting-edge technology, the wilder fringes of astronomy and the more worrying implications of grey goo ." After seven years as head editor, in January 2014, Newitz became the new editor at Gizmodo , while co-founder Anders remained as editor at io9 —as part of
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