JP was wrong (again) and future plans #openDND

It seems like we've done it! As of yesterday afternoon, January 27th 2023, the SRD for the rules of 5e are now in Creative Commons 4.0. Yay!

I first thought they would try to weasel something, but this ends the debate. They lost. Lost big. The pressure from the community, by canceling D&D Beyond subs, speaking out, and sharing thoughts about it.

What does that mean for 6e?

6e will not have an OGL. Instead, it will have something akin to what they tried to ram down our throat with the OGL1.1/2.0. In short, they "gave" us 5e but will want to close 6e off.

Just like they did 4e.

And the old one among us remember what happened to 4e... It sunk, crashed, and burned. Not so much because of its flaws, but because they simply wanted to ignore everything before 4e and start the game anew. An issue they addressed with 5e by harking back to the roots of the game. And that is one of the reasons 5e was such a success.

Will 6e be a dud? No. It will have some success. Initially. But with many 3pp who push, support, and most importantly run the game, all not going to 6e. That bodes very poorly for 6e.

So 6e got torpedoed. From the inside. I like to say "They 4e'd their 6e." Basically making this new edition dead on arrival.

Unless it is of such majestic brilliance, of such imperial greatness, of such magnanimous perfection... Which cannot happen. Which is too bad because what we seen so far was mostly positive. A lot of good things. Interesting concepts. Nothing earth-shattering, but nothing game breaking either... II was happy with what I saw and was "cautiously optimistic."

What does that mean for FOE?

In the short term, nothing. Sleep, I guess. I spent a few weeks really stressed out. Now FOE products do not copy from the SRD, I leave those portions out on purpose so I don't have to update my products if there is an errata or a rules update.

However, the question remained: how can I publish my books without fear of WotC coming after me? FOE is a small-time operation: It's mostly me with the help of some of you. Could WotC decide to sue me for using "fighter" or making a reference to "magic missile"?

Uncertainty was the name of the game for those few weeks.

So... FOE?

I am going through the Ozaka book, trying to finish it using 5e rules.

At this time, I have no real plans for what to write next. I have a number of very vague ideas but nothing definite yet. I'll keep on reading and playing with things in my head.

I am working on a Planescape campaign for DM's Guild and on a Mythic Beastiary for both Akhamet and Olympia.

On the plus side, since having had that news, I was able to add about 10 pages to Ozaka, making it just shy of 200 pages! FOE's biggest product yet.