Dungeons & Dragons Rolls a 1 on New License (OGL 1.1) ft. Matt Colville

Extra thanks to @mcolville for the assist!

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Sorry, occupational hazard: This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Also, some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. But if you click, it really helps me make more of these videos! All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Special thanks:
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images and AP Archives
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
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[melimsah]

Can I give kudos to the editor of this video for seeing our lawyer man making an unintentional dice roll gesture at 7:31, and editing in a realistic dice roll animation with the appropriate sound effect to it? That was chefs kiss!

[KathyClysm]

Watching WotC's 2022 actions both with regard to D&D and to MtG has been... a masterclass in how to ruin a company's relationship with it's customers.

[EonLess]

As many people have said before

"It takes 20 years to build up a reputation and 5 minutes to tear it down"

[BelieveItOrNot]

If you had told me a year ago that I would be watching a Legal Eagle and Matt Colville collaboration, I would have never believed you. We truly do live in the strangest timeline, but love you both!

[chestersnap]

So I brought up the OGL stuff at the D&D session we had earlier today and my brother goes, "I'm waiting on Legal Eagle to cover it." So thank you for almost immediately posting a video on this after he said that

[thepinms]

Even if creators never needed the OGL the certainty that Hasbro/WotC wouldn't drag you to court was an important part of the homebrew scene.

[TheKrstff]

A big reason for the OGL was that D&D's old parent company was very litigious. They believed they owned the concept of a pen and paper roll playing game and would sue anyone who made their own. This is partly why so many old school RPGs are radically different than D&D. It was to get around their lawyers.
The OGL was essentially a peace agreement so other publishers could create content without the fear of being sued.

[chipwilson]

I feel the "grey area" Devin kept referring to is what' folks are so worried about. With so much grey it leaves a lot of room for lawyers to...well...be lawyers. That and the "If you become successful with something that looks kinda like our thing, we want money....but only if it becomes successful and we can make a lot of money off of your success."

[dan_hahn]

Corporate IP attorney here and... wow... incredible. Succinct. Accurate. And all presented with charming editing, I have been missing out on this channel for years. This is such an inspiration for what contemporary, digital distribution of legal knowledge can look like. Wish I could like the video twice.

[ryanmckannan]

The tongue in cheek "this is too nerdy for me" from a lawyer who has breakdown videos of legal arguments from the 23rd century, made in the 90s was worth the lol. I hope your colleague recovers soon, and thank you for sharing his gofundme. It's good to have perspective on this, since this is important to a lot of us in the hobby or even adjacent to via in sociological studies.

[cocos]

YES I AM SO HAPPY DEVIN IS COVERING THIS. Also, I can't get over how Legus Eagus' alignment is just "lawful".

[codahighland]

There's a point of history that makes the OGL mean more than just what it says on the surface. The presence of a license means not only that you can win a lawsuit -- it means you don't have to be afraid of one. It spells out a promise that Wizards wasn't going to act like TSR had previously; the original publishers of D&D were notoriously litigious, and OGL was instrumental in making 3rd edition as successful as it was for that reason.

[mjolnir]

As others are stating, I think the big thing for a lot of creators isn't that they needed the OGL to do it, but that the OGL was Wizards saying they won't sue over it. Their predecessors TSR were known to sue smaller content creators, even if they didn't have a valid legal basis, and make smaller creators fold because they could not afford to fight it.

[orikes]

One of the big concerns I have heard over the last couple of weeks is that even if the OGL (either version) isn't actually enforceable, Wizards/Hasbro could still bankrupt a small company or creator by forcing them into extensive legal fees to defend themselves. This is part of why Paizo's announcement of a joint project to create a universal OGL with a bunch of other companies is pretty big. They can afford to go toe-to-toe in the legal system.

[WitheringAurora]

The main problem I had was the "We get a license for whatever you make related to DnD and use it for whatever we want, including selling exact copies."

[SabbothArt]

I don't think Hasbro/WotC was expecting quite THIS much coverage on this issue. I'm really happy seeing this blow up in their faces, and I'm also really glad to see that this video is why we haven't heard anything from Colville until now!

[jaycub]

I don't watch Hoeg but I am an avid D&D fan and seeing you, as one of the larger voices of the YouTube community shouting out smaller creators in their time of need warms my heart. Thank you for directing more attention to the issue that WOTC is pressing on our and for linking to Hoeg's gofundme so they can recover ASAP

[KiranasOfRizon]

Pathfinder 1st Edition kind of fits in a bucket in between homebrew and reproduction. But Paizo also has a sort of legal ace in the hole. It's called "the guys on our legal team are the guys who originally wrote the OGL, and they're damn sure you can't revoke it."

[AmberAHue]

Thank you for supporting Hoeg! It's so great to see the entire legal YouTube community rallying around his recovery!

[storyboardwriting]

Thank you for giving a shout-out to Hoeg. We in the community have been giving love and support to him and his family. I appreciate you giving that as well