Open Game License
The Open Game License (OGL) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast that may be used by tabletop role-playing game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, notably game mechanics. However, they must share-alike copies and derivative works. Language of the license. The OGL describes two forms of content: Open Game Content (or "OGC") Product Identity (or "PI") Use of another company's Product Identity is considered breach of the licensing agreement. History. 3rd Edition. The OGL (v1.0) was originally published by  Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to license the use of portions of the third edition of "Dungeons & Dragons", via a System Reference Document (SRD), thus allowing third-party publishers to produce compatible material. This move was spearheaded by Ryan Dancey. Publishers could also use the separate d20 System Trademark License to include a logo indicating compatibility. Those individuals, groups and publishing companies that license their works under the OGL and similar documents are sometimes collectively referred to as the "open gaming movement". The OGL led to the development of the stand-alone "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game" which is a modified  version of the 3.5 game. 4th Edition. In June 2008, Wizards of the Coast transitioned to a new, more restrictive royalty-free license called the Game System License (GSL), which is available for third-party developers to publish products compatible with "Dungeons & Dragons" 4th edition. The GSL is incompatible with the previous OGL. However, by its own terms the OGL is irrevocable, and remains in widespread use. 5th Edition. On January 12, 2016, Wizards of the Coast released the 5th edition SRD under v1.0a of the OGL, marking a return to the Open Gaming format. Additionally, content creators can access  an additional license option by publishing through the Dungeon Masters Guild storefront; this license goes a step further by allowing individuals and third party publishers to create and sell content based on specific Wizards of the Coast intellectual property such as the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Eberron, and the . Content creators are allowed to set their own price, however, Wizards of the Coast and OneBookShelf take a 50% cut of the proceeds.