Open gaming
Encyclopedia
Open gaming is the movement within the role-playing game
(RPG) industry that is somewhat similar to the open source
movement. The key aspect is that authors give recipients of works covered by copyright
a license to certain rights, such as the right to make copies or the right to create derivative works, under particular conditions. All open gaming therefore depends upon a license with exception to fair use
and works under public domain
.
", open content
, or free content
license, which grants permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some or all of the content.
A number of role-playing game publishers have joined the open gaming movement, largely as a result of the release of the System Reference Document
under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast
. Open gaming has also been popular among noncommercial role-playing game and supplement authors. Several licenses have been used to facilitate open gaming. Despite this, the concept has yet to make a significant impact on games outside of pen-and-paper RPGs, and most commercial RPG publishers continue to use proprietary game systems. There is some question as to the current status of the OGL, as of 2007. When WotC published the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, all mention of the OGL was omitted. However, at least into early 2009, a previous edition of Dungeons and Dragons, 3.5 Ed, which was the last edition to embrace the OGL fully, is maintaining a tenacious hold on its popularity, in spite of supposedly being "replaced" by a new edition.
and the simultaneous release of the Open Game License. However, role-playing games had been licensed under open and free content licenses before this.
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 of the keys to the success of Fudge is that the author released it under the FUDGE Legal Notice, a license that made it essentially "open" for non-commercial use. This predates the publication of the System Reference Document
under the Open Game License by several years. However, like most open gaming licenses, 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. 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. Derivative works which were to be distributed for a fee required written permission from Fudge's author, Steffan O'Sullivan. The details of 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.
In March 2004, Grey Ghost Games acquired the copyright of Fudge, and in 6 April 2005, they released a version of Fudge under the Open Game License, making it open for commercial use.
fantasy
role-playing system, the license of which permitted supplementary material to be written for its rules (see the Dominion Rules Licence
). Another "open" system was the Circe role-playing system, published by the WorldForge
project under the GNU Free Documentation License
.
(WotC) re-published the 3rd Edition of their popular Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing system as 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 most common criticism of the Open Gaming Foundation 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 the OGL (both owned by WotC) rather than on open gaming in general.
Like most efforts to publicize "open gaming", the Open Gaming Foundation did not gain widespread support, and the most recent update to the OGF web site (as of January 2007) was on 4 August 2003. However, the OGF mailing lists continue to be active, particularly the OGF-d20-L list, which is a haven for various d20 publishers.
for more information). 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 the works of the licenses' own authors, and many have since been abandoned.
Attribution-ShareAlike License. RPG Library support for the October Open Game License ceased entirely on June 15, 2003.
Attribution-ShareAlike License and the GNU Free Documentation License
. There are many publishers currently producing material based on the WotC System Reference Document, and many which make their products available under the OGL but which use game systems not based on the SRD.
, the term "open gaming" distinctly predates the establishment of an organization establishing a definition for the term. As such, while there is a definition offered by the Open Gaming Foundation for what is and is not an "open gaming license", the term is used more expansively without notable comment. Generally, any license that permits re-use, modification, and redistribution of content can be considered an open gaming license, though open content
, free content
, copyleft
, and copyfree offer various definitions and specifications for licensing terms that apply to some open gaming licenses.
The following licenses are currently in use as open gaming licenses:
The best known example of a retro-clone game is OSRIC
, which contains the rules for 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Other examples are GORE
(the Basic Roleplaying System i.e., the rules used in RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu), Labyrinth Lord
(based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons), Swords & Wizardry (based on Dungeons & Dragons circa 1974), and Dark Dungeons (based on Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia).
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
(RPG) industry that is somewhat similar to the open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
movement. The key aspect is that authors give recipients of works covered by copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
a license to certain rights, such as the right to make copies or the right to create derivative works, under particular conditions. All open gaming therefore depends upon a license with exception to fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
and works under public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
Definition
"Open gaming" refers to the practice of publishing content (rules, sourcebooks, etc.) under a "copyleftCopyleft
Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
", open content
Open content
Open content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....
, or free content
Free content
Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
license, which grants permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some or all of the content.
A number of role-playing game publishers have joined the open gaming movement, largely as a result of the release of the System Reference Document
System Reference Document
The System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
. Open gaming has also been popular among noncommercial role-playing game and supplement authors. Several licenses have been used to facilitate open gaming. Despite this, the concept has yet to make a significant impact on games outside of pen-and-paper RPGs, and most commercial RPG publishers continue to use proprietary game systems. There is some question as to the current status of the OGL, as of 2007. When WotC published the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, all mention of the OGL was omitted. However, at least into early 2009, a previous edition of Dungeons and Dragons, 3.5 Ed, which was the last edition to embrace the OGL fully, is maintaining a tenacious hold on its popularity, in spite of supposedly being "replaced" by a new edition.
History
The history of open gaming began with the publication of the System Reference DocumentSystem Reference Document
The System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
and the simultaneous release of the Open Game License. However, role-playing games had been licensed under open and free content licenses before this.
The Fudge Legal Notice
The Fudge role-playing game system was created in 1992 by Steffan O'SullivanSteffan O'Sullivan
Steffan O'Sullivan is the author of several role-playing game books.Among his works are the GURPS system books Bestiary, Bunnies & Burrows, Fantasy Bestiary and Swashbucklers. He is also the collaborative author of the FUDGE open gaming system and the Sherpa game.He currently lives in New...
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 of the keys to the success of Fudge is that the author released it under the FUDGE Legal Notice, a license that made it essentially "open" for non-commercial use. This predates the publication of the System Reference Document
System Reference Document
The System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
under the Open Game License by several years. However, like most open gaming licenses, 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. 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. Derivative works which were to be distributed for a fee required written permission from Fudge's author, Steffan O'Sullivan. The details of 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.
In March 2004, Grey Ghost Games acquired the copyright of Fudge, and in 6 April 2005, they released a version of Fudge under the Open Game License, making it open for commercial use.
Dominion rules and circle
The phrase "opencsource roleplaying" was used as early as 1999 by the Dominion RulesDominion Rules
Dominion Rules is a role-playing game system for historical and fantasy role-playing. DR is notable in the history of role-playing games for being one of the first RPGs, perhaps the very first, to be released under an open source licence, known as the Dominion Rules Licence...
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing system, the license of which permitted supplementary material to be written for its rules (see the Dominion Rules Licence
Dominion Rules Licence
The Dominion Rules Licence is the open gaming licence under which the Dominion Rules role-playing game system is distributed. It is notable for being one of the earliest examples of an open gaming licence, predating the better known Open Game License....
). Another "open" system was the Circe role-playing system, published by the WorldForge
WorldForge
The WorldForge project is producing an open source framework for massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The intent lies in creating a widely used development framework and set of libraries by motivating interested developers to improve on the original code.-History:The WorldForge Project...
project under the GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
.
Open Game License
Despite Fudge and other games, the open gaming movement did not gain widespread notoriety within the role-playing game industry until 2000, when Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
(WotC) re-published the 3rd Edition of their popular Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing system as the System Reference Document
System Reference Document
The System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
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.
Open Gaming Foundation
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 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 Open Gaming Foundation 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 the OGL (both owned by WotC) rather than on open gaming in general.
Like most efforts to publicize "open gaming", the Open Gaming Foundation did not gain widespread support, and the most recent update to the OGF web site (as of January 2007) was on 4 August 2003. However, the OGF mailing lists continue to be active, particularly the OGF-d20-L list, which is a haven for various d20 publishers.
Reaction to the OGL
The Open Game License gained immediate popularity with commercial role-playing game publishers. However, 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 (see d20 SystemD20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
for more information). 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 the works of the licenses' own authors, and many have since been abandoned.
October Open Gaming License
One of the licenses written in response to the OGL was the October Open Game License, a copyleft license published on 27 December 2000 by RPG Library. The OOGL was designed to present an alternative to perceived problems with the WotC Open Game License. The OOGL was used by two games before the authors of the OOGL ceased using it for their own work in late 2002 (and suggested that others do the same), in favor of the Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution-ShareAlike License. RPG Library support for the October Open Game License ceased entirely on June 15, 2003.
Present adoption
The most common open gaming license in use by commercial role-playing game publishers is the OGL, and the most popular noncommercial licenses are the Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution-ShareAlike License and the GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
. There are many publishers currently producing material based on the WotC System Reference Document, and many which make their products available under the OGL but which use game systems not based on the SRD.
Licenses
Unlike open-source softwareOpen-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
, the term "open gaming" distinctly predates the establishment of an organization establishing a definition for the term. As such, while there is a definition offered by the Open Gaming Foundation for what is and is not an "open gaming license", the term is used more expansively without notable comment. Generally, any license that permits re-use, modification, and redistribution of content can be considered an open gaming license, though open content
Open content
Open content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....
, free content
Free content
Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
, copyleft
Copyleft
Copyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requiring that the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work...
, and copyfree offer various definitions and specifications for licensing terms that apply to some open gaming licenses.
The following licenses are currently in use as open gaming licenses:
- Creative CommonsCreative CommonsCreative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
- Various licenses are used - Dominion Rules License
- EABA Open Supplement License (external site)
- GNU Free Documentation LicenseGNU Free Documentation LicenseThe GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
- GNU General Public LicenseGNU General Public LicenseThe GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
- Open Content LicenseOpen Content LicenseThe Open Content License is a copyleft license designed for distribution of open content material. This license is not compatible with the any other license in that it requires derivative works to be licensed under the Open Content License....
- Open Game License
- Open Publication LicenseOpen Publication LicenseOpen Publication License is a license open publications created by the Open Content Project, which now recommends using one of the Creative Commons licenses....
- Open Works License (external site)
Open supplement licenses
Open supplement license is a licenses where the original rulebooks are covered by normal copyright, but a license permits the publication of supplementary material, such as adventures and new rules. Examples of open supplement licenses are the EABA Open Supplement License and MasterBook™ Open Supplement License (MasterWorld™) .Open games
The following are considered open games (listed in alphabetical order):- Action! System, published by Gold Rush Games
- Circe roleplaying system, published by WorldForgeWorldForgeThe WorldForge project is producing an open source framework for massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The intent lies in creating a widely used development framework and set of libraries by motivating interested developers to improve on the original code.-History:The WorldForge Project...
- Dark Dungeons by someone writing under the nom de plume "Blacky the Blackball"
- Dominion RulesDominion RulesDominion Rules is a role-playing game system for historical and fantasy role-playing. DR is notable in the history of role-playing games for being one of the first RPGs, perhaps the very first, to be released under an open source licence, known as the Dominion Rules Licence...
Explicitly encouraging the creation of new skills, spells, beasts and rules by its modular structure, this project attempted to establish an equivalent to the open-source softwareOpen-source softwareOpen-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
model in RPG gaming. - FATEFATE (role-playing game)FATE, Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment, is a generic role-playing game system based on the FUDGE gaming system. It has no fixed setting, traits, or genre and is almost entirely customizable...
, Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment - Four Colors al Fresco by Woodelf
- Fudge System Reference Document by Grey Ghost Games
- ICONS, a superhero game by Steve KensonSteve KensonSteve Kenson is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games and related fiction.His most notable creation is the d20 System superhero roleplaying game Mutants & Masterminds for Green Ronin Publishing, which won multiple ENnie awards. He also designed True20 Adventure Roleplaying and the...
, published by Adamant Entertainment - Labyrinth LordLabyrinth LordLabyrinth Lord is a fantasy role-playing game written and edited by Daniel Proctor and published by Goblinoid Games. It emulates the rules and feel of classic era Dungeons & Dragons using the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast...
by Goblinoid Games - OGL SystemOGL SystemThe OGL System is an open roleplaying game system, published by Mongoose Publishing.It is in fact the d20 System, but it was rewritten in order not to contain any licensed material; for example, the term "d20 System" was systematically replaced by "OGL System".This system is published in the OGL...
by Mongoose PublishingMongoose PublishingMongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001...
- Conan: The Roleplaying Game
- Lone WolfLone Wolf (gamebooks)Lone Wolf is a series of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated by Gary Chalk. The series began publishing in July 1984 and sold more than 10.2 million copies worldwide....
- OGL Rulebooks
- OSRICOSRICOSRIC, short for Old School Reference and Index Compilation, describes itself as "a compilation of rules for old school-style fantasy gaming...intended to reproduce underlying rules used in the late 1970s to early 1980s" . It is a role-playing game...
by Stuart Marshall and Mathew Finch - System Reference DocumentSystem Reference DocumentThe System Reference Document, or SRD, is a set of reference role playing game mechanics licensed under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast and based upon their Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The SRD forms the basis of WotC's various d20 System role-playing games, including the...
, which is a subset of the d20 SystemD20 SystemThe d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
by Wizards of the CoastWizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games... - Swords & Wizardry by Mythmere Games
- RuneQuestRuneQuestRuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game first published in 1978 by Chaosium, created by Steve Perrin and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. RuneQuest was notable for its original gaming system and for its verisimilitude in adhering to an original fantasy world...
: the current version of RuneQuest (as of 2007), by Mongoose Publishing - T10 systemet introduced by Swedish role-playing company Rävsvans
- TagmarTagmarTagmar is a roleplaying game launched in 1991 by GSA that claims to be the first such Brazilian offering on what was at the time a nascent market....
Brazilian Medieval RPG - Traveller (role-playing game)Traveller (role-playing game)Traveller is a series of related science fiction role-playing games, the first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop and subsequent editions by various companies remaining in print to this day. The game was inspired from such classic science fiction stories as the Dumarest saga series by...
by Mongoose Publishing - Treasure by JennyT, Rob Lyon and D. Morrison
- Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive BloodshedViolence (role-playing game)Violence: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed is a short, 32-page roleplaying game written by Greg Costikyan under the pseudonym "Designer X" and published by Hogshead Publishing in 1999 as part of its New Style line of games...
by Greg Costikyan. - Yags by Samuel Penn.
Retro-Clone systems
A number of fans and publishers have created copies of rules systems which 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 and GORE.The best known example of a retro-clone game is OSRIC
OSRIC
OSRIC, short for Old School Reference and Index Compilation, describes itself as "a compilation of rules for old school-style fantasy gaming...intended to reproduce underlying rules used in the late 1970s to early 1980s" . It is a role-playing game...
, which contains the rules for 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Other examples are GORE
Gore
-Violence:* Graphic violence visually depicted, especially the realistic depiction of serious physical injuries involving blood, flesh, bone and brain matter. This "gore effect" was first visualized in Wolfenstein 3D....
(the Basic Roleplaying System i.e., the rules used in RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu), Labyrinth Lord
Labyrinth Lord
Labyrinth Lord is a fantasy role-playing game written and edited by Daniel Proctor and published by Goblinoid Games. It emulates the rules and feel of classic era Dungeons & Dragons using the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast...
(based on Basic Dungeons & Dragons), Swords & Wizardry (based on Dungeons & Dragons circa 1974), and Dark Dungeons (based on Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia).