In the early 2000s, the Open Gaming License proved to be a boon for the Dungeons and Dragons brand by allowing 3rd party content creators to legally adapt the core rules of D&D and make engaging content that would probably never see the light of day otherwise. This led to more awareness and a growing ecosystem.
Games such as Pathfinder, Mutants and Masterminds, 13th Age, and OSRIC might still be around, but they would not be the same. All in all, the tabletop Renaissance owes its early life to two things: Acceptance of Nerdom/Geekdom and the OGL.
Now, not everything was tied to the OGL; Basic Fantasy and Eclipse Phase were released under the Creative Commons License (as is the 5e SRD now).
Things went fine for many years, the golden era of the hobby, some would say. Then came 2023 and the OGL scandal. I won’t go into too much detail here, as much information can be found with some online searches, but suffice to say, it raised enough concern that the larger 3rd party creators started branching out from the 5th edition and started making their own unique mark on things.
Here is where MCDM comes in. Already having a large and devoted following on YouTube for the Running the Game series, several successful Kickstarters for 3rd Party 5th edition content, and just what I would like to think is a level of coolness that demands respect. They forged out and created Draw Steel.
You can see the creator license here.
Basically, it boils down to:
- Don’t use their art without permission.
- Don’t use their logos.
- Include a legal blurb on the outside of the product and on the websites where you sell it.
- Don’t give the impression that your product is Official.
Other than that, there isn’t much you can’t do. Use the names, locations, rules, and such as you see fit. Feel free to offer commercial products and include a compatibility logo that the MCDM has graciously provided. It’s the most forgiving and simple creators’ license I’ve seen, and it’s what inspired us to create Forgeandfable.games.
We can’t wait to see what the community creates for MCDMs Draw Steel. Send us your creations and let us know if we can review them in upcoming posts.
