Revised GSL Forthcoming

Wizards of the Coast’s system license for fourth edition D&D, the GSL, had become an object of derision for many fans.  Several of the larger third-party publishers of third edition material had refused to sign on, citing various of its provisions; the overwhelming response saw the GSL as a very lopsided document, offering little in return for the third-party publisher’s agreement to some rather strict terms.  Kenzer & Co. even released a 4e update of their Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting under nominative use, rather than under the GSL.

It seems WotC has taken notice of the underwhelming response to its license.  They’ve announced that a revised GSL is forthcoming, along with a revised 4e SRD.  There’s no release date on the revisions yet, but it’ll be “in the very near future.”

Also, the “new” fan site policy “will be posted upon completion.”  No firm date for that, yet, either.

I doubt the 4e GSL will be quite so open as the OGL was, but here’s hoping it offers enough to bring some of those publishers back into the 4e fold.  I think it should be possible for Wizards to maintain better control of their brand while also loosening up enough to assuage the reasonable concerns the other publishers brought up.  The question now is whether WotC will actually manage to do so.

Related posts:

1. Gleemax’s Failure and other thoughts