ORC License: The Final Version is Here!
This is it! After months of collaborative work, we are pleased to present the final version of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License! The license is a system-agnostic, perpetual, and irrevocable open gaming license that provides a legal "safe harbor" for sharing rules mechanics so as to encourage collaboration and innovation in the tabletop-gaming space. After much commentary and iteration, the ORC License and accompanying ORC AxE (Answers and Explanations) document are now final and ready to be used by game publishers large and small.
We've posted the final drafts below. The public commentary portion of this process is now complete, and there will be no further changes. We're grateful to everyone who contributed thoughts, criticisms, and suggestions since this process started back in February. We literally could not have done it without you, and we look forward to the amazing products the community will create using this license in the future.
The final text of the ORC License has been submitted to the Library of Congress and formally published on the website of Azora Law, the legal firm that conceived of and drafted it. All currently posted versions of the final ORC License text should be considered the Interim Final ORC License and ORC AxE. As soon as copyright registration is finalized, these documents will be updated with the final copyright registration number, which we expect will be ready in about six months. In the meantime, publishers are free to begin using the ORC License right now. No other elements of this document will be changing in the future.
Azora Law Managing Partner Brian Lewis and representatives from Paizo, Chaosium, and other publishers will be offering a panel on the ORC License at the upcoming Gen Con Indy 2023 in early August, where we will answer questions about the license and give suggestions on how best to use it.
From a purely Paizo-based perspective, we will shortly be updating our Community Use and Pathfinder Compatibility Licenses to incorporate the finalized ORC License. Watch this space in the coming weeks for more information regarding these company-specific documents.
Thanks again for helping us to get there. Now let's make some games!
