What is the ORC License?
The Open RPG Creative license, or ORC License, is a response to prior issues with the Open Gaming License (OGL). These issues arose due to the OGL being modifiable by its owners, which can jeopardize the ability for gamers and game designers to communicate and share their love the TTRPGs in an open and sustainable manner.
There are many gaming news outlets that have reported on the events that inspired the ORC license to be created, and they will not be re-iterated here.
The Open RPG Creative License was designed with the input of hundreds of independent publishers, and was drafted by Azora Law, an intellectual property law firm that represents Paizo, Chaosium, and several other game publishers. Azora owns the copyright to the text of the ORC License, and has dedicated it to the public domain as a safe harbor against the license being controlled by any company being bought, sold, or changing management in the future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license. The complete text of the ORC License is available for download below, at Azora Law’s website, and is registered in the Library of Congress in perpetuity under registration number TX 9-307-067.
Download the ORC License here.
To get your very own ORC AxE (Answers and Explanations), you can also click here.