WotC, the OGL 1.*, and SRD 3.*

[quaffeine]

It looks like the main things material to m20 that remain OGL "Licensed Content" are the character creation process and classes. Meaning you could write those from scratch, paste in a large portion of 5E's mechanics, and have a workable rule set.

Also not included are spell descriptions and creatures, although I don't think of those as "required" to be included in a base rule set. Note however that the Vancian magic mechanic is part on the Commons release, so the system is there, just not the spells (which a player could always use from the SRD, you just can't include or reference them).

It will be very interesting to see how other upcoming releases stack up. But my takeaway is, like yours, our valued trove of m20 content should be safe.

[quaffeine]

The entirety of the 5.1 SRD is now Creative Commons, and OGL 1.0a stays

I still can't help but wonder if the D&D team's conversation with Hasbro/WotC higher-ups didn’t go something like this:

December 2022
Wizbros: We're under-monetized, let's get all the controls and royalties for all the things!

D&D: Creators, who have helped make our system more popular than it's ever been, won't like this...

Wizbros: We don't care! Whut, like they're ALL gonna get together and do something different, LMAO...

January 2022:

D&D: CoolCoolCoolCooCooCoolCoolCool.

While I'm not sure I'd ever publish anything targeting D&D proper, I still don't want to see the brand go away, and I still might even buy some stuff.

[gjbkk]

That's a pretty remarkable turnaround. I'm just happy ML is safe and well. Note to Randall: the CC licence is irrevocable and perpetual in my understanding so even if we don't trust Hasbro/WOTC, they can't ever go back on their word regarding the existing SRD.