Editing Paizo (section)

==ORC==
In 2023 however, [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|everything changed when]] [[Wizards of the Coast|Wizards]] [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|attacked]]. Releasing the <s>1.1</s> 1.2 edition of the [[Open Gaming License|OGL]] and attempting to destroy the 1.0a version, people thought this would be the end of Paizo, whose flagship titles originated from exploiting the license to make their own offshoot. While Pathfinder 2E was easy enough to just split off the OGL thanks to being more than just 3.X, Starfinder would find itself in that precarious situation by being essentially 3.PF but sci-fi.

Think again. They only kept the OGL in PF2 books to extend the open license to PF 3rd party because, again, this game wasn't nearly as unoriginal. Instead, they announced the creation of the Open RPG Creative License (shortened to [[Orc|ORC]], funnily enough) with the help of several other publishers and lawyers who helped pen the original OGL. Under this initiative, they have chosen to make an open-source system-agnostic document for all tabletop games, all in response to Wizards trying to do the opposite. Even better, the ORC is being specifically made with a clause that it ''can't'' be revoked later like Wizards is trying to do with OGL as well as being set up in such a way that no company can twist it to their favor by being set up with an uninvolved third party. Time will tell whether this will end favorably, though for now Paizo has stated they will fend for itself and other companies like [[Kobold Press]] and [[Chaosium]] in court if need be.

And if anyone wants to put the contrast between the two any further, just remember that Wizards hired the fucking Pinkertons to beat someone up for a mistake that wasn't their fault and Paizo had their employees form their own labor union - which had not just gotten ratified as of June 6th, but has earned raises, collaboration with the management and even protections for workers, something unheard of in the tabletop gaming industry! Not bad for some sweaty neckbeards!

This transition against the OGL has also given them a significant headwind, as in the direct aftermath of the OGL 1.2 reveal and their counterproposal in the ORC, they've managed to see a massive surge in sales as players bailed from 5E to learn other mainstream systems. To capitalize on this, they've already announced a remaster of PF2E that will be further divorced from its D&D roots while also adding a significant amount of errata and being published under the new ORC, while Starfinder is looking to see similar changes but wasn't obliquely mentioned as using the ORC.

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Publishers]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Pathfinder]]