# A Thought: Probably Best Download all OGL material NOW



## delericho

A throwaway comment on one of the many other threads about the OGL triggered a thought: it's probably a good idea to download any and all OGL material you have purchased from DriveThru or any other similar ventures as a matter of some urgency. Don't rely on those remaining available - if WotC do pull the trigger on de-authorizing OGL 1.0, they may well have those stores pull them as no longer being licensed.

(There was a very similar situation a number of years ago when they suddenly pulled their PDFs of old-edition materials from sale - this was before DMs Guild was a thing - when those were disappeared. I, for one, lost access to several PDFs I had purchased because I was offline for the key week in question.)

With luck, this all blows over and you've wasted some time and storage on backing stuff up. But it's frequently wise to prepare for the worst even while hoping for the best...


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## SAVeira

Suggest that you use the Library app if you have large collection.  I took me several hours, 128 GBs total for nearly 9000 files.
DriveThruRPG.com


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## Reynard

"DriveThru RPG servers crash due to panic downloading. News at 11."


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## darjr

It’s a good idea. But you have at least… _checks notes_

Seven days from the drop of the new OGL…


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## D1Tremere

I don't think the new OGL even effects those sales from what I've seen. At worst, the current small business sellers would need to apply and switch the logo.


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## darjr

D1Tremere said:


> I don't think the new OGL even effects those sales from what I've seen. At worst, the current small business sellers would need to apply and switch the logo.



Drive thru? As leaked it probably does effect the OGL ones.


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## delericho

darjr said:


> Drive thru? As leaked it probably does effect the OGL ones.



That was my understanding.

(And, incidentally, that's a partial answer to the question "what's to stop me just carrying on publishing under the old OGL?" - given the deals in place, Drive Thru probably won't provide a market for such a product, and Kickstarter probably won't allow campaigns to fund such a product.)


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## Bitbrain

What about those game systems sold on DrivethruRPG that don’t use the OGL?


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## mamba

Bitbrain said:


> What about those game systems sold on DrivethruRPG that don’t use the OGL?



they should not be affected


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## D1Tremere

I'm confused. How does this effect drivethru or kickstarter?
To my understanding, drivethru is a store front, and individual sellers will simply need to switch to the new OGL with little or no change. Kickstarter isnt profit, and the OGL 1.1 specifies profit. Unless the kickstarted product actually generates profits in excess of $750k it shouldn't really be effected by using the new OGL.


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## Uni-the-Unicorn!

D1Tremere said:


> I'm confused. How does this effect drivethru or kickstarter?
> To my understanding, drivethru is a store front, and individual sellers will simply need to switch to the new OGL with little or no change. Kickstarter isnt profit, and the OGL 1.1 specifies profit. Unless the kickstarted product actually generates profits in excess of $750k it shouldn't really be effected by using the new OGL.



fYi, the leaked OGL says “revenue” not “profit”


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## Deset Gled

It's been awhile since this comic felt relevant, but here we are...







DRM may be different from an OGL, but the analogy is close enough.

I do not endorse piracy.  But there may be a collection of legally questionable PDFs that I have on my network storage somewhere.  PDFs of books I owned when purchasing them as PDF wasn't an option, things I wanted to read that weren't available via standard online sources at the time, etc.  None of those are danger of being lost because of business decisions made by Hasbro.


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## D1Tremere

Uni-the-Unicorn! said:


> fYi, the leaked OGL says “revenue” not “profit”



Ahh. The video I was watching said Gross Revenue so I was confused. So it really matters there on the official wording of the final version.


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## Ruin Explorer

delericho said:


> (There was a very similar situation a number of years ago when they suddenly pulled their PDFs of old-edition materials from sale - this was before DMs Guild was a thing - when those were disappeared. I, for one, lost access to several PDFs I had purchased because I was offline for the key week in question.)



Yup.

I'm STILL MAD about that. They even gave me my money back, but GRRRRR how dare someone take my PDFs without warning me. I also access to some stuff which is now only available by sailing with Jack Sparrow.


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## Scribe

Heh, I wondered when discussion of a sailing persuasion would begin.


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## delericho

Bitbrain said:


> What about those game systems sold on DrivethruRPG that don’t use the OGL?



Anything that isn't OGL won't be affected. That said, it's probably good policy not to rely on someone else's servers for your only access to anything you want to keep.


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## SAVeira

delericho said:


> Anything that isn't OGL won't be affected. That said, it's probably good policy not to rely on someone else's servers for your only access to anything you want to keep.



I have a had at least one company vanish from DriveThruRPG in the past and be left with no way to access their files.  In some case they have been in the library app, so I regain access that way.


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## mamba

D1Tremere said:


> Kickstarter isnt profit, and the OGL 1.1 specifies profit. Unless the kickstarted product actually generates profits in excess of $750k it shouldn't really be effected by using the new OGL.



the OGL 1.1 specifically does not talk about profit but gross from my understanding


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## humble minion

SAVeira said:


> I have a had at least one company vanish from DriveThruRPG in the past and be left with no way to access their files. In some case they have been in the library app, so I regain access that way



I lost access to some purchased M&M material when the 3pp company shifted from 2e to 3e and yanked their old products.

The general principle is worth remembering - if it's not saved on media you personally control, you don't own it.  I still buy CDs for the same reason.


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## Retreater

Yeah I'm going to be downloading my library to flash drives this weekend. Thanks for the heads-up.

Update: Took me about 3 hours between last night and this morning. Ended up with about 10 GB of OGL material (that I could find).


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