It’s good news. Wizards of the Coast has released the Systems Reference Document 5.2 for D&D.
As a result, we have some D&D 2024 rules available for free, and we can see which aspects of the game are licensed under Creative Commons for our use, commercial or otherwise.
There are two caveats, though. The Orb of Dragonkind and the Deck of Many Things have different names to avoid trademark issues. The Deck of Many Things is the Mysterious Deck, and the Orb is the Dragon Orb.
Seems fair.
The only point of contention is that the United States Patent and Trademark Office website seems to suggest that the latest tweak of the patent was on April 14, 2025.
I’m not an American lawyer, so I may have this wrong, but it seems clear that the patent was granted in September last year, after the whole OGL debate.
Dave Thumavore has noticed this too, written it up and is researching ways to fund and file a cancellation petition against it.
It’s unclear to me how strong a US patent is outside the USA, especially in a world where the US is withdrawing from international treaties. As a result, we may still see The Deck of Many Things used outside Wizards of the Coast’s remit.
Quick Links
- Patent: Deck of Many Things.
