OGL 1.0a vs. ORC

Both the OGL and the ORC license rules mechanics while excluding trademarks and non-rules creative content (Product Identity under the OGL; Reserved Material under ORC). While they serve analogous protective roles, their legal definitions and identification mechanisms differ, and they are legally separate license texts with distinct terms.

Paizo's own licensing page states the separation between the regimes directly:

"The ORC also doesn't allow you to convert content previously released as Open Game Content under the OGL into what the ORC classifies as Licensed Material. If you want to utilize content that exists solely under the OGL, you must publish it under the OGL, and can't release that Derivative Work (or portion thereof) as ORC-Licensed Material."

"The OGL also doesn't allow you to convert content released as Licensed Material under the ORC into what the OGL classifies as Open Game Content. If you want to utilize content that exists solely under the ORC, you must publish it under the ORC, and can't release that material (or portion thereof) as Open Game Content under the OGL."

Primary sources: see Paizo Licenses (checked 2026-10-24), the ORC License text (TX 9-307-067), and the official ORC AxE (Answers & Explanations).

This site's PF1e compendium content is published under OGL 1.0a — every content type's license is locked to it, not chosen per-record. (Other systems on the site, such as 5e, are published under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0.) This guide is written specifically for OGL 1.0a; if you are working with ORC-licensed material, its terms are genuinely different and the site does not currently host an ORC compendium or authoring pipeline.