OGL 1.0a Guide
Section 15 Checklist
What to have ready before you publish, and what's a judgment call rather than a fact you can look up.
Before you publish
- Your name or imprint. How you want to be credited as the contributor. A named Publisher imprint (like a formal studio name) is a paid-tier feature; publishing as yourself is free on every tier.
- What you derived this from, if anything. The specific source work and, ideally, the specific book/edition — not just "Pathfinder" in general. See multiple sources and duplicate notices if you drew from more than one.
- Whether it's derived at all, or original. Original mechanical content still needs a declaration — it's just a different one ("identified as original content") rather than a "derived from X" citation.
- Any Product Identity your content references. If your content names a protected creature, location, or other term for flavor — yours or a third party's — list it under Referenced Product Identity so it isn't swept in as if it were Open Game Content. This is a disclosure, not a claim the site records. See Open Game Content vs. Product Identity.
Why each item is on the list
The list above isn't arbitrary — each item maps to a specific obligation in the Open Game License 1.0a itself. The full license text is on the hub; these are the four sections that create a duty when you distribute:
| License section | What it requires when you distribute | Which checklist item covers it |
|---|---|---|
| §6 — Notice of License Copyright | Copy the exact copyright notice of every piece of Open Game Content you used into your own Section 15, and add your own notice line — the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's name — for the original Open Game Content you're releasing. | Items 1 and 2. Your name/imprint is the copyright holder on your own line; "derived from" tells the chain-walk which upstream notices to carry. |
| §8 — Identification | Clearly indicate which portions of what you distribute are Open Game Content. | Item 3. Your "derived / original" answer drives the generated declaration line that designates the game-mechanics content as Open Game Content. |
| §7 — Use of Product Identity | Product Identity is never licensed; using it in Open Game Content is not a challenge to its ownership, and its owner keeps all rights. You can't claim compatibility with someone's trademark without their separate permission. | Item 4. Listing the protected names your work references — yours or a third party's — keeps that boundary explicit in the declaration. |
| §10 — Copy of this License | Include a copy of the license with every copy of the Open Game Content you distribute. | Automatic here — every compendium page links the full OGL 1.0a text. Nothing for you to collect. |
The one duty people miss: §6 has two halves. Carrying the upstream notices is the tedious part the chain-walk does for you — but you also have to add your own line (title, date, your name or imprint). That line is what makes you the publisher of record. See What Is Section 15? for the chain-of-title side.
Facts vs. judgment calls
You can look these up
- Which license applies (this site locks OGL 1.0a for PF1e content automatically — you can't submit a mismatched license).
- Whether a source is already in this site's own Section 15 register.
- Whether a reference you built on is itself published, not still private homebrew — an unpublished reference blocks your own publish.
Judgment calls
- Whether a specific name or phrase counts as Product Identity in your own case.
- How closely your content actually tracks a specific published source, versus being independently original.
- Anything genuinely ambiguous belongs in front of a qualified attorney, not guessed at here.
Where this happens on the site
On the Forge's edit page for anything you own, the Publish button walks you through exactly these fields, previews the exact declaration text it will generate, and asks you to confirm a short set of representations — that the content is Open Game Content you're entitled to publish, that you own or have permission for the material, and that any Product Identity is disclosed rather than claimed — before it writes anything. What you agree to when you publish covers each of those three statements in detail.
This is a guide, not legal advice. It's a drafting aid and checklist, not a certified or guaranteed-compliant legal review. Rules and policies (including Paizo's own licensing pages) can change — check the reviewed date below and the primary sources it links to. For anything beyond routine attribution, consult a qualified attorney.
Reviewed by Eco, 2026-08-26. Updated 2026-08-28: added the license-section mapping (§6/§7/§8/§10) and the §6 "add your own notice line" duty; refreshed the publish-flow description. Source: OGL 1.0a text (§6, §7, §8, §10) and this site's own Forge publish flow and Section 15 register.
Reviewed by Eco, 2026-08-26. Updated 2026-08-28: added the license-section mapping (§6/§7/§8/§10) and the §6 "add your own notice line" duty; refreshed the publish-flow description. Source: OGL 1.0a text (§6, §7, §8, §10) and this site's own Forge publish flow and Section 15 register.