OGL 1.0a Guide
What You Can and Cannot Take Back
Two questions come up as soon as you publish Open Game Content: when does my designation count, and can I change my mind later? Here is what the license text says about each, what it does not say, and where the answer is ours rather than the license's.
How to read this page. Each part is labelled. Fact means the license says it, quoted word for word. Our reading means we are inferring from those words, and it is not the license's own statement. Unsettled means we have no source that answers it and do not pretend to.
Fact: what the license says
Three sections of the OGL 1.0a bear on this. The full text is on the Guide Hub; these are the same words.
Section 4: the grant is perpetual
“In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.”
Section 8: you identify the Open Game Content
“If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.”
Section 13: the only termination is for breach
“This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.”
Fact: what the text leaves out
- No clause lets a contributor withdraw the grant. The words “revoke”, “irrevocable” and “withdraw” do not appear in the license. The only way it ends is §13, and §13 is about the licensee failing to comply.
- §8 gives no timing. It says you must clearly indicate which portions are Open Game Content when you distribute. It says nothing about when an identification starts to bind, or whether it can be changed in a later work.
Our reading (inference, not the license’s words)
Read together, the quoted sections point one way. This is our reading of them, not legal advice, and counsel has not reviewed it.
- The moment you distribute is the moment that counts. §8 attaches the identification duty to distributing, so that is when the line between Open Game Content and everything else is drawn for that work.
- Open Game Content you have already distributed stays usable by people who accepted the license. §4 calls the grant perpetual, and nothing in the text gives you a way to end it for them.
- Changing your mind is forward-looking. If a later version of your work identifies something differently, that reads as applying to that later work. It does not obviously reach copies already out.
Unsettled
- Whether a later designation of something as Product Identity could ever affect material you already distributed as Open Game Content. The license text does not answer it, and we have no source that does.
- How §4 and §13 interact when the person who granted the license and the person using it disagree about compliance.
- Anything that depends on your jurisdiction or the facts of your case.
An honest gap is better than a confident wrong answer. For any of these, ask a qualified attorney.
What to do with this
- Decide what is Product Identity before you publish, not after. See Open Game Content vs. Product Identity.
- Check the Section 15 notice you are about to distribute with the Section 15 checklist.
- Know what you are affirming at publish time: What You Agree To When You Publish.
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.
Draft, 2026-10-27: wording awaits administrator approval, and the “our reading” section awaits counsel. Reviewer of record: Eco. Source: Open Game License 1.0a, as reproduced on the Guide Hub.
Draft, 2026-10-27: wording awaits administrator approval, and the “our reading” section awaits counsel. Reviewer of record: Eco. Source: Open Game License 1.0a, as reproduced on the Guide Hub.