D20 System

• 1. Introduction

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  The d20 System changed how role-playing games were made, sold, and shared. In 2000, Wizards of the Coast released not just a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons, but also an unusual legal framework that let any publisher in the world build on top of the game's core rules for free. The central symbol of this framework was a 20-sided die, and the system that bears its name would set off a boom, a bust, and a lasting transformation in the way tabletop games reach players. What drove Wizards of the Coast to give away the engine of its most valuable property? Who built the machinery behind the rules? And why did so many of the publishers who relied on this license eventually abandon it? Those are the questions this documentary will answer.

• 2. The Core Mechanic

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  Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams were the three primary designers credited with creating the d20 System. Many give Tweet the largest share of credit for the basic resolution mechanic, noting similarities to his earlier game Ars Magica. Tweet himself pushed back on that, saying the other designers were already using a similar core mechanic when he joined the team. Richard Baker and then-Wizards of the Coast president Peter Adkison were also noted contributors.

  At the heart of the system sits a single, repeatable action: the player rolls a 20-sided die, adds modifiers drawn from six character attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma), and compares the result to a target number called a Difficulty Class. If the total meets or exceeds that number, the action succeeds. This is called the Core Mechanic. The elegance of this single resolution framework stood in direct contrast to what came before it.

  Previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons used different dice and different logic depending on what a character was trying to do. First-edition hit tables, the second-edition "THAC0" mechanic, and separate saving throw rules each operated by their own internal logic. The d20 System collapsed all of this into one consistent procedure, regardless of whether a character was swinging a sword or attempting to pick a lock.

  The rules were codified in the System Reference Document, or SRD. Two separate SRDs were ultimately released: one for the 3rd edition of D&D, and one for edition 3.5. The 3rd-edition SRD drew from the Player's Handbook v3.5, the Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5, the Monster Manual v3.5, the Epic Level Handbook, Unearthed Arcana, Expanded Psionics Handbook, and Deities and Demigods v3.0. Material Wizards considered closer to product identity, including references to the Greyhawk campaign setting and details on mind flayers, was kept out of the public document.

• 3. The Skaff Effect

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  Ryan Dancey was the brand manager for Dungeons and Dragons at the time the d20 System was developed, and the strategic logic behind the open license was largely his. His thinking rested on a principle promoted by Skaff Elias, which Dancey called the "Skaff Effect." The idea held that competing role-playing game companies, rather than hurting the market leader, actually made it stronger by keeping players engaged with the hobby.

  Dancey also held a second conviction: that having too many competing game systems weakened the role-playing game industry overall. Taken together, these two ideas pointed toward a single conclusion. If other publishers could build on Dungeons and Dragons rather than build against it, the whole industry would benefit, and D&D would benefit most of all. Wizards released two instruments to put this plan into action, both in 2000 and both before the 3rd edition of D&D actually shipped.

  The Open Game License, or OGL, made the core mechanics of 3rd-edition D&D permanently open. Any publisher could use, adapt, and sell those mechanics. The d20 Trademark License was a separate instrument. It let publishers place the official "d20" logo on their products to signal compatibility with Wizards of the Coast's own releases. The critical legal difference between the two was durability: the OGL was designed to be permanent, while the d20 Trademark License was written so that Wizards could cancel it at any future point.

• 4. The Boom Years

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  Between 2000 and roughly 2003, the d20 license touched off a wave of publishing activity. Companies that had been producing their own proprietary systems, including Atlas Games and Chaosium, used the d20 license to try to lift their own sales. Others went further, producing d20 content exclusively. Established publishers like Alderac Entertainment, Fantasy Flight Games, and White Wolf Publishing all entered the space. New companies formed specifically around the opportunity, among them Goodman Games, Green Ronin, Mongoose Publishing, and Troll Lord Games.

  The sheer volume of new product created a demand that print alone could not satisfy quickly enough. To fill it, an industry for PDF publishing in role-playing games took shape. Electronic delivery let publishers reach customers faster and at lower cost than traditional print runs allowed.

  Wizards of the Coast extended its own d20 catalog well beyond fantasy settings. The Star Wars Roleplaying Game arrived in 2000, followed by the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game in 2002. One of d20 Modern's settings was expanded into the full Urban Arcana Campaign Setting sourcebook in 2003. The company then pushed the system into science fiction with d20 Future in 2004, into historical settings with d20 Past in 2005, and closed out its d20 line in 2006 with the classic Dark Matter campaign setting. Third-party publishers followed suit, with White Wolf using d20 Modern rules to publish a licensed version of Gamma World in 2006.

• 5. The Bust

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  Gen Con 36, held in August 2003, was where Wizards of the Coast unveiled edition 3.5 of Dungeons and Dragons. Third-party publishers received little warning that the update was coming. Many found themselves holding books written for 3rd edition that were outdated before they had even reached store shelves. Wizards made no 3.5 update available for the d20 trademark, leaving publishers who had organized their business around that license in a difficult position.

  A separate crisis had already been building. Valar Project announced the Book of Erotic Fantasy in 2003, a sexually explicit supplement for Dungeons and Dragons. In response, Wizards altered the d20 System Trademark License to add a provision requiring publishers to comply with "community standards of decency." Valar responded by stripping direct references to Dungeons and Dragons from the book and releasing it under the OGL instead.

  The episode had consequences beyond that one title. Third-party writers saw clearly that Wizards of the Coast retained broad discretionary power over what qualified as legitimate d20 material under the trademark license. That discretion made the trademark risky to depend on. Many publishers who survived both crises chose to abandon the d20 trademark entirely and publish solely under the OGL. They discovered that the OGL alone was sufficient, and that publishing under it freed them from the trademark license's restrictions. Some publishers went further, using the OGL as the foundation for games that competed directly with D&D rather than supporting it. Skirmisher Publishing's Nuisances later appeared under similar circumstances, carrying a cover disclaimer reading "Warning: intended for mature readers only."

• 6. The Trademark License

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  The d20 System Trademark License imposed specific obligations on publishers who used it. Products had to exclude character-creation and advancement rules. They had to apply certain notices, follow Wizards' acceptable content policy, and state clearly that the product required Wizards' core books to use. All d20 trademark products also had to incorporate the OGL. A publisher who used only the OGL, without the trademark, was free of these constraints: they could include their own character-creation rules and release a product that stood on its own without Wizards' books.

  The same round of amendments that added the decency provision also tightened typographic requirements. The required statement that a product "requires the use of the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast" was subject to size limits. Publishers could not make part of that required text larger than the rest.

  With the release of the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons in 2008, Wizards revoked the original d20 System Trademark License and replaced it with a new instrument called the Game System License. The terms were broadly similar to the old d20 trademark requirements, but the new license had no associated OGL and no open content. Its SRD listed only the terms and items that could appear in licensed products. Crucially, this change did not disturb the legal standing of the OGL itself. Products grounded in the earlier SRD could still be released under the OGL, independent of anything Wizards chose to do with its trademark.