The Real Reason WotC Won't Free the 3.5 SRD

WotC's head of D&D called the OGL fiasco a rug pull, but the 3.5 SRD is still not in Creative Commons in 2026, and that is the one move that would make the OSR's legal floor permanent. Dan Ayoub told Wargamer's Mollie Russell that the 2023 OGL crisis was a rug pull and that some of the damage is still being repaired. This video walks Wizards' own paper trail on the older SRDs: the January 2023 Creative Commons release of SRD 5.1, the Autumn 2023 D&D Beyond roadmap item to review previous editions for Creative Commons, the May 2024 statement that those reviews would begin after the 2024 rules shipped, and the seventeen months of silence since SRD 5.2 went live on April 22, 2025. Why it matters for the legacy editions of OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry and everything published to support them, even though both games' new editions have moved to Creative Commons, what the uncertainty cost one project at the Tavern, and where Erik lands on Ayoub. 0:00 WotC's OGL Rug Pull and the 3.5 SRD 1:53 Dan Ayoub's Wargamer Interview on the OGL 3:11 ENWorld Reacts: Where Is the Creative Commons SRD? 4:04 The Paper Trail: SRD 5.1 and WotC's 2023 Roadmap 5:51 SRD 5.2 Ships, Then 17 Months of Silence 6:48 How the OGL Fiasco Killed My Swords & Wizardry Reboot 7:50 Why the 3.5 SRD Matters to OSRIC and Swords & Wizardry 8:36 Legacy OSR Books Still Stuck on OGL 1.0a 9:23 Can Dan Ayoub Rebuild Trust at WotC? 10:46 Check the License Page on Your OSR Books #OSR #DnD #wotc #TTRPG #TenkarsTavern #OGL