Dungeons and Dragons recently explained why One D&D has not received any new playtest material in the last several months. These recent statements have answered some questions about One D&D’s future in light of Dungeons and Dragons’ recent controversies.
Kyle Brink, executive producer for Dungeons and Dragons, appeared on the popular TTRPG YouTube channel Nerd Immersion for an interview about the Open Game License and One D&D. In the interview, Brink discussed Wizards of the Coast’s missteps involving the OGL, its impact on Dungeons and Dragons, and the future of One D&D.
Brink confirmed the community uproar surrounding Dungeons and Dragons failed attempts at changing the OGL caused delays with the One D&D playtest. He admitted they avoided releasing a new packet during this time, as the feedback surveys would have undoubtedly been focused on the controversy, rather than the playtest content. The development team–which he confirmed has no say in the push towards changing the OGL–has still been working on the evergreen evolution of 5th Edition, but professional and emotional stress was unavoidable given the circumstances.
That said, Brink stated One D&D is still on track for a 2024 release. To compensate for lost time, future packets will have to be bigger than before, despite Dungeons and Dragons' previous hope to utilize smaller, focused playtests. In spite of the speedbumps it encountered, Dungeons and Dragons is still committed to release One D&D for 5th Edition’s 10-year anniversary.
One D&D began its playtest in August 2022. Over the subsequent months, it released three playtesting packets, each with only a month or two between one another. However, the last One D&D playtest was released in early December 2022, and has gone nearly three months without any word of a future playtest. Though Brink gave no set schedule on when the next playtest packet would release, it seems Dungeons and Dragons fans can expect One D&D to resume playtesting soon–and with bigger, more frequent packets.
In the meantime, players can rest easy knowing Dungeons and Dragons has given up its fight to change the OGL. Much of the 5th Edition core rules is now protected by Creative Commons, and according to Brink, Dungeons and Dragons is planning on adding more content to the publicly-protected Systems Reference Document. While One D&D’s core rules are confirmed to be coming to the document, players may even see other parts of 5th Edition not found in the Player’s Handbook, like the Aasimar species or the Artificer class, in the SRD in the future.
Dungeons and Dragons is available now. One D&D is in development.