Paizo's ORC License Opens Mechanics for Creators and Publishers

Paizo has formalized a clear legal framework for sharing game mechanics with the Open RPG Creative, or ORC, License. The license is system-agnostic, perpetual, and irrevocable, giving downstream users a worldwide, royalty-free right to Use and Adapt Licensed Material while allowing original publishers to reserve setting lore, character names, art, and other creative elements.

Under the ORC, licensors mark a product with an ORC Notice to designate the Licensed Material they are opening. That designation is the fulcrum of the license: anything marked as Licensed Material becomes available under a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable license to Use and Adapt. Creators who publish Adapted Licensed Material must license those adaptations under the ORC as well, creating a share-alike effect for mechanics. Reserved Material remains protected unless it is explicitly designated as Licensed Material, so publishers can open mechanics without giving up distinctive art, setting lore, or trademarked names.

The ORC AxE, a companion Answers and Explanations document, clarifies the drafters’ intentions and addresses borderline issues, including how to separate descriptive flavor text from functional mechanics. That clarification matters for designers and editors deciding what language and examples to include when they publish mechanics under ORC.

Practical benefits are immediate for small presses, community creators, and developers. The license is written to support multi-format use, including print, digital, virtual tabletop platforms, video games, and AI tools, reducing the uncertainty that can stall projects that build on published mechanics. The irrevocable nature of the license gives creators confidence that permissions will not be withdrawn unilaterally, and the share-alike requirement promotes a growing pool of openly licensed mechanics.

Several publishers and projects in the hobby have already adopted or referenced ORC-compatible workflows, signaling early ecosystem uptake. Verify any ORC Notice before building on mechanics, identify which parts of a product are Licensed Material versus Reserved Material, and plan to apply the ORC when you publish adaptations. For full text, attribution samples, and the AxE FAQ, see Paizo's official ORC page at paizo.com/orclicense.