{"id":7075402,"date":"2026-10-04T08:03:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T08:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7075402"},"modified":"2026-10-04T08:03:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T08:03:30","slug":"dd-head-dan-ayoub-opens-up-on-the-ogl-trust-takes-a-long-time-to-build-and-a-second-to-break-tgn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7075402","title":{"rendered":"D&D Head Dan Ayoub Opens Up on the OGL: “Trust Takes a Long Time to Build and a Second to Break” – TGN"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Three years after the OGL crisis, Wizards of the Coast<\/a> is still working to win back the tabletop community \u2014 and the man running D&D<\/a> says he knows the clock is ticking.<\/p>\n

Dan Ayoub, who took over as Head of Dungeons & Dragons in 2025, spoke with Wargamer\u2019s Mollie Russell<\/a><\/strong> about the fallout from the OGL, the lessons learned since, and the new direction he\u2019s steering the brand toward.<\/p>\n

A Candid Admission<\/h2>\n

Ayoub didn\u2019t dance around the subject when asked where Wizards went wrong with the OGL. He said the company lost sight of who D&D actually belongs to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was a rug pull, right?\u201d Ayoub told Wargamer. \u201cA lot of people and businesses were built up around a specific thing. Trust was given to the brand, and people rightly felt the rug was pulled from under them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also pointed to a broader mistake: assuming there\u2019s a one-size-fits-all way to play D&D. Ayoub said his job isn\u2019t to tell players how to run their games \u2014 it\u2019s to give them the tools to do it their way.<\/p>\n

Rebuilding Trust Won\u2019t Be Quick<\/h2>\n

Ayoub describes his first year in charge as a mix of rewarding and terrifying, and he\u2019s under no illusions about how long it takes to repair damaged trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest takeaway as I step into this role is that trust takes a long time to build and a second to break,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m keenly aware it\u2019s going to take me a long time to repair this.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he deserves credit for one thing so far, he says it\u2019s listening. Wizards established a community council, and Ayoub has personally spent time talking with fans, retailers, and consumers.<\/p>\n

The Fallout Reshaped Everything<\/h2>\n

The OGL controversy didn\u2019t stay contained to Wizards \u2014 it sent ripples through the entire industry, from Creative Commons releases to Pathfinder moving away from OGL-based rules. Ayoub compared it to a cataclysmic event from D&D\u2019s own lore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big Dragonlance fan, and it was kind of like when the mountain dropped and reshaped the geography,\u201d he said. \u201cIt fundamentally changed the ecosystem and everything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Stepping into the role afterward wasn\u2019t easy. Ayoub called it \u201cfucking terrifying,\u201d admitting he was worried about damaging something he\u2019s loved his whole life. But that love is exactly why he took the job \u2014 he wants to get D&D back to how he remembers it.<\/p>\n

Bringing Outside Voices Back In<\/h2>\n

A major part of the new direction is collaboration. Wizards has been reaching out to classic creators like Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Bob Salvatore, and Luke Gygax, along with partners like Ghostfire Gaming, which is taking on Ravenloft. Ayoub said he doesn\u2019t want Wizards to be the only voice for D&D.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voice of D&D was only coming from one place, but that\u2019s not how D&D grows,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to bring more people in to tell more stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted the irony of it all, given D&D\u2019s most famous advice: \u201cThe fundamental mantra is don\u2019t split the party, and we went ahead and split the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Community Group Is Already Making a Difference<\/h2>\n

The D&D Community Advisory Group, launched in June, has been giving Wizards direct \u2014 and blunt \u2014 feedback. Ayoub said one early note changed how the company operates: members told him Wizards was doing cool things but doing a terrible job telling people about them. That led directly to publicizing the roadmap.<\/p>\n

The group has even scrapped product ideas before they reached players. Ayoub values having people who\u2019ll tell him when something isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n

Ayoub says he\u2019s never going to stop listening, and he\u2019s holding himself to the promises he made when he took the role. He\u2019s also thinking long-term \u2014 someone will eventually sit in his chair and celebrate D&D\u2019s 100th anniversary, and that only happens if the game keeps growing.<\/p>\n

The full interview, which also covers D&D\u2019s franchise model, the Netflix and HBO projects, and how Ayoub is opening doors for new designers, is available at Wargamer<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years after the OGL crisis, Wizards of the Coast is still working to win back the tabletop community \u2014 and the man running D&D says he knows the clock is ticking. Dan Ayoub, who took over as Head of Dungeons & Dragons in 2025, spoke with Wargamer\u2019s Mollie Russell about the fallout from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7075403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114248,114249,232193],"tags":[235951,6792,5293,4380,241,235952,13723,11428,114253,1231,1313],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7075402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons","category-role-playing-games","category-wizards-of-the-coast","tag-ayoub","tag-break","tag-build","tag-dan","tag-long","tag-ogl","tag-opens","tag-takes","tag-tgn","tag-time","tag-trust"],"yoast_head":"\nD&D Head Dan Ayoub Opens Up on the OGL: "Trust Takes a Long Time to Build and a Second to Break" - TGN - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7075402\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"D&D Head Dan Ayoub Opens Up on the OGL: "Trust Takes a Long Time to Build and a Second to Break" - TGN - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three years after the OGL crisis, Wizards of the Coast is still working to win back the tabletop community \u2014 and the man running D&D says he knows the clock is ticking. 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