The announcement of "Dungeons & Dragons Next" by Wizards of the Coast, purported to unify the entire role-playing game fanbase with a single ruleset, has in many cases actually caused a stir among loyal fans of the present ruleset.

"After I bought all these books, WotC wants me to buy a whole new game?" is a thought that many Dungeons & Dragons 4e investors have found themselves pondering. With the Fourth Edition of the game no longer being supported, nor compatible with any other supported ruleset, loyal 4e fans feel deserted and abandoned.

A simple way to continue to "support" the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons without backtracking on future ventures is to publish major sections of the core rulebooks - presumably the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide - under the Open Gaming Licence.

Such a move would not only grant WotC back a mentionable degree of lost consumer trust, but it would also function as product support for books currently in print without wasting future resources for WotC, as the product will be shaped and handled by new community participants. With many discussions and grassroot notions of "retrocloning" D&D 4e, it is best for Wizards to re-establish its presence in the OGL community, instead of abandoning both the ruleset and the community entirely.

Even though the late Gary Gygax, to whom the 4e books are dedicated, disagreed with the OGL, I am sure he would be pleasantly surprised by the number of quality products that are being released through the Open Gaming Licence, such as OSRIC, Pathfinder, 13th Age, and the myriad of of other products. The very nature of D&D 4e makes it easier to design for, and as such quality across the board for 4e - related products can be as top-notch, or moreso.

Wizards of the Coast, please participate in the RPG community again. If you are going to abandon 4e, please do everyone involved a favor, yourself included, and publish D&D 4e under the OGL.