Can someone clarify what was said regarding the existence of two licenses for DnD 5e?

I’m familiar with the OGL, which applies to DnD 3.x/5e, and it’s written in such a way that it can’t be revoked. If it could, WotC could kill Paizo with the stroke of a pen. It also doesn’t include text specifying that the license has any sort of time box related to the release of a new edition. If it did, every 3rd-party publisher (and Paizo) would be put on ice for two years every time a new edition released.

I’m not aware of another license for 5e. DMsGuild has its own rules, but they only allow community content for 5e, so it’s implied that everything there is 5e-compatible. They’ll almost certainly change the rules when a new edition is released, of course.

3rd-party publishers including major publishers like Kobold Press and Frog God Games include a “5e” symbol right on their covers, and they’re publishing under the OGL. I cracked open my copies of some of their stuff, and the OGL text is tucked away neatly in the appendices.

3rd edition had the d20STL, but I don’t know of anything similar for 5e. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D20_System_Trademark_License)

I would love for someone to tell me I’m wrong so I can learn more.

It wasn’t stated very well but it was the Dungeon Master’s Guild I was referring to. You can publish off of the OGL but can’t use setting or most of the proper nouns including the name Dungeons and Dragons. If you want to use the proper nouns you have to publish through the Dungeon Master’s Guild which has different rules and licenses. Plus they take a cut. Sound like you already know the details I was referring to which was separate from Brodeurs rumors.

I found the discussion of not owning media interesting. I’m not signed up to any subscription services because I don’t like the model, but it does appear to be the way the world is heading.

I thought you might be interested to know that there is something similar in the RPG space, though: RPG Kitchen (https://rpg.kitchen/). You can buy or rent PDFs, and if you’ve rented a PDF and later buy it, the money you paid to rent it is deducted from the sale price.