Monte Cook Games and Margaret Weis Productions are joining Wizards of the Coast in offering hosted licenses for third-party publishing. Like WOTC with the Dungeon Masters Guild for Dungeons & Dragons, the two companies are working with DriveThruRPG to set up special online storefronts, launching this spring, where anyone will be able to upload and offer for sale digital products that make use of the Cypher and Cortex roleplaying game systems.
A hosted license—where an open game license is tied to the use of a publisher-sponsored marketplace—allows a publisher to collect royalties on related sales and to provide some degree of oversight.
In the case of the Dungeon Masters Guild, the license also provides for broader use of the original publisher’s intellectual property (such as campaign settings). However, whether such expanded access will apply to either the Cypher System Creator Program or the Cortex Plus Creator Studio, remains to be seen.
Margaret Weis Productions’ announcement did state that the new program would replace existing arrangements for Cortex Plus Fan Product and Cortex Plus Official Licensed Products.