Old School Gaming Wins Big

In early 2023, D&D creator Wizards of the Coast sent an entire industry reeling with their proposed revocation of a decades old open license system. One of the most affected was The Arcane Library, who had been preparing to launch a new game system under that license. The game's creator, Kelsey Dionne, was undeterred. She worked with her legal team at Michael Best to weather the storm and launch the Shadowdark RPG, complete with an innovative and open third-party license.

The game launched with a successful $1.3M Kickstarter campaign and, thanks to its open license, spawned a thriving community of third-party products for the game. Shadowdark's popularity has only grown since then. Recently, Kelsey's old school and open approach was vindicated at this year's "Ennie Awards." The Ennies are the tabletop gaming industry's equivalent of the Oscars. Shadowdark and the Arcane Library took home four gold Ennies, including the prestigious "Product of the Year" award.