D&D Head Dan Ayoub Opens Up on the OGL: “Trust Takes a Long Time to Build and a Second to Break”
Three years after the OGL crisis, Wizards of the Coast is still working to win back the tabletop community — 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’s Mollie Russell about the fallout from the OGL, the lessons learned since, and the new direction he’s steering the brand toward.
A Candid Admission
Ayoub didn’t 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.
“It was a rug pull, right?” Ayoub told Wargamer. “A 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.”
He also pointed to a broader mistake: assuming there’s a one-size-fits-all way to play D&D. Ayoub said his job isn’t to tell players how to run their games — it’s to give them the tools to do it their way.
Rebuilding Trust Won’t Be Quick
Ayoub describes his first year in charge as a mix of rewarding and terrifying, and he’s under no illusions about how long it takes to repair damaged trust.
“My biggest takeaway as I step into this role is that trust takes a long time to build and a second to break,” he said. “I’m keenly aware it’s going to take me a long time to repair this.”
If he deserves credit for one thing so far, he says it’s listening. Wizards established a community council, and Ayoub has personally spent time talking with fans, retailers, and consumers.
The Fallout Reshaped Everything
The OGL controversy didn’t stay contained to Wizards — 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’s own lore.
“I’m a big Dragonlance fan, and it was kind of like when the mountain dropped and reshaped the geography,” he said. “It fundamentally changed the ecosystem and everything about it.”
Stepping into the role afterward wasn’t easy. Ayoub called it “fucking terrifying,” admitting he was worried about damaging something he’s loved his whole life. But that love is exactly why he took the job — he wants to get D&D back to how he remembers it.
Bringing Outside Voices Back In
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’t want Wizards to be the only voice for D&D.
“The voice of D&D was only coming from one place, but that’s not how D&D grows,” he said. “I want to bring more people in to tell more stories.”
He noted the irony of it all, given D&D’s most famous advice: “The fundamental mantra is don’t split the party, and we went ahead and split the party.”
The Community Group Is Already Making a Difference
The D&D Community Advisory Group, launched in June, has been giving Wizards direct — and blunt — 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.
The group has even scrapped product ideas before they reached players. Ayoub values having people who’ll tell him when something isn’t working.
Looking Ahead
Ayoub says he’s never going to stop listening, and he’s holding himself to the promises he made when he took the role. He’s also thinking long-term — someone will eventually sit in his chair and celebrate D&D’s 100th anniversary, and that only happens if the game keeps growing.
The full interview, which also covers D&D’s franchise model, the Netflix and HBO projects, and how Ayoub is opening doors for new designers, is available at Wargamer.
