Companies working together as partners only pay one fee.

[DiasExMachina]

Using this quote:

"5. Under Phase One, how are rules distributed to freelancers?

"A company’s NDA covers their agents and contractors. As such, any freelancer for a publisher is legally bound by their NDA. The pre-release rules will be three copies of a physical document (although WotC is flexible on the quantity, and may provide more copies if necessary.) Companies working together as partners only pay one fee."

...Is then not possible for previously indipendant smaller companies to partner up to pay one fee. Are there any smaller companies willing to join such an alliance?

[Morrus]

WotC was asked this a few days ago. We're still waiting for the reply.

[DiasExMachina]

Originally Posted by Morrus

WotC was asked this a few days ago. We're still waiting for the reply.

But haven't they already answered that question here,

WotC announces plans for 4e SRD and OGL


That was my quoe above:

"A company’s NDA covers their agents and contractors. As such, any freelancer for a publisher is legally bound by their NDA. The pre-release rules will be three copies of a physical document (although WotC is flexible on the quantity, and may provide more copies if necessary.) Companies working together as partners only pay one fee."

Seem that way to me, or am I seeing too much into this?

[Morrus]

Yes, but they get to choose who to sell the Dev Kit to, and they'll only do so in accordance to their own aims. Otherwise, heck, by a literal reading of that statement, every RPG company in the world could band together and pay a single dev fee to WotC.

I imagine that the intent of that answer was to cover a major publisher who used another company as a design studio, not for dozens of small PDF publishers to band together and purchase super-cheap dev kits.

Anyway, we'll find out when they answer. No point tryng to second-guess them here; they'll tell us soon enough.

[JohnRTroy]

Yeah, I have a feeling that is some publisher Wizards never heard of came to them with a business license setup last month, they might just refuse their inquiry. "Sorry, we're not interested in selling to you".

The "leader" has to be the one to take the big fall if one of the freelancers/allied publishers leaks the content. Anybody who has the money for the kit or takes publishing seriously will not likely attempt this, just because it's too risky. The more people you have, the more likely there will be one bad apple who will decide to spoil it for the whole bunch.

There was another thread here where someone postulates how likely would it be for the rules to be leaked. I have a feeling this setup is designed to prevent that (at least until 4e is actually released).

Additionally, they are only supplying limited qualities of the draft books, so it would be of limited use to the ones who want to pool resources.

[Glyfair]

Originally Posted by Morrus

I imagine that the intent of that answer was to cover a major publisher who used another company as a design studio, not for dozens of small PDF publishers to band together and purchase super-cheap dev kits.

I seems reasonably clear that the Paizo and Necromancer alliance counts. I wonder if the early 3E era White Wolf alliance of companies would count here.

DiasExMachina may have a point. WotC may be counting on the "only 3 copies of the rules" to be a limiting factor. You might have 20 small companies band together in a partnership, but only having a few copies of the rules is going to make that less than practical.

[DiasExMachina]

Yes, it is safe to assume that WOTC would change their note if 20 companies banded together, paid the fee, and asked for 20 copies. If three got together and split the distribution of drafts, it may be tolerated. $1600 is a much more reasonable number than $5000 for the smaller companies.

[Cergorach]

You know, there is such a thing as a copy machine...

[JohnRTroy]

You know, there is such a thing as a copy machine...

Which is probably EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED (in this type of font style) in the NDA and the contract, plus the printed rules probably have a watermark in the background (and header/footer) stating DO NOT COPY, which would prevent you from going to a commercial copy center.

Plus, if you want to be giving the privilege of publishing ahead of the rest of the crowd, why would you not follow their rules.

[Cergorach]

1. You don't know what their rules are, so why speculate?
2. Everyone is under NDA, so no one knows what the rest is doing. IF the person distributing the rules makes extra copies and distributes those, no one is going to find out unless the NDA is broken by more than three people (within the distributed group).
3. Scanner + Printer = Copier
4. Mayme you can typex some of the letters ou DO NOT COPY => DO NUT COFY (makes the cops all hungry if they're called) ;-)
5. WotC has indicated that they're willing to be flexible withthe copy allotments. My guess is that they wouldn't mind if copies were made for internnal use only. (saves them on copy costs and shipping costs)

I'm not promoting illegal activities, it's just that a lot of companies (both small and large) make copies of documents for internal use (even those with copyright on them).

[JohnRTroy]

I can speak that I was a playtester/rules-reviewer for 3e several years back, so I do know what their rules are. There was a strict no-copy statement on the material. I remember Ryan even telling me when I asked a question what to do with the manuscript when the rules were released, that I should destroy it (which I did). If they are providing physical copies, it certainly means they don't want people copying this stuff easily.

[Alzrius]

The guidelines on copes of the physical document are understandable. My question is how does that affect employees and freelancers who don't physically report in to work at a company? In this day and age, a lot of work is done by individuals who then email it back to the company head for editing, playtesting, etc. If you can't make a copy of the document with all of the rules, how then can these people - who aren't physically present to look at such a document - use it to write things?

[Glyfair]

Originally Posted by Alzrius

TIf you can't make a copy of the document with all of the rules, how then can these people - who aren't physically present to look at such a document - use it to write things?

Presumably the company keeps one copy at their offices for reference, and then ships (or has WotC ship) the remaining copies to outside freelancers. This severely limits the number of outside freelancers working on a project. Remember, we know at least one company has someone working on a project who already have some information (either they are producing 4E work for WotC or are a playtester).

[howandwhy99]

Companies working together as partners only pay one fee.

The drummer from Def Leppard's only got one arm.