D&D 4E Rumor Control: No license fees for 4E OGL

Jürgen Hubert

First Post

• Aug 17, 2007

• #1

Straight from the Horse's Mouth:

WotC_ScottR said:

The OGL will not require a fee.

We have discussed a fee based license for the d20 system trademark but fees are not a guarantee of getting only quality publishers. Nothing as been decided yet and there are many options on the table including a hand selected group using the d20 STL or none and just having everyone use OGL. Our seminar at Gencon will help to shape our thoughts on this.

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and:

WotC_ScottR said:

4e will support the OGL. There will be an updated SRD.

We are still discussing what to do with the D20 System Trademark License. My feeling (and what folks at Paizo and Goodman have told me at the show) is that in the current environment the d20 Trademark does not matter much to consumers. I am running a panel tonight at GenCon on the OGL/D20 System where I hope to get feedback from other publishers about what is working and not working with the licenses.

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Sow now that this is offical, the only remaining question is how long it will take for the rumor that WotC will charge for OGL material to die down... What do you think?

 

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EricNoah

Adventurer

• Aug 17, 2007

• #2

Good news circulates a lot more slowly than bad news. So it will take a while. Thanks for the scoops!

 

Glyfair

Explorer

• Aug 17, 2007

• #3

As a consumer, I'd like to see a standard license set up that will allow some publishers use the D&D brand (even if it's just a blurb in the corner "compatible with the Dungeons & Dragons game.")

I know the d20 license right now is a negative thing rather than a positive thing. Something that replaces it and shows a certain amount of quality would be nice (yes, I know quality won't be guaranteed).

 

Mark

CreativeMountainGames.com

• Aug 17, 2007

• #4

Thanks, Jürgen Hubert, for sharing what you found. I will spread those quotes and links to some of the private locations where the rumors are having their fun.

 

S

Shawn_Kehoe

First Post

• Aug 17, 2007

• #5

Jürgen Hubert said:

Straight from the Horse's Mouth:



and:




Sow now that this is offical, the only remaining question is how long it will take for the rumor that WotC will charge for OGL material to die down... What do you think?

Click to expand...

Scott noted that they had considered fees for the d20 branding, but seems to suggest that this was dismissed. Either way, one of the big problems with this rumour is that too many people equate D20=OGL. WotC can't charge for OGL, they could theoretically do so for D20.

 

EricNoah

Adventurer

• Aug 17, 2007

• #6

I don't know that the logo has value for the publishers per se, but it has value to me as a consumer. I need something to explicitly tell me that "this product is compatible with (whatever version of) D&D." And I think WotC should be loudly and frequently trumpeting that when you buy into D&D, you are buying into a network of publishers and you will have no problem finding materials to use in your game.

 

Mighty Halfling

Explorer

• Aug 17, 2007

• #7

I'm very pleased to hear this.

 

TerraDave

5ever, or until 2024

• Aug 17, 2007

• #8

Makes sense: given the focus on minis, online subscriptions, and flashier books, having some text of the rules somewhere won't hurt them, and could still help them.

But making the "d20" license/logo meaningfull. Much bigger problem.

 

Umbran

Mod Squad

Staff member

Supporter

• Aug 17, 2007

• #9

Might be Doomsday before some folks will accept that The Man isn't out to grind them down.

 

K

KingCrab

First Post

• Aug 17, 2007

• #10

The man is always out to grind me down. The man's just taking a different route this time.

Seriously though, I'm really happy about the 4e OGL news.