GSL news.

[Ydars]

This announcement is a triumph for WoTC; they have done EXACTLY the right thing and anyone who accuses them of not listening to us (by which I mean we, the community on EN World) are not looking hard enough.

I have detected an enormous WoTC presence on these boards in the last week (Le Rouse and Mike Mearls have been all over the forums) and all the comments from WoTC staff seem designed to engage with us in a positive way.

I applaud the creation/release of the GSL, the fact that WoTC have obviously said to all the 3PPs that they can make public their support for 4E, and the fact that this is obviously a way of allaying the considerable fears that many of us expressed about the inclusion of 3rd party publishers in support for 4E.

Oh and by the way; those in on the conference call with WoTC were

Adamant Entertainment
EN Publishing
Expeditious Retreat Press
Fantasy Flight Games
Goodman Games
Green Ronin Publishing
Mongoose Publishing
Necromancer Games
Paizo Publishing
Paradigm Concepts
Privateer Press

 

[mach1.9pants]

... I can say that 4E WotBS is a go (deduce from what what you will)...

w00t! I hope that it will be both a convert to 4E of existing (with a nice reduced price for those of us who already have 3E ) and a new WotBS campaign starting from 1st
For both, count me in!

 

[mach1.9pants]

@Brown Jenkin: I agree that the GSL should be released for public consumption now, I can see no reason not to. It doesn't mean there is no reason. However I disagree with your inference that they are trying to hide something. I would imagine that Hasbro legal has some reason that we just don't know about, maybe even how the GSL and SRD operate together, for example.

 

[breschau]

Scott, thank you for responding here. It is appreciated.

If you would, please answer one more:

How do the smaller publishers--not on the list--go about getting the SRD before June to get their products ready by the October opening sales date?

 

[Qualidar]

As for me I don't think it is a big deal to make the license public now. Unfortunately by your statement that you think it isn't a big deal to wait comes off as either it being an arbitrary decision to keep it secret, or that you are dodging the question as to why.

They want people talking about the new game, not the new license.

 

[Flynn]

I had been looking forward to making two 3PP purchases from Necromancer at GenCon this year in regards to 4E (Tome of Horrors 4E and Advanced Player's Guide). From reading the announcements, I believe that I'll have to wait until October now. Is that correct?

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Orcus]

If you want to see what Necro is up to, here is a link to our announcement.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=4170348#post4170348

Scott, nice work. You know how I feel about all of this. I am so glad you guys were able to bring this home. I know how hard it was and you and Linae and everyone at Wizards really deserves our thanks. I have always felt that open gaming was a rebirth of the golden age of D&D when Judges Guild and other third parties made products for D&D fans. I was pleased to see the return of that thinking for 3E and I am thrilled it will continue for 4E.

You guys have been such great caretakers of the game we all love. My hat is off to you, my friend.

Clark

 

[Montkiva]

Maybe I haven't been following closely enough, but how is this a change from previously? Hadn't WoTC said that after a few months the 5k fee would be dropped anyways?

 

[CaptainChaos]

Scott, thank you for responding here. It is appreciated.

If you would, please answer one more:

How do the smaller publishers--not on the list--go about getting the SRD before June to get their products ready by the October opening sales date?

The way I read it, they don't. A few companies get early info and everyone else gets it in June. Since June is pretty close, that doesn't seem all that unreasonable.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Good for WotC. This was beginning to make me nervous.