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Interesting Article on OGL and 4E
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4036782" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>Dave - I agree with you. The OGL was there to sell PHB's. That's the refrain, but, that's not entirely the whole story. What the OGL did was allow 3e to hit the ground with a speed that no other RPG game has ever managed. Within a month or two of release you had dozens, if not more, D&D 3e books on the shelves. 3e was taking over shelf space at the FLGS at an alarming rate.</p><p></p><p>And it had to. You had a fairly unknown company (c'mon WOTC? Those Magic guys? They're going to turn D&D into a bloody card game <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ) publishing an untried game. Granted, 2e was dying on the vine and the fans were clamoring for something better. So, they got lots of stuff. Tons of it. All at once. WAHOO! </p><p></p><p>But, this time around it's different. The biggest competition that 3e faced was games like GURPS and Vampire. The biggest competition that 4e faces is 3e. There is a real danger here of WOTC getting screwed by its own success. They built a game that brought in gamers in numbers unseen in decades. And, while 3e may have its problems, it's still certainly playable. Far more playable than the kludge 2e had become by the end.</p><p></p><p>So, it's really in their best interests for the new OGL, or GSL as its called this time around, to push D&D. Only D&D. Only D&D 4e. 3rd party publishers are more than savvy enough to be able to take a new SRD and convert it into a new game. We know they can do that. So, WOTC is trying to narrow the field a bit and force people who use their mechanics to produce 4e D&D stuff.</p><p></p><p>From a business standpoint, I think it's not a terribly bad way to go. Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars developing mechanics only to hand it out to other people who are going to directly compete with you? That's bad business sense. Better to funnel the other guy into areas that you don't really want to cover or at least away from stuff that you can't cover at all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4036782, member: 22779"] Dave - I agree with you. The OGL was there to sell PHB's. That's the refrain, but, that's not entirely the whole story. What the OGL did was allow 3e to hit the ground with a speed that no other RPG game has ever managed. Within a month or two of release you had dozens, if not more, D&D 3e books on the shelves. 3e was taking over shelf space at the FLGS at an alarming rate. And it had to. You had a fairly unknown company (c'mon WOTC? Those Magic guys? They're going to turn D&D into a bloody card game ;) ) publishing an untried game. Granted, 2e was dying on the vine and the fans were clamoring for something better. So, they got lots of stuff. Tons of it. All at once. WAHOO! But, this time around it's different. The biggest competition that 3e faced was games like GURPS and Vampire. The biggest competition that 4e faces is 3e. There is a real danger here of WOTC getting screwed by its own success. They built a game that brought in gamers in numbers unseen in decades. And, while 3e may have its problems, it's still certainly playable. Far more playable than the kludge 2e had become by the end. So, it's really in their best interests for the new OGL, or GSL as its called this time around, to push D&D. Only D&D. Only D&D 4e. 3rd party publishers are more than savvy enough to be able to take a new SRD and convert it into a new game. We know they can do that. So, WOTC is trying to narrow the field a bit and force people who use their mechanics to produce 4e D&D stuff. From a business standpoint, I think it's not a terribly bad way to go. Why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars developing mechanics only to hand it out to other people who are going to directly compete with you? That's bad business sense. Better to funnel the other guy into areas that you don't really want to cover or at least away from stuff that you can't cover at all. [/QUOTE]
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