D&D 5E Necromancer Games - 3 5E books announced!

[Ruzak]

About 24 hours ago, Mearls asked straight up on twitter whether people thought 5E should go OGL. This despite the fact that he supposedly had all these decisions worked out and was just waiting until 2015 to announce them.

To me, this brings to mind the events that unfolded between Clark Peterson and Wotc back at 4E's launch.

I might be wrong, but I do believe that this free pdf and kickstarter announcement are intended to force Mearls' hand: either he can launch 5E under the OGL before November, or he can allow the revived Necromancer Games label to unilaterally do their worst under the current OGL (as they apprently just did with the free pdf).

Mearls retweeted this from GoingLast:

What are your thoughts on 5e and OGL? Should it, shouldn’t it? Why? (J)

I have to think he would only do that if it was already decided they would.
(But just because I have to think it doesn't mean its right. I think a lot of wrong things.)

 

[Halivar]

I don't understand this. I thought they could only make 3rd edition stuff under the OGL.

No. They are limited to 3E OGC because WotC has produced no other OGC.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Mearls retweeted this from GoingLast:

What are your thoughts on 5e and OGL? Should it, shouldn’t it? Why? (J)

I have to think he would only do that if it was already decided they would.
(But just because I have to think it doesn't mean its right. I think a lot of wrong things.)

I also just tweeted Mearls about this, saying that I hope WotC embraces the OGL. He favorited my tweet.

I speculate that Mearls is an OGL supporter, and either a) they've already decided to do OGL, and Mearls wants to raise buzz, or b) they haven't decided whether or not to do OGL, and Mearls wants to convince the higher-ups that it's what the customers want.

 

[Charles Wright]

...

 

[Abstruse]

I don't understand this. I thought they could only make 3rd edition stuff under the OGL.

OGL is a license for use of a product that a content creator can use, similar to Creative Commons (which is what Posthuman does). So any game content that meets the requirements of the OGL can apply it to their work, so long as they own the intellectual property they're applying it to. So say I own the rights to Abstruse's Awesome Game that I wrote. If I choose, I can release that game under the OGL.

The only material that Wizards of the Coast has licensed under the OGL is their 3.x material. They can, if they want to, license 5e under the same license, under Creative Commons, under the GSL they had for 4e, or any other license they choose since they own the rights. Necromancer is also free to release whatever material they create under the OGL, so long as it is material they own the rights to. That last statement is key.

There's legalese involved, so nuance is very important and it's very easy for confusion to spread over what is and isn't allowed.

 

[Morrus]

I
I speculate that Mearls is an OGL supporter,

He has to be. He came out of the OGL working for Fiery Dragon and Monte Cook.

 

[Charles Wright]

He has to be. He came out of the OGL working for Fiery Dragon and Monte Cook.

And Necromancer Games.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15702.phtml

 

[Thaumaturge]

The kickstarter seems very likely to reach the basic funding level today, which is a good thing. Now on to the stretch goals.

Thaumaturge.

 

[DaveMage]

And Necromancer Games.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/15/15702.phtml

And...

AEG
Atlas Games
Fantasy Flight Games
Goodman Games
Green Ronin
Mongoose Publishing
Paradigm Concepts
Sword & Sorcery Studios


Yeah, he got around....

 

[Charles Wright]

Wow, I knew about some of those, but not all of them!