D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[Tony Vargas]

FUDGE has been open-source since 1992.

 

[Morrus]

0.01% is one part in ten thousand. There's at least a couple dozen people who have posted on this thread; are there really a quarter million people on EN World?

Yes. EN World's monthly readership exceeds a quarter of a million unique readers.

You think that a mere 0.01% of any community has thought about commercializing their skills

Yes. If you insert the word "seriously" between "has" and "thought".

and show off to their friends?

No.

 

[Jester David]

0.01% is one part in ten thousand. There's at least a couple dozen people who have posted on this thread; are there really a quarter million people on EN World? If it's a few hundred people online, then there are few tens of millions of D&D players out there, which seems a bit high for current D&D players, and in which case I am extremely skeptical that only a few hundred people care. You think that a mere 0.01% of any community has thought about commercializing their skills, about making a product they could be proud of and show off to their friends?

The catch is, ENWorld and the message board community are totally not representative. Most gamers are not as dedicated as us. Most are casual people who just want to show up and play. Maybe a quarter of people who read ENWord the forums are registered and maybe a quarter of total visitors actually read the forums. And, of course, not every D&D player checks out ENWorld.
Thinking we represent the average - just because we're the average here - is a logical trap. We don't. Even among geeks and nerds we're the freaky outsiders.

That said, is the average ENWorld poster, interested in becoming a 3rd Party Publisher?
I count 38 unique posters in this thread in the past month. Since it started that number could be higher, but not *that* much since there's a lot of the same people again and again.
There are 172,540 registered users in ENWorld. So the past month, 0.022% of ENWorld posters replied to this thread. Assuming three-quarters were pro-OGL, that's 0.017%.
And not everyone who's pro-OGL wants to be a publisher. Many just want to buy the books. Many just want to contribute. Only a handful are likely interested in actually trying to publish. Because that's an eff-tonne of work. Standards are pretty high now. It's a good way to lose money.

 

[Mark CMG]

The catch is, ENWorld and the message board community are totally not representative. Most gamers are not as dedicated as us. Most are casual people who just want to show up and play.

I see this hubris a lot on this forum from a handful of folks. It's bunk. I game with folks at various conventions, gamedays, and locally who have no knowledge or only passing knowledge of EN World and are every bit as dedicated to gaming as (more so in many cases than) folks on these boards, and just or more Internet-savvy. EN World is a slice of a pie not the icing on a cake. I wish folks would drop this fallacious argument once and for all.

 

[Alzrius]

Likewise, there is no call for Kenzer to open Hackmaster or Goodman to open DCC Rpg either...

I'm pretty sure that the DCC RPG is published under the OGL. Admittedly, it tags a lot as being Product Identity, but it's still an Open game.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's not 10%. It's not 1%. It's not 0.01%. It's not even 0.01% of the people on EN World, let alone D&D players. It's a few hundred people online.

Oh, you're right, I was just using Jester's own numbers as a base The point remains that a small percentage of D&D players is still a LOT of people when compared to even the entire player-base of other games, and that "because a lot of people ask for it" isn't the best way to decide whether or not you're going OGL.

 

[Wicht]

I'm pretty sure that the DCC RPG is published under the OGL. Admittedly, it tags a lot as being Product Identity, but it's still an Open game.

Goodman's website says it is OGL.

 

[Remathilis]

Goodman's website says it is OGL.

I stand corrected.

 

[Michael Morris]

Total nonsense indeed. Hasbro does not sell IP.

Incorrect.

 

[Alzrius]

I can't get firm figures on the dates, but it's possible that Wizards of the Coast sold the Dragon Dice game to SFR after they themselves had been purchased by Hasbro, which would make that another (minor) IP that Hasbro let go.