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I say it's a half-measure because they put only half of what was available in the OGL into Creative Commons. Half of what they freely shared, they are not freely sharing. Instead, you need to enter into an agreement with them where they can decide, at any time, to stop sharing it with you...

Yep. Mind you; I'm happy with that because it signals they are not going to go after people who are just using the mechanics themselves (folks like Evil Genius Games, who I write for). For us, that's a great signal that we won't have trouble from WOTC. For the wider D&D community, it's still...

Not especially. I composed the rules from scratch, not using language from the SRD. I'd heard rumors of this coming down the pike for the last year, and I'm just kind of prideful as a designer, so I wanted to describe the rules in a way I thought would be best and put my personal writing style...

That is correct; your trust was well placed. The Everyday Heroes core rules were written such that it's a complete game, and it includes material for people brand new to the hobby to help them learn the basics and help people new to a modern setting. The core mechanics are the same as 5e core...

I'm a bit biased since I wrote half of Everyday Heroes. :P I actually don't know ultramodern well, but the folks that make it seem like good people. I can't speak for the rules, but I think the setting focus is a little different in the core books. Ultramodern has more near-future tech and a...

My homebrew fantasy world is like that. Orcs are the planet's natives and humans have an extraterrestrial origin. The planet's diety had to curse humans with mortality to keep them from over-running the place, though it led to the invention of Necromancy.

Yar, there be Kobolds in these here waters; Wizards beware! I'm happy to see Kobold taking a brave stand. Wolf is the best, and I certainly stand by them! It's one thing to quietly make the call, but another to do it boldly. I hope it works out for the best!

Yep, there is not a bright line between what's a "process" and what is a unique expression of a process. (the body of law tends to use that language more than "rules" from what I understand) In court, it would come down to who makes the more compelling case and how the judge or jury could be...

Eh, it's not totally clear to me. There are sections clearly labeled as being commentary, and others that are numbered and written such that they appear to be a contract and which refer to themselves as a license agreement. An example: V. LEVELING UP UNDER THIS AGREEMENT. This agreement covers...

Maybe. This license only covers printed or static electronic documents, according to the license. Whether PCGen is a static electronic document or not... kind of up in the air.

For context, there is a movement in the legal world in the US to try and make contract language easier for laymen to understand. Exactly how far that gets taken depends on the lawyer and their view. Ideally, contracts should be both easy to understand and specific so that judges and juries can...

I can help you with that. What if I made a version of the OGL and said in it, you get to use everything WOTC has ever published? Would that be an "Authorised" version of the OGL? Nope, but it's something someone could try and do if they were feeling cheeky. The point of the Authorized...

The one reason I could see smaller publishers going non-OGL as a strategic move is detectability. If you have the OGL text, its easy scrape that up in a search to send letters to etc... If you are "running dark" and not copy-pasting SRD material, it's harder to get a 100% certain hit on your...

Everyone's circumstances are different. I've been sued a couple of times and never had to spend a dime to defend myself. While it's possible they could spend 2 million going after me, it would be completely insane to do so as I've got hardly any tangible assets and the only product I personally...

I think it depends.... If WOTC is suing you, it doesn't cost you all that much to take it to court. They are the ones that pay the fees to file the lawsuit and submit most of the motions etc... The defendant has to pay for their legal representation and costs like transportation and so forth...

It sounds like you are arguing that anyone who writes a contract and enters into an agreement with it can modify that contract in any way at any time. That a clause that specifies how the contract works can simply be removed at will as a default. Perhaps that is not what you are saying, but...

Not to mention it would earn them a share of the backlash, and they are more vulnerable than WOTC on gamer culture opinion. They have to walk a fine line of trying not to bring either side's wrath.

That is partly the case. The OGL addresses two kinds of content. 1. PI (Product Identity) is copyrighted material you reserve only for yourself 2. OGC (Open Gaming Content) consists of two types, but both treated equally under the license a. Content that you wrote and want to share with all...

It is an explanation of the line, "You waive any right to sue over Our decision on these issues." These were contracts that were sent to third parties as part of an outreach to forwarn or negotiate. So they may well include explanatory text regarding the motivation of a given clause. It's...

That is accurate, the mechanics are not, it is the expression (how you describe) the mechanics that are protected by copyright. It affects people that use the OGL, which is a lot of publishers for various reasons.