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4 Hours w/ RSD - Escapist Bonus Column
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<blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 7647717" data-attributes="member: 64209"><p>The one thing I'll say about the OGL model is that it's one you can't go back from.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>If WotC wanted an expanded market, then it was a great idea! If they wanted a large percentage of an existing market, not so much.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Once it was out, that was it though. I remember when 4e was launched, they tried to put the cat back into the bag...and failed. From bringing all their licenses in house, to dropping prior edition pdf sales, to saying 4e was a better game than 3e (and hinting that maybe 3e was never really all that good)...there was an attempt to kill 3e.</p><p> </p><p>The problem was <em>only partly</em> that they did not realize that 3e could live on outside of their hands.</p><p> </p><p>The bigger problem was that they did not recognize the niches that other 3pp companies did better than them (Adventures and adventure paths, mainly, but also the proliferation of niche products, e.g. support for the binder for 3e by a small company/one person who loved the concept and brought it to bore). 4e had WotC support, certainly, but there was not the expansion and creative talent driving a larger market like there was for 3e. </p><p> </p><p>If anything, WotC's release of 4e, the GSL debacle, and their own (within their rights, to be quite fair) desire to be the big dog, keeping as much of 4e in house as possible, was what caused the splintering of the market. <em>The OGL only made it possible...it did not cause it to occur.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I remember the big question asked at just about every existing 3pp at the time prior to 4e release "are you going to switch?". The answer was usually either "yes" or "we're going to wait and see" or, in the fewest of cases "we're going to make our own system" (e.g. Paradigm for Arcanis).</p><p> </p><p>Paizo, Necromancer Games, Goodman Games, Mongoose, and others were set to support 4e. But WotC didn't want them to (some in WotC did, others did not, hence the slow release of the initial unfavorable GSL and then a later release of a still fairly restrictive GSL). Too little happened too late, and publishers were left with going dormant (Necromancer), "bliping" a bit outside of the GSL and then struggling to support 4e (Goodman, Mongoose, maybe Green Ronin?), or sticking with 3e and making it their own (Paizo). </p><p> </p><p>Add to that the character builder and its inability to work with/support 3pp products, and if you wanted to play 4e, it required serious devition to the 3pp market (and research into the best adventures and products out there as well as work to incorporate character options not in the builder).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I'll say this:</p><p><em>It wasn't the OGL that hurt 4e...it was the LACK of a good OGL and 3pp support for 4e that did.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Had we seen a different, more inclusive launch for 4e, we'd have 4e Dragonlance, Paizo adventure paths for 4e, more robust support from Mongoose and Goodman, and likely the same number of people playing 3e or its derivatives that we see playing old school revolution games.</p><p> </p><p>And there would be no Pathfinder.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aberzanzorax, post: 7647717, member: 64209"] The one thing I'll say about the OGL model is that it's one you can't go back from. If WotC wanted an expanded market, then it was a great idea! If they wanted a large percentage of an existing market, not so much. Once it was out, that was it though. I remember when 4e was launched, they tried to put the cat back into the bag...and failed. From bringing all their licenses in house, to dropping prior edition pdf sales, to saying 4e was a better game than 3e (and hinting that maybe 3e was never really all that good)...there was an attempt to kill 3e. The problem was [I]only partly[/I] that they did not realize that 3e could live on outside of their hands. The bigger problem was that they did not recognize the niches that other 3pp companies did better than them (Adventures and adventure paths, mainly, but also the proliferation of niche products, e.g. support for the binder for 3e by a small company/one person who loved the concept and brought it to bore). 4e had WotC support, certainly, but there was not the expansion and creative talent driving a larger market like there was for 3e. If anything, WotC's release of 4e, the GSL debacle, and their own (within their rights, to be quite fair) desire to be the big dog, keeping as much of 4e in house as possible, was what caused the splintering of the market. [I]The OGL only made it possible...it did not cause it to occur.[/I] I remember the big question asked at just about every existing 3pp at the time prior to 4e release "are you going to switch?". The answer was usually either "yes" or "we're going to wait and see" or, in the fewest of cases "we're going to make our own system" (e.g. Paradigm for Arcanis). Paizo, Necromancer Games, Goodman Games, Mongoose, and others were set to support 4e. But WotC didn't want them to (some in WotC did, others did not, hence the slow release of the initial unfavorable GSL and then a later release of a still fairly restrictive GSL). Too little happened too late, and publishers were left with going dormant (Necromancer), "bliping" a bit outside of the GSL and then struggling to support 4e (Goodman, Mongoose, maybe Green Ronin?), or sticking with 3e and making it their own (Paizo). Add to that the character builder and its inability to work with/support 3pp products, and if you wanted to play 4e, it required serious devition to the 3pp market (and research into the best adventures and products out there as well as work to incorporate character options not in the builder). I'll say this: [I]It wasn't the OGL that hurt 4e...it was the LACK of a good OGL and 3pp support for 4e that did.[/I] Had we seen a different, more inclusive launch for 4e, we'd have 4e Dragonlance, Paizo adventure paths for 4e, more robust support from Mongoose and Goodman, and likely the same number of people playing 3e or its derivatives that we see playing old school revolution games. And there would be no Pathfinder. [/QUOTE]
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