4e D&D GSL Live

[EATherrian]

This is very disappointing. I prefer 3rd party for Campaign Worlds and Adventures, and this effectively hamstrings them. Maybe it's a way to ensure that only the Wizards sub-standard fare is all we get. I guess I'm finally sure that I'm going Pathfinder, Golarian beats the 4E implied universe any day.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

TimeOut - I'd love to see your reasoning on your claims about monsters. I mean, you keep saying "I'm not a lawyer" and then making strong, unqualified claims about what the GSL means. It seems a bit misleading to me.

It seems that if "change" a monster you created a new monster unless you specifically say that it's based on the previous monster. I don't see any sane reason why you couldn't publish it's entire stat-block.

I mean, is a new kind of Orc Skirmisher a "changed" version of the old Orc Skirmisher, or a new creature? Seems to me that it's inevitably the latter.

What about Elves or Humans, say? By your logic you couldn't print their full stats and abilities, ever, because they have certain racial traits. I don't actually think WotC are that maliciously stupid. If they are, then it's clear their sole intention is to discourage anyone from producing 4E products, even adventures, which means that I won't be support them any further.

 

[Eytan Bernstein]

I dunno. This is pretty bad. While it doesn't explicitly state that the only thing you're allowed to build is modules, this line is the key:

And it's not well defined. Certainly any type of house rule seems prohibited, so Stalker0 is technically not allowed to distribute his wonderful solution to the horribly broken Skill Challenge system.

But it also looks like this line kills any sort of campaign setting uniqueness. I don't want Star Pact Warlocks in the campaign? Too bad, that's altering the definition of Warlock. Healing magic is weaker, so all healing does -1 point? Not allowed. I want Raise Dead to be more difficult, and not available until higher levels, or to not have any cost, but rather a quest component? Not allowed. Want Eladrin to lose their teleportation ability in exchange for something else because the Feywild was destroyed in that campaign world? Not allowed.

You know, in retrospect, maybe it's a good thing there's not much fluff in the books, particularly the Monster Manual, because I don't think the GSL allows deviation from even that.

Plus, there's the fact that if WotC produces anything with the same name as a new class or feat you've created, you potentially have to stop sales of your product and choose a different name, reprinting the books, in hopes that the new one doesn't get yoinked. Great.

So, in short, it looks like the GSL=Modules Only. That's extremely annoying.

I don't think this would prevent you from creating new pacts for the warlock or new builds for any class.

 

[WizarDru]

This.....this looks BAD. Very Bad.

Like, shooting yourself in the foot multiple times, Bad.

If WotC wanted to kill off 3pp, they could at least be honest about it. This is the worst thing I have seen WotC do.....well, just about EVER, I guess. What are they thinking? This isn't protecting their IP, it's knee-capping their 3pp support infrastructure.

 

[Darkwolf71]

If you apply changes to the monster you can print the stat block: page 2 of SRD:So all monsters in modules will be somewhat unique I'm presuming just so the publisher can include all statblocks for DM convenience.

If so, that's not really a bad thing. No 'cookie cutter' monsters. In cases where players refuse to keep their noses out of the MM you can still suprise them.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I don't think this would prevent you from creating new pacts for the warlock or new builds for any class.

From the looks: Yeah. Since useful adventures are close to impossible without good statblocks, the only thing that can be safely produced within the GSL are heaps of obscure splatbooks with concepts that will not be included in the SRD.

I don't think that's what they really want, but that's the most viable thing. Adventures withstatblocks and without huge lookup... I guess you'll only get that from WotC and Dungeon.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Fifth Element]

Never underestimate the potential idiocy of any company's legal department, marketing department, or upper management (especially with Hasbro in the picture).

Baseless, blanket ad hominem attacks FTW!

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Baseless, blanket ad hominem attacks FTW!

Ad hominem doesn't even REMOTELY mean what you think it means:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

 

[hong]

From the looks: Yeah. Since useful adventures are close to impossible without good statblocks, the only thing that can be safely produced within the GSL are heaps of obscure splatbooks with concepts that will not be included in the SRD.

I don't think that's what they really want, but that's the most viable thing. Adventures withstatblocks and without huge lookup... I guess you'll only get that from WotC and Dungeon.

Actually, just looking at a few recent Dungeon issues... why does this stop people writing modules?

What I saw in those modules was:
- classed monsters: dwarf warrior 1, orc barbarian 5, hill giant fighter 5, etc
- advanced monsters: demons, aberrations, and whatnot with extra HD
- monsters with more than what's in the book: dragons with their spell lists filled out
- new monsters

These made up the vast majority of the statblocks I found. My understanding is that all of these (or their equivalent) would still be allowed under the GSL.

 

[Yair]

I predict that there will be some adopters, but it won't be the gold rush we saw with 3rd edition. I also predict that there will be a lot more 3rd party support for Pathfinder than people previously predicted. Finally, I predict that the general manner in which the GSL has been received will prompt a major revision to entice some of the publishers dragging their feet to adopt it.... or not, if it was really their intent to kick everyone out of their sandbox.

I'll second those predictions.
I'll add another: within a year, a major publisher will release a major OGL-lincesed game based on 4e ideas, but sufficiently different (in his opinion) to not be derivative. I, for one, am looking forward to it.