Adamant Ventures 4th early as well

[catsclaw227]

If the GSL had been a reasonable document, publishers would just use it. As it is, more publishers are looking at what they can legally do without using the license that WotC released.

Phil -- are you venturing into the realm of 4e with some of your 101 or "A Dozen..." products?

 

[Jack99]

If the GSL had been a reasonable document, publishers would just use it. As it is, more publishers are looking at what they can legally do without using the license that WotC released.

That's how the GSL has backfired.

Does WoTC stand to lose something if they do adventures without using the license?

 

[Jadeite]

Does WoTC stand to lose something if they do adventures without using the license?

They lose control. The OGL was limited, but it was permissive enough to bring the 3rd party publishers to play by their rules. It was a safe harbour for both the 3PP and WotC.

 

[philreed]

Phil -- are you venturing into the realm of 4e with some of your 101 or "A Dozen..." products?

No plans at this time. My work at SJGames eats most of my time, so I rarely have time to devote to personal projects.

 

[tenkar]

so, not signing the GSL keeps all their OGL products safe from the GSL blacklist.

i find this rather exciting... wonder if publishers will find a common 4e logo to use?

as an aside, this might be the same route the gm-type software developers could take to dodge the GSL's software exclusion.

assuming of course this is what is happening... there might be some contracts being signed with WotC that avoid the GSL... probably not tho...

 

[philreed]

Does WoTC stand to lose something if they do adventures without using the license?

Yes. They lose the free marketing and sense of community.

And these days, online, community is very important.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Does WoTC stand to lose something if they do adventures without using the license?

They could lose control completely. IIRC, Kobolds are not in the SRD. Well Kobolds are a german myth. Guess what, Goodman and AE can have Kobolds in their adventures. Mind Flayers are just a Cthulhu knock-off. Cthulhu is now public domain. Guess what. AE and Goodman can have their own Cthulhu knock off in their adventures. How about adventures "in the Realms Forgotten by time"? Publishers played nice in 3E because they had a favorable, safe harbor environment to publish in. Now, publishers are making a business decision because Wizards took away the safe harbor.

Unless Wizards does something soon (like change the GSL, bigtime and quickly), companies could pretty much pick apart WotC's IP. This could extend beyond RPGs too. Imagine a Mind Flayer-esque creature in WoW? (Mind you, I'm not a WoW player so I don't know if there isn't one or not.)

 

[Jack99]

They lose control. The OGL was limited, but it was permissive enough to bring the 3rd party publishers to play by their rules. It was a safe harbour for both the 3PP and WotC.

Does this mean they will try to release their pseudo-4e adventures via the OGL - or via something else?

 

[dmccoy1693]

Does this mean they will try to release their pseudo-4e adventures via the OGL - or via something else?

Just a guess but Fair Use sounds logical to me.

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. It is based on free speech rights provided by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Emphasis Mine.

 

[Jadeite]

Does this mean they will try to release their pseudo-4e adventures via the OGL - or via something else?

I'm not sure. There are previous cases where third parties produced compatible material without a license. Even WotC did so in the past. They could use the OGL for easier access, but they should be able to produce compatible material without it.
The main difference to previous cases is that WotC is now offering a free limited license. So they propably are interested in countering unlicensed work. I'm not a lawyer, but the whole issue seems rather complicated. Orcus once posted a long post on this topic, but he removed it because it seemed a bit antagonistic toward Wizards.