Alright, so level with me...

[Rich Baker]

We're still enthusiastic 4e fans at Sasquatch Game Studio. And, in fact, all three of us worked extensively on 4e during our respective tenures at Wizards of the Coast. Our new Primeval Thule Campaign Setting might not be "official" WotC support, but it's going to provide months and months and months of great 4e gaming if that's what you're looking for. Check it out at Kickstarter (search on Thule).

 

[Balesir]

Yes, indeedy - or just look here!

And it's going to be available for 13th Age, too! Superabundance of goodness...

 

[darjr]

Also the next few seasons of Encounters is supporting 4e. I know the next one is supposed to and the one after I think is. It's not dead yet.

 

[sabrinathecat]

I think they said something about how if someone wants to write articles (for free/recognition only) for the next few months until 5E comes out, fine, but WotC will not be doing anything.
That said, it is pretty easy to get almost all the books, mostly for cheap. Adventurers' Vault 1 is the only one I know of that is expensive (became "Out of Print" rather early).

 

[BlueBlackRed]

If WotC/Hasbro feels that the risk/reward/time would yield a sufficient profit, some 4E things will be released in the future. As for right now, it's probably winding down.

 

[Mark CMG]

D&D Editions don't die as long as there are players. 4e's got nothing new coming out for it, but neither does 1e, and look at the OSR....

I should have been clearer. Is OFFICIAL support for 4th edition done with? I thought this was clear, but my mistake I guess.

Official support for (O)D&D, 1E/2E, and 3.XE might be mostly done but through S&W, OSRIC, and OGL/PF offerings, there is still regular support. WotC does seem to be toying with some official support to keep older edition fans looking in their direction. For 4E, I don't know if the GSL is going to be continued or revoked with the advent of Next/5E. It would be strange for it not to be revoked since if they didn't plan to revoke it, they may as well stayed with the OGL for 4E. The main point of creating the GSL seemed to be so they were able to prevent unofficial support once WotC moved on and released Next/5E, to prevent WotC from having to compete with unofficial support of 4E as Next/5E came into being. I suspect that once Next/5E is released, S&W, OSRIC, and OGL/PF will continue to see unofficial support but that (with no 4E unofficial equivalent), 4E fans will find themselves without official or unofficial support.

 

[pemerton]

For 4E, I don't know if the GSL is going to be continued or revoked with the advent of Next/5E. It would be strange for it not to be revoked since if they didn't plan to revoke it, they may as well stayed with the OGL for 4E. The main point of creating the GSL seemed to be so they were able to prevent unofficial support once WotC moved on and released Next/5E, to prevent WotC from having to compete with unofficial support of 4E as Next/5E came into being.

The GSL is very different from the OGL.

Roughly speaking, the OGL licenses the use of text - ie the SRD, which is in turn in many cases a reproduction or paraphrase of the PHB, MM and DMG - which otherwise would be protected by copyright. The OGL is not a trademark licence - in fact, its product identity clauses (again, roughly speaking) preclude the distribution of word trademarks as open game content.

The GSL is quite different. Roughly speaking, it doesn't license the reproduction of any text in which WotC holds the copyright. It is basically a trademark (and affiliated product identity) licence, and in that respect therefore more comparable to the D20 licence (and like the D20 licence, and like most trademark licences, it is not in perpetuity). Once WotC no longer wishes to use the trademarks in question, I'm pretty sure it will pull the GSL, as it won't want others to be trading under those marks either. But this will have only modest implications for any trying to clone 4e - either with or without the GSL, the issue with cloning 4e is not mostly a trademark issue (though that could perhaps come up if you copied the WotC stat blocks very closely) but rather a copyright issue.
[MENTION=38140]Frylock[/MENTION] wrote some good blogs about this a year or two ago.

 

[Mark CMG]

The GSL is very different from the OGL.

In a lot of ways, that is true, but in the context of my post it is negligible. Bottom line, if the GSL is revoked, there won't be official or unofficial support for 4E unless WotC does something on occasion. Judging by what they are doing now, while it is the only current edition of D&D, I don't expect to see much at all if the GSL is revoked.

 

[Hussar]

We're still enthusiastic 4e fans at Sasquatch Game Studio. And, in fact, all three of us worked extensively on 4e during our respective tenures at Wizards of the Coast. Our new Primeval Thule Campaign Setting might not be "official" WotC support, but it's going to provide months and months and months of great 4e gaming if that's what you're looking for. Check it out at Kickstarter (search on Thule).

In a lot of ways, that is true, but in the context of my post it is negligible. Bottom line, if the GSL is revoked, there won't be official or unofficial support for 4E unless WotC does something on occasion. Judging by what they are doing now, while it is the only current edition of D&D, I don't expect to see much at all if the GSL is revoked.

Hrm, am I missing something or is there a contradiction here?

 

[Mark CMG]

Hrm, am I missing something or is there a contradiction here?

Yes, both.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showwiki.php?title=Primeval-Thule

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/welcome