Answers to the Future support of E-Tools

[talmar]

To answer the questions at hand as directly as I can:


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1. Will they support this product if WOTC pulls out? Actually, Scot said something that probably sheds some light on this. He said somewhere that as a company, they have to spend their time on things that bring in the cash and can't afford to partake in a Labour of Love, despite their personal feelings on the subject, so I imagine that this is a no.
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If WotC pulls out, Fluid will continue to support eTools. I love the product and want Fluid to keep adding to it as best as possible.

But as a qualifier to that, Fluid could not build the eTools version of Sword and Fist without WotC’s agreement.

In this case, I would first go to WotC and try to get their permission to do so. If they truly had no more interest in supporting 3E thru software, I don't think they would reasonably withhold their permission. That is to say, I don’t think they are the evil corporate beastie that we all like to paint them as. For sure, they make some high level corporate decisions that make our life difficult, but WotC wouldn’t intentionally clamp down on the third party support of a product the fans were really into.


quote:

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2. Will they release the code/ show people how to modify the code if they can't support it? That would be a very useful alternative to number 1, above.
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If for some reason Fluid can no longer support eTools, we will release a fair portion of the code.

There are two qualifiers to the term, “fair portion.” First, WotC, thru contractual agreement, owns a certain part of the code – the object code. Fluid retains ownership of the source. I could not release the object code w/o their permission. Second, I will not release any source code that is in use for another Fluid project. That is to say, much of the low-level routine stuff is a collection of libraries we rely on from project to project. I won’t give away our trade secrets, as it were.

But if it did come to this – what we released would be substantive. Enough for the community to support eTools very effectively. (and btw, someone asked earlier – its C++).


quote:

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3. Will WOTC take legal action against those making hack patches to include non-SRD material (i.e. Oriental Adventures, Forgotten Realms, etc.)
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I cannot speak for WotC legal, but if you play nice-nice, I think you are safe.

I’ll will provide an educated guess on this matter. Let’s take Monsters of Faeurn for example. Right now – in version 1.0 of eTools - you can build all the content from Monsters of Faerun. You build a bunch of .rac files, then a bunch of .mon files.

I fully expect to see this content somewhere on the web within 2 weeks of ship date. And not as a ‘for sale’ item from WotC. Same goes for encounter tables and character sheets and etc.

Now if someone were to try and make a profit on ET MoF? Or if they trumpeted it around like, “Look! I am an official provider of D&D content! I built Monsters of Faerun! Click on this D&D logo to download the official version!” Then sure – yer gonna get a cease and desist from WotC.

But if you build it for your own campaign and offer it on your web site (or even EN World) for free, I think you are fine. WotC knows what eTools is capable of, and they want to see the community build it up because it of course promotes sales.

So I hope this answers the questions.

This is the kind of news most people have wanted to here.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Hear.

 

[Hand of Evil]

My question would Fluid be able to support E-Tools if another company wants there material in it?

 

[bushfire]

That question was asked and Scott said that Fluid was more than willing to work with D20 publishers to put thier data into eTool "officially".

I guess if you have a favorite D20 publisher that you would like to see stuff for in eTools you should have thme contact Scott at Fluid.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'd rather see Scott of Fluid go to the d20 publishers. That would show Fluid's dedication to e-Tools.

* waits to see Fluid's next business move *

 

[smetzger]

Is e-tools gonna be sold in retail stores or only online?

 

[thalmin]

Is e-tools gonna be sold in retail stores or only online?

It is going to be sold in retail stores. although WotC said not in mass market stores. Virtually all of the gaming distributors are soliciting orders from their accounts, so it should be at your friendly neighborhood game store on or about the on-sale date of August 9.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

It is going to be sold in retail stores. although WotC said not in mass market stores. Virtually all of the gaming distributors are soliciting orders from their accounts, so it should be at your friendly neighborhood game store on or about the on-sale date of August 9.

It's been tough to tell from the releases so far if WoTC will beselling E-Tools at the castle at GenCon... Do you know if they will, and if they aren't, will you guys be selling it at the Games Plus booth at GenCon?

 

[thalmin]

I expect they will be selling it at the castle, since they are going to debut it at GenCon, also since they pushed back the release date to coincide with the convention. I also doubt that we would receive any in time to sell at the convention. I expect our shipment to arrive at the store sometime mid friday. We will get word to our booth as soon as we receive them,if you want us to hold you a copy for your return.

 

[bolen]

I thought that wizards no longer was going to sell items at cons or was I dreaming?