D&D General Are you jumping ship? What will you be switching to?

[Zardnaar]

No, they don't. There are lots and lots of unlicensed CRPGs that have D&D style attributes: Dragon Age: Origins (EA), Fallout's SPECIAL system, World of Warcraft, Warhammer 40K (with a movie and TV deal in the works) and lots and lots of lots produced by smaller companies. Go on Steam and do a search for RPGs.

They have plenty of money to fight Hasbro, given that the video game adaptations would also be effected.

WotC can't afford to loose. The reason they introduced the OGL in the first place was because there was uncertainty about what was and was not WotC's intellectual property. And they wanted to avoid having to test it in court. Not only would that have been expensive, the chances are they would win on some points and loose on others. But either way, it's outside their control. The OGL was a way to try and gain control, but it only worked so long as people were willing to abide by it.

But WotC's problem now is that one of the big companies, like EA, Microsoft or Apple could beat them to the punch with a popular D&D-clone VTT or MMO. I'm afraid Solasta has proved that is possible and legal under the current OGL, and that is probably what has the lawyers spooked. It didn't matter when D&D was a minor thing, but with it's increasing popularity, there is a very real threat that a bigger fish than WotC might use the OGL to try and steel D&D out from under their nose. It's unfortunate that WotC's attempts to defend itself could lead to a return to the Wild West conditions of the 70s and 80s.

I've played a few of them. Their systems are different enough to hold up in court.

PF2 and Level Up ability score system are lifted directly from 3.0. No OGL that's potentially WotC intellectual property.

If WotC gets nasty you're looking at court battles over every book.

You could probably rewrite your books but if WotC wins (note IF) anything in any of their books is concievably off limits.

 

[ctorus]

Probably not a clone no.

Theoretically you could clone 4E hell people wanted to do it.

Note no clone.

It exists and it's great: Orcus

 

[Zardnaar]

It exists and it's great: Orcus

So it's a beta and doesn't actually exist as a product yet?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I've played a few of them. Their systems are different enough to hold up in court.

Probably, but the problem is no one knows until it's actually in front of a judge, when it's a case of make a Persuasion check: roll a D20.

PF2 and Level Up ability score system are lifted directly from 3.0. No OGL that's potentially WotC intellectual property.

Potentially it is, potentially it isn't.

If WotC gets nasty you're looking at court battles over every book.

Which, given the number of books, would bankrupt WotC. Mutually Assured Destruction, is not a winning strategy.

You could probably rewrite your books but if WotC wins (note IF) anything in any of their books is concievably off limits.

Small players can, but there are plenty of big companies who would be effected who would find it cheaper to say "see you in court". The trouble with bluffing is that if you are called you are screwed.

 

[Ondath]

Probably not a clone no.

Theoretically you could clone 4E hell people wanted to do it.

Note no clone.

Not saying WotC would win but it's theoretically possible.

I suspect they expected companies to roll over idk how many have bent the knee (if any).

I mean, there's a 4e retroclone in these very forums: D&D 4E - Introducing Orcus -- a 4E retroclone

Granted, it exists under OGL v1.0a and couldn't be made as is if that gets revoked, but the point is that some people made a 4e retroclone even if that edition is under the GSL.

Also, several OSR people have already started making non-copyright infringing terminology that replaces things like saving throws, levels, ability scores, even the XdY dice terminology. If push comes to shove, I think a sufficiently similar clone of 5e could be made in a similar way, and I'd switch to that.

 

[Zardnaar]

Probably, but the problem is no one knows until it's actually in front of a judge, when it's a case of make a Persuasion check: roll a D20.

Potentially it is, potentially it isn't.

Which, given the number of books, would bankrupt WotC. Mutually Assured Destruction, is not a winning strategy.

Small players can, but there are plenty of big companies who would be effected who would find it cheaper to say "see you in court". The trouble with bluffing is that if you are called you are screwed.

They might not be bluffing though and they only need to win once.

I'm not doom and glooming it I have no idea either way .

Ultimately our opinions here don't matter even the lawyers. What matters is if WotC pulls the trigger and can they make it stick.

 

[Ondath]

So it's a beta and doesn't actually exist as a product yet?

The fact that it's a beta doesn't really change the fact that it was made under the OGL with seemingly no resistance.

 

[Zardnaar]

The fact that it's a beta doesn't really change the fact that it was made under the OGL with seemingly no resistance.

No idea maybe no one's noticed? It's not really a product at this point and if it's slipped under the radar for whatever reason.....

 

[ctorus]

So it's a beta and doesn't actually exist as a product yet?

Yes that's correct - indeed I don't think there's any intention to make it into a 'product'.
HTH.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes that's correct - indeed I don't think there's any intention to make it into a 'product'.
HTH.

So it's functionally a fan site.