Jonny Nexus said:
When Mongoose put out the earlier Judge Dredd game, they made it D20 rather than OGL, meaning that it required the D&D Players Handbook. That decision ignited a firestorm on various message boards, with a whole hoard of people expressing their extreme unhappiness at this decision, and accusing Mongoose of everything from misleading advertising to "price gouging".
There was?
For me, it was the opposite, being a staunch supporter of the
d20 network, to prove that
d20 is not just for traditional fantasy genre only. I mean, AEG's
Spycraft was released way before WotC's
d20 Modern, and to this day still utilize the
PHB with no plans to switch to
d20 Modern rules.
As for
Conan RPG OGL status, it's no big deal, even though they could make the product more appealing toward
PHB owners by slapping on a
d20 label. Then again, they felt that it should deserve its own rulebook.
But I can't help but notice that only a minor portion of the
PHB customer base understand what
d20 is about, and from that portion, only a few would support
d20 network (by buying third-party
d20-labeled products). At least that's the impression I get from the Wizards' messageboards, who don't even know there are nautical rules or mass combat rules or realm management rules available in the market for use with
d20 D&D games.
If you ask me, WotC should have pursued a more aggressive marketing plan for
d20 by slapping the
d20 logo not in the back of the
D&D Core Rulebooks but in the front and side-by-side with the
D&D logo.
That's my 2 coppers.