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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mongoose_Matt" data-source="post: 860487" data-attributes="member: 239">None of the above - material is OGC because it _has_ to be, if the d20 System is being used.  There is no way around it - if a rule even sniffs of d20, it has to be OGC and you have to really try hard to avoid this (check out the generation tools in T20 for a good example).I am not really against the idea of this database, partly because the subject has been raised before and I seriously doubt whether it will ever get done.  The magnitude of this task is _enourmous_.  Think about it for a moment - if it is going to have _real_ value, rather than just be another compilation of random elements, then you need to include, well, everything!  PDFs will be the easiest to incorporate but, at some point, you have to look at the larger publishers.  Just taking Mongoose as an example, that is 6-900 pages to keep up with _every_ month.  Add to that GR, FFG, FFE, MEG and all the rest (every month, remember!) and the task is staggering.To further complicate matters, most publishers will not lift a finger to help, for two reasons.  First off, they are just way too busy trying to run their own businesses.  Second, do not underestimate the fear of losing sales - we have already had publishers approach us and ask us to leave their OGC out of our books.  Think about that for a moment - there are some publishers out there who do not want their OGC touched by another.The thing is, I can see exactly where they are coming from but I am not sure their fears carry much weight.  However, we respect their wishes and give their material a wide berth.Now, we have faced some criticism (ha!) in the past with regards to how our OGC is declared - you know and I know that argument so let us not rehash it here.  However, I will say this - one reason we use this method is so that someone cannot come along with a big vacuum cleaner and just OCR all our books and chuck them on RPGNow for $5 a throw.  If you really want our material for your own work, you'll hash it about anyway and so there is no real additional workload.  If you just want to hoover up our stuff, I am not going to make it any easier.The trouble is, there is a section in our little community who truly believe that OGC means free.  No, it does not.  I have to pay for it (in buying other publisher's books or paying writers) - why shouldn't anyone else?  There is a facility within the OGL that allows someone to take such material and distribute it freely but you could argue he is selling himself short.  However, this is the risk that every publisher who takes advantage of OGC runs and if a publisher does not understand that (mentioning no names) then he is in the wrong game.I realise this is not going to be a popular opinion with some people, but I have 9 staff members, some of whom have families and mortgages and I cannot afford to simply hand out vast chunks of their work for nothing.At the end of the day, this database idea is a _great_ thing for gamers and hobbiests who love to tinker (whether the results of their work make it onto RPGNow.com or not).  Of course it is - compile everything and get it all for free (or very little).But you cannot expect publishers to be very impressed  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />My honest view.  Take it for what it is worth.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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