d20/OGL questions for WotC?

[CharlesRyan]

Hello, everybody. Many of you have probably heard this news, but I thought I'd post it here for those who haven't.

I'm the new Category Manager for RPGs here at WotC. As you probably know, that means I run the business end of producing our roleplaying games and deal with d20 license and OGL issues. (Anthony Valtera was the previous RPG Category Manager; my job is pretty much identical to what he did.)

Feel free to contact me with questions or issues related to the licenses. Although I check in on this board frequently, I prefer to take public-fora questions on the WotC d20 System boards, so your best bet to get a quick answer is to post your question there. (Check out the "Questions for Charles?" thread before posting.) If you need to confer with me directly and/or privately, you can reach me at cryan@wizards.com or 425.687.8108.

Some of you may not know me, so let me share my credentials: Before becoming the Category Manager, I was a designer and editor of RPGs here at WotC for several years, and had been a professional game designer for about ten years before that. (Credits include The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, Deadlands, Millennium's End, The Last Crusade, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, and Star Trek: Red Alert!, to name just a few.) I was also Chairman of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design from 1996 through 2001. I am, of course, an avid gamer, currently running a post-apocalyptic d20 Modern campaign and playing Call of Cthulhu regularly and D&D intermittently.

I really look forward to working with the d20/OGL community, and to seeing you all at GTS, Origins, GenCon, and other events over the coming years!

 

[The Sigil]

Hello, everybody. Many of you have probably heard this news, but I thought I'd post it here for those who haven't.

I'm the new Category Manager for RPGs here at WotC. As you probably know, that means I run the business end of producing our roleplaying games and deal with d20 license and OGL issues. (Anthony Valtera was the previous RPG Category Manager; my job is pretty much identical to what he did.)

Feel free to contact me with questions or issues related to the licenses. Although I check in on this board frequently, I prefer to take public-fora questions on the WotC d20 System boards, so your best bet to get a quick answer is to post your question there. (Check out the "Questions for Charles?" thread before posting.) If you need to confer with me directly and/or privately, you can reach me at cryan@wizards.com or 425.687.8108.

Some of you may not know me, so let me share my credentials: Before becoming the Category Manager, I was a designer and editor of RPGs here at WotC for several years, and had been a professional game designer for about ten years before that. (Credits include The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game, Deadlands, Millennium's End, The Last Crusade, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium, and Star Trek: Red Alert!, to name just a few.) I was also Chairman of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design from 1996 through 2001. I am, of course, an avid gamer, currently running a post-apocalyptic d20 Modern campaign and playing Call of Cthulhu regularly and D&D intermittently.

I really look forward to working with the d20/OGL community, and to seeing you all at GTS, Origins, GenCon, and other events over the coming years!

Welcome, Mr. Ryan (can I call you Charles? Chuck? "Hey you?" ). Hope you're prepared for the inevitable firestorm of questions. Given all the discussion on the ogf-d20-l list lately, I'm sure folks will have a few.

I'll throw a couple of "simple" questions up here. *wicked grin*

1.) Will WotC ever take a role in enforcing some of the most frequently abused/ignored provisions of the OGL? I am specifically thinking here of the "Clearly indicate... Open Gaming Content" clause in Section 8, but there are others.

2.) Does WotC plan to issue any revisions to the OGL to deal with "clarity of wording" problems that have arisen with regard to the OGL? Off the top of my head, I can think of... typos in section 1d (not sure what a "creatures characters" is), the definition of "ownership" as it applies to Product Identity definitions (section 1e) since it is impossible to own some of the IP items that appear on the list in section 1e and PI must be declared as such by the "owner" - if there is no owner, it cannot be PI'd, no? There's a big discussion from the OGF-L list a couple of months ago on many of the things that are not clear about the OGL and where there is considerable wiggle room in reading the OGL - sometimes to the point of contradictory readings.

3.) Will WotC ever hold up certain third-party products as "examples of proper use of the OGL/d20STL"?

4.) Will some of the contradictory wording in the d20STL be removed (e.g., "the d20 logo may not be stretched/have its relative dimensions altered" and "the logo must appear as a 1 in by 1 in logo" - when the logo is not square - thus, one cannot simultaneously satisfy both conditions)?

I guess numbers 2, 3, and 4 boil down to...

"Will WotC ever address through revision many of the ambiguity issues that have plagued the OGL and have been discussed ad nauseum since the initial release of said license?"

Just a little question, I know.

--The Sigil

 

[annadobritt]

Welcome, Ryan. Hope you're prepared for the inevitable firestorm of questions. Given all the discussion on the ogf-d20-l list lately, I'm sure folks will have a few.

I'll throw a couple of simple ones up here and cross-post to the WotC boards.

"Will WotC ever address through revision many of the ambiguity issues that have plagued the OGL and have been discussed ad nauseum since the initial release of said license?"

Just a little question, I know.

--The Sigil

Welcome to paradise.

The Sigil, please don't scare him away.

 

[The Sigil]

The Sigil, please don't scare him away.

ROFLMAO!

I like to think of it as throwing a huge bucket of cold water on him so he doesn't have to worry about the guys with the super soakers getting him "any wetter." I'm too kind, I know... but that's the kind of magnanimous guy I am... I live to serve.

--The Sigil

 

[Staffan]

The way I read it, in the new d20 STL there is no cure period for breaching the propriety standards the way it is for other breaches of the license. Why is that?

I mean, I can understand why you added the standards, but not why the consequences for e.g. having nipplage in a book is harsher than for including MM2 monsters.

 

[CharlesRyan]

Hi, everybody.

While I'm keeping an eye on these boards in general, and am willing to answer the odd question or two here, for such a long list of detailed questions, I have to ask you to take them over to the WotC boards and post them there.

While I love ENworld, my reasons are twofold: First, it's a heck of a lot easier for me if all my question-answering duties are centralized in one forum. I don't have a lot of time in my daily routine for this sort of thing, so I'd like to make the most of what time I have.

Secondly, since the WotC d20 System board is my "home base" for answering questions, your post there (and my answers to your questions) will benefit others who might be wondering the same things. Keeping all the heavy discussion in one place makes it easier for people to find answers without having to ask me the same questions over and over.

Thanks!