Gygax's views on OGL

[tetsujin28]

Is it just me, or is Gary totally out of touch here?

Personally? I think what he says is kind of irrelevent. No-one in the industry listens to him, anymore.

 

[Turanil]

Frankly, the D20 and OGL licenses are what they are, and in my opinion they have no real benefit to WotC, and thus they do not benefit the D&D game system. The concept is flawed, and I do not believe that any amount of time will serve to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

There has been excellent things by 3rd party publishers that would have never been produced by WotC. I am so glad to be able to buy some of them, much better than many WotC stuff that I don't like. Now, maybe it's true that WotC don't earn more money because of the OGL, and that we spend way more money because of it, often to buy products we will never use. But anyway, it's great as gamers to have the OGL!

 

[BASHMAN]

If WotC charged companies to make D&D products, few would pay. Instead, they'd make their own RPG and sell that. Instead, WotC has tricked them into making D&D content
Janx

And that is the Crime to RPG players everywhere that is the d20 system. Nobody makes their own system anymore. People that do are pushed out of the market. Look at 7th Sea. That was a TERRIFIC game, and now it is dead, because they tried to d20ize it, and nobody liked it that way.

Now you only have a choice of buying d20, Gurps, Palladium, or Whitewolf. Those are the only 3 non-d20 systems that you see in stores, and even those are far rarer than d20.

Today there are not enough alternatives to d20. Great systems like Earthdawn, 7th Sea, etc cannot compete with d20, and so, they die. Instead of producing their own systems that might be even better than d20 (and it would not be difficult) they start churning out subpar d20ized versions of stuff.

So in that regard I agree with Gary. Not because I think that WOTC should not be allowed to share its IP. I just don't like the idea that is now basically the only show in Town, unless you want to buy something that is Out of Print or have to buy it online because stores don't sell it!

 

[DaveMage]

And that is the Crime to RPG players everywhere that is the d20 system. Nobody makes their own system anymore. People that do are pushed out of the market. Look at 7th Sea. That was a TERRIFIC game, and now it is dead, because they tried to d20ize it, and nobody liked it that way.

Now you only have a choice of buying d20, Gurps, Palladium, or Whitewolf. Those are the only 3 non-d20 systems that you see in stores, and even those are far rarer than d20.

Today there are not enough alternatives to d20. Great systems like Earthdawn, 7th Sea, etc cannot compete with d20, and so, they die. Instead of producing their own systems that might be even better than d20 (and it would not be difficult) they start churning out subpar d20ized versions of stuff.

So in that regard I agree with Gary. Not because I think that WOTC should not be allowed to share its IP. I just don't like the idea that is now basically the only show in Town, unless you want to buy something that is Out of Print or have to buy it online because stores don't sell it!

So...basically you're saying (paraphrasing) that your hate of d20 knows no limit...

 

[Desdichado]

And that is the Crime to RPG players everywhere that is the d20 system. Nobody makes their own system anymore. People that do are pushed out of the market. Look at 7th Sea. That was a TERRIFIC game, and now it is dead, because they tried to d20ize it, and nobody liked it that way.

Buffy. Lord of the Rings. Blue Planet. WHFRP 2nd edition by Green Ronin. Four off the top of my head that are either for sale now or under development.

Now you only have a choice of buying d20, Gurps, Palladium, or Whitewolf. Those are the only 3 non-d20 systems that you see in stores, and even those are far rarer than d20.

You have crappy stores then. In fact, before d20 I'd bet those same stores just had D&D, GURPS, Palladium or White Wolf if that's the case.

Today there are not enough alternatives to d20. Great systems like Earthdawn, 7th Sea, etc cannot compete with d20, and so, they die. Instead of producing their own systems that might be even better than d20 (and it would not be difficult) they start churning out subpar d20ized versions of stuff.

Newsflash: they died before d20 too. You know how many systems have come and gone? I don't, but it's a lot. There are still alternate systems in print just like before. There are still systems that don't make it from a business perspective, just like before. The only difference now is that disgruntled postal workers have a scapegoat in the form of d20.

So in that regard I agree with Gary. Not because I think that WOTC should not be allowed to share its IP. I just don't like the idea that is now basically the only show in Town, unless you want to buy something that is Out of Print or have to buy it online because stores don't sell it!

Since that's not actually the case on the market today, then that means you are disagreeing with him then?

 

[d4]

Today there are not enough alternatives to d20. Great systems like Earthdawn, 7th Sea, etc cannot compete with d20, and so, they die. Instead of producing their own systems that might be even better than d20 (and it would not be difficult) they start churning out subpar d20ized versions of stuff.

it sounds like you are contradicting yourself to me. if those systems were what people wanted, they'd be competitive and sell well against d20. since they are not competitive, that must mean that they are not what the market wants.

that's not to say they aren't good games; it just means they must not appeal to as wide an audience as d20 does.

it sounds to me like you dislike d20 mainly because it is popular, and not on its merits or flaws as a game system itself.

 

[Paka]

I disagree. I think OGL has allowed WOTC to put out books that they can be fairly sure will be big sellers like the Forgotten Realms books, Draconimicon, Monster Manuals, etc. while allowing others to take chances and put out Conan, Blue Rose, Midnight, Mutants and Masterminds, etc. The quality of d20 books does vary rather drastically and hence the community we're posting on now. It has become necessary to have a dialogue about which books to include and which to nix.

This system keeps the d20 market fresh and competitive.

d20 isn't the only system I play and I do not believe that the OGL would work for every game but I don't think it has done gaming, D&D nor WOTC anything but good.

 

[Virate]

I have no problem saying that I do not put Gygax on a pedestal. The man is a dinosaur, a relic of the past and his comments reflect this.

The man simply cannot understand the vast benefits the OGL has offered, in my opinion the OGL is the single most important development in the gaming industry since D&D was first written. Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you a different gaming system.

The debate of OGL vs non-OGL systems has already been decided by a little rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. Apple said that only apple could write their software, Microsoft let anyone do it...The latter's shrewd business (for good and ill) has given them the top spot in the market.

In my bookshelf I had three other gaming systems that I used before OGL/D20 was released. Deadlands, Star Wars (WEG), World of Darkness, now Deadlands and Starwars are fully D20 systems and WoD is starting to make the conversion with the Trinity, Aberrant, Adventure systems (which I used). This can't be coincidence alone.

The OGL/D20 is nothing short of revolutionary, and no matter how much Gygax and his "Lejendary Adventures" whines about it, one only needs to follow the buck to find the truth.

 

[Kosala]

Greetings all!

Although we do not have any problems with people discussing articles that we post on our site on other forums, I would like to ask that you refrain from copying and pasting entire articles without prior permission. Feel free to link to them and copy and paste quotes, but not the entire article.

I would also like to point out that we have a comment system built into our site to allow people to leave comments to the authors. If you want your comments read by Mr Gygax himself, then please leave your discussion comments there.

Thanks.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

Is it just me, or is Gary totally out of touch here?

I don't agree with him but in my opinion it doesn't seem like he's out of touch, just an idealist and I agree with what others have said. Some of his comments have merit.

That all said I have probaly close to 200 OGL books so I' rather happy that it's around.