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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5817395" data-attributes="member: 996">I don't think that open source is that important, to customers.  It's very important to the rest of the industry, and it's had to very potent effects on D&D's fortunes this millenium.1)Follow my Leader. Going open-source put D&D back in an industry-leadership (sales-wise if not exactly innovation) position.  The RPG industry was fragmented in to teeny niches.  Companies were faced with the choice, 'continue to focus on my teeny-tiny niche' or .maybe catch onto the coat-tails of the resurgent (if it resurges) 'first' RPG with it's almost-mainstream name recognition.'  Not a tough choice.  3e was successful in part because it was a modest improvement over 2e, in part because of it's 'back to the dungeon' grognard apeal, and in part because everybody and his garage small-press company was making content for it.2)There Can Be Only One.  With open source publication to fall back on, fans who were in any degree change-adverse could stick with 3.5 /forever/.  D&Ds biggest competition is now D&D.  WotC can't leverage the open source advantage (1) without staying tied down to it.  Innovation can't move away from it, only build out from it.  Every ed of D&D has met a great deal of initial resistance from existing fans, but that resistance always melted away for lack of new material coming out for the old, and 'shiny' new stuff coming out for the new.  The OGL changed that, 3.5-compatible d20 material continued to flow, ultimately including a clone of 3.5, Pathfinder.  The OGL has made d20/3.5 immortal.In light of the above, WotC might have not only make 5e open source, but to base it, however loosely, on the SRD, so it remains compatible, thus turning 3pps back into allies.  Otherwise, d20/3.5/Pathfinder remains a competitor with a loyal fan base.</blockquote>

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