How does the GSL affect me?

[Flynn]

I'm working on OGL products myself (Traveller and Fantasy Concepts stuff primarily), and as I cannot afford a lawyer to review the GSL, I think I will be erring on the side of caution and just skipping GSL support for the moment. It just isn't worth losing the ability to do any OGL conversions of my work in the future in order to cash in on the GSL thing now, mostly because I can't crank out a ridiculous amount of stuff.

Small OGL publishers like The Le Games, with a high throughput, could easily turn the GSL environment into a profitable enterprise. However, you need lots of product to really do well, and one or two things a year does not seem to me like a profitable reason to leave the OGL for the GSL, considering it's a one way trip for your IP.

These are just my initial thoughts, however, and I will wait until I see how things unfold. I may eventually revisit this decision, but at the moment, this is my current stance, based on my perceptions of the GSL.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[BraveSirRobin]

Count me as one of those that greeted the news with a "meh". Now my indifference may be a result of ignorance regarding the long term implications, but I really can't get too worked up over it.

Strangely enough, I learened more about the OGL over the last couple of days reading these boards then I had over the last eight years playing. I mean I knew that WOTC had put the 3.5 gaming mechanics and other rules out there for public use, but that is about all I knew. For instance, I never new that there were other publishers that put infromation out into the public domain. I thought it was only WOTC. Maybe if these publishers had put their public domain stuff out there more visably like on the D20srd or other similar sites, I might have noticed and might actually care. But I didn't see it, I didn't notice, and therefore I don't care.

 

[cdrcjsn]

The only people that will be negatively affected by a restrictive GSL are the established publishers that want to retain control over the stuff they make.

For every established publisher that decides they can't take the risk, I predict three new publishers will appear to try to make a go of it.

Most of these will be crap, but a few will make quality products and become prominent names in the industry, just as many established names now got their start when the OGL was released.

Come Oct 1st, I won't be surprised if there are three times as many 4e products from newly formed companies as there are from established companies, especially in the PDF market.

So mark Oct 1st on your calendars. That's the date when we'll see how much GSL has truly affected the 3rd party market.

 

[thundershot]

Man, if The Le games does a bunch of balanced classes for 4E like they did 3E, I'll be all over their products...

 

[La Bete]

Those of you who think GSL won't affect you; think again.

Most of the people in WoTC who designed 4E came from 3-party publishers and gained their skill sets from working in the OGL environment.

Monte Cook* used to design stuff for Rolemaster. The industry doesn't normally lack for people wanting to be game designers, and these people find ways to show off their stuff.

(yes, he was a 3e designer, not 4e. yadda)

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

This is not necessarily true. The GSL is revocable AND it poisons the OGL, so new publishers will face the perpetual possibility of losing the right to publish their campaign settings and product lines (which will almost certainly be full of GSL-derived or OGL-derived IP) should a future Hasbro executive decide that Hasbro would be better off without them.

I am sure that , right now, Paizo is glad that they are not in that situation.

Ken

The only people that will be negatively affected by a restrictive GSL are the established publishers that want to retain control over the stuff they make.

For every established publisher that decides they can't take the risk, I predict three new publishers will appear to try to make a go of it.

Most of these will be crap, but a few will make quality products and become prominent names in the industry, just as many established names now got their start when the OGL was released.

Come Oct 1st, I won't be surprised if there are three times as many 4e products from newly formed companies as there are from established companies, especially in the PDF market.

So mark Oct 1st on your calendars. That's the date when we'll see how much GSL has truly affected the 3rd party market.

 

[cdrcjsn]

This is not necessarily true. The GSL is revocable AND it poisons the OGL, so new publishers will face the perpetual possibility of losing the right to publish their campaign settings and product lines (which will almost certainly be full of GSL-derived or OGL-derived IP) should a future Hasbro executive decide that Hasbro would be better off without them.

I am sure that , right now, Paizo is glad that they are not in that situation.

Ken

Sorry, but for new publishers...they don't have a product with the OGL to protect and just want the chance to produce.

So yeah, lots of established companies won't switch over to the GSL.

But that doesn't mean the death of 3rd party support. It just means that most of the third party support will come from new companies. Some of these will be bad, but out of the initial rush will rise quality companies that will produce stuff as good as the old 3e OGL stuff companies did. After all, quite a bit of the publishers producing OGL stuff now came from such humble beginnings when 3e was launched.

 

[3catcircus]

The GSL affects me in that I'm not buying any 4e WotC product at all. Pathfinder all the way!

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Even a new publisher can get screwed if the GSL is dropped.

Because the OGL grants explicit rights to use a lot of monsters and terms whose ownership could otherwise be contested in court. It is a safe harbor for creating D&D compatible adventures and supplements.

The GSL grants these rights as well, but is revocable. So someone who creates a brand new campaign setting under the GSL, then has it revoked, can face a situation where they have no access to a license that allows production of D&D compatible adventures. That isn't the case for a publisher who sticks with the OGL.

Ken

Sorry, but for new publishers...they don't have a product with the OGL to protect and just want the chance to produce.

So yeah, lots of established companies won't switch over to the GSL.

But that doesn't mean the death of 3rd party support. It just means that most of the third party support will come from new companies. Some of these will be bad, but out of the initial rush will rise quality companies that will produce stuff as good as the old 3e OGL stuff companies did. After all, quite a bit of the publishers producing OGL stuff now came from such humble beginnings when 3e was launched.

 

[thundershot]

If someone were to lose their GSL license, then they could simply go over and use the OGL instead. Part of the GSL license is that you can't make OGL, but if they yank it, there's nothing in the OGL that says you can't. It's part of the GSL license, which you no longer qualify for.

*dizzy*



Chris