Hypothetical question for 3pp: 5e goes OGL what would you publish?

[dmccoy1693]

I trust Dale. I assume that Dias is likewise trustworthy.

However, I remember a man named Clark, whom I also trusted, who got rather burned declaring, based on sources he trusted in WotC, that 4e was definitely going to be 4e. I am far more optimistic about it then I was a couple of days ago, but I will believe it will definitely happen when it happens.

Truth be told, that is pretty much the biggest reason why I haven't made big announcements about what we are doing. Like the poster in Mulder's office, "I Want to Believe." But even if it is the exact same GSL out right now, we'll still sign on. We like 5e where 4e was not our game.

 

[Wicht]

I'll go out on a limb here and assume he meant to say OGL.

I need an editor for my online posting.

 

[Jester David]

So the cat is out of the bag huh? Yea, a couple of high level meetings I had at GenCon last year got me the same information several times from different people about 5e being OGL. I didn't believe how committed they were at first until I heard it a second time. The biggest thing I don't know about the moment is when the books will be released and when I can start publishing for it. But I can't wait for the day that it happens. The whole JBE crew is really excited about 5e. We're really looking forward to showing off what we have been working on for a while now.

Interesting. But I imagine that's what the D&D team is saying. The trick then is getting the actual license out of the hands of the legal team in time to get books ready for publication.
Especially as there's a GenCon looming. We do not need a repeat of 4e where publishers found out two months before the Con that they couldn't sell books prior to October.

Personally, I'd love for them to release an SRD after they finish the game and send the core books to the printers but before release, so we get a preview of the game a few months early.
Especially as that would alow them to start releasing playtests of larger modules. So they can have larger accessories tested and ready to be published sooner rather than delay the whole process until books be in stores.

 

[DaveMage]

It certainly makes sense to be more inclusive than exclusive (since being exclusive didn't seem to work out for them).

Of course, a free OGL-like license was supposed to happen with 4E too, so we'll see if they actually release something acceptable to 3PPs or not.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

I'll be running an AMA on Reddit today--Sunday--(related to the Kickstarter) around 4:00. I'm sure I will be fielding (answering) questions concerning this topic.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

I'll be running an AMA on Reddit today--Sunday--(related to the Kickstarter) around 4:00. I'm sure I will be fielding (answering) questions concerning this topic.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1pceft/iama_pen_paper_role_playing_game_designer_i_am/

 

[darjr]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1pceft/iama_pen_paper_role_playing_game_designer_i_am/cd0z6wn

Sorry for the delay. The situation involved an exchange of emails (like a murder of crows and a gaggle of geese) between myself and Mike Mearls. This was before the first round of playtesting, before even the Friends & Family phase which I somehow found myself a part of. It was during this exchange where Mearls' vision of an OGL future was shared with me. There was more mentioned which I won't go into but at the time, the current CEO of WOTC had signed off on the proposal.
That all being said, I am still shocked so many people consider this news. It's like finding water on Mars--is it a realization or just a confirmation of something many people knew anyway?

You add here that you think it was said that the CEO of WotC signed off on it already.
@DiasExMachina;
Congrats on the kickstarter!!!

I do worry that there is a disconnect from what I mean by OGL and what you might be meaning. I mean the OGL that Pathfinder, 3.0, 3.5, FATE, 13th Age and others are under. In my mind anything else doesn't really count.
@dmccoy1693;

Can you clarify?

 

[Mistwell]

That sounds like two sources to me. Certainly enough to report that WotC has conveyed to 3pps that 5e will definitely feature an OGL.

I know of a third source saying the same thing as well, unrelated to these two, but I think it's wiser to not cite it right now.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1pceft/iama_pen_paper_role_playing_game_designer_i_am/cd0z6wn

You add here that you think it was said that the CEO of WotC signed off on it already.
@DiasExMachina;
Congrats on the kickstarter!!!

I do worry that there is a disconnect from what I mean by OGL and what you might be meaning. I mean the OGL that Pathfinder, 3.0, 3.5, FATE, 13th Age and others are under. In my mind anything else doesn't really count.
@dmccoy1693;

Can you clarify?

With the reminder that these emails are old and as many people have mentioned, things change. I don't think they will, but others are less certain.

 

[mxyzplk]

I'm curious on how one can get almost-simultaneous with the delays it takes to write, edit, playtest, final edit, get it printed and deliver to market.

A little history lesson. When 3e launched at Gen Con 2000, Green Ronin launched Death in Freeport, an adventure, right along with it. It helped catapult their company from a "who?" to a large well-respected publisher with multiple game lines. And that's without a year of open playtest to dial in on it.