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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andre" data-source="post: 3081975" data-attributes="member: 25930">Mark, as near as I can tell, a publisher only has three option concerning the risk of OGC "strip mining", as you referred to it. One is to use the infamous crippled OGC declaration, a technique many gamers deplore. I hope you don't go that route, but it has  been used effectively in the past. Two, as you mentioned, make it as difficult as possible to pull material out of the pdf. But as you also noted, this harms the very customers you want to use your product. Three, tie in considerable non-OGC material, which for the product you mention, should be happening anyway.When I go looking for an NPC to use, the first thing I look for is the characterization. I want a hook that grabs me and fits the situation in which I'm planning to use the NPC. If the character also has about the right class and level that I need, that's a bonus - I can just tweak the stats block a bit and move on. But I almost never use an NPC as is, and I personally don't go looking for a set of stats to build an NPC around. That's just backwards, IMO. I can always do stats - it's a unique, interesting character that's hard (for me, at least).So if you focus on the non-OGC "fluff" - appearance, style, quirks, mannerisms, outlook - in short, the character, it won't matter if your OGC gets strip mined, by NPC Wiki or some other party. They won't be able to bring a fraction of the same value to the gamer that your product can. It's not that the stats are unimportant, just that they're not the most important piece of a character.I really like using templates and you would think that the various template books would be primary candidates for strip mining, since so much of a template is mechanics. The fact that this hasn't happened is due, in part (IMO), to the fact that the mechanics are just a means to an end, not the end itself. It's that reaction when reading about a particular template that makes me say, "Wow, I have got to use this in my next game!" That's what causes buyers to recommend a product to others, not the stat blocks.I can understand if you're reaction is, "Maybe so, but I still don't want my hard work strip mined by someone with a computer and a little time." I can sympathize, but with the OGL as written, it's very hard, if not impossible, to protect mechanics. Ryan Dancy has said repeatedly this was intended to help game designers, but the OGL doesn't make that distinction, so we're left with the way things are. All you can do is keep putting out excellent products (I have a couple) and do the best you can.BTW - when does the NPC collection come out? I'll be happy to take a look and see if it meets my needs.</blockquote>

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