Is All Still Quiet on the SRD Front?

[The Little Raven]

I don't see this attitude expressed in any of these threads. Rather I see concern for well loved and established companies that can't plan to support 4E in any capacity without access to the framework of rules.

That's part of the problem with basing your company's success on another company's product. It's unfortunate, but they knew the risk when they got in.

A concern shared by many is that when 3E launched draft versions of the rules were distributed in a timely fashion with WOTC keeping lines of communication open. The result was a well supported 3E at launch. If they were able to do this with the 3E launch why not with 4E?

Weren't there layoffs in the years after 3rd Edition's launch? Maybe they're a smaller company and don't have the manpower they did. Maybe it's because Ryan Dancey isn't there anymore, and he was the biggest proponent of the open gaming movement. It was his baby. As history has shown us, the past isn't always an accurate precedent for the future.

At present it appears WOTC are only paying lipservice to the OGL concept.

Except they have a few games that are OGL, which is more than can be said for most other companies that own a proprietary system. How many other companies have popular games that are primarily composed of open gaming content, usable by anyone?

What has changed from 3E to 4E to make WOTC abandon their support of the OGL and third party publishers?

Maybe they're more concerned with meeting their own deadlines and getting the game to where they want it to be. It sucks that they aren't releasing the playtest drafts to certain companies first, but they probably have their reasons. They don't owe us an explanation of their business operations, so I don't see any point in getting worked up about it.

 

[jaer]

Why would we non-third-party publishers have any news of what might be being passed out by WotC? While an official SRD might not yet exist, the 3rd party pubs might have the same rule-set the playtester have...some might even be assisting with playtesting the rule set, thus allowing them to playtest their own material against it.

I would imagine that any publishers that have access to such info also have such a tight non-disclosure agreement with WotC that revealing any info (perhaps even revealing that they have info) would sink them financially a lot faster then the publishing down-time between the 4e announcement and 4e release.

 

[Scribble]

I don't see this attitude expressed in any of these threads. Rather I see concern for well loved and established companies that can't plan to support 4E in any capacity without access to the framework of rules.

Maybe we just read the original post differently? Also many others have actually stated that WOTC is being foolish by not sending the srd out sooner.

A concern shared by many is that when 3E launched draft versions of the rules were distributed in a timely fashion with WOTC keeping lines of communication open. The result was a well supported 3E at launch. If they were able to do this with the 3E launch why not with 4E?

Perhaps they're doing it this way to counter some of the complaints and problems that happened with the 3e release? (IE a glut of material that didn't properly use the rules?)

So this time, keep it tighter, until the rules are firmly in place.

At present it appears WOTC are only paying lipservice to the OGL concept. What has changed from 3E to 4E to make WOTC abandon their support of the OGL and third party publishers?

Isn't it a pretty well established quote that they said January would be the earliest we'd see an SRD? How is that Lip Service?

 

[RangerWickett]

I find it interesting that the actual third party individuals have said nothing but good things about WotC, and trust WotC to get them their stuff, and yet the people who are concerned are people on messageboards.

People on messageboards don't have to worry about WotC getting miffed at them and withholding valuable resources.

 

[delericho]

My guess is that WotC are absolutely swamped. They'll no doubt get to the SRD when they have a chance, but the core rulebooks just have to be the highest priority.

Which, frankly, is the way it should be. If that hurts 3rd party companies, or even if it leads to Paizo using 3.5e rules for the 3rd Pathfinder path, then that is very unfortunate but, really, it isn't and shouldn't be WotC's priority.

 

[The Little Raven]

People on messageboards don't have to worry about WotC getting miffed at them and withholding valuable resources.

Well, I also think Mona and his people are above letting their tempers flare and making accusations... at least, publicly. For all we know, they have internal discussions that mirror what forumites are saying, but it would be unprofessional for them to publicize that kind of stuff. However, I think that they believe what they say about trusting Wizards, and that getting worked up over the SRD's release or making decisions before they get to see the product is too hasty. Whatever anyone says about the Paizo crew and their work, they are incredibly friendly and professional people.

 

[frankthedm]

Yes, I know all the stuff about how they did it for the good of the hobby, blah blah blah. The truth of the matter is that they're a business, out to make money, and if a business has the chance -- whether by accident or design -- to torpedo a good portion of their competitors, who were foolish enough to place themselves and their product lines at the mercy of the 'industry leader,' I doubt that too many business decision-makers are going to flinch at pushing that button and sending the 'torpedo away.'

Yep.

If this kills half the industry, WotC will smile. Just like the small presses would if they could kill WotC and take its stuff. Except that WotC has the power and the opportunity. At best, they just aren't going to give a dang what happens to the ones riding on their coat-tails; at worst, they're giggling hysterically at the thought of getting their foot firmly on the neck of the competition.

That's their business decision-makers. The game designers who have working buddies in the d20 field won't like it, but they might not have the sway to impact the decision. ...And then again, maybe, just maybe, the designers are in on it, they know wotc won’t keep them employed forever, leveling the D20 market ensures they will have a much less competition once wotc lets them go and they have to enter the field. And of course they have plausible deniability to simply say ‘the bean counters did not let us release the SRD’.

 

[DaveMage]

With regard to the rules, the question is not if the 3rd party companies that want to will support 4E - just a matter of when.

WotC is obviously overextended at the moment. (And with the holidays upon us, things will probably not get better until January.) I'm thinking the D&D Experience is probably a good guess as to when the rules will be ready for 3rd party consumption.

 

[Rechan]

People on messageboards don't have to worry about WotC getting miffed at them and withholding valuable resources.

My point is that the people who are directly effected (and thus, have the most reason to), are not the ones pointing fingers of accusation.

 

[frankthedm]

TBH, a company can get a LOT of work done without the 4E srd. The mechanics have to be ironed out, but with the blurbs that have been said give a decent idea on how to build a dungeon and lay framework for the heavily populated, terrain wrecking, 4E encounters. After the SRD is out, it will be a rush of changing "heavily populated goblin level 2 encounter" to N level 2 goblins, Nx2 level 1 goblin minions, X level 1 goblin strikers and a goblin warlock, but it can be done.