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<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 8927183" data-attributes="member: 3400">Good faith gesture? I think those are some rose-colored glasses. From the corporate perspective, I'd bet that, at best, it was certain degree of enlightened self-interest because they fully believed that it would drive the sale of core rulebooks more than spawn competitors that used the system really innovatively in ways that didn't require core D&amp;D rulebooks like Mutants and Masterminds. The fact is, Ryan Dancey pitched it with two different motivations to different stakeholders in D&amp;D. It would entice content creators to make D&amp;D-based stuff and grow the D&amp;D brand and WotC's market - the corporate owner pitch. And it would free the 3e rules and anything else derivable from the SRD from IP limbo if anything like TSR's fate befell D&amp;D's owner. Whichever pitch you prefer and latch onto depends on which side you belong to. But the fact is he set expectations at both ends.I guarantee, nobody expected a Paizo to rise and threaten WotC dominance in the D&amp;D sphere in traditional game shops. Nobody expected a Paizo to be able to drive a million unit selling D&amp;D sphere computer game. Particularly not when D&amp;D, as a property, wasn't in IP limbo due to the financial collapse of its owner. Not even Ryan Dancey. Paizo didn't even expect it until they were forced into that position in order to survive.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="billd91, post: 8927183, member: 3400"] Good faith gesture? I think those are some rose-colored glasses. From the corporate perspective, I'd bet that, at best, it was certain degree of enlightened self-interest because they fully believed that it would drive the sale of core rulebooks more than spawn competitors that used the system really innovatively in ways that didn't require core D&D rulebooks like Mutants and Masterminds. The fact is, Ryan Dancey pitched it with two different motivations to different stakeholders in D&D. It would entice content creators to make D&D-based stuff and grow the D&D brand and WotC's market - the corporate owner pitch. And it would free the 3e rules and anything else derivable from the SRD from IP limbo if anything like TSR's fate befell D&D's owner. Whichever pitch you prefer and latch onto depends on which side you belong to. But the fact is he set expectations at both ends. I guarantee, nobody expected a Paizo to rise and threaten WotC dominance in the D&D sphere in traditional game shops. Nobody expected a Paizo to be able to drive a million unit selling D&D sphere computer game. Particularly not when D&D, as a property, wasn't in IP limbo due to the financial collapse of its owner. Not even Ryan Dancey. Paizo didn't even expect it until they were forced into that position in order to survive. [/QUOTE]

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