D&D 5E Necromancer Games - 3 5E books announced!

[skeetyrbug]

You guys crack me up.

Nice to know my login still works here.

Skeeter

 

[Charles Wright]

And we've passed another stretch goal!


Quest of Doom has been unlocked!


Please read who the authors are and pledge if you want more work from our talented team! Also, spread the word!

We've got 15k to unlock the final book and on the way there we will also unlock 20 more monsters for Fifth Edition Foes!

• $35,000 (LOCKED) We add ten more monsters to 5th Edition Foes
• $40,000 (LOCKED) We add ten more monsters to 5th Edition Foes
• $45,000 (LOCKED) We will publish the Book of Lost Spells as an add-on (add $40 to your pledge to receive this book)

Necromancer Games: Back for 5th Edition

 

[GX.Sigma]

I hope there will be some juicy previews before the end--a list of monsters and a sample page would be delectable.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Saw this and backed for all 3 straight away. Really happy to see Necromancer Games around again, even if Frog God Games did a pretty good job in their absence.

 

[mach1.9pants]

One and the same company now, as I understand it

 

[Charles Wright]

Also please remember that even if you aren't interested in the 5E format of these books, a good showing on the kickstarter will help us produce the piece of this project that can be translated into the Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry formats!

You can help by spreading the word to your friends who might be interested in what we're offering here!

 

[Nikosandros]

One and the same company now, as I understand it

Yes, it's just a matter of branding... it's the same company.

 

[pemerton]

OGL is a license for use of a product that a content creator can use, similar to Creative Commons (which is what Posthuman does). So any game content that meets the requirements of the OGL can apply it to their work, so long as they own the intellectual property they're applying it to.

<snip>

The only material that Wizards of the Coast has licensed under the OGL is their 3.x material. They can, if they want to, license 5e under the same license, under Creative Commons, under the GSL they had for 4e, or any other license they choose since they own the rights. Necromancer is also free to release whatever material they create under the OGL, so long as it is material they own the rights to. That last statement is key.

I don't know on what basis Necromancer is intending to publish its books. (If the Kickstarter page explains this, I missed it.) They could be unlicensed and simply avoid infringing WotC's IP rights. Or they could use material licensed by WotC under the OGL.

If you are implying that WotC's licensing of its 3E and 3.5E SRDs under the OGL means that only material for 3E/3.5 can be published pursuant to that license, you are wrong. Or, at least, not everyone agrees with you. For instance, OSRIC is not intended for 3E or 3.5. It is intended to be a clone of 1st ed AD&D, but it uses material licensed by WotC under the OGL. (The first item appearing in the OSCRIC s 15 declaration is the 3E SRD.)

My expertise is not particularly in contract or IP law, but it seems to me that one challenge for retro-clones like OSRIC is to comply with clause 5 of the OGL, under which the publishers "represent that Your Contributions [of OGC] are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License." If in fact the retro-clones are violating WotC copyrights (by drawing upon unlicensed earlier works) then clause 5 is not being complied with, and hence the use of WotC's material (in which WotC expressly asserts its copyright - see the s 15 statement for the SRD) is not licensed. OSRIC appears to try to avoid this problem by characterising its monster and magic item text (which in my view at least has the potential to infringe WotC copyrights) as product identity rather than OGC - but that circumvents one possible problem at the risk of opening up others.

Last time I read a comment from Clark Peterson on OSRIC he described it as infringing WotC's rights. I don't know if he, or Necromancer more generally, still takes that view. But that suggests to me that Necromancer won't be attempting to represent WotC story elements in its new books, but rather will be aiming to produce new story material that is mechanically compatible with 5e.

 

[Thaumaturge]

I don't know on what basis Necromancer is intending to publish its books. (If the Kickstarter page explains this, I missed it.) They could be unlicensed and simply avoid infringing WotC's IP rights. Or they could use material licensed by WotC under the OGL.

They don't explain it on their kickstarter page. They have a blog post here where they say their plan is OGL, though that may change depending on WotC's liscensing scheme.

They also fight the narrative that they are providing guidance, by example, on how to use the OGL for 5e.

Thaumaturge.

 

[ExoKnight]

My concerns with the kickstarter........

1. The rule aren't even out yet. So don't know if I want to fully support the edition.

2. So in October the Complete Core of D&D will be out. You have November target release date.
How is the rules segment of the material not going to be rushed? If I'm going to drop $120 I don't want inconsistent material. You could of waited a few months to do the KStarter.

3. I have bought a lot of FFG material for PF/S&W/3.X. As fan of the company I don't want the recycled material for 2 out of the 3 books. Wish it was more original. If you are asking for all that money I would expect newer material rather then recycled ones.