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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Orcus" data-source="post: 4833170" data-attributes="member: 1254">Thanks for the kind words everyone. And for those laughing at the irony, I'm right there with you. I agree. It is ironic. Of course, it just so happens that I also wish it wasnt me that happened to be the brunt of that irony <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> but it sure is. Dont fret about the hard words, though. I'm a big boy. I can take it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> If I was worried about people pointing out the irony I wouldnt have posted. I could have just kept quiet. But I thought people have been waiting and deserved to know. I had a nice long chat with Scott Rouse today. He is the man. I really wish the vision he and Linae had for the GSL had been allowed to proceed out of the chute. I understand why it didnt work out that way, I think. What a different place D&D would be in if the GSL was as it is now at launch. Or, better yet, had the suggestion to PI 4E and release it under the OGL been adopted. Makes you wonder if there would even have been a Pathfinder and a splintered marketplace. I have this image in my mind of Paizo supporting 4E and Necro doing the products we envisioned at launch and other print publishers all being on board--like we all were on that big conference call before WotC changed course. Seriously, when I got off the phone from that conference call of the publishers with Linae and Scott, I dont think I'm exaggerating to say people were pumped. We were suprised. Many of us emailed each other and said "wow, its really happening, we're gonna get to support 4E, they are listeniing to us, they understand the value of 3Ps to the launch of the new system and to supporitng the game on store shelves, the way stuff happened for 3E." Then it all went wrong. The problem, I think, was the distributors. As 4E got near, they said "we hope there wont be a glut again like with 3E" and I think that really threw Wizards and I think that got the GSL off track. Then, when 4E launched without 3Ps, those same distributors said "hey, there arent any products to support this new line." And now when you talk to them about doing products they say "there's no established track record and sales suck." Its like a self-fulfilling prophesy. Its crazy. Its been crazy. Luckily we have good people with vision who want to make it right. I still believe in Scott and I believe Wizards can pull itself out of this dangerous track they are in of dividing the customer base. I think Wizards needs to step back and say--lets not be the company of 4E, lets be the company of D&D. Lets embrace ALL players, not just 4E players. How much would it rule to see some of the old handbooks revised and reprinted (for those who want them)? How about not tell us waht to play and demean those who dont adopt the new hotness? How about finding a unifying thread of that game? How about a system-neutral world that has run through every edition of D&D prior to now (nudge nudge, a Greyhawk revival that is a setting only, not system specific; how rad would that be, nudge nudge)? Sometimes I wonder if Wizards has learned the lessons of the history of this hobby.I hope they find their way to say, "hey, come over here. sit down with me. lets play D&D. however you want. we are the company of D&D and we want to help all of you play it." I think that can be done. Here's hoping. But you guys would be right to take my optimism with a grain of salt. I cant deny that <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Anyway, I got off track. I'm still a cheerleader. I'm still an optimist. I still have immense respect for Scott (and Linae) and the people there who get it. I have come to the conclusion that the momentum behind the GSL was not capitalized on. That ship has sailed and we cant get that chance back. And the inertia of getting it back running again is working against us. That bums me out that we missed that chance (and by "we" I mean wizards working in partnership with the 3Ps; and you guys need to know that as of the time of the inisider conference call, that was really really close to happening). So I came to those conclusions and evaluated the current situation, I made the post I made. Thanks again for the comments--the good and the bad. All are warranted. Clark</blockquote>

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