NEWS: OGL and SRD dates/info announced

[Tewligan]

Magical Medieval Society would not exist if it were attempted today, for 4e.

Wouldn't it just exist 6 months later?

 

[GMSkarka]

I think you risk sounding unprofessional coming here and repeatedly bashing WotC's decision.

You seriously misunderstand me if you think I'm "bashing" anything.

I'm not bashing the decision at all. I just answered people's questions.

 

[Dragonblade]

Incidentally, it bothers me that games like Spycraft couldn't be created in 4e because the PHB must be referenced. I'm wondering if innovative design might compensate, though. Can you picture a western game where the gunfighter came from a rogue, just using substitution levels?

Why couldn't you make Spycraft? Spycraft 1e was a d20 game and required the PHB to play. It worked out just fine. Spycraft 2.0 could easily have been a d20 game as well. Strip out the XP chart and BAM! d20 compatible!

I don't know if the 4e OGL will work the same way, but if it does, then no problem.

 

[Cadfan]

The reason that fans won't band together to raise the 5k is simple, and its not the fact that you only get 3 copies of the book.

Its the same reason that will stop too many smaller publishers from banding together and paying the cost as a group.

Its because the NDA will undoubtedly include a penalty clause, and will make whoever has the license responsible for the penalty no matter which company or person in the partnership violates it.

Between real businesses, a quick contract can be established to handle that sort of thing, and to reduce the risk borne by whoever is holding the license. Between a bunch of random fans, or "dude in a basement" publishers, there won't be a sufficient level of trust, or verifiable commitment.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

It might bite, but I fail to see why WoTC should distribute what is basically a free version of their rules and IP. I know gamers that never bought 3.5 as the 3.0 and the SRD was all they needed. From a business sense that is lost money.

That being said, I will miss having a 4e online rules set for free (or negligible cost for some of the PDF versions of 3.5 out there) but I can understand why WoTC is avoiding doing so this time around.

On the plus side, my productivity might go up if I don't have access to the 4e rules from my work computer.

On second thought, as long as EN World is around, it won't matter.

 

[Sitara]

What they are doing is making sure that everyone who plays a d20 game has access to or read the PHB!! (i.e. knows about WOTC and its products!)

Anyhow, to all smaller publishers here; why don't you guy's spend the time until Jun 2008 working on the fluff for your new/future 4E products? heck that usually half the work, if not more. So once you get the rules, you will have the fluff done and can work on the integrating the rules according to the SRD and OGL.

And then publish by 2009.

 

[Spatula]

It might bite, but I fail to see why WoTC should distribute what is basically a free version of their rules and IP. I know gamers that never bought 3.5 as the 3.0 and the SRD was all they needed. From a business sense that is lost money.

Regardless of what WOTC does, their printed works are going to end up online for free. People that committed to not paying for stuff would probably just have download the rules from somewhere else if the SRD websites never existed. Or would have just not played 3e at all. It's a fallacy to assume that because someone liked a product when it was free, that they'd care enough to pay for it if it no longer was.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

You seriously misunderstand me if you think I'm "bashing" anything.

I'm not bashing the decision at all. I just answered people's questions.

I apologize for misunderstanding your intentions and offering advice in a public forum. I really want to see small publishers suceed, especially those with worthwhile products.

Piratecat - I apologize, my intent was to offer advice in relation to the annoucement, not to tell others what to do. I will try to understand the difference and refrain from telling other what to do in the future.

 

[Voadam]

The no full rules in the srd will be a stumbling block to me switching to 4e. Its giving me pause.

I didn't buy any of the core 3.5 books but I bought a bunch of 3.5 WotC supplements after switching to 3.5 after using the srd. I use the srd to play D&D all the time. I don't plan on getting DDI right now. If I can't use the 4e srd to play 4e and I can use the 3.5 srds to play 3.5 along with my tons of pdfs, I have a big incentive to keep playing 3.5 and not switch.

I can't imagine running my pbp and email games right now without the easy access to the srd that I have.

 

[Toryx]

I agree with those who have said that the new limitations to the SRD is designed to turn attention from something like the hypertext srd to the DI. It makes perfect business sense to do so, and that actually is the first good reason they've given me to consider paying for DI.

But as someone else also mentioned, the true value of the hypertext srd was as a reference while at the table. I've bought all the books I've needed for play and for creating the characters I've wanted to play, and I've liked having the books to read, flip through, and refer to on a regular basis. But I've gotten into the habit of having my laptop at the gaming table, the hypertext srd up, and all the information I need regarding spells, items, special combat rules (grapple!) in my browser tabs. It was much easier to refer to that way than flipping through the books over and over again.

If DI goes that way, that'll be great. If they're going to limit the information to pdfs or some other rigid program structure, then I'll be seriously disappointed.