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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 3982387" data-attributes="member: 32164">So you're complaining because the license has restrictions? Yes, it's more restrictive than the old OGL. And I personally have no problem with WotC wanting to avoid people using the SRD (which is intended for game developers) as a way to get a free copy of the rules.Or for WotC to want to prevent 30 &quot;variant player's handbooks.&quot; This restriction is one that the publishing community brought on itself. In some cases, the big companies are the ones who are losing the most products.For 12 months. Yup. But I still say it's not a tiered license. Because everyone will play by the same rules. Everyone has the option of paying for the developers kit. There's no ability for White Wolf to sell product on the strength of their brand that doesn't say &quot;compatible with 4th Edition D&amp;D.&quot; That's the same language that EN Publishing or Bad Axe or a brand new startup could use. There's no distinction. All this does is separate serious publishers from dabblers.Any company can afford the $5,000 fee. Whether they choose to is a separate issue. If they're serious about being a big player in the 4e market, they will find a way to pay for it. If I had a track record in the business, I know exactly how easy it would be to get a business loan to pay for it. Hell, for anyone with a decent credit rating, you could pay for it&nbsp; with a business line of credit.Of course, you'd have to be pretty sure that you could sell, oh, maybe 1000 copies. I believe that's about 0.1% of the D&amp;D market. That doesn't exactly require a runaway &quot;smash hit.&quot;As far as &quot;community standards,&quot; since all the products will reference D&amp;D, I think WotC has a right to protect its brand perception.If WotC had chosen to sign a special agreement with the big companies, and just not released the license until June, that would have been a license without tiers. In fact, that's exactly how 3e worked - some companies got access to the rules before the license was officially released. Instead, they're making it possible for a small outfit to get in on the action. That's actually far more fair to small companies than just shutting them out until June.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 3982387, member: 32164"] So you're complaining because the license has restrictions? Yes, it's more restrictive than the old OGL. And I personally have no problem with WotC wanting to avoid people using the SRD (which is intended for game developers) as a way to get a free copy of the rules. Or for WotC to want to prevent 30 "variant player's handbooks." This restriction is one that the publishing community brought on itself. In some cases, the big companies are the ones who are losing the most products. For 12 months. Yup. But I still say it's not a tiered license. Because everyone will play by the same rules. Everyone has the option of paying for the developers kit. There's no ability for White Wolf to sell product on the strength of their brand that doesn't say "compatible with 4th Edition D&D." That's the same language that EN Publishing or Bad Axe or a brand new startup could use. There's no distinction. All this does is separate serious publishers from dabblers. Any company [i]can[/i] afford the $5,000 fee. Whether they choose to is a separate issue. If they're serious about being a big player in the 4e market, they will find a way to pay for it. If I had a track record in the business, I know exactly how easy it would be to get a business loan to pay for it. Hell, for anyone with a decent credit rating, you could pay for it with a business line of credit. Of course, you'd have to be pretty sure that you could sell, oh, maybe 1000 copies. I believe that's about 0.1% of the D&D market. That doesn't exactly require a runaway "smash hit." As far as "community standards," since all the products will reference D&D, I think WotC has a right to protect its brand perception. If WotC had chosen to sign a special agreement with the big companies, and just not released the license until June, that would have been a license without tiers. In fact, that's exactly how 3e worked - some companies got access to the rules before the license was officially released. Instead, they're making it [i]possible[/i] for a small outfit to get in on the action. That's actually far more fair to small companies than just shutting them out until June. [/QUOTE]

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