OGL; Is it working?

[Glyfair]

Magic Items: There needs to be some alternative magic items to the core out there. Even if it's just collected form various resources and expanded. Perhaps include a magic item creation method that can replace or be used alongside the standard system. (Forged in Magic, the small Green Ronin book that did collect magic items in the 3.0 era, and a few others come into play like Arms & Armor, which was a catch all).

You know, I'm really, really suprised that no one has done a product or article about lower the availability of magic item creation to players without taking away their ability to do so completely.

I think one of the best things about 3E was the fact that you actually could make magic items without having to pretty much retire (or retire for a long time). However, it seems a bit too open for my tastes in practice, and for others. Unfortunately, the solutions I've seen have been just to ban the option. I know there is a good middle ground, and I expected to see it published. I haven't (although I admit, it might exist).

I think that would be an excellent section in a magic item book. I'd buy it if it was done well.

Also, that points out another hole in products right now. There are certain areas in D&D that people complain about and suggest be changed in 3E (level adjustments, metamagic feats, etc). Why haven't 3rd party producers published products with new approaches that can be used in a standard game in place of these?

 

[Glyfair]

Well, I guess we were just deluded to think things like the Thieves' World books with their bigass d20 logos counted as d20 releases. Or Freeport stuff, which has always been designed to drop into any d20 fantasy setting. Or Temple Quarter, which can also be used in practically any campaign.

As far as usability, I think Freeport qualifies (for me anyway). I can drop it into my Eberron campaign pretty easily (indeed, I'm planning on it).

Thieves' World is borderline. It's has a history of being a "drop in" type of setting (I know a number of Glorantha campaigns that have placed the original in various locations). However, significant changes from a standard campaign will make it harder to include (I haven't seen the latest to note if that applies to the latest setting).

 

[Glyfair]

More books of places, characters, interesting items with their own hooks (one of the things I actually like about Weapons of Legacy), and the like.

You know, a lot of the things here have been done with d20. Fast Forward was good at covering these categories. Unfortunately, they weren't done particularly well.

My local game store owner really liked what Fast Forward was advertising for their first products. He thought the magic item books where you could order replicas was a hook that should have been used before (not that it would be a big selling point to me).

 

[GMSkarka]

I still say Green Ronin isn't doing much D20, however.

"There's no food around here."

"What are you talking about? There's a ton of food in the fridge!"

"I don't like any of that, so it doesn't count as 'Food.'"


Wow.

 

[philreed]

I don't get it. Chris posted a listing that proves, to me, that Green Ronin has heavily supported the d20 System in 2005. How are products that include the d20 logo, and work with the baseline system, not d20 products?

Can any other print publisher, besides WotC, list more d20 System products in 2005?

Actually, it would be interesting to see a breakdown of number of d20 products by year since 2000.

 

[DaveMage]

Can any other print publisher, besides WotC, list more d20 System products in 2005?

Mongoose and Goodman Games would be it I think.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

For some reason I am like posters above and don't consider stuff like Thieves World or other books of it's like to be D20. I guess the D20 = stuff for generic D&D view has set in with me. Was Black Company D20 or OGL?

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

It's called Unearthed Arcana

You know, I'm really, really suprised that no one has done a product or article about lower the availability of magic item creation to players without taking away their ability to do so completely.

Unearthed Arcana introduced the "Craft Points" system which does exactly this. The rules state that you can use craft points to substitute for time, but what I'm doing is running a time-constrained campaign, where effectively craft points are the only way to create items, and they are working out extremely well!

 

[MerricB]

hey guys,
I was just thinking about the OGL today, and I was wondering hat the original purpose for it was, along with Has it lived up to it and where do you think it will go in the future.

There were many different purposes for the OGL. I do not believe the "One System to Rule Them All" theory. It makes the assumption that the guys behind the OGL were really dumb, and believed that everyone would be satisfied with one system. That is insupportable, in my opinion. That it was designed to reduce the number of D&D "knock-offs" in the marketplace, definitely. (I'm looking at Palladium, here).

Strangely enough, the latest iteration of OGL products is in d20-like games (True 20, Arcana Unearthed, etc.) However, the mechanics are more unified than before, and easier to learn. This fulfils one of the goals of the OGL: to make transitioning between games easier, and thus reducing the number of gamers who can't speak to each other.

It is certain that one of the chief purposes of the OGL was to release Wizards from the burden of producing adventures. In this, it failed. Why it failed is a fascinating study. That Dungeon Magazine (much unloved by Wizards at times) has had a role in it is quite likely.

Have there been unanticipated effects of the OGL? Undoubtedly. Not all of these have been in the direct interests of Wizards.

One of the fascinating things is that Wizards has now twice produced a Boom/Bust phenonomen. Maybe three times. The first was caused by Magic: the Gathering and caused the great CCG Boom of 1994-5. The d20 System Boom of 2001 was another. Does the Pokemon CCG count? Possibly - and the aftereffects of that hurt Wizards terribly.

The Boom effect of introducing 3.5e, and also of the d20 System License concealed for some time the actual sustainable level of the RPG Industry. I don't know if we really know now, either: the distributors and retailers got badly spooked from the Bust. Add to that a greater reliance of distribution outside the FLGS system, and the picture is muddy.

Cheerse!

 

[Psion]

For some reason I am like posters above and don't consider stuff like Thieves World or other books of it's like to be D20. I guess the D20 = stuff for generic D&D view has set in with me. Was Black Company D20 or OGL?

Obviously, it's not a black-or-white situation. But really, I can use a lot of Black Company in my standard D&D game. (Jack-of-all-Trades is a nice "bridge" class to create unrealized concepts.) Other settings and d20/OGL games, not so much.

Regardless, whilst I recognize the quantity is down, I feel like the quality is really up. That's not a bad thing.