Open Publishing is important

[Sigurd]

At some stage people have to find a cultural format for Role Playing that is bigger than any publisher.

At first, I thought the D20\OGL license might be the beginnings of that system. It made me have huge respect, even gratitude, for wizards of the coast. lt seemed to be a genre of fantasy simulation that everyone could join with a minimum of rules and permissions. Even if you never actually wrote anything you could dream that there was a straight forward way you could see your work on the shelves (Virtual or otherwise) to reach other players.

If the new version of D&D does not have an open component I will not play it.

I really like the weird and wonderful works from people not at WOTC. I have the basic books and a few expansions but the material I most enjoy comes from small publishers. Authors I can email as regular people and discuss clarifications etc.. or just congratulate on a good job.


If Wizards is trying to enclose the commons, I hope that D20 has reached critical mass and that it can survive the departure of Wizards of the Coast. D20\OGL was a brilliant Idea, the license is the cornerstone of tremendous exciting creativity. As a DM I want clear freedoms to express my stories in print privately or commercially. I don't want to give any company the right to reprint my material automatically.

If too much is taken from the freedom of small publishers I hope someone creates or releases an open source or GPL gaming system.

If anyone knows a list of GPL (or Public Domain) gaming systems feel free to post them.


/rant


Sigurd

 

[Glyfair]

If too much is taken from the freedom of small publishers I hope someone creates or releases an open source or GPL gaming system.

They did. WotC did with the the D20 system (both 3E and 3.5). It's still available as a base.

In addition, there are several other options. There are plenty of d20 based games out there. There are also alternative, including several from Mongoose (Runequest, the upcoming Traveler system, etc).

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Mongoose provides open licenses for all their d20-based OGL Corebooks: OGL Steampunk, OGL Ancients, etc. These are pretty much D&D or d20 Modern replacements. IIRC, Conan is also semi-OGL; I know I've seen third-party supplements for it.

Mongoose also have an open license for the new edition of Runequest, which is a nice system in its own right, if a bit long in the tooth (not that core d20 isn't showing it's age, too).

True20 has, IIRC, a limited license. I know Mutants and Masterminds and Spycraft do.

FATE is a free, open-license system. So is the simpler FUDGE, on which it is based.

Wushu has an open license.

 

[trancejeremy]

The thing I don't like, is now apparently you can't even publish fan material anywhere except on their Gleemax site. Which is basically the same as the old policy in the TSR days, where you could only upload stuff to a few authorized places.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The thing I don't like, is now apparently you can't even publish fan material anywhere except on their Gleemax site. Which is basically the same as the old policy in the TSR days, where you could only upload stuff to a few authorized places.

Good luck to WotC in enforcing this one.

 

[Glyfair]

The thing I don't like, is now apparently you can't even publish fan material anywhere except on their Gleemax site. Which is basically the same as the old policy in the TSR days, where you could only upload stuff to a few authorized places.

Has that been stated? I suspect the fan policy will stay the same as it has been. Don't commercially infringe on their IP and be reasonable and it's OK.

Anything else will have major repercussions in their PR.

 

[MerricB]

In some ways, the ability of the public to contribute to 4e will be even greater. All you have to do is post your material on Gleemax, everyone will be able to see it... and the best of it will draw the attention of Wizards and they may contact you about including it in an official book.

That's better than what we have now. Why? Mind-flayers, Beholders, Drow, optional D&D books... it'll all be available. One of the big failings of the OGL is that you *can't* legally use the 50+ D&D books that Wizards publish except in Dragon/Dungeon magazine.

The next step is Dragon/Dungeon online - get paid for your work!

There will be 3rd party publishers that get a licence from Wizards for 4e material. Sure, it's not the free licence of the OGL, but I can't imagine the terms being too onerous... and they get access to all of Wizards published work to draw on.

Cheers!

 

[trancejeremy]

Has that been stated? I suspect the fan policy will stay the same as it has been. Don't commercially infringe on their IP and be reasonable and it's OK.

That's what MerricB said in the post about what we know about 4e...I hope he's wrong about it, even though being an optimist, he sees the good side of it

 

[MerricB]

The thing I don't like, is now apparently you can't even publish fan material anywhere except on their Gleemax site. Which is basically the same as the old policy in the TSR days, where you could only upload stuff to a few authorized places.

You never could. Not legally. Part of the problem the OGL was intended to solve was this. Fans could publish their own OGL material. Guess what happened? The fans didn't, and Wizards were left with this big hole in their IP protection.

Wizards will likely turn a blind eye to most of it, as before. Small sites won't be worth shutting down; larger sites will alienate too many fans if gone after... although Wizards may indeed work out new arrangements with them to make them more "legal".

Cheers!

 

[Sigurd]

All you have to do is post your material on Gleemax

I don't think thats conducive to creativity.

I love the wizards boards and there is a lot of material there, perhaps the biggest source on the net, but if they were the _only_ place creativity would suffer.

I like the homebrew sections here, at Giant in the Playground, and elsewhere.

I'd rather not have their material if it means that I have to be chaperoned by WOTC. What sort of publishing options are you going to have if the only publisher is WOTC?

I don't think they could make the game into a pay to play website but I think they will try and push the traffic that way. I like the chaos of the D20 license. Tighter licensing will make me claustrophobic.


Thank you for those that pointed out that the D20 licensed games and the OGL are not going away - this is true. I hope consumers support openness and publishing freedoms with their purchases not just branding and marketing.


Sigurd