OSRIC: something for the old schoolers

[grodog]

Those 1E/2E Dragonsfoot people give a lot of loyalty.

And the Acaeum: a lot of folks from there ordered multiple copies.

 

[Treebore]

A fair number of Dragonsfoot people are also on the Acaeum.

 

[grodog]

A fair number of Dragonsfoot people are also on the Acaeum.

Quite true, Treebore

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Some helpful people have found various typos in the document, so I'll be uploading a slightly revised version later on today.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

OSRIC v0.02 has now been uploaded.

Main site: http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric
Also hosted at: http://www.thedelversdungeon.com

 

[Napftor]

Just snatched a copy of this. Very cool!

 

[grodog]

You consdiering writing, Bret?

 

[ruleslawyer]

This rocks, if only (for me) from a nostalgia perspective. Good stuff!

 

[RFisher]

On the other hand, I think there's better alternatives to it already on the market (e.g. Castles and Crusades).

Both as someone who was involved in the C&CS during C&C's development & as someone for whom oAD&D is not my prefered edition: C&C is not an alternative to OSRIC.

Although, personally, I'd rather see someone just publish a supplement for oAD&D (or any other system), get sued, & prove once-&-for-all that supplements are not copyright infringement & that "compatible with TM" is--when done properly--perfectly legal.

But nobody is going to do that, & if they did it'd be settled out-of-court, & even if it wasn't, it would hinge on a bunch of technical points specific to that product & end up not being important enough a precedent to clear everything up. (>_<)

I don't know how important OSRIC is for its stated purpose. Publishers had long ago found ways around the problems OSRIC intends to solve. Free/fan materials--since the dark times of TSR vs. the internet have passed--have not had the problems OSRIC intends to solve.

There is potential, however, of it becoming something of a unifying force. If Rob Kuntz decides to use it instead of CU... If Inner City Games switched to it... If Goodman Games translated DCCs to it... A few other publishers might then jump aboard also, who might otherwise not bother. Yeah, it's a niche market of a niche market, but I've seen lots of companies die trying to take over the world & lots of others thrive serving a niche. OK...OK...yeah...it's just a dream.

To me, OSRIC is more important in that it preserves much of the essence of the old game in a form that isn't tied to a finite number of physical copies and which can be distributed, mirrored, backed up, shared, copied, &c. freely. Much is lost, but it preserves what it can.

It's sad to me that we're headed to a world of perpetual copyright in which some great works will become endangered long after their value to their creator has been bleed dry simply because a few companies/estates manage to continue to squeeze some value from a few works long after their creator has passed. Especially sad since those profits aren't really as closely linked to those legal protections as they think. Even more especially sad since the mere threat of suit makes those legal protections effectively much stronger than they literally are.

 

[SWBaxter]

Although, personally, I'd rather see someone just publish a supplement for oAD&D (or any other system), get sued, & prove once-&-for-all that supplements are not copyright infringement & that "compatible with TM" is--when done properly--perfectly legal.

Happened several times, from which it appears nobody's gotten the "done properly" part right. If you figure it's so trivial, I suggest you put up the bucks for an IP lawsuit.