Pramas on the OGL

[Henry]

Nope. OGL is the thing that has already done what you are saying here. I just want consumers and publishers to let go their attachment to D20 because of D&D. I want more standards than the D20 standard. D&D should be just D&D. Other games should be just other games and not just hybrids of the D&D's D20 standard. And this IMO now would help the whole hobby (D&D included).

However, the OGL is than just d20; the license was meant for more than just one "set of game rules," but multiple game rules - it's how Ryan Dancey saw it. The Action! System uses the OGL (meaning you could mix its rules in with rules from the SRD to form an entirely different product) and there is another system which I'm blanking on at the moment that's OGL also; yet other companies are going the route of licenses like Creative Commons for their works. It sounds as if to you that OGL = d20 = D&D, but that is incorrect.

To me it's more about expanding the good tools the market has to use, than about people making the market stagnant by using policies that really haven't worked well in the past. About the only time it DID work was in the late 70's and early 80's, when D&D was almost the only game in town. It certainly didn't help RPG's in the late 80's and early 90's, when the market leader became the market sinkhole.

 

[xechnao]

However, the OGL is than just d20; the license was meant for more than just one "set of game rules," but multiple game rules - it's how Ryan Dancey saw it. The Action! System uses the OGL (meaning you could mix its rules in with rules from the SRD to form an entirely different product) and there is another system which I'm blanking on at the moment that's OGL also; yet other companies are going the route of licenses like Creative Commons for their works. It sounds as if to you that OGL = d20 = D&D, but that is incorrect.

Yes, I know. But what has happened in practice? It is D20 all over the place and IMO a mess of the hobby. They even made of BESM a D20 version dammit. Why?

 

[Ranger REG]

Yes, I know. But what has happened in practice? It is D20 all over the place and IMO a mess of the hobby. They even made of BESM a D20 version dammit. Why?

Why not?

I want d20 to be a flexible tool, not having to use D&D as the rule benchmark. If a designer wants to make it 100% compatible to D&D, then that's his choice. If he wants to think outside of the WotC box and interpret his own take of the d20 System, then more power to him.

You're right about the public [mis-]perception about OGL = d20. We have yet to see game publishers like Gold Rush Games step up to promote their Action! System through a series or volumes of products just to expose to the consumers about their wares.

 

[Nellisir]

Yes, I know. But what has happened in practice? It is D20 all over the place and IMO a mess of the hobby. They even made of BESM a D20 version dammit. Why?

IT's d20 all over the place because WotC was the first big company to embrace the open concept and ergo, they've been doing it the longest; D&D has the biggest market, which means both the most potential customers and the most potential publishers; and given that most consumers brought to open gaming were brought by d20/D&D, that tends to be their awareness. Runequest is a totally non-d20 game system that Mongoose released under the OGL. Action! is another. Finally, an author or publisher has to -want- to release something under the OGL, and there's still alot of fear and misperception out there that, I suspect, holds back alot of small-press publishers.

 

[AZRogue]

I want open source Rolemaster. Yes. I said it.

 

[Dark Mistress]

I want open source Rolemaster. Yes. I said it.

Me too.

 

[Lizard]

I want open source Rolemaster. Yes. I said it.

Me too!

 

[Ranger REG]

I want open source Rolemaster. Yes. I said it.

Talk to Iron Crown.

 

[zacharythefirst]

I want open source Rolemaster. Yes. I said it.

Sign me up.

 

[Imban]

Yes, I know. But what has happened in practice? It is D20 all over the place and IMO a mess of the hobby. They even made of BESM a D20 version dammit. Why?

Because they were losers. I'm not going to fault the OGL for causing people to make trash-quality d20 books even though it wouldn't have been possible without it - it was Mark MacKinnon's choice to print a crappy half-conversion of his system to d20, and Chaosium's choice to print a crappy half-conversion of their Elric RPG to d20.

And count me in for welcoming more OGL games. Mongoose's version of RuneQuest is printed under the OGL, and from what I understand, Mongoose's version of Traveller will be as well. It'd totally be awesome if Rolemaster went OGL, as yet another game that's not overly tied to a proprietary world and that would benefit from expansion.