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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 4150945" data-attributes="member: 2209">Perhaps for me personally? I just said so in the post you were responding to. Please don't imply that I'm a liar.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  I think the examples you use argue the other way actually.Prior to the OGL there was GURPS Conan. A person looking to play in a Conan RPG picking up the Conan book would get GURPS stuff and probably will get GURPS supplements like GURPS Fantasy Bestiary to supplement their game instead of D&D stuff. After they have played their conan campaign if they want something more they will have learned and be familiar with GURPS rules and are more likely to go on to different GURPS stuff.With OGL Conan a person starting with Conan will be familiar with basic D&D rules and might buy WotC D&D products that are fairly compatible to support their Conan game. Setting supplements will be Conan ones, but if they want more monsters or traps they must look to D&D type books such as the monster manuals. If after playing Conan they are looking for something different they will be familiar with D&D rules and the various D&D options which makes entering and switching to D&D easier.So for people who start with a Conan RPG having an OGL Conan game seems significantly better for WotC.With Ptolus it is a third-party D&D city setting with its own outer world and cosmology, but also designed to be fairly easy to plug into other campaign worlds. The group still needs a PH, DMG, and MM.Malhavoc's Ptolus stuff includes: Ptolus, Player's Guide to Ptolus, Secrets of the Delvers (collected miscellanea), Banewarrens (a midlevel module), Night of Dissolution (mid level module), and Chaositech (evil power sourcebook). There is also a module by Fiery Dragon, some counters by Fiery Dragon, and some maps by Skeleton Key Games. I can't think of anything else.There are other Malhavok support products that occupy the same niches as some WotC products, but there is no reason to exclusively use Ptolus or Malhavok stuff when playing a Ptolus campaign. Anyone who plays Ptolus as written is playing D&D, has bought D&D stuff, and has reason to keep buying D&D stuff. The Malhavoc Ptolus branded player support material is a single product, the free Player's Guide to the City. Malhavc's other player support materials are not Ptolus specific but generic D&D products. Malhavoc's Complete Book of Eldritch Might and WotC's Spell Compendium both support a Ptolus campaign and a purchaser wanting a lot more spells will get both or either for their D&D game, and the Spell Compendium is more widely available.If they want player or DM support material there is a ton of applicable support material from WotC for them to buy. Also, if they want to move on from the City of Ptolus it is easy to transition to WotC settings like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, or Dragonlance. If they want to go to another D&D city they can easily transition to gaming in WotC's Waterdeep, Sharn, or Stormreach. It does not seem that groups starting D&D using OGL Ptolus as their setting will be a bad thing for WotC selling D&D products.The closest argument is for OGL games that are essentially different mechanical games than D&D, such as Mutants and Masterminds or OGL Runequest.People starting with M&M don't have a lot of WotC products that can supplement their game and have a bit of a jarring mechanics transition if they want to switch to D&D. There are similiarities in having saves, attack rolls, etc. but it is not as easy a transition as closer mechanical stand alone OGL games such as Arcana Evolved. Even so it is closer to D&D than HERO or Marvel Superheroes, for examples, and therefore seems still to be a net benefit for WotC.</blockquote>

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