D&D 5E Prepping for the 5e gaming licence

[Roger]

My sense is that 5E tends to be more of a 'yeah but how well does it work in practice' sort of edition, so I'd tend to suggest your time is best spent in more playtesting rather than anything else. But your mileage may vary on that.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

Assuming you're going to be creating and releasing material, I'd suggest two things:

1. Read up on articles, guides, and blogs from subject matter experts on how to be a better designer. Practice up on layout, design, grammar, etc. Create what you want now, and playtest the heck out of it. I wrote my first game in 1986, and man, I learn new ways to be better every day.
2. Play as much of the game as possible, and read the DMG a few times to really get familiar with the 5e material. Even if you might not be able to use a lot of stuff as it might be restricted in the license, if you're not familiar with the game, it will show in your product.

 

[CapnZapp]

At this point, I'm not sure how someone would go about producing something commercial for D&D 5E, if that person doesn't already have a relationship with WotC.

How about going about it the way all the others that have already produced something commercial for D&D 5E? Just a guess

 

[Jester David]

Learn by doing.

Make some feats, races, subclasses and the like. Pay attention to how powers are formatted. Constantly compare what you've written with the official content. Search for similar wordings in the Basic PDF. Watch for word choiuces.
For example, the prior two editions tend to use "adjacent" for being in the space beside a character. But that term isn't used in 5e. But you sometimes see homebrew content use it, as they didn't check.

Playing the game helps. Learn the balance of the mechanics and why things are designed the way they are.

Get your content out there for free. Build a reputation. IF a licence is released, worry about paid work then.
Submitting and pitching to 3rd Party publishers of En5ider is also a good idea. Work with people and learn how to edit and revise your work.

 

[Shasarak]

Despite being what I like to call schrodinger's gaming licence era, I would like to prep for when the they finally do the 5e gaming licence.

what should I read, both official material and 3rd party analysis, so I'm familiar enough to tinker with 5e dnd when their variant of the gsl officially becomes available?

Just be careful when you go to open up that box - there could be an alive and very angry cat inside!

(which could make the development of your 5e products more painful while you heal)

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Just be careful when you go to open up that box - there could be an alive and very angry cat inside!

(which could make the development of your 5e products more painful while you heal)

That's kind of my vibe as well.

I'm worried that if I jump the gun, all I'll generate is a crappy game that makes me liable.

but if I wait, I'll miss the bandwagon.

It took me an ungodly amount of time to do my own rpg, and by the time it was done, it felt like I mastered a game engine that nobody cares about.

My opinion and the popular support has changed since then, but I'm getting the vibe that the 5th edition ogl equivalent will come out a month after 6th edition is released and honestly, I'm not willing to take that risk.

especially with other perfectly good ogls out there that require less legal manoeuvring.

 

[Pauper]

How about going about it the way all the others that have already produced something commercial for D&D 5E? Just a guess

So 'have an existing relationship with WotC before publishing anything 5E related', then? I mean, you've got Gale Force Nine, Kobold Press, Green Dragon Publishing, Goodman Games -- all these guys have working relationships with WotC and the folks in charge of D&D. And it seems like, if you already have that, then you already know how to get your 5E product published without running afoul of WotC's legal department.

As I said originally, not sure how helpful that is to the original poster.

 

[CapnZapp]

So 'have an existing relationship with WotC before publishing anything 5E related', then? I mean, you've got Gale Force Nine, Kobold Press, Green Dragon Publishing, Goodman Games -- all these guys have working relationships with WotC and the folks in charge of D&D. And it seems like, if you already have that, then you already know how to get your 5E product published without running afoul of WotC's legal department.

As I said originally, not sure how helpful that is to the original poster.

Now you seem to be suggesting every 5E publisher have struck a deal with WotC?

If that were right, you would be right.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I don't think it's so much an agreement, but a blind eye.

some of these unofficial 5e publishers have stuff fairly ready to go that they dare not work on beyond a certain point to attract attention.