NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ratenef" data-source="post: 1114779" data-attributes="member: 6893">Please note that this was supposed to have been posted last night at midnight EST, but due to several PC issues is being posted now, 14 hours later. So please forgive me if I seem 'dated'.(RANT) After having read this ENTIRE thread in one sitting.....took me about 2.5 hours, I have the following to add to this discussion.Free Speech -- using this as a shield is just too damn easy. In a world of FREE speech there would be nothing taboo and children and impresionable minds would be subject to hate literature, child pornography, etc. Obviously we don't want this, so some sort of boundaries need to be made for society to prosper accordingly. WotC being the 'government' of this sub society is deeming what it considers those boundaries to be (i.e. gratuitious violence or sex, hate crimes and equality of religions). If WotC making this decision causes you such great grief, then stop buying ALL WotC (and possibly Hasbro) products and the problem will eventually vanish.WotC the 'money whore' - Now correct me if I'm wrong but aren't they HQ'ed out of the US, the most capitalistic country in the world. As such they follow the rules of capitalism which basically states that  less than 100% market share is unacceptable. If this is a problem for you, then do not buy WotC products, but also don't complain if DnD stops to flourish because its greatest proponent dies.WotC being unfair -- Now this I don't understand. They made a truly excellent update to a dated system (read ver 3 here) and then made a significant portion of it free for anyone to download. Just think, you don't need to buy ANY books to play 3rd edition DnD. Just go to Wizards website and download the entire SRD. One game good to go! Then they also created a system that allows other companies to use this core system to create their own games and also ride the coat tails of WotC marketing by using the d20 moniker. Yes WotC wins because they get money from the books necessary to use any rules you create or adapt, but such is capitalism (see note above). With all the 100s of d20 stuff out there (from the sublime to crap) I only know of a few instances where companies were asked to change their product to comply with the d20 OGL licensing rules. Then WotC updated their core rules in responce to 1000s of hours of playing by fans of the game and also made these rules completely downloadable. All you miss is the non OGL stuff and some pretty pictures. All you whiners who complain about the cost of the v3.5 books, you should have just downloaded the 'new' rules (costing about $5 in printouts). Does this sound like a company that is being truly unfair?OGL - by WotC adopting the OGL model, they have created a gaming market that allows for products from several different companies to be all used to together. In the last hey day of gaming (early - mid 80's) due to the policies of TSR, every non TSR book you picked up had different rules for just about anything, making it quite difficult for the DM or player to easily adopt features of other campaigns or accesories. I can't thank them enough for this bold and ambitious (and successful) action.Anthony Valterra -- A lot of comments are being made about Mr. Valterra and what he did or didn't do. I think we are being unecessarily unfair. Are we privy to this mans thoughts or motives? If not, then please ask him what his intentions were. If he fails to respond accordingly, then we can maybe assume some nefarious plot. Actually Mr. Valterra you have responded to the times you were in charge of the OGL stuff for WotC, but I have yet to hear a comment regarding your thoughts or feelings regarding what WotC has done and how this will affect your book, either for the good or bad. Could you please maybe respond to this question and maybe, if you feel inclined, respond to the comments concerning your 'nefarious scheme'? Thanks.WotC -- as with Mr. Valterra above, we are making assumptions as to what WotC were thinking or why they did what they did. They have made some politically correct comments but I would appreciate an explanation as to what actions by the industry made these changes necessary. Also, were these actions truly in responce to a single book (BoEF) or to many, and examples?Now, WotC was completely within their rights to do what they did and I applaude them for their actions. If you were afraid of their 'manhandling' the OGL, then you were well forwarned by the 'these rules can change at any time without previous notice' clause.If we use all the stuff that WotC has published to date as a springboard for what is acceptable and what is not, then we can benchmark what is allowable and what isn't. If you are afraid that something you wish to publish isn't, then I think that WotC should be and would be able to take the time to verify this for you. Or, you can just go the pure OGL route and not have a d20 logo on your book.Is what WotC is asking all that bad? NO gratuituos Violence NO gratuitous sex/pornography NO racism that could/does impact the modern world NO religionism that could/does impact the modern world These are things that I think are quite acceptable in a company that produces items for people 13+ (I started gaming when I was 10 and want my son to start at about 8). Albeit, a large portion of the game is played by adults (18+ years of age) but no exclusively. Also the product is sold in comic and book stores, which do not have age restrictions to enter, so we should be aware that any child that can read can and will pick up these books to peruse (I know my 6 year old son does).So all Hasbro/WotC is doing is ensuring that their corporate policies are in effect as it would be with any of their other games (we don't see a Stripper G.I. Joe or a Vice Sqaud Lite Brite now do we?).I am glad that WotC is making a stand with regards what its name gets directly associated with, for if it didn't I would really wonder about the moral directions of the company. And being a long time gamer and parent I do not think that the exclusion of these components will in any way negatively impact my game. If they did, I would just create my own set of guidelines that I would use in my games. If I choose to publish them I would have to consider the value of the d20 icon vs. publishing my exact material (which is truly a marketing vs. artistic integrity question).Also everyone seems fixated on the Sex component of the new rules. The other three components (violence, race and religion) do not play an integral part in the new BoEF, do they? Are any of these restrictions going to cause any other books to stop production or distribution? If so what titles? And do we really want d20 books proliferating excessive violence (as if TV and Video games didn't already), or hate crimes or religious bigotry? I certainly don't and I hope you don't either.Anyways thats my electrum piece rant. (/RANT)</blockquote>

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