re: No 4E for Necromancer Games!

[pneumatik]

I totally understand why existing companies don't want to go with the GSL. I think there's still plenty of market for 4ed adventures, though. Some new companies who have less to lose if WotC screws them on the GSL will fill this market, and the good ones will sell products and stick around.

There's money to be made, and someone will make that money. The GSL is keeping 4th ed from getting good support right out the gate, but I don't think it'll limit the degree to which 3PP as a whole support it.

 

[Tilenas]

The whole discussion whether wizards wants 3pp to support 4e is geared too much at the present d20 community, at least in my book. Let's just for a second assume that wotc has a different market in mind (as you know is often claimed with regard to 4e). Would they be interested in 3pp content or would they just ignore everything that does not have WOTC printed all over it?

 

[evilref]

There's money to be made, and someone will make that money. The GSL is keeping 4th ed from getting good support right out the gate, but I don't think it'll limit the degree to which 3PP as a whole support it.

I agree. Personally I would rather the GSL offered more of a safe harbour and lost some of its restrictions (I have no problem with 'no making your own system out of ours) but there will be third party products for it, and I think the number will increase.

Aside from the tone difference between the GSL and OGL, the OGL had a lot of leadup and discussion before the launch of 3e, bt for the first few months there were very few third party supporters. And of all those companies publishing in the first six months of the OGL, only a handful are still around today. Just because some of them aren't supporting 4e doesn't mean other succesful companies won't appear.

 

[Sn00gans]

It's a real pity that such a good gaming system won't be getting much third party support. I really, REALLY hope Wizards' (and Hasbro's) legal department sees how much of a failure the GSL is and decide to change it.

 

[DaveMage]

It doesn't bode well for Paizo that you can count the number of companies supporting Pathfinder on one hand.....

3PP support for Paizo is gravy. They'll be fine.

 

[evilref]

3PP support for Paizo is gravy. They'll be fine.

Check the post I was replying to, I was making a sarcastic point.

 

[GreyWanderer]

4e/GSL is Industry Poison.

My biggest fear is that everything will fragment again, with every company using a separate (non-compatible) system, like it was years ago. The OGL saved the industry.

Grey

3rd Editions home on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/dungeonsanddragons3e

 

[Jer]

My biggest fear is that everything will fragment again, with every company using a separate (non-compatible) system, like it was years ago. The OGL saved the industry.

Let's not get too carried away here. What almost killed the industry was TSR driving their company into the ground. Retailers lost their number one cash cow for roleplaying sales. What saved the industry was someone (and it could have been anyone, really) buying out TSR, revamping their product line, and getting the number one selling RPG back onto the shelves for retailers to sell. It wasn't a host of "incompatible systems" that was killing the market, it was that back in the day there was one system that had far and away the majority of the market share, and that system was owned by a company that couldn't keep its head above water.

That said, it's really disappointing that Wizards has chosen to take the route that they have with the GSL. When I read the license it was fairly obvious to me that it was a bad deal for almost anyone except maybe for people who only wanted to put out adventures for 4e. It definitely seems too one sided, with most of the control in Wizards hands and almost none in the 3rd party publisher's hands. After reading Clark's post it sounds like it isn't even good for folks who just want to do adventures.

 

[Arnwyn]

unabashed supporter of the Game System License

Doesn't sound like it to me...

I'd say that it's highly likely that Necromancer, in view of this standpoint, already has vanished from the marketplace and won't return. It's just that Clark Peterson doesn't seem to understand that yet.

Agreed. They've certainly been off my radar for quite some time. Permanently so.

 

[jaerdaph]

Excellent! I was hoping Necromancer would do this:

So bottom line it for me--what are you going to do? We are working with Wizards to clarify and/or change the license.