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[kingpaul]

The concern is that a rule description isn't a game statistic. And does the name of a feat, class or ability count as a game statistic or a description? Statistics are typically numbers.

And to those points, I wouln't say the declaration is "restrictive". I'd say its "vague" or "unclear". YMMV

 

[2WS-Steve]

And to those points, I wouldn't say the declaration is "restrictive". I'd say its "vague" or "unclear". YMMV

In the past, vague and unclear declarations have been implemented specifically to prevent use of the open content -- and, really, is one of the best ways to do so since the publisher can always hold a threat over anyone by interpreting harshly, or back off by interpreting softly.

That said, vague and unclear declarations are also easy to write, so it's not necessarily a case of GR trying to be harsh.

Still, I think lack of clarity is a little sloppy and not in the spirit of the OGL (and perhaps not even compliant with the OGL), but GR has shared a lot of great open content so I'd cut them some slack.

 

[jaerdaph]

Agreed on both accounts - "vague" is perhaps a better word choice than "restrictive" (and certainly less charged than "crippled"), and intentional or not, I don't blame GR at all.

 

[Ranger REG]

As a consumer, I like that they did that (charge money to use a logo or claim compatibility). It adds a level of quality control so that I am much less likely to get ripped off by crap product like I was in the early days of d20.

Perhaps, but I bet the whole d20/OGL movement wouldn't catch on if WotC had done that.

 

[philreed]

Perhaps, but I bet the whole d20/OGL movement wouldn't catch on if WotC had done that.

I'm actually hoping they'll have a semi-open license with fee ($3,000 or so) for whatever system 4e is based on.

 

[Aussiegamer]

yer that will encourage 3rd party designers to get into the nice niche market that exists

 

[2WS-Steve]

I'm actually hoping they'll have a semi-open license with fee ($3,000 or so) for whatever system 4e is based on.

I really couldn't disagree more.

If that had happened in 3e how many of Ronin Arts, Malhavoc, Green Ronin, Adamant Entertainment, Goodman Games, Necromancer Games, Fiery Dragon, RPGObjects, and so on would have existed?

Is it really that easy to toss away 3k on a venture that you're not at all sure will even work? I think almost all the small publishers felt the need to first test the waters -- to see how the market reacted to their various approaches, and I don't think you test the waters if there's a 3k fee to do so -- even before thinking about printing and other development costs.

My guess is that the real winner would have been Fast Forward Entertainment with its limitless budget for hardcovers and tedious flavor text.

I think there wouldn't even be a PDF market.

That sort of licensing protects the mediocre -- which is great for the people protected but crappy for the customer.

 

[Aussiegamer]

Amen brother preach it


of course I persume is $3K US or for us in the southern isle would mean $4>5K Aus. And thats before paying for grahpics and blar blar blar. I doubt many have that sort of cash to throw into the gambling arena of gaming design.

The open market was needed for the major companies, since they stopped releasing anything but the core system stuff.

They used 3rd party to fill in the HUGE gaps they left, and some have "a-hem" profitted from this, and now with the new 4e some are those's same 3rd party companies wanting to now make it hard for new players to enter, by talking about imposing a high entry fee into the market place? I really hope not.

The life blood of any system is the background gear, a good system with no back up content, does not do as well as a medicore system with heaps of stuff like campiagn gear and maps and stuff. As this comes from 3rd party now then applying the brakes might bring the whole thing to a sudden grinding halt.

psst! don't buy 4 until a couple of years later for 4.5 with ALL the erratas comes out, or just wait a couple fo more years for 5

 

[Ranger REG]

My guess is that the real winner would have been Fast Forward Entertainment with its limitless budget for hardcovers and tedious flavor text.

FWIW, at least WotC would have warned Fast Forward Games and James Ward about trademark "Drawmij."

 

[philreed]

If that had happened in 3e how many of Ronin Arts, Malhavoc, Green Ronin, Adamant Entertainment, Goodman Games, Necromancer Games, Fiery Dragon, RPGObjects, and so on would have existed?

Fewer, certainly. People would have pooled resources and we would have seen fewer (but hopefully, better) products released.

For example, I would have found someone else and worked with them rather than publishing my own material.