Revised d20 mark?

[dcollins]

This occured to me last night -- I would have thought that someone else would have addressed this by now, but can't see anything in any of the forums here.

For third-party products published under the d20 System, has anyone stipulated any kind of trademark to denote if they use the Revised 3.5 Edition rules or not?

Apparently we're getting a brand-new d20 SRD with the release of 3.5 Edition, which will exist alongside the old one. In theory, some day, there might be a release of 4th Edition which could use all-new rules constructs. Are all of these still the "d20 System"? Is there any approved marking system to show it's "d20 Revised" or will it just be hit-or-miss for consumers to figure it out on their own?

Any links or pointers to where this has been addressed would be welcome.

 

[Nifft]

Good point!

"d20.5 System"?

-- Nifft

 

[Angcuru]

Quite a mess they've gotten themselves into, eh? 3rd party developers are gonna hate them.

 

[Ranger REG]

To be honest with you, the release of 3.5e is not that big of a deal, unlike the release of 3e.

For some games like Spycraft, the change is minimal. AEG might decide NOT to update the game if their d20 rules are not broken.

For other products that are simply D&D/Fantasy add-ons, the change may be minimal to moderate. For campaign settings, it may be moderate to heavy change, especially if they use the base D&D class and the bulk of the rules as is.

In any case, publishers are already on the ball with the 3.5e release. I believe some of them will offer free rules update to reflect the change.

For some gamers like me, who have been converted to 3e three years ago, we probably won't get into 3.5e right away.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Sure, but that's not the point. The point is, how do I as a consumer know whether a product uses the 3.0 rules or the 3.5 rules? The language you can use to indicate compatability is very tightly restricted by the d20 license, and there are significant differences between the two versions.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Excelent point.

 

[alsih2o]

darned. good. question.

 

[Crothian]

I actually think that we will find much of the stuff to work with both.

 

[William Ronald]

I see no need for Mark to be revised for D&D 3.5. Though he can make some changes if he desires it. (Mark, big hair is out.)

I think that the various publishers will indicate what version of the d20 rules they use. Ultimately, I expect most of the fantasy products will move to D&D 3.5 standards while products like Spycraft and Babylon 5 will probably work from D&D 3.0.

 

[Ranger REG]

Sure, but that's not the point. The point is, how do I as a consumer know whether a product uses the 3.0 rules or the 3.5 rules? The language you can use to indicate compatability is very tightly restricted by the d20 license, and there are significant differences between the two versions.

Simple: look inside.

Most products tend to reprint the skills and feats from the SRD.

Personally, it doesn't matter to me, whether the product published from July 2003 or earlier uses the original SRD or any product published after July 2003 uses the revised SRD.

I'm not that picky, nor that anxious to pick up 3.5e right away. If later products still allow me to play with 3e rules, then that's fine with me.