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Message: <blockquote data-quote="monkey" data-source="post: 81547" data-attributes="member: 3284">Colonel Hardinsson wrote:Also, the d20 and OGL licenses really do give the "little guy" a leg up, but by "little guy" I think what is meant is the serious small businessperson who is willing to hire attorneys and go through the legalities to establish themselves, not necessarily just anyone who gets the hankerin' to write their own game. It strikes me that it especially helps established game designers, like Monte Cook, to go out on their own and get away from freelancing, and write exactly what they want to write. Actually, what I meant when I said "Little Guy" was not in reference to individuals who already have extensive background in gaming (like Monte Cook). Those industry freelancers have contacts, acquaintances and friends in the industry already; they don't need a leg up. But if you look at the shelf in your gaming store you find many of the same names repeated across products, across systems, and across companies. What excited me about OGL/d20 is the possibility of individuals who've never written a gaming product before being able to enter the market without having to break down that important "new system, new designer" stumbling block. And I don't necessarily think that someone who writes well is necessarily in a position to be able to navigate legal terminology flawlessly. But, I must confess some ignorance of the substance of the diffence between the OGL and the d20 system; since the concept has been raised, I have never seen the two separated in any meaningful way.This is further complicated by Ryan Dancey's own comments:Open Gaming is not a magic bullet. It will not make your game system sell. Open Gaming in and of itself adds little or no value; having an open game license (of any kind) is not going to be the factor that makes your product successful. The value of the Open Game concept is allowing people to retain knowledge about a game system and apply it repeatedly where appropriate. If nobody plays your game system, you can be as open as possible and it won't add any value. If you are bringing a game system to market that is just a clone of a hundred other options already available, it won't matter if your game is open or not -- your game will be successful on the basis of your ability to induce people to play it.Ryan's implication is that in order for the OGL to work, one (or very few) systems must be involved, or else it becomes useless. My argument is that people certainly have the right to believe that the d20 system is not necessarily the best one to use for such an endevour. And If having the same underlying system is not part of the OGL, then what does it matter how many we have? Reuben PS: I don't dislike d20. Just so you know.</blockquote>

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