D&D 5E So, 5e OGL

[Remathilis]

That's fiction, apparently. When they were hashing out the 4E licensing plans, Scott Rouse spoke to a number of publishers by phone including myself and I asked point blank if my SRD 3.5 Revised was problematic or helping cause the shift away from OGL support for D&D and I was told that it was not.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/17705/Aid-SRD-35-Revised-Full-Bundle?it=1

I realize the plural of anecdote isn't data, but I know a few people who didn't buy a PHB for 3.5 or PF because "its free online". With 5e, they have the basic game and a few additional classes and races in the srd, but not the full PHB.

 

[delericho]

I realize the plural of anecdote isn't data, but I know a few people who didn't buy a PHB for 3.5 or PF because "its free online". With 5e, they have the basic game and a few additional classes and races in the srd, but not the full PHB.

Well, not legally.

 

[Ovinomancer]

That's fiction, apparently. When they were hashing out the 4E licensing plans, Scott Rouse spoke to a number of publishers by phone including myself and I asked point blank if my SRD 3.5 Revised was problematic or helping cause the shift away from OGL support for D&D and I was told that it was not.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/17705/Aid-SRD-35-Revised-Full-Bundle?it=1

I fail to see how your story contradicts Remy's. It can be competition for PHB's AND still not be a factor (at the time) in WotC's future open license support. It may have changed in being a factor after your discussion, it may have been a factor and Rouse wan't aware of it, Rouse may have thought it wasn't a factor, it may have not been a factor at all, Wizards may have thought that the loss from competition was offset by the benefits, etc.

The statement that it was competition for the PHB is pretty obvious. It's like saying that illegal downloads of paid tv series aren't competition for the paid tv services (example, Game of Thrones). It may be trivially competitive, or something that can't be helped therefore isn't part of a business decision, or it might be that the business doesn't see it as worth the effort to dissuade. Doesn't alter the fact that it's competition.

And no, I'm not, in any way, implying that your reproduction of the SRD is the same thing as pirated IP.

 

[Umbran]

The d20 SRD was/is incredibly useful to me as a DM.

Were you directly going to WotC's d20SRD, though? Or were you using Jans Carton's http://www.d20srd.org/ ? OR some other resource based off of the WotC document?

I wager the most used way to use a SRD is as a hyperlinked modern rules reference and copyable text source.

What is "most used" is not really relevant, which is good, because there's no clear way to measure it, or even definition of what "using the SRD" really means. I suspect by your measure, the most used way to use an SRD was also to not use WotC's directly.

WotC's intent in publishing it is to support people creating products (and Jans Carton's version is such a product), not to directly support play. Nor was the 3.xe version intended for direct support of play.

 

[Mark CMG]

I fail to see how your story contradicts Remy's. It can be competition for PHB's AND still not be a factor (at the time) in WotC's future open license support.

It's the difference between having a shirt and a pair of socks. Both clothing, both worn, not interchangeable and one is no substitute for the other. They serve different purposes. I think a PDF of the actual product might be considered competition for the same product, but the SRD and by extension SRD PDFs/SRD websites/etc. are no competition for the books. Perhaps an enhancement, but no a substitute.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, not legally.

If all you want is the Basic Rules and some extra races, classes, and spells, it works (though not as well as a PHB, which was my point). You can't publish that, but it's fine for home use. The SRD is miles ahead of the DM supplement for basic, IMHO.

 

[Ovinomancer]

It's the difference between having a shirt and a pair of socks. Both clothing, both worn, not interchangeable and one is no substitute for the other. They serve different purposes. I think a PDF of the actual product might be considered competition for the same product, but the SRD and by extension SRD PDFs/SRD websites/etc. are no competition for the books. Perhaps an enhancement, but no a substitute.

I'll put this simply. Can you or can you not play in a 3.x game with nothing but the SRD? Can you not run a 3.x game with nothing but the SRD? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding "yes." Are they exactly the same products? No. IIRC correctly, the only hurdle is the lack of XP tables for advancement, which can be solves by milestone leveling or just one person in the group with access (not even ownership) to a PHB.

It's trivially true that the SRD is competition to the PHB. I'm perfectly open to discussion on how much of a competitor it was (in which I think we'd be closer in agreement as I don't think it was a significant one at all), but actually arguing that the SRD wasn't a competitor to the PHB at all is pretty ludicrous. There are, after all, more than a handful of stories of people playing in games with only the SRD. Heck, in my 3.x one I started bringing a laptop with the hypertext SRD on it to look up rules and spells because it was that much faster than the books. Never once did I ever encounter a situation where what I wanted wasn't in the SRD and I had to go reference the book, XP tables excluded.

 

[Mark CMG]

I'll put this simply. Can you or can you not play in a 3.x game with nothing but the SRD?

No.

(. . .) just one person in the group with access (not even ownership) to a PHB.

That right there is the crux of it.

Heck, in my 3.x one I started bringing a laptop with the hypertext SRD on it to look up rules and spells because it was that much faster than the books.

Well, if at least one person in your group didn't own the books, I stand corrected and apologize. But, you see, the problem is once again the false argument that any money spent on something else (or the utilizing of something free or stolen) means that particular something else is competition. It's just not true. My seeing The Martian in a theater doesn't compete with the book sales.

 

[Ovinomancer]

No.

Elaborate on how you can't, please.

 

[CapnZapp]

Mr Carton's.

Hats off.