Stop telling me to boycott WotC. If you support open gaming, tell who to support. (+ thread)

[overgeeked]

Please only post TTRPG companies publishing content under licenses at least as open as WotC's OGLs and which are not using any of the WotC OGLs. Completely separate systems under their own licenses that will not be affected by anything WotC does with its OGLs.

Apocalypse World and various PbtA games.

Numenera and the Cypher System.

Savage Worlds and Fate.

 

[MNblockhead]

With all that's going on with ORC, it looks like there may soon be over a thousand games that would have to be listed here.

 

[MNblockhead]

Please include OGL games - otherwise you are furthering WotC's goals.

There are a bunch of companies willing to fight in court Hasbro's interpretation of the OGL, so a game being OGL shouldn't remove it from the list of what people should play besides D&D. We're not anti-OGL, we're anti-WotC trying to pervert the OGL. We explicitly don't want to boycott game systems that use the OGL from other publishers, they are already having enough trouble.

Anyway, being against the OGL is a lot bigger than that. You'd be throwing out the baby with the bathwater - some other Open Gaming Licenses could have the same problem. People were looking sideways at Cypher System Open License because it was based on the OGL and also didn't contain the word irrevocable. (And the OGL was based on GPLv2, which also didn't.) Not that this should be taken as a a sign of wrong-doing - everyone assumed the OGL was a safe harbor for two decades.

So, please include OGL games in what you will play, since otherwise you are following WotC's agenda.

Also just to be clear, what games out there have other licenses are wholy separate from telling people to boycott. If you only boycott when you have a convenient alternative and won't boycott if it means actual sacrifice, that's says something about the person who won't hold their ideals over their leisure.

I'll play whatever games I can buy or get free legally, enjoy, and can find other people to play with. Since that includes 5e regardless of how the OGL stuff shakes out, I'm probably "furthering WotC's goals". My purpose in starting this thread was to see what other games are truly releasing games under open game licenses as alternatives to the WotC one, which is currently the source of much uncertainty. Further, if you want to support open gaming, it seems to me that it would be better to create a new open gaming license that addresses the source of uncertainty in the WotC one.

I find the work on ORC and other alternative open-gaming licenses that companies are putting out to be interesting. WotC putting out a CC license is also interesting, though it still is a clawback and the harmful content provision makes it not truly open from my perspective. While I have empathy for all the companies that have relied on the OGL all these years, I am cautiously optimistic that a lot of good may come out of WotC's blowing up the OGL. While I have purchased and enjoyed a lot of third-party content for D&D, it would be nice to see even more variety of systems supporting open gaming.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'll play whatever games I can buy or get free legally, enjoy, and can find other people to play with. Since that includes 5e regardless of how the OGL stuff shakes out, I'm probably "furthering WotC's goals". My purpose in starting this thread was to see what other games are truly releasing games under open game licenses as alternatives to the WotC one, which is currently the source of much uncertainty. Further, if you want to support open gaming, it seems to me that it would be better to create a new open gaming license that addresses the source of uncertainty in the WotC one.

I find the work on ORC and other alternative open-gaming licenses that companies are putting out to be interesting. WotC putting out a CC license is also interesting, though it still is a clawback and the harmful content provision makes it not truly open from my perspective. While I have empathy for all the companies that have relied on the OGL all these years, I am cautiously optimistic that a lot of good may come out of WotC's blowing up the OGL. While I have purchased and enjoyed a lot of third-party content for D&D, it would be nice to see even more variety of systems supporting open gaming.

Exactly!

As a d100 user, it would be nice to see more love for that vastly superior system.

 

[Arilyn]

Index Card RPG. Author states in book you are free to use it and make money. Has a very supportive community and site where ideas and content are shared.

 

[BlueFin]

I have yet to see any valid reason to boycott any game company. But I don't play D&D, and have avoided d20 systems.

Yikes, so trying to takeover and control the whole hobby and industry isn’t enough of a reason? That’s …. a stratospherically high bar you have there.

 

[BlueFin]

If you only boycott when you have a convenient alternative and won't boycott if it means actual sacrifice, that's says something about the person who won't hold their ideals over their leisure.

Boom …. completely true. Sadly, many people’s values fail in the face of discomfort or inconvenience

 

[Jd Smith1]

Yikes, so trying to takeover and control the whole hobby and industry isn’t enough of a reason? That’s …. a stratospherically high bar you have there.

They're trying to take over the d20 portion of it. I don't play d20. But even if I did, dominating market share is every business' goal.

So WotC trying to do what businesses should be doing doesn't concern me.

World hunger, on the other hand, rates some consideration, IMO.

 

[Anon Adderlan]

The OGL 1.0a is, itself, a licensed document under the OGL 1.0a, albeit a different section.

It's also now under CC-BY by virtue of being part of the 5.1 SRD

I think it would be a good thing if WotC prevails. I think it would push writers to seek out innovative avenues, rather than coming up with ever more bolt-on addendum to 5e or stale D&D clones.

Thing is it's an open game license, not a "5e and stale D&D clone" license, which you should know given the numerous non D20 games which have been mentioned...

Exactly!

As a d100 user, it would be nice to see more love for that vastly superior system.

...including both BRP and Eclipse Phase.

I'm hoping this OGL Fiasco will result in at least a few game systems becoming more popular. I remember a time when Storyteller (Vampire) seemed to eclipse D&D for awhile. Personally, I am completely enamored with SWADE right now. It's hitting the right level of crunch and story elements I tend to like. Cortex is another one - simple and crazy robust to capture so many different genres - but it has been floundering of late unfortunately.

Vampire's success was due almost entirely to the goth subculture which existed at the time, and is unlikely to be repeated. I'm warming up to SWADE myself, but it doesn't have an open license, has not committed to using the ORC, and they've ignored marginalized voices too often for my tastes. Cortex is sadly doomed as its new owner is no more likely to release it under an open license than the old one, and the old one wasn't even willing to charitably license it for Into The Motherlands, which would have net them more than they lost in the long run.

please include OGL games in what you will play, since otherwise you are following WotC's agenda.

Indeed.

On the other hand their threats have resulted in a gold rush for such products.

Apocalypse World and various PbtA games.

Numenera and the Cypher System.

Savage Worlds and Fate.

None of these are under an open game license.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Thing is it's an open game license, not a "5e and stale D&D clone" license, which you should know given the numerous non D20 games which have been mentioned...

You missed my point.

...including both BRP and Eclipse Phase.

I prefer CoC 7E over BRP, but it is a system that is a bit unwieldly at best; good for its setting, but not very flexible. Eclipse Phase isn't worth using.