D&D 4E The 4e prime directive?

[Kahuna Burger]

I am considering a policy of not reading any Wotc produced 4e books, and just learning it from whatever SRD they release, plus reading the occasional 3rd party supplement. Not to avoid giving money to Wizards or any such, but so that if I want to produce a supplement with an eye towards distribution myself, I can feel confident that my ideas are not influenced by any non OGL content.

Now, while it's easy enough I suppose to just avoid using non OGL stuff you've read, in my expereince once you've seen one workable solution to a problem, it's hard to come up with your own solution that doesn't either copy what you have seen or unnaturally avoid similar but not copied ideas. Once I've seen the Warlock, an at will chaos caster gets that much harder to develop, even if I'd had the idea in the back of my head well before Complete Arcane.

Any thoughts from 3rd party developers? Do you try to avoid non open books or just compartmentalize well?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Now, while it's easy enough I suppose to just avoid using non OGL stuff you've read, in my expereince once you've seen one workable solution to a problem, it's hard to come up with your own solution that doesn't either copy what you have seen or unnaturally avoid similar but not copied ideas.

Any thoughts from 3rd party developers?

I've snipped a much larger post to just say this:

If you believe that someone has a case to sue you if your mechanics are too similar to something non-OGL, do you really believe that claiming "I never even read any of that stuff!" is going to help?

 

[Cadfan]

I think he's talking more about ease of inspiration, not legal issues.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I think he's talking more about ease of inspiration, not legal issues.

Yeah, the issue is not "oh no, they might sue me for using this" so much as the concern that seeing one solution to a "problem" often makes it harder to see another solution. You get caught up in making your solution Not That, instead of just doing it.

 

[The Souljourner]

overkill. plus, what if you come up with something 90% close to what's in an official book? You'll have done all that work and then realize what you made already exists.

Of course, the best alternative is to start writing ideas down *now* so that you don't have any preconceptions, and flesh them out as much as you can, then integrate them with the 4e rules. It is 9 months away, after all.

-Nate

 

[psionotic]

I've never produced any OGL materials, but I would think that, if one was to try to make the best product possible, it would make sense to have a fully realized understanding of what's in the market. Not only because good design (sometimes) begets good design, but also because if you don't know what's available, you really won't know what the needs of the market are...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice.

My main creative outlets (besides rpgs) are music and jewelry.

If I blindered myself to the work of others who create in the same fields I'd have a difficult time enjoying a lot of pop culture, and I'd also miss out on things I didn't think of originally, but definitely could improve.

Every creator gets inspiration from his predecessors and contemporaries.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Yeah, the issue is not "oh no, they might sue me for using this" so much as the concern that seeing one solution to a "problem" often makes it harder to see another solution. You get caught up in making your solution Not That, instead of just doing it.

Ok, in that case I'll have to try to repost what I snipped.

There's no virtue to splintering the design on a particular subject. None. In fact, it goes completely against the purpose of the OGL.

Basically, you either need to publish first, or you need to publish best.

If you can't publish something either first (covering new ground) or best (covering old ground in a better way) then don't publish at all.

If you make a point of letting people know that you have NOT read existing design, then you can make no guarantees whatsoever that you have brought anything of value to the community.

First or Best.

"Not That" is not sufficient.