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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 5989318" data-attributes="member: 3400">I don't believe for a second that the OGL was a major driving force behind 3e and its success. I think it stood on its own quite well. However, I think the OGL was a big factor WotC's leadership in the RPG industry. Owning D&D and coming out with a new edition was always going to put it in the front of the pack. But exhibiting actual leadership? That stems from the ballsy move of offering up most of the D&D rules for free for others to use and grow their own product lines. And look at what we got from that (some from WotC itself) - d20 Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars (3 versions), True20, Mutants and Masterminds, adventures galore from Goodman Games and Green Ronin as well as tons of others. And that's without even raising the specter of Pathfinder to savage 4e's market share.WotC got a lot of accolades in the 1990s for Magic, but a lot of grumbling as well - also because of Magic. You couldn't swing a dead cat at Gen Con in the mid-90s without hitting a Magic player trying to sell you a box of alphas. They were like an invasive species - like freakin' kudzu. You had to step over them in the halls as you made your way to your AD&D game. Prices on out of print items in the dealer room were sky high as everyone hoped to cash in on the collector mentality. Wizards was on a lot of RPGer's sh<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" /> lists.And then they white knighted TSR. Really, they were the only ones who could but the fact that they did it was a big deal. They turned around on TSR's restrictive internet policies and put out free materials. They put the products in the development pipeline on the market. I'd say their leadership in the RPG end of the industry was growing by leaps and bounds. And then they released 3e and made it open. WotC's transformation from being the kudzu of gaming to being the leader was stunning, brilliant, even beautiful.And then they retreated. They didn't give the OGL full support. Rather than being a force for progressive development of the rules and a sharing point for new ideas, they put out the 3.5 materials and sat on it. Then the GSL was the final nail in the coffin of WotC's RPG leadership. As interesting as some of 4e's rules could be, nobody could expand on them. So what's the point in adopting anything like them? Better to keep going your own way.That's my take on things as a long time observer. WotC's retreat from open gaming licenses has critically damaged its leadership position in RPGs. It's still big, but its influence is shortened. Its impact is contained. Its coattails have been cut.</blockquote>

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