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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheFindus" data-source="post: 5784177" data-attributes="member: 75791">I do not think that the game rules themselves are per se without value for a company. After all, they are what makes the game. And only if players like the game, meaning it’s mechanics and how it actually plays, they will spent money on it. The discussions about how 4E plays differently than older versions and how it “does not feel like DnD” proofs my point. So if you have good game rules, you should protect them as best as you can. They form the basis of your success, the soil you can grow flowers on.And adventures and settings are these flowers in my opinion. I think the OP is right about that. It’s the flowers that make you happy and that create the warm fuzzy feeling of summer (or whatever season you prefer) we all like. Not the soil.To proof that point we can look at the traditional magazines in 3e times, Dungeon and Dragon. When WotC outsourced the publication to Paizo, they basically gave away the flower seeds. Paizo became the gardener who planted THEIR flower seeds into the soil that was WotC’s 3e. And then Paizo sold the flowers and keeps doing so, because they can still use WotC’s soil because of the OGL. The magazines gave Paizo the chance to let gamers identify DnD with Paizo instead of only WotC. By now, that soil is not that valuable anymore, because everybody can use it and has enough soil, because more than enough rulebooks have been published. So you cannot continue to make money off of soil forever. 3.5 proofs that, I think. But you can use it as a fertilizer. The OGL was designed so that a community could form around DnD as THE major RPG and WotC would sell core rule books, which were their money makers. But isn’t 3.5 proof that WotC was unable to continue making enough money (by their standard) through that system, including the OGL? Because by the time 3.5 came out, there was already enough 3.0 rule material out to last a lifetime. Which proofs that you can only walk a certain distance selling soil. And the OGL did not change much about that, I am afraid.And that is the reason why Paizo keeps publishing new core books, by which I mean the Advanced Players Guide, etc. I think [MENTION=158]Henry[/MENTION] is right about that. The OGL has turned into the fertilizer for a soil that is Paizo's. So, if you want to make 50 million dollars, you have to have a good rule system that a lot of people like. And you have to grow pretty flowers, meaning good adventures and settings. And let’s be honest, why should WotC not be able to make good adventures in great settings? Paizo’s stuff is good, but not so übergood that nobody can do better. The online magazines could and should become a big thing in this regard. Especially if WotC wants to make it easy for the GM, who does not have the time to come up with a great story him/herself.  Mike Mearls said:Good published adventures by WotC mean just that: You pick them up, read them and play them with less preparation. Minimum fuss. So I think they will be a key to the next edition’s success. </blockquote>

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