Updates and non-compliance

[Morrus]

Well, I know of one publisher who was required to destroy some of their 3.0 stock by WotC, but not because of the 3.0 to 3.5 update. They used WotC copyrighted material (most notably the name Drawmij) that was not in the SRD. Eventually they folded. It was sort of sad because there were some old school TSR greats involved with that company, but their understanding of d20 rules didn't include any regard for game balance.

Fast Forward Entertainment/Games. Yeah. Nothing to do with the question at hand, though.

 

[Psion]

ASIDE: I thought the FFE thing was revealed to been a bit of manufactured drama and they were never really told to pulp their books. Do I not recall correctly?​

Anyway, even if it was true, it had nothing to do with 3.5 updates. The actual things that FFE did do that might have been actionable was:

1. as already mentioned, used closed terms and figures (I'm thinking Lolth would probably be one of far more concern to WotC's IP misers that Drawmij).
2. Use non-open material from Wizards' books (like Nimblewright from MMII)

 

[Urizen]

Being primarily an E-publisher, I don't see why I can't just remove the D20 logo/license and copyright information from my older products which have it, and continue to sell them as ogl products.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

That's one of the major advantages we have.

 

[Bacris]

Sure, that's an option.

But I don't know about you, but updating 20+ PDFs across 5 storefronts seems like a lot of wasted time to me. If you only sell at one or two storefronts, it's not a big deal, but if you're listed at RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, e23, Paizo, Your Games Now, Lulu, your own storefront, Key20 e-store, etc, all of those digital files have to be updated. That's a lot of time to get those files updated to pull out the d20 logo and any applicable d20 STL text.

 

[Urizen]

Sure, that's an option.

But I don't know about you, but updating 20+ PDFs across 5 storefronts seems like a lot of wasted time to me. If you only sell at one or two storefronts, it's not a big deal, but if you're listed at RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, e23, Paizo, Your Games Now, Lulu, your own storefront, Key20 e-store, etc, all of those digital files have to be updated. That's a lot of time to get those files updated to pull out the d20 logo and any applicable d20 STL text.

IMHO It's only wasted time if you think you're never going to sell another copy of those 20+ products.

Is every one of your products labelled with the D20 logo? Only a few of the 36 (and counting) products I have are.

Keep in mind, if you don't do it, then you just lost 20 products. The shelf life for E-books is forever. Additionally, you have time before the new logo comes out, so it's in your best interest to start doing that now, rather than later.

Now, If you're a Phil reed or RPGObjects with hundreds and hundreds of products, then yeah, that's going to be a major pain in your back-side.

But this is just my opinion

 

[Bacris]

"Now, If you're a Phil reed or RPGObjects with hundreds and hundreds of products, then yeah, that's going to be a major pain in your back-side."

That's exactly my point. That's an incredible amount of work - which grows geometrically as you start introducing more storefronts and more products. It would not surprise me if publishers opted to not be bothered with doing such a thing, which means the d20 products start to vanish, rather than being made under only the OGL.

 

[Morrus]

"Now, If you're a Phil reed or RPGObjects with hundreds and hundreds of products, then yeah, that's going to be a major pain in your back-side."

That's exactly my point. That's an incredible amount of work - which grows geometrically as you start introducing more storefronts and more products. It would not surprise me if publishers opted to not be bothered with doing such a thing, which means the d20 products start to vanish, rather than being made under only the OGL.

Well, let's wait to see what happens to the current d20 STL, eh? Nobody has said it's going away, just that thee won't be a new 4E one.

Trust me, if the old one gets rescinded, I have a LOT of products to edit. I'm hoping like hell that doesn't happen, and haven't heard anyone say that it will (yet).

 

[Urizen]

Well, let's wait to see what happens to the current d20 STL, eh? Nobody has said it's going away, just that thee won't be a new 4E one.

Trust me, if the old one gets rescinded, I have a LOT of products to edit. I'm hoping like hell that doesn't happen, and haven't heard anyone say that it will (yet).

I guess I just want to err on the side of caution, and do it now, rather than later. Since the existing D20 logo is essentially meaningless, shifting to OGL products without the logo probably won't have a huge impact, especially if you have a fan base who knows what kind of work you do.

If you're going to do it, start now, rather than wait until you have no choice in the matter.

 

[Ranger REG]

I guess I just want to err on the side of caution, and do it now, rather than later. Since the existing D20 logo is essentially meaningless,

Meaningless? I disagree. Until WotC officially retires the logo, it's useful to many who are still not ready to jump to 4.0e.

If you are starting to develop a product and deciding whether or not to put a d20 System logo, then perhaps it could be meaningless, especially if your product's planned release date is AFTER June 2008.

Just because WotC is letting go of the logo, doesn't mean we have to follow them blindly.