For myself, OSRIC has opened up my eyes as to how the OGL and SRD can be used to legally publish material for older games. At first I didn't see the need for such a system either, but now that I understand it better (i.e., that its a vehicle to publish with, rather than a system to be played) I support it whole heartedly.
The market for products based on older editions of the game has probably been rightly noted as being a niche market, and that there probably won't be alot of money it for those who want to publish such material. That being said, an OGL version of the older edition games like OSRIC does open up the door for an author to make a professional looking product, because he can recoup the cost of professional artwork and layout.
Let me give an example. I'm working on a book of monsters, as well as some modules. I'd like my book of monsters to look and feel like one of the older edition monster books, and thus I've been in contact with several artists who fit that style of b&w interior illustration and color covers. To have a nice color cover (front & back), as well as every monster in the book illustrated with b&w illustrations, I'm estimating that it will cost me out of pocket at least $1,500 US to have this done, and probably closer to $2,000 (or more). The cost to publish a hardback book, at the number of pages I estimate this book will run, would be $20 per unit via a print on demand company like Lulu.com. So, to make any profit at all I'd have to sell this book for more than $20. Lets say I decide to sell this monster book for $25. I'd have to sell 400 copies of it just to make back what I paid for the artwork!
Given that material for older editions of the game probably isn't going to sell thousands of copies, why would I want to make such a product and fork out all of that money for artwork when I know that I'm not going to see a return on my investment?
Because I simply would like to make a book that looks nice, and because I believe in the old fashioned motto, "Games made by gamers for gamers." I'm not in this to make money, I'm in it because I'd like make some nice rpg material that others could appreciate and enjoy in their games. Given that print products are still way more popular than digital, that people like to have a book in their hands, and given that printing books costs a good amount of money, it'd be nice to be able to meet whatever niche demand there is out there without breaking my piggy bank.
I've always though it'd be great to have Erol Otus do a cover for a module of mine. Any idea what an Otus cover would run? More than a few pennies, I'd imagine. With an OGL platform like OSRIC, however, my desire to have an Otus cover might actually get fulfilled, since there's a decent chance I'd at least be able to recoup the costs of the artwork.
Good artwork doesn't come cheap, and its very difficult to line up free artwork for a book or module. Its the biggest bottleneck in the whole process. However, if I can sell enough copies of a book to recoup that cost, and do it legally through something like OSRIC, then I can put out a book that looks very professional and at least cover my costs.
