Where is the Unearthed Arcana SRD?

[wingsandsword]

Thanks a lot Cergorach!

Chapter 4 just happened to have most of the UA rules I wanted an electronic copy of anyway

Now, is this something you're working on selling or something? Because I don't think I'm the only one who wants a copy of the rest of it.

 

[Cergorach]

Wow Cergorach - Looks nice. Is that one you are putting together for resale? If so, when will it be ready? Thanks for posting the link.

No resale, all available for free.

 

[Halivar]

What fonts are you using for both the titles and body text? I love the title fonts.

 

[Cergorach]

Thanks a lot Cergorach!

Chapter 4 just happened to have most of the UA rules I wanted an electronic copy of anyway

Now, is this something you're working on selling or something? Because I don't think I'm the only one who wants a copy of the rest of it.

I also thought that most of the really interesting items where in chapter 4, that's why i posted this one first. Expect to see the rest at a later time (i'm not yest sure when), also for free.

What fonts are you using for both the titles and body text? I love the title fonts.

Pterra for the titles, Celestia Antiqua for the body, and ScalaSansLF for the tables. These might be familiar, it's a strange coincidence, WotC is also using these fonts for their 3.5 rule books. One word of warning, these fonts are expensive to use, i've paid around $500 in license fees to be able to use these fonts for publication.

 

[Aristotle]

Not that anybody asked me, but I just don't think that the free distribution of OGC is right. I know, we all have different morals, and technically the redistribution of OGC is absolutely legal... but is it really in the spirit of the agreement?

OGC (in my opinion) makes it possible for publishers to share content and rules (something I wish we would see more of). The intent (once again in my opinion) was never for fans to reproduce the work and globally redistribute it at no cost (regardless of how long its been since release and regardless of what sort of profits the releasing company makes).

Redistribution of large sections of material will only force companies to become more guarded about how much OGC they release and will likely make that OGC more difficult to glean (and therefore less likely to be used by other publishers). I can't see that as a good thing for the 'movement'.

But thats all in my opinion. I'm certainly not judging anybody (I'm in no place to do so). It is ultimately up to the individual to decide what is and is not appropriate for them.

 

[Halivar]

If this thread has taught me anything, Aristotle, it's that there is no definitive, objective "ethic" that ought to rule here. What we have are a number of disparate subjective convictions on the subject, and mine simply aren't the same as yours. In such a case, we need to rely on the law. Law says that downloading music off the internet is illegal; therefore, regardless of what your personal ethic may state, downloading music off the internet is still illegal. Distributing OGC for free, like downloading music off KaZaa, seems okay to some and not to others; the difference in this case lies msot notabley in that the law (the License) refuses to invalidate either ethic. In such a case, all we can say is "IMHO".

 

[Felon]

Thanks, Cergorarch!

As to anyone who thinks that publishing UA in a free format is somehow taking money from WotC, let me point out that it's pretty unlikely that UA is still in print at this date, or that it's due for another print run in the future. Remember, when you buy the book from a retailer like Amazon, you're not giving WotC any revenue. The retailers already paid for the copies they're selling, and it's doubtful there are lots of orders still being placed 8 months after the release.

Now you could make an arguement that a free release hurts retailers, but frankly the fact that you can now get UA for a big discount is a general indication that lots of unsold copies are sitting around taking up floorspace somewhere.

Having said that, I echo the sentiment of others: it's not really important to me to get a free copy of the OGC, but rather a convenient, searchable electronic copy. If DriveThruRPG made something like that available, I'd probably head over and buy it. Hopefully, WotC will see enough potential in their little experiment with Frostburn to start releasing out-of-print books in PDF format.

 

[Cergorach]

*shrugs*
Technically i am a company, that redistributes OGC for free. There was a time when i had the idea to try and sell such files on RPGnow, but eventually dropped the idea. Why? Someone (the guy from atlas i believe) said to put your money where your mouth is (they did it with giving away a free digital copy of Ars Magica), i did.

Just republishing OGC is just step one for me, step two would be combining rules to make a new rulesset. I intend to make a rulesset with the basic SRD and using the "Vitality and Wound Points", "Defense Bonus", and "Armor as Damage Reduction" rules from UA. I also intend to extend the SRD with rules to make it fully playable (character creation rules, xp awards, etc.). Maybe even commision some art pieces. In return i hope that people will be willing to donate money and i'll actually be able to commision work, i'm just not in this for the money.

 

[Halivar]

I've posted a new thread for the ethics conversation. It's somewhat of a threadjacking, since this has turned into a development thread of sorts.

The new thread is under "Is it OK to distribute others' OGC for free?". Thanks for updating your bookmarks!

 

[BSF]

You know, I play in one game, run another. Between those two games, I know 12 other gamers.

I know for a fact that besides me, two others have downloaded WotC's SRDs.

I know for a fact that several others have not.

There are two or three other players that haven't said one way or the other.

This, despite the fact that the links to the SRDs have been made available to all of these players several, several times.

Even when it is free, most of the players I know just are not using the digital media. But if I introduce a new rule from a book, some of them get antsy and start looking for that book. Even when they had previously never heard of that book.

I don't want the information for free. I want it to be easily accessible. Sure, that might make me "spoiled by convenience". Sue me. When I can copy/paste the content I focus more of my prep time on the game rather than retyping text. When I use new content in a game, in an exciting way, some of my players look for new material to spend their discretionary income on.

I want good publishers to succeed. I want my players to be buying more of their stuff. When two products/ideas are equally appealing, but one is easier for me to use, I tend to favor convenience.

I'm not demanding free SRDs. But lately I favor PDFs where I copy/paste material.