Who has paid the $5000 (what companies)?

[Alan Shutko]

Do you guys get the impression that Wotc is purposely sitting on it? Or is it just a fluke?

Between the GSL, poor pre-release marketing, and all the problems with Gleemax, D&D Insider, and Dungeon and Dragon content I get the impression that WotC is screwing things up by the numbers. It's clear they bit off way more than they could chew.

 

[rjdafoe]

Less "evil"

Of course we have no knowledge of what why and how, but maybe no one was really interested in paying the 5K so there is no need to have it done yet?

I suppose that could be a reason, although less likly.

 

[Tewligan]

along with any offer of an open license

That's what I'm thinking.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Between the GSL, poor pre-release marketing, and all the problems with Gleemax, D&D Insider, and Dungeon and Dragon content I get the impression that WotC is screwing things up by the numbers. It's clear they bit off way more than they could chew.

Yep. Also, it's hard to say WHICH part of WotC is perhaps sitting on it. I can imagine that there are parts of WotC and/or Hasbro that are definitively NOT in favour of open gaming. Corporate culture is sometimes an odd thing.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Darkwolf71]

It's been awhile since I harped on WotC marketing, mostly because I have come to like and respect Le Rouse.

This however:

Between the GSL, poor pre-release marketing, and all the problems with Gleemax, D&D Insider, and Dungeon and Dragon content I get the impression that WotC is screwing things up by the numbers. It's clear they bit off way more than they could chew.

Is pretty much how I see things. There is so much going on at D&D HQ that somethings are inevitably going to fall through the cracks. Problem is, nearly everything has so fallen at some point or another, and some have simply never really gotten back out.

As for companies willing to pay the $5k fee, there were several. Paizo is the only one that has stepped down that I know of, but I haven't been paying close attention lately.

 

[HeinorNY]

Between the GSL, poor pre-release marketing, and all the problems with Gleemax, D&D Insider, and Dungeon and Dragon content I get the impression that WotC is screwing things up by the numbers. It's clear they bit off way more than they could chew.

Problems? Could you be more specific?

 

[Voadam]

Of course we have no knowledge of what why and how, but maybe no one was really interested in paying the 5K so there is no need to have it done yet?

I suppose that could be a reason, although less likly.

Necromancer Games has stated they are all in on 4e and will pay the $5,000. You can see their enthusiastic anouncement thread in the publishers forum. They have even hired a WotC freelancer who is working on 4e stuff to write material on 3e core classes not included in PH I, with the understanding that they can't see his writing until they get the WotC go ahead.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Of course we have no knowledge of what why and how, but maybe no one was really interested in paying the 5K so there is no need to have it done yet?

I know that Wolfgang Bauer raised $5000 to put towards the license fee in a matter of days via his Open Design project. Necromancer certainly claimed they were right there, and at least one other company publicly said they were ready to jump. I think there were plenty of people ready to take the plunge.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Necromancer Games has stated they are all in on 4e and will pay the $5,000. You can see their enthusiastic anouncement thread in the publishers forum. They have even hired a WotC freelancer who is working on 4e stuff to write material on 3e core classes not included in PH I, with the understanding that they can't see his writing until they get the WotC go ahead.

wow thats really sneaky and cool.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I know that Wolfgang Bauer raised $5000 to put towards the license fee in a matter of days via his Open Design project. Necromancer certainly claimed they were right there, and at least one other company publicly said they were ready to jump. I think there were plenty of people ready to take the plunge.

Wolfgang raised $5000? Correct.

Wolfgang, Necromancer and others spent the $5000 to get the license? Incorrect.

He's said that the money raised from Open Design patrons will return to the patrons if he doesn't purchase the license. Nobody has purchased the license because it's not available for review and purchase yet. (You get to read it first before buy-in, thankfully.)