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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Orcus" data-source="post: 4098118" data-attributes="member: 1254">Lizard, lets not get too nostalgic about the original OGL. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> It wasnt all wine and roses back then either.First off, we operated on a "gentleperson's agreement" for over a year. 3E was out for over a year before there was even a formalized OGL and d20 STL. Then there was much gnashing of teeth over the specifics of the STL. Then they changed the STL to add those terms. More gnashing of teeths. I remember back in the day everyone was afraid there would be no real license and our stuff could get yanked. Heck, there was a real fear that WotC would just take our best stuff and republish it under the OGL! So its not like everything was great then and bad now.There are a few big differences that I see.1. WotC is trying to get the licenses out BEFORE release of the game. That is a HUGE change from 3E and is in our favor. You have to remember, while they said great things about open gaming way in advance of the release of the game and the OGL, even with all that great talk resources werent committed to the actual legal text of the OGL and the content of the SRD until WAY after launch of 3E. And here we are griping because WotC is slow to give us galleys of their actual pre-press books BEFORE launch. Yes, we had drafts last time, but it isnt the same. 2. There is no Ryan Dancey. For those of you who have had the pleasure to know him (as I have) Ryan is a great guy and a forceful personality. He just flat gets stuff done by personal will and charisma. 4E doesnt have a Ryan. Heck, my guess is with 3E Ryan just went to Peter and said "This OGL thing is hot, its on the cutting edge of the open source movement, its hip, its now, we will be awesome!" And Peter said "do it!" The same people and processes simply arent in place now. It was his baby and he championed it. I dont think people at WotC view it the same way. There is no head guy there for whom this is their baby, like it was for Ryan. As a result, it is treated differently. 3. The operation is way more professional this time around. Yes, perhaps Ryan's discussion lists made the process more transparent last time (and they did), but they were cobbling it together on the fly. It was awesome, but it was an experiment. This time, it is clear that third party support was part of a bigger strategy. I mean, that conference call was pretty impressive. It was planned, coordinated and done in a way that you dont see much in gaming. It was professional.I think this hangup with the GSL is external to the main group of people at WotC dealing with D&D 4E. Different times, different problems. But I still feel the intent is there. It was clear with Ryan, and public. I think it is similarly clear now, but they are just less public about it. That is more a byproduct of the fact that Ryan ran it last time. I still am 100% convinced that WotC wants us to help them support 4E. It may not happen on my timetable, and given that the 3E final docs werent done until over a year after release, I guess I cant bitch too much. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Clark</blockquote>

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