D&D 3E/3.5 WotC Rejecting 3.5 Writers?

[abeattie]

Guys,

Not to be critical of the OP, but this is some pretty serious hearsay. I am NOT comfortable trusting someone else's summary of things they were told a third party said. And you shouldnt be either. Plus, the OP then piles on with rank speculation based on hearsay.

Please put the breaks on the Wizards hate and lets let the dust settle. Lets see if Nick has anything to say. Or Wizards.

Clark

Crazy idea -- maybe they just decided not to employ him anymore for a number of reasons which might include Paizo's increasingly hostile treatment of WotC?

 

[Alzrius]

This is how crappy information gets out thanks to the net.

And in other news, today Clark Peterson of Necromancer games denounced the internet itself, saying it's how "crappy information gets out."

What exactly does this mean for Necromancer Games in regards to PDF publishing, the DDI, and EN World?

 

[Nlogue]

I was chatting with Nick Logue last night and he said he received a sad email from WotC saying they could no longer use his work. He said it was related to the GSL and his employment at Paizo.

Has anyone else received anything like this?

I'm wondering if WotC is requiring anyone who publishes with them to sign an agreement that they won't develop for 3.5 OGL, including any freelance work. It would seem to be a good move at helping to kill the OGL; it seems like their biggest competition has always been former employees. If everyone who publishes material through DDI cannot publish material for OGL, how would that impact the hobby?

Hang on! I want to chime in right away here! I would have done so sooner, but I was asleep all day (finally!).

WotC did not fire my ass. They weren't mean to me. They didn't even kick me off of any projects I'm currently tackling (and I'm currently tackling 4 for them).

They just mentioned that my new job with Paizo caused some GSL issues and policy snags, so I'd have to hold off on a couple more projects until the GSL issue is resolved. Once the question of the GSL is dealt with, they are planning on using me again (at least they probably were before this thread).

Takasi! I love you! But, what you posted above is not really what I said on the chat exactly. I stated very specifically that because of the new job there were GSL snags that make me working for them AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME a little complex for them. They kindly asked me to hold off on ONE project that they were considering using me for (they hadn't even promised they were going to have me write it yet).

So, there ya have it. Everything's cool and the gang guys. I won't be writing for WotC for the next couple of months is all. Which is probably for the best since I'm up to my ears in work for my new company Sinister Adventures coupled with my new duties are eating up any time I'd have for freelance in the next couple of months anyways. So there is no spat. No problems. Chris Youngs who I am doing a lot of work for at WotC is the guy who gave me my first real break in the industry (a little ditty called "Cry Wolf"). I enjoy working with him, and he is a fantastic editor. I plan to work for him as long as he'll have me!

Okay, hope this clears some things up!

Return to your regular fun!

 

[Orcus]

I feel like I've made a mistake by posting Nick's name here, and I asked the mods to please delete this thread.

He responded to me when I asked if he was going to do any material for Eberron when it comes out next year. I was very sad to hear that he won't be writing for the setting.

On the plus side, he does have one more Eberron module coming soon in Dungeon, and he recently started Sinister Adventures.

Yeah, did you even get Nick's permission to blab his comments to you on the net? Does he know how you summarized what he said? Does he even agree with your summary of his comments?

This is so irresponsible.

Mods, I agree with the OPs call to delete this thread. Not that I have any pull. Just saying.

 

[Cyronax]

See, this is what I am talking about. The OP's rank hearsay and speculation has now fed into this having something to do with the GSL. This doesnt seem to have anything to do with the GSL.

This is how crappy information gets out thanks to the net. We should know better.

You're right so long as our knowledge about how other freelancers work with WotC currently.

But yes, idle speculation into two upcoming games that haven't been released.

I personally won't be mollified until we get Scott Rouse and Erik Mona into a cage match to zero subdual.

C.I.D.

 

[Cyronax]

double post.

 

[Wormwood]

Return to your regular fun!

Gee, thanks for ruining this perfectly good thread with your reasonable presentation of facts.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

If you have a competitor who has basically drawn a line in the sand and is making a play for as many of your current customers as they can to play a modified version of your last edition of the game, I can totally see them deciding not to allow anyone working for Paizo to write for WotC and I don't really see a problem w/that.

That's a pretty skewed version of what happened with Paizo and WOTC dont you think?

I mean Paizo was actually waiting on the 4E rules and the GSL from WOTC so that they could ultimately decide whether or not to go 4E. And personally from the tone of Erik Mona's posts it really seemed as if he wouldnt have an issue with going 4E at all.

Unfortunately, WOTC never got the GSL and the rules to Paizo. Paizo is a buisness with employees to pay and product to produce so I'm thinking that they couldnt wait for WOTC or their lawyers or whoever.

But saying that Paizo drew a line in the sand and making a play for current customers is kind of...misguided. Paizo is making a play for customers, like myself, who were being left out in the cold. Who, and I say this with all honestly, has no intention of going to 4E.
Also? There are one or two articles on the WOTC site that give you a way to use 4E elements with your 3.5 game. Monte Cook's BOXM (Book of Experimental Might) which came out before the announcement of the Pathfinder RPG has some 4E elements to it. and even the "4Eness" of those rules are in doubt because of the incestuous nature or the RPG design community. So to say that Paizo should be put on blast for reverse engineering 4E to work with 3.5 is kind of short sighted.

Paizo is just doing what some of us 3.5 holdovers were doing or planning to do anyway. I dont think 4E will be a crap game, there are elements of it that I like and plan on using in my 3.5 games. I just don't like the idea of invalidating thousands of dollars of RPG purchases (hardcopies, PDF's, applications) by switching editions. I'll stick with the games and materials that will provide the most support for the game that I'm running.

 

[jimmifett]

It seems to me that a lot of ppl here are getting thier undergarments in a bunch over a contractual issue between party A and party B, that does not involve intertubes C.

Wotc and paizo and the others are companies, which have obligations to these creatures called share holders. Share holders expect profit, and the protection of their investments, such as IP, as well they should. How do they do this? They hire nefarious arcane alienists called lawyers, that bend the rules of space, time and business to protect their employer's interests. They often have the final say in things, usually overriding the common sense of the rest of the company, bc other companies have thier own lawyers in the underdark.

If your investors and the illithid lawyers don't like that you gave away the kitchen sink with 3.5, and tell you to change things in 4e, all you can do is try to persuade them to change thier minds. if they don't, guess what, you are to implement a GSL instead of an OGL wether you like it or not.

Now that you are told to implement a GSL, you have to make sure your illithid lawyers are happy with those writing for you. Writers have thier own lawyers, and all these lawyers duel it out and jockey for control with their arcane writings until there is a scroll of binding both parties are satified with.

Would WOTC want to make sure they have good writers? I'm sure.
Do they also have to protect thier IP lest they be tentacle grappled by lawyers under the command of shareholders? naturally.
Could circumstances change once the GSL is released and they satisfy the conditions of allowing those that bought in early to have first crack? Surely, just throw a few more lawyers together in an undulating pit of horrors to get a scroll of binding.

The only negative thing that *I* see here is Nick's name being thrown about over a potential contractual/licensing dispute by individuals on all sides for their various views of which company is naughty, thereby attaching a negative stigma to Nick for future potential lawyer battles with other companies.

As an aside, i love 4E AND Pathfinder, and as long as either product continues to meet my personal expectations, that company will get what the shareholders want most, my money.

-Jim

 

[Wicht]

Crazy idea -- maybe they just decided not to employ him anymore for a number of reasons which might include Paizo's increasingly hostile treatment of WotC?

Hold on a moment. I have never seen James Jacobs, Erik Mona or any of the other fine people of Paizo's be anything but professional in whatever they say about WotC and the people that work there. And I bet you can't find anywhere they have been hostile either. As far as I know, the folks at both companies respect the other and there is a good deal of crossover in their talent pools (going both ways).