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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 4142440" data-attributes="member: 5100">I want to elaborate on what I said earlier.  I don't think WotC has any obligation to make their IP "open" or available for other parties to build from.  If they chose to make 4e totally closed, I would suffer from exactly zero moral outrage.  Fudge is the only other open game of which I'm aware, so it's not like closed content is against the norm, either.I have always tended to play D&D with a combination of either "official" (TSR/WotC/Dragon) rules and house rules.  Even back to 1e, there have been some gems of 3rd party products compatible with D&D.  There have also been some real turds.  I've found the gems to add a little something, but nothing critical or even primary to my enjoyment of the game.In 3x, I have found more turds than gems.  Some companies just turn out worthless crap.  Others turn out good rules that don't seem to fit the flavor I want.  Even the good stuff often requires me to stop playing D&D to really use because they replace many of the core rules (Iron Heroes and, to a lesser extent, Arcana Evolved both fall into this category).  Very, very few 3rd party supplements actually enhance D&D rather than altering it.Honestly, Paizo, Necromancer, Goodman Games, and Green Ronin are the only companies that come to mind.  Paizo looks to be going down the path of an altered 3.5, which even showed through in the early Pathfinders, from what I saw.  Green Ronin seems to be focusing on non-SRD products (aren't they True 20?).  I have no idea about Goodman.  Only Necromancer has committed to 4e.And, really, I'm fine with that.  Of all the 3x products I have on my shelf, there only a few that I'm going to miss when moving to 4e.  I never did get to see Tome of Magic in action, but it sounds like the cooler bits may see their way to 4e.  I'm a Ravenloft nut, so I'm sad to not have run that module, but I really picked it up for nostalgia, anyway.  And I'd still like to try Rappak Athuk Reloaded, even more than Ravenloft.  In thinking about things, I realized that Necromancer seems to be doing exactly the sort of 3rd party products I want, and they're off a good quality.  When 4e rolls out, I'm definitely going to be looking specifically at Necromancer, in addition to WotC.So, I'd be fine if WotC completely closed down 4e.  I'd be even happier if they closed it, but specifically licensed Necromancer to do some products.  Having a semi-closed license that has some guidelines to encourage companies to do more enhancement and less replacement is probably ideal.  Having a completely open license that encourages alternate PHBs, radically divergent (read: nearly or completely incompatible) alternate rules, or wholesale reproduction of the core rules is a bad thing and I'll be happy to see it go.</blockquote>

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