Dave- I'm agreeing with you for three reasons:
1. your post was too long to read, so I cant argue with what I didnt read :) 2. the part I did read was hillarious and most of all 3. you put my name with Monte. And, as we all know, Monte is a "genius." So I feel all warm inside. Clark --- David Shepheard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: "The Sigil" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:50 AM > > > >Surely if the Wizards of the Coast bring out a 4E > D&D that is not > > >compatible with the SRD it will just make it > economically viable for > > >people to add character creation rules to the SRD > and sell their own 3e > > >PHB/DMG/MM clones. > >> > >>Game companies would also have an incentive to do > their own SRD bug-fixes > >>and while certain companies might not want to be > as co-operative as > >>others, enlightend self interest would push most > publishers together. > > > > *snorts with laughter* > > > > Forgive me, David, but I just HAD to respond to > this. Enlightened > > self-interest would push most publishers together > to adopt the same > > bug-fixes? > > > > It will NEVER happen. One of the "talking points" > that had everyone > > excited about the OGL was that we were likely to > see a whole bunch of > > rules and ideas, and the best ones would quickly > be adopted and become > > "the standard" among third-party publishers, and > possibly among WotC/D&D > > play as well. That never even came close to > happening. > > Hang on a second Sigil. I'm not talking about > publishers creating new OGC in > a co-operative manner (I've already seen that while > cooperation is probably > in the interest of publishers that want to stay in > the business for the long > term, many publishers do *seem* to hoard their own > content for various > reasons). > > I'm talking about something different. I'm talking > about publishers working > together to maintain the core rules (if WotC abandon > them during the change > to 4e). This co-operation would be limited only to > the concept of upgrading > the 3.5 SRD to a level where it would attract > customers who want an > alternative to the 4e D&D books. It would only do > the following: > > 1) Take over the procedure of fixing existing bugs > in the SRD (after WotC > stop releasing erratas) and > 2) Produce enough new core rules to catch up with 4e > D&D (and do nothing > else). > > This would be a minimum amount of cooperation and > could probably be done if > just a few content creators agreed to do it. > > > Why not? Three factors. > > > > First, the OGL's "viral Section 15 - but nowhere > else - credit > > requirement" made it impractical to do so without > creating ever-bloating > > Section 15's. > > I'm sure there is a workaround for that. Suppose > that the publishers that > helped with the project didn't actually publish > erratas, bug fixes and 4e > upgrades under their own name. The section 15 could > then be limited to the > joint name that they operated under. > > Lets say for arguments sake WotC shut the door and > that after that a rag tag > band of publishers decide that staying in the d20 > System business is worth > the extra effort. Perhaps something like this could > happen: > > 1) A few publishers, for example Monty Cook, Clark > Peterson, Green Ronin and > Mongoose say "what the hell - lets give it a go and > if it doesn't work out > we can move on anyway". > > 2) They get in touch with the Open Gaming Foundation > and agree to all work > for the OGF so that there is one publisher and none > of them get top billing > over the others. > > 3) They agree with Ryan that the following section > 15 will be used on the > "alternate 4e SRD": > > 15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE > Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of > the Coast, Inc. > > System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, > Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; > Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, > Rich Baker, Andy Collins, > David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. > Rateliff, Thomas Reid, > James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary > Gygax and Dave Arneson. > > Forth Edition SRD Upgrade version 4.01 Copyright > 2007, Open Gaming > Foundation; Authors Monty Cook, Clark Peterson, > Green Ronin and Mongoose. > For more information about Forth Edition see > www.opengamingfoundation.org > > 4) Ryan agrees to put links to every > company/individual that helps out in > the continuity editions of the SRD. He also puts up > some blurb that says how > "all of these publishers are working together with > the OGF to keep the Forth > Edition alive" and suggests that "gamers that want > to keep the SRD alive > should support the publishers so that they can > continue to donate their > time". > > 5) Publishers who can't be bothered to contribute > would be forced to print > the full copyright notice advertising exactly who > was working on the Forth > Edition. Hence publishers that don't get involved > advertise all the > companies working on the "Forth Edition SRD Upgrade" > and are forced to > provide a website where RPG fans can find out more > information about them > all. > > 6) Ryan would get a number of additional hits and > click throughs and fans > that wanted to "support the people who support the > SRD" would get a feeling > that buying a product from one or more of those > publishers would be saving > the game industry. > > 7) RPG fans reading the copyright notice, who didn't > know about the OGL, SRD > and surrounding issues, would get the impression > that Monty, Clark, Green > Ronin and Mongoose were somehow "better" at looking > after the SRD. Some > sales (no I don't know how much as we are so deep > into theories that we are > bordering on science fiction) would be generated > from click throughs as the > link would make all of their products seem to be > "more official". > > 8) The more rabid RPG fans who *were* aware of the > issues surrounding the > OGL, SRD and OGC would probably urge people to > support publishers that "were > working on Forth Edition" and boycott the publishers > who "were riding on > their backs". However, although the rabid fans make > a lot of noise I don't > think they have a major influence. > > 9) Publishers who didn't initially help with the > project may be tempted to > join in when they see a commercial benefit of being > an "official Forth > Edition author" and further editions of the SRD > Upgrade could feature an > updated copyright notice with the names of anyone > who comes onboard. > > 10) Whenever a new publisher decided to come onboard > Ryan could make a big > show of giving them a "big shout" out on the > website. Instantly giving them > reward for coming onboard. RPG fans would start to > wonder why publishers > were not involved, as without an understanding of > the issues those > publishers would just look like they were "being > killjoys". === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! 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