> Basically, most people seem to be concerned that the D20 license may limit
> their ability to change the game rules to reflect their vision. Fair enough.
> But, as a CONSUMER of "D20 Brand Products", what I want to know is that I
> can use this material easily in my D&D (or other D20) game.
While on the outside it may seem that way, we are basically striving to
make a compromise between the two. I may not have been vocal about the
consumer side, but I want a solution that will be viable for everyone
involved. Yes, I am one of the publishers, but I am a consumer as well.
I think we need to find an even trade off between everyone that is:
1. Not anymore restrictive to the creative professionals who are
involved in developing for D20. D20 is restricted right now to the point
where I am very happy with it. Adding more restrictions are stripping
more away in my opinion is a bad idea. So I believe this should stay as
it is.
2. Not confusing to consumers (like yourself) who do not wish to see the
whole D20 System turn into a hugely fragmented market (like you've
said). Let's face it, the market WILL, without a shadow of a doubt,
become fragmented. Everyone has been dying to get their grubby hands on
the rules for D&D forever, so of course everyone will release "their"
perfect vision of what this will be. Over time, the rules will generally
consolidate into a few systems that everyone will be happy with, but
until then we need to help each other out and weather the fragmentation
that D20 will initially create.
3. Most importantly - be simple to recognize and understand. I
personally do not want my customers getting upset because I decided to
change the combat rules and make my supplement less compatible then say
a supplement or module by company x. There will be some trade off here
and I'd be an idiot if I said that I can please everyone, but we are
attempting to find the perfect medium here.
> a restrictive license on this logo is in the consumer's interest because it
> prevents all the confusion that people on this list are threatening to
> create. If I have to learn a whole new set of rules, and I can't just drop
> it into my D20 game, then I DON'T CARE if it's a similar system, any more
> than it does me good today to know that the Palladium rules are heavily
> derived from D&D, or that Storyteller is a descendant of Shadowrun. All this
> pie chart stuff is just confusing, and does nothing to help the purchaser.
Yes that would make things much easier for all involved, but as a
publisher I do not want any more restrictions placed on what I can do
with the rules. So basically our motivations and desires are different,
and what we want out of all of this is at the opposite ends of the
spectrum. If a pie chart is confusing to you then I say we scrap that
idea. Maybe if we put something on the back of the module like this:
The Airahk Horde is a D20 System module and contains the following content:
New rules for combat
New magic items and spells
New monster races and a new prestige class: The Goblin Slayer
This would at least alert the purchaser to what they were getting into.
To avoid consumer confusion and increase compatibility, I can always
write an optional rules section in the module kinda like Player's
Option, and explain what has been changed. Then you would have the
option of using those rules if you wanted to. The pie chart that I have
suggested would just be a quick alert icon that would give you a run
down of what is new in the module. Kinda like seeing the nike symbol and
saying, "Cool sneakers." If would just me made to make the consumers
lives easier. If you didn't want a module with new rules you can just
pass over it because the icon would clearly define that it contained new rules.
I'd make up an image and attach to this email, but I'm not sure if
everyone would approve of an image attached to the list. It wouldn't
even have to be a pie chart in could be maybe three crossed swords in a
triangle pattern with each sword representing a different aspect of D20.
Combat rules, Magic, and compatibility. Each sword would be filled in
with a color to represent how much of that sort of content would be
contained therein. This may not sound feasible as its just off the top
of my head.
Also, if they are other consumers on this list like Kevin Brennan I'd
love to hear your thoughts and concerns on all of this.
--
Jeff Visgaitis
Art Director
Roc Games
www.roc-games.com
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
