> Kal Lin
>
> On Thu, 29 Jun 2000, Brad Thompson wrote:
>
>> If you intend to lock down a game system so tightly that others
>> can't even create supplemental materials that depend on your core
>> works, then the OGL, indeed the entire Open Gaming concept, isn't
>> for you at all. At that point, you are gaining nothing by using
>> the OGL, and nobody will gain anything from you from your use of it.
>
> What if someone wants to lock down a theme tightly AND have
> access to the D20 trademark? They would have to include some
> open content derived from the d20SRD and have to deal with the
> OGL. They probably also want to do it in such a way as to make
> D20 players comfortable playing their products (ie. more than
> just trivial inclusions of the d20SRD) while blocking anyone
> else from entering that segment.
This is a fool's errand. It would be nearly impossible to create a
completely closed system to the degree that Kevin was describing and still
use d20. If you try, you'll have a product which is derivative of the d20
SRD, can't create it's own characters, and doesn't have any rules for
character advancement. Your game is now intrinsically tied to some other
work, which is an OGL work by definition. This allows supplemental material
to be created for your game/setting, even if you have closed rules, because
so much of the foundation will be the same. The d20 System Trademark & Logo
is nowhere near a closed system. Again, if you want to make sure your
game/theme/setting IP is locked up so tight that nobody can create
supplemental material, then the OGL and/or d20 is not for you.
The d20 STL isn't final yet, and I strongly suspect that there will be a
provision for bundled products - that is, if the d20 Logo appears on a boxed
set, then everything inside the box must be d20 compliant. Anything else
would expose the license to a great deal of abuse.
-Brad
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