Re: [Open_Gaming] Rant #2

[Christopher DeLisle]

You're fairly new to the list and missed my post about Bobo's Big Book of Fantasy Character Creation.   It is possible to make all the changes to the D20 system you want or even publish your own book containing the character creation and advancement rules under the OGL.  Then you could create products that derive from that book using the D20STL to gain the benefit of the D20 logo.  The OGL and the D20STL are separate licenses and do not necessary have to be used in conjunction with each other.   Chris   www.IDrankWhat.org www.coincidental.net -----Original Message----- From: Alexander P. Macris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ok, I just read the article by Ryan that Maggie kindly referred me to. The talk of ‘network externalities’ set off alarm bells all over the place. Now I am *really* suspicious… From what I gleaned from the article, WOTC is not pursuing a strategy of “Open Gaming” at all. They are pursuing something more like Microsoft’s strategy with regards to Windows... D20 is like Windows, the ‘operating system’ which will succeed by virtue of its ubiquity rather than its excellence. The D20STL is essentially a “game developer kit” (like a Windows SDK) which allows you to make content compatible with the operating system, D20. The goal is to get all the developers working on content for D&D, killing off other systems and allowing WOTC to earn monopoly profits from its exclusive sale of D20! Perhaps you all knew this already but I certainly did not. I find this horrifying. I thought the point of open source gaming was to be like LINUX: Make the system free and modifiable, until a truly superior system emerges, and then compete on the basis of value-added applications or support. However…. The plot thickens. Ryan writes, “we want to use the trademarks of D&D to hold the value of the business, rather than the rules themselves.” Now what does this mean? If the core PHB is the revenue-driver, what is the ‘value of the business’ in the D&D trademarks? It seems to me they are trying to have their cake and eat it too! If WOTC honestly believes that sales of their core rules are their revenue driver, then they should be to be blunt about keeping the rules proprietary and instead license out what they call the “product identity”the names, characters, places, monsters, etc. from all the various D&D product lineswith the caveat that if you want to use the source material it has to be compatible with D&D. That, at least, would be really ‘opening’ something. As it is, all they have essentially done is say that if you want to write stuff compatible with D&D, that’s ok with us as long as you don’t alter anything we think is important, include any rules which would prevent people from buying the rules, and use any of our proprietary D&D source material. Uh, thanks! Fortunately, I think I have figured out a clever loophole using a combination of the OGL and the D20STL which we can use to avoid the need for PHBs. Hehehehe.