>From: "Christopher DeLisle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Please correct me if I am mistaken in my understanding here but it doesn't
>sound to me like you have any intention of making Dunandralis Open Source.
Not to be condescending, but "no, Open Source and Open Game are two
different ideas."
We are making a world that supports and is supported by Open Games, most
notably the D20 system.
>It sounds as though you intend to make it Public Domain but by restricting
>the ability to alter it and make derivative work from it, Dunandralis
>falls
>outside the definition of Open Source.
"Public Domain" is another legal term which some people seem to think is
what "open source" means... but that's a different rant.
What's questioned is our permission (which is what *ALL* open licenses work
off of) for someone else to make a derivitive work / alter any part of
Dunandralis and distribute it *without our consent.*
And even that's misleading, as all that we would cover is the "product
identity" that all of the content-producing companies on the wagon make you
pay for, but we let you distribute for free.
>Being a group project, Open Source is not the best solution to take with
>it,
>unless you intend the group to potentially be the entire world without
>restriction.
Think of it this way: We're making a dandy new line of PCs, and want to use
Linux. Or, we're making a great PC game, and want anyone to take it and
pass it along, but we want *our* game to be only modifed by "us", and we'll
take anyone who comes along to help us.
>This is certainly possible, however it isn't necessarily true in all cases.
>Sometimes this results in the "Too Many Chefs" syndrome which causes
>nothing
>but problems and nothing gets accomplished.
I would like to introduce you to Maggie Vining, the Committe Manager for
Dunandralis, and myself, Doug Meerschaert, the Content Mangaer for
Dunandralis.
We're two of the five "Chiefs", and so far few enough have wanted to wear
that hat that we have *less* of a comittee than we intended.
> This is something that you need
>to be on the lookout for in any group project and need to take steps to end
>it as soon as possible (ideally before it ever begins).
Yep. Thanks for the reminder, though.
>As is true of any serious group effort. With the magazine I am involved
>with, we follow a similar process before our monthly publication:
>brainstorm and debate ideas, write the content, submit it to editorial and
>revise.
Coolness.
>IMHO, quantity never makes up for quality. This is a good reason not to
>include Dunandralis under the blanket of Open Gaming. Were the setting
>released under the OGL you would lose the control that you desire to
>maintain over its development.
No, we wouldn't. That's what the "Product Identity" means. PI is *THE*
difference between OS and OGC... and it's necesssary, as no one ever bought
a RPG because of the really great technical support.
>It sounds like your best option it copyright Dunandralis to the list,
>committee,community, whatever you decide but provide it as freely available
>for use and distribution without modification.
Thanks for the advice, Chris.
DM
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