|From: Faustus von Goethe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
|A hypothetical alternative is to reverse engineer the "pure
|rules" of the
|D&D 3E system and create your own similar game. Something
|that is legally
|possible but for which there would be no legal "safe harbor".
|This was done
|with 1E rules in the 1980s by "Palladium". It never really
|sold that well.
|
|Faust
I dunno about talking about Palladium in the past sense so much. It's still a viable RP system, though slowly going down hill sure. The vast ammount of support games that were built off that system had to have said something. I still treasure my old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle book :-) The main problem with it was the vast number of modifiers that got pushed into any and all success rolls.
My point, despite fond reminiscings however is this. Just because something is OGL and yet doesn't meet the d20stl standards does _not_ make it a non-viable system. The fact of the matter is that if you make a better, easier to use, more fun product than D&D using their system then you are perfectly free to. Just don't go stamping the d20 logo on it because then you're using your own structure. Wizards is betting you can't do it.. and they're probably right. But it's not against the rules.
Heck, go out there and publish your own own game and your own Trademark for other people to use. If you don't like certain things in the d20stl, take those out and have yourself a more liberal trademark liscence. Then everyone can put down in their work how much they love your game and put in connections to it. Of course, don't get upset when you see the best of the new OGL rules you came up with being published in the next D&D supplement either.
