Neal Rogers wrote:
> I've noticed that some D20 products on the market are
> putting all the creature names in Closed Content,
> while the creature stats are in Open Content. I'm not
> clear on the reason behind this. It probably makes no
> difference to consumers, but it renders the product
> less than useful, or so it seems, to the open gaming
> community. What's the use of a list of stats if an
> author who wants to use the Open Content can't say
> what the stats belong to? Honestly, maybe I've just
> missed something on the rationale here, and if someone
> can make it a little clearer to me, I'd really
> appreciate it.
That is, in short, the reasoning behind it: By closing the name, the
company maintains effective control of the IP. Personally, I think
they're idiots -- plain and simple. By deliberately preventing my -- a
D20 developer -- from referencing their product they are crippling the
network advantages inherent in the entire system.
For example, say that I want to use a moon cat (from the CREATURE
COLLECTION) in one of the adventures I'm writing for Fantasy Flight
Games or Penumbra. Because the names in the CC have been closed
(preventing me from referencing it), the only way for me to use the
creature is to put the stats in my own product and give the creature a
new name. At the same time, I'm referencing a bunch of creatures from
the MONSTER MANUAL without doing anything more than saying "hey, go look
on pg. XX of the MONSTER MANUAL". Instead of having my product networked
to theirs (so that people who pick up my product will be encourX-Mozilla-Status:
0009s), they've sealed the network off.
Justin Bacon
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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