>  > woodelf
>>
>>  chicken and egg.
>
>Not at all.  Both the body of work and the license are the end-product of a
>much more significant event: a desire by third parties to create derivative
>material combined with a company being willing to allow it to happen.  Both
>the OGL and the SRD a result of that situation, they are not some intrinsic
>paradox of a self-generating closed loop.
>
>>  somebody has to *use* the licenses for their to be
>>  a substantial body of work under them.  when the WotC OGL was
>>  finalized, there was nothing released under it, and only the promise
>>  of one work (the D20SRD) to be released.
>
>Actually, the SRD was released under the gentleman's agreement BEFORE the
>OGL was even close to being done.

either i'm missing your point, or you're missing mine.  what i meant 
to say is that you [generic you] can't complain that other ogls are 
less useful *because* there's less material available via them, and 
that you *therefore* won't release your material with one of them. 
someone has to be the first to put useful content under a given 
license, in order for there to be useful content to attract others to 
use that license.  in the case of the WotC OGL, of course, it 
was/will be the D20SRD, giving it a huge jumpstart.  but there is 
nothing intrinsic to any other RPG system, or any other ogl, 
preventing an equally-valuable [well, intellectually--i acknowledge 
that probably no other RPG system is as valuable market-wise] RPG 
system being released under one of them, and thus making using that 
license "valuable".

>  > i wonder what would happen if the D20STL didn't specify which ogl you
>>  had to use to satisfy the 5% OGC requirement?
>
>I assume you mean "I wonder what would happen if Wizards released the SRD
>under more than one open license", because the d20 STL is purely a marketing
>tool.  It exists solely for the purpose of serving those who want to use the
>SRD to make d20 System products.

no, i mean the D20STL.  currently, you have to have at least 5% OGC 
content, as defined by the WotC OGL (meaning you have to place the 
work under that ogl).  there is no requirement that any of that 
content, or, indeeed, any of the content of your work, be derived 
from the D20SRD.  or even that it be game-mechanical.  so, if any 
valid OGC were accepted, you could release a work under the D20STL, 
and satisfy the open-content requirement with the Gnu FDL, or make 
the whole thing (and all derivatives) open, via the OOGL.  you'd, of 
course, have to abide by the terms of the D20 System Guide, but that 
shouldn't be that hard (so long as you don't want to reproduce any of 
the D20SRD, of course).  it is most definitely possible to fulfill 
all the other terms of the D20STL without using the WotC OGL.

-- 
woodelf                <*>
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://members.home.net/woodelph/

If any religion is right, maybe they all have to be right.  Maybe God
doesn't care how you say your prayers, just as long as you say them.
--Sinclair
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