Marc Tassin wrote: >I have had this discussion too many times but for the new people, here it >is. It is unfair to expect designers and publishers who have >put blood, sweat, tears and in many cases lots of money into the creation >of a unique and interesting world, to open those up for all >time. Once material is open it stays open. So to say "open the whole >spell" is to say "give up ownership of the thing you have created."
WotC did it. In fact, if you're producing SRD-derived OGL material (and practically everyone is), you're playing in the sandbox WotC opened up for you. Green Ronin did it. Atlas did it. Others have as well. Sword & Sorcery Studios, to me, was the epitome of a company acting within the letter of the OGL but not the spirit of the open gaming community. Their PI zealousness is absurd, and too many people have taken their cue from them. (Which isn't to say that none of their PI is legitimate. "Mithril Golem", for example, is a perfectly legitimate piece of PI. But PIing "Moon Cat", "Unholy Child", and "Wood Golem" *is* ridiculous. This has been much alleviated with their "goodie" license in R&R.) Well, actually, Malhavoc is even worse. "Let's release an entire book full of new spells and feats, and place *none* of it under the OGC except for one monster template." Bah. >If you are a player it doesn't matter because OGL, OGC, PI, >d20 and all the rest doesn't apply. Well, actually, it does matter. Because the whole concept of the OGL/D20 movement is that -- by opening the sandbox up -- WotC is allowing the player to move freely from products produced by one company to products produced by another company. By not rendering content OGC you are, effectively, acting directly contrary to the open gaming vision. If I have to reinvent the wheel with my product because you didn't make the wheel you invented OGC, then you've actively affected a player who bought both of our products. Now he's got two different wheels and needs to convert one wheel to another if he wants to keep playing. And the player suffers because people who would like to take your wheel and make a wheelbarrow with it can't, because you didn't want anyone else playing in your corner of the sandbox. Now, you have the legal right to take your wheel, go off to the corner, and play by yourself. But don't pretend moral righteousness: You're taking WotC's cake and refusing to make one yourself. Justin Bacon [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
