> I'm wondering if this is what WotC actually wants.
WotC wants to sell PHBs. It believes that support material for the contents of the PHBs (D&D, Star Wars, Wheel of Time, etc) sells more PHBs. The more support there is for the PHBs, the more PHBs will sell. The better the support is, the more PHBs will sell. WotC believes that one way to generate high quality support for PHB sales is to let the market generate such content in an unregulated manner. > In the spirit of the "Netbooks", there is currently some reason > to perhaps create a free, published work that releases, as > open content, pictures, background, social structure etc, for > every creature currently in the MM. I think that an OGL version of such a work would have tremendous value. Perhaps more, in some ways, than many of the projects proposed so far. > It's not just a "handful" of monsters. Do WotC effectively want closed content > on what every creature looks like Some of those creatures are generic enough that a reasonable search is likely to turn up numerous public domain sources for similar images. Others have been carefully built from scratch to be proprietary to WotC. Some monsters have unique backgrounds created from scratch by WotC (or TSR) designers. Others are based on public domain myths and legends. The content in the Monster Manual runs the gamut of these sources, and your ability to re-use it as you see fit is governed by copyright law. On the other hand, your license to use the contents of the SRD is governed by the OGL, which is substantially more clear. If you (or your legal counsel) believe you have the right to use something in the Monster Manual that isn't in the SRD, you take your chances with WotC's interpretation of your rights. On the other hand, if you start with the SRD and add only other OGC or your own creative work, you run little or no risk of a confrontation with WotC. Ryan _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
