sigtrent (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sigtrent) wrote,@ 2008-06-18 20:45:00 |
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A taste of venom
Wizards of the Coast made their new license for publishing 4th Edition material available this week along with the accompanying system reference document. I like 4E and I was looking forward to the license release but having seen it I am sorely disappointed.
When WOTC made the third edition they took the revolutionary step of publishing the rules under an open license called the OGL , and they licensed a logo for it under the d20 license. It let anyone publish their own D&D supplements and adventures so long as you followed a few basic rules. By using the license you similarly gave permission to others to use and build on your work. WOTC kept all their most of their supplemental material off limits, but the core game was there for everyone to play with.
Well this time they have drop kicked the whole “open” aspect and gone with a more traditional kind of license allowing people to publish 4E supplements. While that is still more than what most game publishers offer, there are a number of devils lurking in the details of the license. For starters it essentially punts any obligation on wizards part and proclaims its subject to change at any time without any notification and gives WOTC broad digression in determining what is or isn’t allowed under the license.
A troubling clause for many publishers is that any “conversion” of a project published under the OGL must be discontinued to publish a version of it under the GSL (game system license). Again WOTC reserves the right to judge what is a conversion and what is part of the same product line making this a potential danger for any company that has been successful with 3E products but would like to make 4E ones.
But the big killer for me is the SRD (system reference document) which has gone from a nearly complete set of core rules to a mere list of terms and game components. Instead of being able to incorporate the game rules into your publications you are merely allowed to make reference to them. Compared to the SRD of old, the new one is a useless pile of shit. Even in comparison to no SRD at all in has almost no value of any kind other than to name the things you cannot describe. What was once a fantastic gift to fans is now a barbed wire fence for publishers.
I can see how the license will still allow certain kinds of publications to be made, and I don’t think it is utterly worthless or believe that WOTC is eager to shut down independent publishers, but it is a big step backwards and extremely unattractive to fan projects. It is attractive to me as a non-profit content maker to simply give them the big metaphorical middle finger. It’s especially disappointing because I really like the rules system they have put together this time.
