Kevin-
I intended this to be a short answer, but I got
carried away as usual.
You wrote:
"The uncertainties and risks are too great; it is
safer sticking to the traditional model. No one wants
their IP compromised."
I understand your concerns. My short answer is this:
If you are actually writing a full game system and are
concerned about your IP then dont go OG or d20.
Publish it yourself. If you are truly putting out an
original game system, why would it be Open Game or d20
anyway? (I answer this question below) You would have
your own mechanics, etc. Then you, as the copyright
holder, can license your game content as you see fit.
The bottom line with the OGL and d20 is this: the
further you go from D&D (or other d20-based WotC games
to be released later) the harder things are going to
be for you.
You then make an awesome assessment that I think is
right on:
"However, my suspicions are (and I may be wrong) [you
aren't--Clark] that D&D is not based on the D20SRD,
but that the D20SRD is based on D&D. This gives WotC a
unique position with regards to D20. They won't have
to identify Open material in the Player's Handbook
because the PHB won't contain any Open material
whatsoever. Nor will other official D&D products. The
D20SRD will be Open under the OGL, not the PHB and
other products. So while other companies have to worry
about protecting their IP when releasing a game using
the D20SRD, WotC won't have this concern."
RIGHT!!!!! That is exactly how I see it. They claim
D&D is d20 based but we see from the process of
creating the SRD that infact the d20 SRD is being
distilled from D&D (not the other way around). Sure,
they want to use the same universal mechanics for
several games, but they are pulling the mechanics from
D&D.
I see very little use of the OGL but as a vehicle for
d20 publications. If you are going to do something
Open Game but not d20 then I ask you "just what
exactly is the Open Game content?" Right now, it's
just the d20 SRD. So there is not any non-d20 Open
Game content!
Who's is kidding who--the whole d20 system is a
surrogate for the phrase "compatible with D&D." At
some later date, when Star Wars, etc, is put out as
d20, then the d20 logo will mean compatible with those
games as well.
So if you are creating a non-fantasy product I have no
idea how you are going to do it. For example, someone
is doing a super hero game system. They would have to
do it as an addition to the d20 SRD--there is no other
open content! Otherwise, they would have to just
publish it as their own stand-alone game system.
Here is the catch (and the reason you would do a
d20-based game even if you would rather make your own
game): because we all (if we have any business sense)
want to latch on to the market leader--WotC--that
gives us a huge incentive to make d20 stuff for D&D
(as I am doing) or to make new rule systems under d20.
Of course, in the end this all funnels sales back to
WotC. And I'm not saying that to criticize WotC. It is
a genius move. When I saw the OGL/d20 proposal I
smiled and said "F***, those guys are good." Now,
every tangentially profitible system will be incented
to be d20 compatible and thus guided by WotC's
products. Beautiful move. And we become the workers
they cant afford to pay to support the marginally
profitable products. I cant overstate the genius of
this by WotC.
And in the end, everyone wins: WotC maintains market
share, makes more money, and in fact gives an
incentive to new companies to create WotC compatible
products rather than truly competing products. For
instance, would you rather publish and support your
own game, or would you rather do it the easy way and
extend the d20 rules? To quote a classic: 'Nuff said.
Plus, we win because now we can fulfill our childhood
dreams of producing game material that is (basically)
for D&D! We may make money doing it and WotC does too
because it spurs sales of their core products. And if
we dont make money, then WotC was smart in
externalizing that particular product.
So after all that: if you really want to do your own
game, dont do it OGL or d20--publish it yourself as
your own game. But if you want to ride the market
leader, do it d20.
Whew!
Clark Peterson
=====
http://www.necromancergames.com
"3rd Edition Rules, 1st Edition Feel"
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