On Thu, 19 Oct 2000, Martin L. Shoemaker wrote:
> Now I fear a different but related unintended consequence. As a D20
> consumer, I fear that I'll see no more products like "Creature Collection"
> or "Death in Freeport" or "Three Days to Kill".
[snip]
> an exhaustive database are changing that balance. I GUARANTEE that this
> discussion is giving commercial producers doubts about the viability of this
> endeavor.
Buried in my archives is a PDF file containing 50-100 magical items
described using Rolemaster statistics submitted by a potential article
contributor for The Guild Companion. We didn't run it at the time because
we really want HTML to remain the standard format for the magazine (so
making exceptions is a bad move), and because I thought at the time it
would make a splendid commercial e-product.
Now I'm having my doubts about going to the author and explaining how we
might make it compatible with D20/OGL.
Option A:
If we were to go ahead and make it D20/OGC but sprinkle liberally with
Product Identity and "close off" anything that does not need to be "open",
we will be accused of not being in tune with the spirit of Open Gaming.
Option B:
If we make it much more open, the valuable content, i.e. the names, the
descriptions, the stats, etc., will all appear on one or more
databases. The author, the editor, the artist(s), and the production
expert won't get their royalties and we won't make any profits either.
On the belief that it's the added value of artwork, layout, etc. which
makes people buy open-game content, remember firstly that this
would be an electronic product not a luxurious hardback, and secondly the
content would be equipment and magical treasures so artwork and good
layout are nice but not essential. A sensibly formatted HTML page
containing the content would be nearly as good (in terms of use) as a
lovingly laid out and illustrated PDF document.
If on the gripping hand, we negotiate a license deal with ICE for
this potential product or break it down into a long-running series of
magazine articles, then there are clear (if lesser) rewards for The Guild
Companion, and we avoid the OGC quagmire.
Your mileage may vary,
Regards,
Nicholas HM Caldwell
General Editor for The Guild Companion
http://www.guildcompanion.com/
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