You are all free now so enjoy it.

[robertsconley]

The Do It Yourself ethos is a strong current among those who been playing, writing or refereeing older editions of the world's most popular roleplaying game. There been a fair amount of confusion generated by the recent Frog God Games/Mythmere announcement.

And no I am not talking about the ill-written ad copy on the About Us page of their website. James Raggi's post mirrors much of my sentiment on the matter. The only thing I will add is that the people involved with Frog God Games are stand up folks, I worked with them in the past, and I trust them to do right by their customers both in quality and contributing back to the hobby.

Now that out of the way, there is a lot of confusion over future publishing for Swords & Wizardry. This short post by Julian Grimm sums up the various statements I read. Matt Finch clears up the matter in various posts including this thread on the Swords & Wizardry forum.

But what being missed is that publishing (big or small) is not the same game in the OSR as it was in the past years of the hobby like the 70s, 80s or 90s.

We all free now. Free because of the Open Game License.

Nobody can't take their toys and go home. At various times in the past two years people left the OSR and removed their products. However their work continued on because of the Open Game License. If because of circumstances I had to quit publishing tommorrow you can still use and adapt the Myrmidon, the Montebank, etc from the Majestic Wilderlands because it is in a section that I released under the Open Game License.

So when I see new arrangements being announced I am not concerned for my own projects. I still have sitting beside my desk a copy of Swords & Wizardry with the Open Game License on the back page. For that I thank Matt Finch and wish him all the best in his new relationship with Frog God Games. I thank all the authors of rules, supplements and adventures that continue to release new material under the Open Game License.

I am free from worrying that a publisher turns greedy. And guess what! So are you.

You are free now, so enjoy it!

[kesher]

1) Well said, Rob!

2) There are no links in your text where it looks like you intended there to be links.

[crusssdaddy]

Or you can really embrace the DIY ethos by supporting products like CARCOSA that don't even bother with the OGL, and put forth a share-and-share-alike philosophy. Way ahead of you, buddy.

[Mr. Darke]

I'm just writing due to my love of S&W/OD&D; Nothing more, nothing less. If I happen to make money to support my gaming and old school video game habit then it is that much better.

[tavis]

Without getting into the virtues of the different legal arrangements (Open Gaming License, Creative Commons, etc.) I agree with Rob that releasing your work under one of these licenses gives additional sharing freedom over simply expressing the philosophy that you wish others to be able to build upon your work.

The OGL was notably, and as it turns out presciently, designed to be irrevocable - once something is made open content, it cannot be revoked. If geoffrey was to don a helm of opposite alignment and decide that no one should ever touch CARCOSA in any way, that would be a right he (or his heirs, or the people who bought the CARCOSA IP from him) would retain, which he would have eschewed by releasing it under an OGL or CC license.

(oh and BTW, the links are intact at the original Bat in the Attic post.