BLUEHOLME™ 2E?

[Vile Traveller]

One result of the Hasbro PR disaster formerly known as OGL 1.1 is that I, like many 3rd party publishers, will not be using any form of the OGL going forward. The uncertainty engendered by this is not going to go away, even if the current batch of execs pull back from the brink.

It has yet to be seen whether Hasbro can make retroactive withdrawal of the OGL 1.0a stick, but if they do there will have to be a new, non-OGL edition of BLUEHOLME™. Like all clones, that will be hardest out of all the products created under the OGL because it uses a lot of the text from the SRD verbatim, though heavily modified to roll it back like it was 1977. Furthermore, it has never been established how close you can get to cloning an old edition of D&D before copyright law can apply. The oft-misquoted "rules can't be copyrighted" is based on a very limited case.

So, Nothing is changing here yet, but I am certainly thinking ahead to the possibility of BLUEHOLME™ 2E (and BLUEHACK™ 2E).

[machfront]

d**n. I’d not imagined it might be this…”dangerous” at all.
If it may be, then…well…maybe I’m a dummy but it seems Gavin ignored it to make OSE a complete restatement of B/X. Is a publishing philosophy something along those lines something you may also like explore to make Blueholme it’s own thing as well?

I’d..we all…would certainly hate to see it halted in any way.

[Vile Traveller]

Jan 6, 2023 9:02:32 GMT -6 machfront said:

[...] it seems Gavin ignored it to make OSE a complete restatement of B/X.

OSE is still published under the OGL 1.0a, so he's in the same boat. We'll all have to see how it plays out, I'm sure the seemingly crazy terms coming out of Hasbro now are all part of the negotiation, starting with something totally unacceptable and then walking back just far enough to get a few big guys on board.

Unless old material somehow becomes unusable, e.g. by Hasbro making deals with DTRPG and other publishing platforms, hopefully existing published material can still be kept available. So rulebooks are okay, though there won't be any new editions - from a corporate viewpoint that might seem like it's enough because, unlike us, they depend on new editions every few years. I'll wait and see.

But adventures don't really need the OGL, so those will keep coming. I'm just finishing off the Blueholme Brochure here, and I won't be using the OGL for that.

[machfront]

Ah. Alright. I was entirely mistaken in my understanding concerning OSE.

[machfront]

It’s funny (NOT ‘ha ha’) as I was…sorry…AM…finally…FINALLY was gonna grab a Blueholme HB off of Lulu this very week.(which is why I tripped into this portion of the ODD74 this morn. 🙂

[Vile Traveller]

Jan 6, 2023 9:33:37 GMT -6 machfront said:

It’s funny (NOT ‘ha ha’) as I was…sorry…AM…finally…FINALLY was gonna grab a Blueholme HB off of Lulu this very week.(which is why I tripped into this portion of the ODD74 this morn. 🙂

You should wait for a sale, there's usually a 15% off coupon every month or so.

[machfront]

True. I’ll look out for that. Thanks!

[Vile Traveller]

I don't know if WotC will ever come for BLUEHOLME, and until it does I won't be pulling the game. I don't think I will ever personally re-write it. I intend to wait and see what happens with the current race between the bigger 3PPs to create the next better-than-D&D game with a truly open licence. If and when that happens I'll consider making the switch.

[Vile Traveller]

I have been doing a lot of reading of systems of late. If and when I do get around to a second edition, I don't think I'll produce my own version because lawyer's fees are really not in my budget. So, the systems with licencing options that I find most interesting at this moment are Swords & Wizardry (though of course it's still undergoing revision now), and, going a bit further astray, Worlds/Stars Without Number. I actually like the latter a bit more in terms of 'feel'.