|
|
Post by hamurai on Jan 15, 2023 23:28:51 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by jeffb on Jan 16, 2023 7:30:38 GMT -6
The Lawyer who worked with Dancey to create the original OGL is the head of the law firm working to create Paizo's new ORC license (and the IP firm for Paizo and other RPG companies) My point is that if this lawyer felt that OGL 1.0 was going to prevail in a court of law without much expenditure of $, time and energy to defend it from HASBRO, he would not be working on a new one to supercede it. I daresay you're missing the point of Paizo's move. It's not about the legal security of their games; it's about marketing. By offering this new ORC license (if it takes off), they'll be the company that stepped in and did the right thing by sticking up for all the small publishers, which will generate a lot of consumer goodwill for them. ORC won't just keep their own games legally safe from WotC's grubby hands; it will also do the same for any other publishers who wish to adopt it. The fact that creating a new license is almost certainly far cheaper than potentially fighting it out in court (and U.S. courts being what they are, there would be no guarantee of a victory even if Paizo was in the right) was assumably a factor to consider, but the real importance of ORC is that it provides an umbrella of safety to many other creators. No I'm very aware, however I would say that marketing is A point, and not THE point. If he's unarmed and unable to enforce the law, John Wayne riding in to save the town from the bandits isn't going to make any difference at all to the townspeople. |
|
|
|
Post by jeffb on Jan 16, 2023 7:45:26 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by Vile Traveller on Jan 16, 2023 9:18:56 GMT -6
Just got my Fria Ligans newsletter. They will have their own OGL with an updated Year Zero Engine SRD, and another licence for Dragonbane supplements (you need to refer to the core rules, so no clones). This has been in progress for a while, but the WotC business has lit a fire.
|
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Jan 19, 2023 13:30:31 GMT -6
...and don't forget FATE RPG's parent game system, FUDGE RPG. oh, right. Fudge was sort of the original open source game right? I never got into it. The special Fudge dice and the name kind of turned me off so I didn't give it a chance. Nowadays, Fate Core is to my mind a more accessible ‘build’ of Fudge. If you find that you like it, and want more after adding the Fate System Toolkit, then you might want to “dive into the deep end” of Fudge itself. If memory serves, the Fate Point economy is at least in detail a Fate innovation. Fudge includes a precursor in its toolbox, but is not so solidly premised on it. There’s an online SRD for the original Icons superhero game, which is rather a mashup of Fudge with broad concepts from TSR’s old Marvel Superheroes (‘FASERIP’) game. I don’t think it includes all the stuff from the Assembled Edition and supplements. I don’t know whether it uses OGL, but think it probably uses only another license. |
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Jan 19, 2023 13:47:15 GMT -6
The Design Mechanism offers Mythras Imperative with a license permitting derivative works. It’s a stripped down version of the full Mythras — what was RuneQuest 6th Edition, the Glorantha material removed since Chaosium undertook a new RQ drawing more on the early-1980s 2nd Edition.
Mythras Imperative is I think the basis both for M-Space and for the superhero system Destined.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vile Traveller on Feb 16, 2023 16:05:02 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Feb 16, 2023 16:47:34 GMT -6
Cepheus Engine is basically an open-source version of Traveller, derived from material released for Mongoose Trav 1. There are I think several versions, some closer to Classic Trav, some stripped down, and then Cepheus Deluxe from Stellagama (which also offers Superpowered! and The Sword of Cepheus).
I don’t know about Barbarians of Lemuria’s or Everywhen’s licensing provisions, but even apart from that there appears to be plenty of opportunity for development in the 2d6 field.
|
|
|
|
Post by tdenmark on Feb 16, 2023 19:48:17 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Feb 17, 2023 15:01:49 GMT -6
Among other BRP derivatives, there’s GORE from Goblinoid Games (best known for Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future). Like the TSR retro-clones, that uses the OGL.
For Glorantha specifically, Chaosium has the “Jonstown Compendium community content license.”
I’m not sure how picky Chaosium’s policy is otherwise toward works more directly referring to its copyrighted material (of which the “Big Gold Book” presents quite a broad selection). My guess is that they don’t mind if you’re not brazenly infringing copyright or trademarks. (By precedent, indication of compatibility is fair use, but I’m not a lawyer.)
For that matter, my understanding is that back in the day it was not Chaosium’s demand but TSR’s own response to the licensing that led to removal from Deities & Demigods of the Cthulhu and Elric chapters.**
The official SRD that Chaosium has released is pretty skimpy next to other “d100 family” offerings, so if they want to make a big deal of that they’re dropping the ball.
** As H.P. Lovecraft died in 1937, his own work is now in the public domain, as is that of literary progenitors Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allen Poe, along with Robert E. Howard, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson and Robert W. Chambers — but not yet that of Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth or the still living Brian Lumley. I don’t know about the legal status of the Eldritch Dark website devoted to C.A.S., but I enjoy it.
|
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Feb 17, 2023 15:27:00 GMT -6
ICE’s Rolemaster Unified seems to me more likely to create yet another fork of division in what fanbase RM has left.
Against the Darkmaster (VsD for short) appears to have stolen a march, although its broader spell lists make additions from old MERP and RM less than perfectly straightforward. VsD’s “Open 00 System” license seems to be very permissive, encouraging third-party support.
Lightmaster streamlines the RM heritage in part by using d20 in place of d100. It also departs from the Tolkien-ish / D&D-ish focus with a background more in the vein of old pulp magazines such as Weird Tales. It’s released under OGL 1.0a.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vile Traveller on Feb 17, 2023 15:32:57 GMT -6
I’m not sure how picky Chaosium’s policy is toward material more directly referring to its copyrighted works (of which the “Big Gold Book” presents quite a broad selection). NuChaosium is extremely likely to pounce on anything vaguely similar to their IP to try to intimidate the publisher into giving in. They are always trying to discredit the Mongoose SRDs, and only reluctantly admitted the Legend SRD was fine when pressed on their vague misinformation attempts to the contrary. There was a big to-do a few years back where they tried to prevent the Open Cthulhu web project, which failed because they didn't have a leg to stand on. The fact is that they don't have much IP of their own - their Mythos copyright/trademark claims are very shaky, their other big property is based on King Arthur - it's really only Glorantha that has anything defensible. And their mechanics are neat but hardly unique these days, and have been overtaken by better innovations in many respects. That's why their BRP NOGL is 15% content and 85% telling you not to do anything vaguely like their products - whereas, if you don't use the BRP NOGL, you could do all of that stuff. |
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Feb 17, 2023 16:39:11 GMT -6
Yeah, back in 1983 FGU published Other Suns with what was essentially the BRP system; I think Swordbearer was also in that category, and neither with any licensing from Chaosium. Eternal Soldier is a lesser known one whose creators long ago “released it into the wild” on the internet.
I think it’s unfortunate the firm has taken to trying to suppress what ought to be third-party support, but by similar token it seems too late to close the barn door. Instead of selling a lot more of the BGB, they’re rather pushing people to alternatives.
(I just got RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha and am liking it a lot partly because of how much it harks back to 2nd Ed., but the BRP family appeals to people with a broad range of tastes.)
|
|
|
|
Post by dwayanu on Feb 18, 2023 11:22:17 GMT -6
There’s a “speak of the devil” effect. If being a jackass going after fanzines and such doesn’t simply kill your brand, it *creates* a market for a substitute published by someone who doesn’t act like that. Your coat is actually less attractive to the extent you prevent people from riding on the coat tails.
If you don’t make it too much trouble to respect your interest, people will remain happy (even honored) to work with you; it’s just easier than going to the trouble of making a competing ‘clone’.
It might vary depending on the product line, but nowadays I think the paradigm of “give away the razor, sell the blades” is fairly viable.
Gary Gygax doubted there was a market for off the shelf D&D scenarios, but Judges Guild showed there was. Today, digital distribution has low overhead, so it made sense to put out 5E Basic for free as a taster to get people started.
Can someone run with just Basic and the SRD? Yes. Is that a very significant phenomenon? No. People who can afford to buy more are doing it, and the free resources maximize getting people on board in the first place.
Most people are not up to the level of creative work that a campaign would otherwise entail. It’s remarkable enough to get them to the investment of creativity that a P&P RPG just minimally requires. (It’s a kind of intelligence, but to be fair we’re dumb in different ways.)
Moreover, there’s more clear IP with added value in the presentation of an imagined world than in a mere game system, more material that would be deleteriously compromised by “filing off the serial numbers.”
As frosting on the cake, many people find added value in a nicely produced physical book. You can get Fate Core free in digital, with explicit permission to print it out yourself, but the official hardback is attractively priced (and likewise with the Fate System Toolkit).
Altogether, letting others have a go with the same game-mechanical idiom seems to me more likely to bring synergy than to prevent the success of one’s own works. We’re not dealing in simply interchangeable commodities here; differences are the very features that make the products worthwhile — and at the same time often complimentary.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vile Traveller on Apr 8, 2023 13:53:16 GMT -6
After years of spreading FUD about the OGL, Chaosium has re-released its 'Big Gold Book' version of Basic Roleplaying under ORC. Perhaps they wanted to get the honours of being the first in, though it looks like like it was rushed - the list of errata on BRP Central is ballooning only a few hours in. Someone even registered just to post how shocked they were that a product would go out with such poor quality control, but this now being nuChaosium's forum that post disappeared within minutes.
Still, it looks like they have been dragged kicking and screaming into the new Open Gaming era. Perhaps someone pointed out that there was nothing unique in BRP anymore, and if they didn't open it up people would just publish their own games and nuChaosium wouldn't even get the free advertising. Well, almost, they did tweak it a little bit by re-writing sanity and taking out strike ranks, so they probably still think those are copyrightable.
|
|
