Comments on: The Game System Licence and SRD are out

By: 4E’s SRD is Out: We Still Have To Buy the Books « Jonathan Drain's D20 Source: Dungeons & Dragons Blog

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:51:24 +0000

[...] The Game System License and SRD are Out, Chatty DM [...]

By: Tony Law

Tony Law — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:44:45 +0000

@Dave T. Game Thanks for the advice. I know for a fact that people at WotC like F&B. I’ll e-mail him and see what he says.

Tony Laws last blog post..Ong Bak 2

By: Dave T. Game

Dave T. Game — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:37:22 +0000

Tony- I recommend emailing Scott Rouse directly. It falls under the purview of the Brand Team, and I'm pretty sure I've seen him mention Fire & Brimstone, so he's aware of it. You're probably much more likely to get an answer that way. Dave T. Games last blog post..4e D&D SRD is up

By: Tony Law

Tony Law — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:18:40 +0000

@CathyDM I'm going to talk to my publisher first and see what they want to do. I just wish I had a contact to get a straight answer from someone. Tony Laws last blog post..Ong Bak 2

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:13:34 +0000

Whoa Whoa Whoa! Talk to someone with more qualifications than me before signing anything… this might be the I accept the GSL document…

By: Tony Law

Tony Law — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:09:52 +0000

@ChattyDM heh. It would only have one question. "Is your character immune to fire?" Well, Hasbro told me to contact WotC Customer Service. WotC CS told me to fill out the Statement of Acceptance. Ugh. Guess I'll submit it and see what happens. Tony Laws last blog post..Ong Bak 2

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:54:58 +0000

@Tony: Or have them bite the bullet and publish a F&B RPG! You don’t need a very complicated Char Gen chapter…

By: Tony Law

Tony Law — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:47:38 +0000

@ChattyDM Thanks! Corey Reid came up with the idea at GenCon last year as a joke and I ran with it and said we should make it into a PDF and release it free. I’m still surprised, and humbled, by how popular it’s become. We’re really hoping to win an Ennie this year.

I wrote to Hasbro about the GSL issue. I’ll see what they have to say before I even broach the subject anywhere else. If they say no, I’m going to try to convince them to make a special GenCon edition with the blurb “Now compatible with every roleplaying game ever created ever” on it.

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:37:23 +0000

@Loky: You put the comment back on? Damn I had erased my answer.

Short version: X-Crawl is a setting book using Core classes and adding Modern weapons… I’d say that it is entirely open for a GSL compliant 4e conversion, provided Goodman games agrees to drop the 3.x version.

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:35:41 +0000

@Tony: You are one of the F & B creators? Cool! Great set of rules!

Were I you, I’d research this more. My gut feeling (as a rules fan, not lawyer) is thatif you want to keep 3.X compatible F&B and a 4e one at the same time, I’d do it outside of the GSL.

Just stay clear of Copyright issues and say ‘compatible with the latest edition of the world’s most popular Fantasy RPG’ or something… (And make a joke about lawyers burning in hell in the small print).

By: Tony Law

Tony Law — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:49:24 +0000

I am extremely disappointed, to say the least. As one of the creators of Fire and Brimstone, I had hoped to put out a special "Now 4E Compatible" edition for GenCon. Here's the answer I got from our publisher: "Per the GSL, you may not redefine or alter the definition of any 3E Reference. Dying is a reference. One could argue against this reading, but I would not advise it." I was, and still am, not happy about this. Tony Laws last blog post..Ong Bak 2

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:04:55 +0000

If and when it comes to that, and if I get a C&D I’ll consider taking all ads down.

By: Buzzregog

Buzzregog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:58:32 +0000

Yeah no reason to worry about posts on blogs, fansites, etc. yet. If and when WOTC decides whether they want to crack down on bloggers/fansites they will send out cease and desist emails.

Honestly I would not be suprised to see these going out soon after Gencon to some sites, but I doubt they really want the bad press before that event.

Chatty, I am afraid you are being a tad forgiving and optimistic with what WoTC sees as fans doing them a service. I hope to be proven wrong, but would bet money they are gonna eventually point the finger at any site that posts derivative work and collects add revenue.

Will it stop me from posting ideas, monsters, and so on? Nope, not until they specifically come out and tell people to stop.

By: LokyCat

LokyCat — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:36:56 +0000

I have a question about 4E licensing.... Are companys like goodman games(X-Crawl) and ext. going to be able to publish source material for the 4E system?=/ 4E might not do the realism that I am looking for in a RPG but it duos lend it self to more tactical type play, such as dungeon crawls and miniatures type based game. X-Crawl would make great use of the 4E system.

By: Dave T. Game

Dave T. Game — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:21:05 +0000

Heather, you’re definitely in the clear so far, since you have to agree to the GSL for it to cover you. Only those who agree to the GSL are prohibited from republishing stat blocks.

Whether they make the same stipulation with fan sites (and say that they’re going to go after those that do) remains to be seen.

Dave T. Games last blog post..4e D&D SRD is up

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:19:11 +0000

Heather, seriously, I would not waste another nano-second worrying about it. You clearly do not intend to post every monster in the MM on your blog with the malicious intent of allowing people to play the game without buying the books. You're the last person they would go after. And there are people at WotC now who were with TSR in the '90s, during the darkest days of the cease-and-desist letters. Rich Baker, for one. I doubt anyone can prove that the PR firestorm it kicked off directly led to TSR's subsequent financial troubles, but the fact that it can be argued at all is not something likely to be lost on Hasbro's legal team. Finally, if you're still uneasy, keep your eyes on these guys. Ander00 is not being malicious either, but he did type up every class power in the PHB and made them available for download. So I imagine he makes an excellent canary in this mineshaft. - Brian Brians last blog post..Random Background Checks

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:07:43 +0000

I would agree – lots of free PR for WotC. They don’t always see it that way though.

Heathers last blog post..On the road again…

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:58:31 +0000

Actually Heather, I would go as far as saying that you are doing WotC an unpaid service by sharing your process of becoming a DM.

This is a big step to make for a casual roleplayer. New DMs are relatively few and many players don’t want to try it for various reasons.

Seeing someone new to the hobby working with the rules, asking questions and hacking an adventure is great publicity.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:54:01 +0000

Nope! Not kidding. People in my field of study tend to be paranoid about their written property and therefore careful with others. I’m not going to run back and change my post just yet – nor worry if I have monster blocks in my adventures for personal use as a customer intent on dumping plenty of money into their future adventures and suppliments.

Heathers last blog post..On the road again…

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:49:37 +0000

@Heather: Truly, don’t sweat this. The GSL has nothing on players and (we hope) won’t prevent us for posting on our blogs/forums and whatnot.

As a player/DM/customer, do whatever you please!….

But then again, you might have been only joking…