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The Game System Licence and SRD are out

by

Via The Gamerdome

Here’s the GSL and the SRD

As promised, the SRD is only a 65 page long list of references defined in the Core book whose names you can use freely (baring that you abide to the GSL) but that you can’t redefine or print the text of.

So you can put Kobold Wyrmpriest, but you can’t copy the stats in your published adventure (although you can print the full stats of a Kobold Wyrmpriest Lich as it is derived content).

You can add new applications for existing skills and you can create new classes, powers, feats, magic items and monsters, provided they do no redefine existing ones.

I shall mourn the loss of the Hypertext SRD… as I still have limited faith in WotC’s yet to come Online Rules Compendium.

Edit: As Jeff Rients points out in the comments, the Hypertext SRD will remain.  There just won’t be a freely available equivalent for 4e.  Unless the Rules Compendium is the awesomes and, with the other services,  worth the price of subscribing to D&Di.

I’m also eagerly awaiting their official Fan Site policy.

Interesting times ahead.

Comments

  1. I looked over the GSL SRD as soon as I saw it was out there, and the first thing I saw was the “no republishing stat blocks” clause.

    At which point I just shook my head. One of the strengths of the new system is that you can have the stat block right there in the adventure, just like the old days, without it taking up a couple of paragraphs of text. Their own KotS adventures have the stat blocks right there on the page for each encounter, and from what I’ve seen I don’t think that’s just because the MM wasn’t out yet. It’s a good format – it’s very DM “at the table” friendly and I want to see more adventures done that way.

    But that’s not going to happen. Because Wizards just decided that I should be flipping through my MM if I use a third party adventure. (I’m sure that they did this because they don’t want people reprinting the “pocket monster manual”, and not specifically to keep people from using a useful format for their adventures, but that doesn’t make it any less obnoxious).

    I like the game design for the new edition, but some of the decisions being made by the folks outside of design and development make me shake my head.

  2. Bah! This means nothing.

    New Template: Fucking Legalese
    – Add ability: “This ability does nothing”
    No action, at will. Close Burst 0.
    Effect: nothing.

    New monster: Fucking Legalese Kobold Slinger
    ***all normal stats***
    ***”This ability does nothing” ability***

    Hey look! Derived content!

  3. Yeah, I’m hoping we’re misreading that bit about reproducing statblocks. Or otherwise, yeah, I’m seeing a lot of “FL kobold slinger” and “FL kuo-toa harpooner” in our future. ;p

    – Brian

    Brians last blog post..We Have GSL!

  4. WOTC is making a terrible mistake with this “lite” SRD. I predict a fully hyperlinked version of the base books (based on the previous product leaks) to appear online in the near future. Unless WOTC comes up with a reasonably priced, easy to use alternative, then piracy will out.

    Trask, The Last Tyromancer

    Trasks last blog post..4th Edition Software Tools

  5. Maybe this will encourage publishers to create new monsters for each new adventure.

    That would actually be a plus.

    Or go the FL way indeed.

  6. Chatty
    What I’d love to see is the third party publishers developing a pool of CCBy or other open format monsters to draw from. Actually what I really want to see is a bunch of publishers saying “oh, go to hell. we are going to publish 4th edition compatible material not under the GSL. Here is a core of open materials to replace the copyrighted material in the D&D core.”

  7. … or maybe they’ll just create, y’know, a //Kobold//. Not a Kobold Mudsquatter. Not a Kobold Filthflinger. Not a Kobold Bumscratcher. Just… a…. Kobold.

    Mmmmm…. Kobold Mignon.

  8. Well, Wolfgang Baur and Phil Reed are upset.

    A lot of people are awaiting Necromancer Games’ Clark Peterson (who is a lawyer) and Goodman Games’ reaction.

    Erik Mona is more or less playing air guitar with Paizo’s decision to stick to the OGL.

    I have no plans to become a D&D publisher (except as a Fan Site) so I’m really waiting for the Fan Site policy and then I’ll decide if I comply to it or not.

    I’m already in IP violation by showing pics from the Core Books… but then again, I’ve been in violation for almost all of them.

    Since I don’t sell anything, I don’t expect to feature high on Hasbro’s Lawyer’s list.

  9. Just a kobold?!? What the hell would that be? And what possible use would “just a kobold” be in an adventure? How do they fight vs. the MM’s kobolds? What do they add to an encounter?

    Just a kobold! Jeez, just what sort of game do you think this is? 😉

    – Brian

    Brians last blog post..We Have GSL!

  10. Well, Wolfgang Baur and Phil Reed are upset.

    Can I haz links, pleez?

    UPDATE: Nevermind, I found ’em where you’d expect ’em to be.

    – Brian

    Brians last blog post..We Have GSL!

  13. Right, my bad… It will stay there. Edited the main post to better reflect my thoughts which are “I shall look at the 3.5 SRD and sigh that the equivalent for 4e won’t be available freely”

    Better?

    🙂

  14. @Michael: Damn Defensio, it hates you, it hates you!

    I have a feeling that lawyers vs the Internet is always a waste of money and a lose/lose situation.

  16. I didn’t expect the GSL to be the OGL. The 3x OGL was a Genie, that in hindsight, is surprising they ever let out of the bottle. But to replace it with the GSL is just sad. It would almost be better to have let it go back to the past and have the publishers just contact them for individual licenses.

    On the other hand, if they think the GSL is fool-proof, I’m thinking there are plenty of fools out there working to crack it to their advantage.

  17. From a customer’s perspective, I hope this translates to quality Campaign Settings (like Ptolus), Awesome Adventure Paths (like Paizo) and different Source books.

    If publishers want to go for an alternate game based on the 4e mechanics though, this will need to be outside of the GSL…

    BTW, I don,t think this license prevents doing it the old fashion way and drafting a license directly with WotC if you want to do something outside, like an Iron Heroes-like product.

  18. From a customer’s perspective, I hope this translates to quality Campaign Settings (like Ptolus), Awesome Adventure Paths (like Paizo) and different Source books.

    It’d be nice, but not being able to reproduce stat blocks in your adventure is going to be a pain. Constantly having to flip through the MM isn’t very convenient.

    Also, I’m fairly certain that both Paizo and Sinister Adventures will consider the decency clause to pretty much lock them out from doing the sort of stuff they’re most interested in.

    – Brian

    Brians last blog post..We Have GSL!

  19. Chatty
    It let me post from the library the other day, so I think it just hates my IP address. If TOR didn’t log me out of every damned thing whenever I turned it on I’d be tempted to see if that kept me in Defensio’s good graces.

    I’m pretty sure all of the images you’ve used are covered by our respective Fair Use/Fair Dealing laws. Specifically, you are using them for the purpose of review and analysis.

    I’ve not looked at the specific stat block wording. Does it forbid the publication of statblocks or of their stat blocks? There is no legal ground for the first one, and it might actually invalidate the license by making the terms too egregious (which the ogl/gsl exclusion strikes me as walking dangerously close to anyway.) Either way, this is just one more reason to publish your 4th edition material without reference to the GSL.

  20. The battle lines are being drawn…

    I’ll sit this one out and eat popcorn. I hope common sense and cool heads will prevail.

  21. @Michael: You are encouraged (but not required) to use the WotC standard stat bloc… what you can’t do is reprint Vanilla 4e Monsters (like the Kobold Sligner) unless you advance it and/or apply a template to it.

    See Graham’s previous “Fucking Legalese” template. Although that one probably fails to meet the GSL’s decency (or whatever) clause.

  22. For those following the comments on this here is Clark Peterson’s (Orcus) take on this (He’s both a publisher and a lawyer)

    http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=231695&page=4&pp=15

    My perception of it is that he finds it better than no license at all. He’s preoccupied about a few things and expects WotC to provide answers in public to them. He dislikes the no OGL and GSL version of the same products… so no 4e Tome of Horrors (it will have a different name).

    He did announce a full color Pathfinder RPG Tome of Horrors though.

    So there you have it.

  23. Hum, then that strongly suggests to me that any interested 4th ed GSL developers would be well rewarded by taking part in the creation of an open style database of monsters. Working together to create an industry minus wizards of the coast wide monster book that generates its own corps of Vanilla 4e monsters licensed under a non-copyleft open licensing program. Maybe with slightly less silly names.

  25. The Trollsmyth is an Oracle of sorts… 🙂

    Nice post BTW, stands the test of these troubled times so far.

    WotC is reminding me of that old Grandfather that is making it’s best to be hated but still manages to be loved by most of the family.

    Good thing 4e is well designed… (yes there are bugs, but I like it for more than just the hype it created).

  26. Well, because not much discussion is happening over on my side of things and I don’t feel like wading through the 50 different ENWorld threads…

    As someone who has submitted games to Hasbro, I see several clauses that clearly came from the same legal department. In particular, there’s a part that mentions Wizards releasing content that may have similarities to an existing product. Many are taking this to mean that anything they publish through GSL can be ripped off from Wizards, which is not the case (it’s a method of covering their ass.)

    There do look like a bunch of new restrictions that are lame (like the stat-block thing), but it’s not quite as far as some would believe.

    If the fan-site policy allows not-for-profit restricted character generators and other tools for 4e, that would alleviate a lot of concerns. Somehow I doubt it though.

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

  27. Thanks, Chatty.

    It’s amazing how many fantasy products are scheduled to come out in the wake of 4e, really. In addition to Pathfinder, Mongoose has Fantasy Craft launching next month, and Green Ronin has two upcoming releases, A Song of Ice and Fire and a fantasy supplement for Mutants and Masterminds in addition to their increased support and easy licensing for True20. And Labyrinth Lord is getting some distribution love as well.

    And I think I’m forgetting another biggie, but it’s not coming to mind right now.

    Anyway, yeah, if the conventional wisdom is saying that you should lay low and avoid the fantasy genre until after folks have had a chance to get bored with 4e, nobody appears to be listening.

    – Brian

  28. @ Brian: Actually I think all these companies are banking on WotC’s less than stellar PR management to ‘pick up’ people who decide not to give 4e a try but are also a bit tired of 3.x.

    @Dave: Yup, I’m truly mush more interested in the Fan Site policy. I can be hopeful, but since lawyers got involved, my hopes are not that high.

    @Micheal: What, you don’t like the Sorrowsworn? 😀

  29. Uhhh. Yeah. All I know is that I most likely erred in posting my modified monster blocks during the adventure conversion. And if I’m not supposed to put my monster blocks on the same pages of my written adventure, I erred there as well but I’m not going to sit there and flip through the MM while I’m trying to run an adventure while playing my own PC kthx.

    Heathers last blog post..On the road again…

  30. @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…

  31. 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…

  32. 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.

  34. 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

  35. 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

  36. 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.

  37. 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.

  39. 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

  40. @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).

  41. @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.

  42. @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.

  44. @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

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

  46. @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

  47. 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

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