Re: The OGL, Ravenloft and You
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 9:32 am
That's the part I get. It's brilliantly simple really. They "give" their game to their fans, but maintain a legally-binding option for quality control (it's not self-help if somebody else wrote the book all the same, so gifting the game like this is equally subject to the harsh judgement of universal truth haha). And I don't really have that much of a problem with it. You sign up and play by their rules through fine print. Or, get a chance to make some dough if you colour inside the lines.
The part that itches my head a bit is probably best put in the form of a question.
Can you imagine where fantasy or science fiction would be if there were such (overt) limitations put on all authors? You can write about A, B, and C, but not X, Y, or Z. Publisher boxheadedness aside...
It's the difference between cable TV shows and those found on streaming sites; daytime TV (prime time) and late night; food based on numbers and food based on flavour, etc, etc.
That's not to say that mature themes (and such) are one hundred percent needed, it's just that it is (or should be) a friggin' crime to bind a creator's imagination! Heh.
Now, nothing's to stop any gamer from walking the 5E streets after sundown, but it's rather unfortunate that options don't exist (inside the community; the CC license looks, at a glance, to be a bit of a bypass) for those more...visceral stories that are in the heads of some of D&D's fanbase to get let out for public consumption (and for the really talented ones to make a few coins offa it).
That's all. Vanilla ice cream is good (classic for a reason), but going down to the parlour to see and taste the other forty flavours is great too.
If WotC didn't try to bind authors as such and somebody wrote something terribly rotten that was gane compatible, then could they -fairly- be accused to sharing similar rotten views?
If you don't like alcohol or drugs then you just don't buy them, and go out of your way to avoid them right?
Why is this any different, outside of official WotC products and vision?
Meh. What do I know?
Also, even mainstream comic companies dip into stories and characters that are found (and belong) outside of PG13. Been doing it for decades.
Using (and "abusing") official characters to skeet some coin off of and spiritually using a game's set of rules to sell (a series of) otherwise completely unrelated ideas are vastly different matters. Trademark, copyright, etc.
I see what you mean, all the same Jester.
The part that itches my head a bit is probably best put in the form of a question.
Can you imagine where fantasy or science fiction would be if there were such (overt) limitations put on all authors? You can write about A, B, and C, but not X, Y, or Z. Publisher boxheadedness aside...
It's the difference between cable TV shows and those found on streaming sites; daytime TV (prime time) and late night; food based on numbers and food based on flavour, etc, etc.
That's not to say that mature themes (and such) are one hundred percent needed, it's just that it is (or should be) a friggin' crime to bind a creator's imagination! Heh.
Now, nothing's to stop any gamer from walking the 5E streets after sundown, but it's rather unfortunate that options don't exist (inside the community; the CC license looks, at a glance, to be a bit of a bypass) for those more...visceral stories that are in the heads of some of D&D's fanbase to get let out for public consumption (and for the really talented ones to make a few coins offa it).
That's all. Vanilla ice cream is good (classic for a reason), but going down to the parlour to see and taste the other forty flavours is great too.
If WotC didn't try to bind authors as such and somebody wrote something terribly rotten that was gane compatible, then could they -fairly- be accused to sharing similar rotten views?
If you don't like alcohol or drugs then you just don't buy them, and go out of your way to avoid them right?
Why is this any different, outside of official WotC products and vision?
Meh. What do I know?
Also, even mainstream comic companies dip into stories and characters that are found (and belong) outside of PG13. Been doing it for decades.
Using (and "abusing") official characters to skeet some coin off of and spiritually using a game's set of rules to sell (a series of) otherwise completely unrelated ideas are vastly different matters. Trademark, copyright, etc.
I see what you mean, all the same Jester.