Necro not going 4E

[Lord Mhoram]

Clark at Necromancer games has announced that they are not doing any 4E GSL stuff with the GSL as it stands. He is talking with WotC to get specific clarifications, and trying to get them to make changes, but unless/until that happens, they are not going 4E.

Interesting as Clark was one of the most vocal proponents of doing 4E stuff before the GSL actually came out.

So right now:
Paizo is doing Pathfinder based on 3.5
Necro is out
Green Ronin is out
Mongoose is in
Kenzer is not using the GSL but is publishing 4E material (under standard copyright)
Adamanet is going Copyright for 4E support
Goodman games seems to be going Copyright.

Interesting.

[fiducia]

It is interesting. I have to wonder if this is somehow part of a WotC plan to tighten up their 3rd party publishers.

I had heard there was going to be extensive on-line content for 4E. Did that ever happen? I'm admittedly out of the loop.

[Dr. Confoundo]

I had heard there was going to be extensive on-line content for 4E. Did that ever happen? I'm admittedly out of the loop.
The online content of Dragon and Dungeon has been pretty cool, and comes out regularly. The online features (character generator, online gaming table, etc) have been delayed, and have not shown up as of yet.

[Dr. Confoundo]

So right now:
Paizo is doing Pathfinder based on 3.5
Necro is out
Green Ronin is out
Mongoose is in
Kenzer is not using the GSL but is publishing 4E material (under standard copyright)
Adamanet is going Copyright for 4E support
Goodman games seems to be going Copyright.

There's also the company that now owns the rights to Earthdawn - they have announced releases for Earthdawn under 4E. I'm actually looking forward to that one.

[Lord Mhoram]

There's also the company that now owns the rights to Earthdawn - they have announced releases for Earthdawn under 4E. I'm actually looking forward to that one.

Yeah. Forgot about them, and Earthdawn does look cool. :)

[Eosin]

So right now:
Paizo is doing Pathfinder based on 3.5
Necro is out
Green Ronin is out
Mongoose is in
Kenzer is not using the GSL but is publishing 4E material (under standard copyright)
Adamanet is going Copyright for 4E support
Goodman games seems to be going Copyright.

Mongoose is in but only for a single line and that is a future Post Apoc setting that they are releasing for this purpose. None of their copious lines are converting.

Goodman is copyright but have mentioned that they will be going GSl after October.

Inner Circle Games is in with their Avandu line.

The big ball breaker seems to be ambiguous wording that could give WOTC the right to shut down an IP property with zero recourse to publish it under a different system. FREX: If Sword & Sorcery GSL'd Scarred Lands but later decide for whatever reason (to do Scarred Lands Hero or lack luster sales for instance) they could not. Furthermore, some claim that if WOTC went 5E with no GSL then Scarred Lands would wither in an unsupported system with no option to jump ship. Again, none of this has been tested and there is some conflicting opinions but Clark, like Steve, is a lawyer and he is pretty buffed on the issues and he feels there is risk in the wording/clarifications.

[ghost-angel]

if it were an insidious plot, and I were given over to conspiracy. . .

release 3.0 and the OGL. Gather masses of fans, and companies under the OGL.
release 3.5 and a constant stream of splatbooks. Gets the masses in the upgrade mentality.
release 4.0 with an overly restrictive GL. Attempt to fold the gathered masses under one banner only buying only their products, cull the other companies to those who pay them gaining further income.

....you know, if I were thinking they had a long term plan.

[eternal_sage]

nah, WotC is not a planning kind of company... they're more like a dog chasing cars... they wouldn't know what to do if they caught one...

or wait... no that was a villian in some movie...

although maybe WotC does just want to watch the world burn?

[Lord Mhoram]

As an aside - Clark had Ari Marmell* (not sure of the spelling of the last name) write the Advanced Player's Guide for him before the GSL came out ( Ari was a playtest for 4th, and knew the rules). Ari did, and Clark was planning to publish it.

When he decided to wait on 4th, he released the manuscript back to Ari to shop around for publishing. Clark said that Necro was not his day job, but that Ari being a professional designer deserved to have it released. He also raved about it's quality.

Class act there.


* Mouseferatu on ENworld.

[Eosin]

Clark and Ari both seem to be great guys. I am sure Ari will get someone to snap it up but it remains to be seen if that company will have the publishing chops and name recognition to have mass appeal.

[Lord Mhoram]

Clark and Ari both seem to be great guys. I am sure Ari will get someone to snap it up but it remains to be seen if that company will have the publishing chops and name recognition to have mass appeal.

Yeah.

It is the 3rd party book I am looking towards most. :)

[Dr. Confoundo]

I'm sure that some company will do the lay-out work and publish it as a pdf, at the very least.

[Enforcer84]

I think it's kind of interesting that the 3rd party companies that sprung out of (or at least made enroads with) the original OGL now have their fan bases who will follow them.

Lots of cool things came out of the 3.0 explosion (IMO) and now WOTC seems to want to collect financially for all that after the fact.

Doesn't seem to be a great model there. I could be wrong tho.

[Egyptoid]

I think it's kind of interesting that the 3rd party companies that sprung out of (or at least made enroads with) the original OGL now have their fan bases who will follow them.

Lots of cool things came out of the 3.0 explosion (IMO) and now WOTC seems to want to collect financially for all that after the fact.

Doesn't seem to be a great model there. I could be wrong tho.


so WotC is kind of like Gollum, who knew what good the future would hold ?

[Central]

Meh

[Lord Mhoram]

I'm sure that some company will do the lay-out work and publish it as a pdf, at the very least.

It looks like Expeditious Retreat press is going to publish it as a real book. :)

They are shooting for October, but don't know if they can get it out then.