Quote from: Spinachcat;740520The OGL gave away unbelievably precious IP that should have been protected and reserved. The stupidity of their decision to release the OGL is almost beyond comprehension. The D20 license made total sense, but not the OGL.

Except Wizards didn't lose their market share until after the release of D&D 4e. In fact the market was decidely tilted towards Wizard the only one making decent D&D.

Now the industry itself contracted but Wizards relative position remained the same just like TSR's position remained the same during previous contractions.

The difference is that before the OGL gaming customers had NO CHOICE but to take it up the ass to whatever the IP Holder decides. No matter how batshit crazy the decision is.

But with 4e customers had an option. And head to head the preference was for 3.5e in the form of Pathfinder.

This was a deliberate consquence foreseen by Atkinson and Dancey. The OGL was deliberately designed to preserve D&D in the face of the worse possible consquences. A decision made by seeing what happened in the wake of TSRs demise.

A MBA will tell you that the OGL In incediblely bad as the company loses total control of the IP. But Atkinson, Dancey and the rest of the wizards were thing like fucking human beings for whom D&D is an important cultural touchstone.

The officers of Wizards still had the moral obligation to be fiscally prudent so the compromise was the d20 SRD under the open gaming license. And it worked until Wizards deciding to jettison compatibility with 4e.

Honestly what you problem? You been handed a gift and you are free to use it how YOU see fit. If everybody else it doing it wrong you have the option to do something about it. Before you had to take it up the ass with the rest of the hobby. But instead you are shilling for Wizards and acting like you want to be a slave to whatever they shovel out to you.

Seriously the point is the play the D&D you want to play, not ensure Wizards is a financial success. For me if they make the D&D I like I will buy it from them. If they don't then I will buy it from Paizo, if they don't then hell I just might write it myself. Regardless the OGL allows me to make the choice I want to make.

Quote from: Spinachcat;740520The OGL gave away unbelievably precious IP that should have been protected and reserved. The stupidity of their decision to release the OGL is almost beyond comprehension. The D20 license made total sense, but not the OGL.
.

It has arguably been bad for WotC but great for gaming in general and d20 in particular. Thinking back to how awful things were in the final days of TSR it is probably a good thing. I may not have liked some of the decisions WoTC has made, but i like them as a company, and hoping 5e does well. This good will is partly a product of the contrast between how they've generally handled this issue and how T$R did. Yes this is an industry, but it is also a small hobby with passionate fans who want to contribute. My feeling is OGL has grown that community and made participants more active and involved in the design process.

Quote from: P&P;740239K&KA is, as Spinachcat says, a foul and evil den of iniquity that's exactly like Tangency on the Big Purple.  People like Spinachcat should definitely stay here where it's nice and safe.

Heere be dragons.

No OGL, no Woodland Warriors. I rest my case.

On topic, LPJ Designs titles were pulled by One Book Shelf, in part due to alleged misuse of d20 Future non-OGL material.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;740556On topic, LPJ Designs titles were pulled by One Book Shelf, in part due to alleged misuse of d20 Future non-OGL material.

All of them or just the infringing material?

Quote from: J Arcane;740557All of them or just the infringing material?

My understanding was all of them, but not solely because of the OGL allegations - apparently Louis Porter Jr is a piece of work.

Quote from: Black Vulmea;740559My understanding was all of them, but not solely because of the OGL allegations - apparently Louis Porter Jr is a piece of work.

He makes GMS look like a fuckin' moral crusader.

He has, for years, been the most consistently unethical jackass in RPG publishing short of outright frauds like Shipman.

I have pretty much only ever heard good things about LPJ.

My only direct contact with LPJ was when he had a piece of art in his clip art series that I had bought off of Storn a few years prior and held the rights to.  When I brought this up to him, he was pretty quick in getting it removed.

He pays 1 bean a month for freelancers. 'Nuff said.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;740591I have pretty much only ever heard good things about LPJ.

Wow, I've only ever heard LPJ's a complete and total jackass.  Sure you're not thinking of Greg Porter?

Quote from: CRKrueger;740664Wow, I've only ever heard LPJ's a complete and total jackass.  Sure you're not thinking of Greg Porter?

No, definitely LPJ. I've only heard positive thing. Never worked with him though. The only thing i had heard before was the incident Sacro mentioned, but it seemed to be a mistake or misunderstanding that was smoothed over pretty fast.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;740682No, definitely LPJ. I've only heard positive thing. Never worked with him though. The only thing i had heard before was the incident Sacro mentioned, but it seemed to be a mistake or misunderstanding that was smoothed over pretty fast.

Yep.  He seemed very sincere about it, and i don't have reason to think otherwise.

shrug..

Who the hell is LPJ anyway? I looked them up but didn't recognise the name of any of his games. Is this just some small press guy churning out forgettable stuff who's gained infamy through personal beefs or what?