There's a lot of speculative talk in various threads about Wizards pulling the OGL in order to make 4th Edition D&D non-open.

The question I'd have is: why would they do that?

The OGL is based an acceptance of the unfortunate fact that the rules to D20 would be difficult-to-impossible to patent, and the realisation that the truly valuable bit of intellectual property associated with D&D is the trademark - the name "Dungeons & Dragons" carries a hell of a lot of weight, being as it is the most commonly known RPG outside of the hobby, and within the hobby even being able to say your game is "OGL-compatible" is a bonus.

If the OGL were pulled tomorrow, I suspect pretty much every company currently putting out an OGL-based game would be able to keep making that game, once they sandpapered off the references to the OGL - especially if they're producing something like Mutants and Masterminds or True20, which contain major alterations and additions to the D20 system.

The OGL already prohibits third parties from using product identity - trademarked things - in their products anyhow. I don't see that the OGL is going away any time soon, but it is possible that Wizards will say "Dungeons and Dragons is, itself, now Product Identity and you can no longer market your OGL games as being D&D-compatible". Which won't really be any trouble to most producers - many of them have moved away from producing games which depend on the D&D core rules to producing standalone games anyhow.

Quote from: WarthurThe question I'd have is: why would they do that?

The question I'd have is: how could they do that?  It was my understanding that the OGL could not be revoked; that it's out there to stay.  If and when WotC does jump to 4e, you can bet backwards compatibility won't be easy.

The OGL can't be "pulled." They (WotC) can decline to release new material under it, but what is out there is out there, and will continue to be out there. If you read the license, it becomes obvious. They can undo D20, which is a branding and marketing license, but OGL is safe.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceThey can undo D20, which is a branding and marketing license, but OGL is safe.

The D20 logo also doesn't seem to matter nearly as much as it did 5 years ago.  Those few companies who use it could merely drop it and have the exact same products.

"D20" can go away safely, and it won't even matter. It's basically just a trademark symbol at this point.

OGL (which is many things, not necessarily even D&D stuff anymore) is here to stay.

You don't pull the OGL, you release D&D4e and don't update the OGL or anything like it so as to allow others to produce material for it.

The OGL would continue, but would be out of date and so not of much value going forward.

That's how I'd do it.

Yeah, like I said: people are drifting away from D20 and sticking to the OGL right now. Mongoose are doing it, as are the guys who put out Spycraft.

Why? Because a whole lot of people are making money on things WotC could have published, but now can't because the market is flooded.

How? Just change the system enough to be incompatible with the current version of the game, don't update the OGL with the new rules. Don't license out the D&D trademark and don't allow the new system to be licensed.

No matter what happens, d20 will still have a market because there will be a fair number of people who will continue to play it.

Quote from: McrowHow? Just change the system enough to be incompatible with the current version of the game, don't update the OGL with the new rules. Don't license out the D&D trademark and don't allow the new system to be licensed.

Exactly, it's actually not that hard to do and I think may well happen, in 2009 or whenever.

If the OGL were pulled tomorrow I'd still be running a one shot on Sunday and some D&D in 2 weeks.

Not that the OGL is revokable, mind you.  To actually make it go away it would have to be rendered null and void in a court of law.

Quote from: BalbinusExactly, it's actually not that hard to do and I think may well happen, in 2009 or whenever.

Yeah the problem WotC had with 3.5 is that they could have published new stuff for 15 years if they had not licensed out the d20 and D&D trademarks or made the system open. Instead they got about 7 years.

HinterWelt has some OGC. We dual stat a few adventures with d20. We call it "Zwanzig OGL" and, as others have said, do not need to worry about OGL being "revoked". I would continue to use the OGL for and OGC as my prefered open license. I wouldn't be able to use a new d20 but they could not make me stop selling my old property. That is not how the OGL works.

Bill

Quote from: WarthurThere's a lot of speculative talk in various threads about Wizards pulling the OGL in order to make 4th Edition D&D non-open.

The question I'd have is: why would they do that?

They wouldn't.  That talk is mostly bullshit from uneducated outsiders that like to pretend they know something, and are filled with a frothing hate for Wizards of the Coast, because it is the most successful and popular gaming company around, and reminds them of how they are miserable failures in their own lives and everything they pursue.

Its enemy propaganda.

Nowhere, anywhere, has either Wizards or anyone actually on the "inside" of the Gaming "Industry" (ie. a current employee of wizards, or someone connected with that scene who doesn't have a score to settle etc) ever said anything about pulling the OGL.

RPGPundit

Pundit, I don't really disagree with you.  But human nature is what it is.  All these licenses are being discontinued without any real explanation.  Why wouldn't people start wildly speculating about the most important license in the hobby?

Most people here are not talking about the OGL being pulled. It never will be.

What is more likely to happen is they release a new version of the system  and it will not be open.