I wonder what Dragon articles and material is Open Game Content, if any? In particular, I'm interested in material from the player's option articles, such as flaws, backgrounds, cleric beliefs, and so on. I'm also interested if the Bloodline feats of Dragon 311 and 324 (?) are OGC. Does anyone know?
Creative Director
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I wonder what Dragon articles and material is Open Game Content, if any? In particular, I'm interested in material from the player's option articles, such as flaws, backgrounds, cleric beliefs, and so on. I'm also interested if the Bloodline feats of Dragon 311 and 324 (?) are OGC. Does anyone know?
With the exception of one or maybe two articles over the past several years (one of which appeared in the Dragon Compendium), nothing in Dragon is OGC.
Are there any plans to release anything as OGC? The purpose of the OGL was to build an environment in which the game could be increased and built upon. That process is stifled if you keep it to yourself. Perhaps things could be released on some sort of schedule, or when back issues sold out?
I think that would be difficult, because if I remember correctly anything Dragon publishes becomes the property of WotC or something like that... WotC would have to agree to release it as Open Content, something that they rarely chose to do.
The d20 license was meant to give independant publishers a way to come up with some new and exciting stuff, and its great and has produced a lot of interesting material. But Dungeon and Dragon Magazines are a part of Dungeons and Dragons . . . they are the official D&D magazines of record, and as such, the material in them is D&D, not OGC or d20.
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Creative Director
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Are there any plans to release anything as OGC? The purpose of the OGL was to build an environment in which the game could be increased and built upon. That process is stifled if you keep it to yourself. Perhaps things could be released on some sort of schedule, or when back issues sold out?
There are no plans to do much in the way of OGC material in the magazines. OGC material is primarilly for publishers, in any event, and Dragon and Dungeon are more for fans and players of the game (who don't need material to be open content to use in their home games). In any event, I believe it's part of our contractual obligations to WotC that whatever is printed in the magazines remains owned by them, for the same reasons that the majority of WotC's products are not OGC.
Even if the magazines weren't contractually obliged so, it's not in their best business interests to release their stuff for free. When magazines sell out they still sell back issues, and when those sell out they can still sell PDF copies.
To be honest I'm baffled that anyone who sells D&D products would particularly want to release their stuff as OGL. It's essentially saying, "I'm going to sell this for $5, but it's perfectly legal for a competitor to basically copy it word-for-word and resell it."
If they want to produce material for D&D, their options are use the OGL and/or d20 licenses, or don't publish it. ;)
If they want to produce material for D&D, their options are use the OGL and/or d20 licenses, or don't publish it. ;)
Or make arrangements with WotC to be able to use the D&D license. I believe the only two "3rd party" companies with that ability are Paizo (which is a special case, anyway) and Kenzer & Company.
Don't forget Sovereign Press and the DragonLance material.
I was under the impression that publishers had to affix an OGL notice for their use of the SRD (the game system, monsters, spells etc), but that they weren't required to release their own content under the same license.
I see a lot of people who release their products as open content, which from a business point of view doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
Even if the magazines weren't contractually obliged so, it's not in their best business interests to release their stuff for free. When magazines sell out they still sell back issues, and when those sell out they can still sell PDF copies.
To be honest I'm baffled that anyone who sells D&D products would particularly want to release their stuff as OGL. It's essentially saying, "I'm going to sell this for $5, but it's perfectly legal for a competitor to basically copy it word-for-word and resell it."
You don't get the OGC (Open Game Concept) concept. You're right, someone can copy whatever you make OGC (which a certain percentage of your work HAS to be) and use it in their product freely. In fact, that's the idea.
Delancey envisoned the OGL allowing the game to evolve at it went. Like an open source program it would have the ability to evolve as different users added to it and refined it. We have seen this already to some effect, as some of Monte Cook's work has been inspiration for Eberron material, for example. I suspect you will see it more and more when a publisher realizes they can print an alternate PHB with considerable additional material. We've also seen many compilations of feats, spells, and monsters that have been reworked and revised. These happen usally long after the "sales window" for the original product, so no harm no foul as far as publishers are concerned.
But that's not the only reason for the OGL. The second reason is to make D&D the "lingo franca" of role-playing games. Before the OGL, there were a few big RPGs and loads of little ones. This has a fragmentary effect on the RPG market. The OGL seeks to consoldate the "little guy" effect by giving them the rules to use for free. D&D has always attracted, by it's nature, a lot of tinkering and attempts to publish extra rules or extra games. Now that effect works FOR D&D, not against it. In return, publishers get to sell their ideas and games to a market that knows how to use them and doesn't need further education.
But that's not the only reason for the OGL either. The main reason is the market. A product can only be as big as it's market, and the RPG market was in freefall for a while there. Every dollar spent in a market helps the market leader, even if they don't spend it on the market leader's product directly. Any money spent on an RPG supports D&D, because it supports the concept, the store it was purchased in that sells the product, the publisher who gets his booth at the con were D&D is featured, and adds to the community of potential gamers there. It is known that some buyers will move on and never come back, but if they are buying RPG product, especially OGL product, it still helps the market leader (D&D).
That's why you give it away. Why is Adobe the king of panformat readers? they give it away. Why is Real the king of media players? they give it away. Why is D&D the king of the market, a market that now shows growth instead of loss? They give it away.
So when is Dragon going to give it away? That's my question.
again, it is not Dragons discision whther to make any of thier content OGC or not. Everything (game related) that dragon prints ends up owned by WIzards of the Coast... it is Wizard of the Coasts discision as to whether they can make something OGC. I would suggest that you ask them when they will allow dragon to print OGC material. Good luck getting a response though...