I know this *might* belong in the "Other RPG" catagory, but I post it here because I am drawing attention to it as a response to 4th Edition licensing.
Green Ronin is lifting licensing fees for True 20. No 5K, no nothing.
Read it here: LINK
And I guess West End Games has already done that.
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I know this *might* belong in the "Other RPG" catagory, but I post it here because I am drawing attention to it as a response to 4th Edition licensing.
Green Ronin is lifting licensing fees for True 20. No 5K, no nothing.
Read it here: LINK
And I guess West End Games has already done that.
I don't think it's really a fair comparison.
WotC is the 800 lb gorilla in this match. No other d20 system could even come close.
Can 3rd party publishers use True20 or d6 or whatever for their products 'free?' Sure, but the market is small enough that they might not be able to do so profitably.
The only real advantage I see here is that 3rd party publishers would be able to throw a page or three in the back of an adventure or supplement offering True20 stats for the various encounters / feats / whatever. Whether or not they would consider that worth the time, I'm not sure, and whether or not purchasers would end up taking a second look at these other systems as a result, I'm also not sure.
In the current political climate, I hate to use the word 'inevitable,' but 4E seems pretty much inevitable, and while I won't be converting for some time (if at all), lots of younger fans are all over it.
I don't think it's really a fair comparison.WotC is the 800 lb gorilla in this match. No other d20 system could even come close.
Can 3rd party publishers use True20 or d6 or whatever for their products 'free?' Sure, but the market is small enough that they might not be able to do so profitably.
The only real advantage I see here is that 3rd party publishers would be able to throw a page or three in the back of an adventure or supplement offering True20 stats for the various encounters / feats / whatever. Whether or not they would consider that worth the time, I'm not sure, and whether or not purchasers would end up taking a second look at these other systems as a result, I'm also not sure.
In the current political climate, I hate to use the word 'inevitable,' but 4E seems pretty much inevitable, and while I won't be converting for some time (if at all), lots of younger fans are all over it.
Perhaps not Set. I didn't mean to offer it as an opinion, rather as a talking point for discussion. Granted may no one may care one way or another, in which case this thread will vanish into the archives.
However with so many posters on this board inclined to say no to 4th edition, and not to mention the plight of freelancers without the resources to get an early look at the license.. I thought it was a worthwhile news bit.
Or not. As always, one's mileage may vary.
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I read over True20 and thought - why not just play 3.5?I haven't played True20 yet, but I tell you, I'm tempted!I am more tempted to pick up True20 than I am 4e at this point. Especially if they continue to put out free Pathfinder conversions.
I am going on the assumption that the fourth Pathfinder AP will be 4e. I will likely be playing 3.5 until then. When Pathfinder switches I'll have to decide what I'm going to play.
Dithering,
On my local hometown gaming board there is a discussion about True20. One poster wanted feedback about the system, and others chimed in.
It's a short thread, and the people who liked it also pointed out the flaws. Other posters here might not agree with the comments, but it sounds fairly objective to me.
If you wanted some information on what it's basically like:
Honestly, I think that if GR released a OGL True20 with a licensing fee, nobody would actually pay it (the same for WEG d6).
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Dithering,
On my local hometown gaming board there is a discussion about True20. One poster wanted feedback about the system, and others chimed in.
It's a short thread, and the people who liked it also pointed out the flaws. Other posters here might not agree with the comments, but it sounds fairly objective to me.
If you wanted some information on what it's basically like:
Thanks! I'll pass this on to my group...
Honestly, I think that if GR released a OGL True20 with a licensing fee, nobody would actually pay it (the same for WEG d6).
Plenty have. Remember, they're smaller then GR so unless you're looking for True20 material, you probably won't find them.
Wotc cost owns the dice!the Die 20
Honestly, I think that if GR released a OGL True20 with a licensing fee, nobody would actually pay it (the same for WEG d6).Plenty have. Remember, they're smaller then GR so unless you're looking for True20 material, you probably won't find them.
I stand corrected (I didn't find out about their initial licensing fee until after I posted this).
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Before the new policy making the True 20 license free, the license used to cost $100 per year for e-publishing only and $1000 per year for print publishers.
According to http://true20.com/licensing/:
Licensing True20
Since the release of True20 Adventure Roleplaying, we've received many queries from publishers that want to publish compatible material and take advantage of the True20 logo. This is indeed possible and the terms are straight forward. We offer two levels of licensing for True20:
1) E-Publisher: You can license the system and logo for $100 a year if you are a PDF publisher. This includes the right to sell up to 100 Print on Demand copies of each title. Any more than that and you need to step up to...
2) Print Publisher: You can license the system and logo for $1,000 a year if you are a print publisher.
In neither case can you do a stand-alone product. Every product must say that it requires the True20 rules for use. You must also use the Open Game License and adhere to its strictures as well, since True20 is an OGL product.
This license limits you to 6 products a year or less. This is to keep the amount of time Green Ronin staff spends on approvals down to a reasonable level and to prevent a flood of cheapo PDFs.
PDFs of all finished products must be submitted to Green Ronin for approval before they go on sale or go to print.
As you can see, they limited publishing to 6 items or less a year and required pre-screening before an item could be sold. It was a fairly restrictive, but accessible, license. WotC's license is a pretty fair deal, depending on what the details of the OGL are given the comparative benefit to having a WotC license vs. a GR license.
GR is a great company, and True20 is a great system, but they aren't WotC as far as public demand/notoriety.
A good question is whether the $5,000 needed to take part in the "early opt in," which gives about 4-6 months of "exclusivity" to license holders is the equivalent financial benefit to a company as $1000 was for 6 True20 items prior to the GR change in policy.
Christian Johnson
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I know several folks have published True20 settings, even outside the original setting search. In fact, HinterWelt just released Roma Imperious True20 the other day (which I just picked up, and am pretty happy with so far).
I'm excited about the open licensing. I liked True20 (though not Blue Rose so much), got busy with some other projects, but came back to it, and still consider it one of my favorite, if not my favorite, spin-off/iteration on/of d20. Nice, build-flexible, and stripped-down, which suits my style, but still supporting with easy/little conversion (if any) the boatload of old d20 stuff I have.
(Yeah, my first post. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. How'ya ddoin'?)
I read over True20 and thought - why not just play 3.5?
In my not so humble opinion, True20 is more flexible than D&D.