|
First off, I don't know or understand the OGL. I skimmed over it when 3.0 PHB came out, but that's about it. All I knew, was that it allowed other compnies to use the rules to create their own material, which is all I cared about anyway.
With the coming of 4E and a new license associated with it, what happens to the 3.5 rules and the OGL, if anything? Can a company still pump out 3.5 material or will there be newer restrictions on that?
More specifically, can people make variant PHBs (as Monte Cooks Arcana Evolved) with newer rules? Wouldn't WotC see this as competion?
Whatever WotC is going for with 4E (play style, pace of play, fun, etc)
What if, after seeing the rules, a company finds a way to duplicate these same ideas but with the 3.5 rules, would they be allowed to publish it?
|
First off, I don't know or understand the OGL. I skimmed over it when 3.0 PHB came out, but that's about it. All I knew, was that it allowed other compnies to use the rules to create their own material, which is all I cared about anyway.
With the coming of 4E and a new license associated with it, what happens to the 3.5 rules and the OGL, if anything? Can a company still pump out 3.5 material or will there be newer restrictions on that?
The OGL can never go away and even if it is altered a company can, in theory, use an older version of license. So third party companies can produce as much 3.5 material they want till the end of time.
More specifically, can people make variant PHBs (as Monte Cooks Arcana Evolved) with newer rules? Wouldn't WotC see this as competion?
They can't make alternate PHBs using the new 4e Game System License, which is like the OGL for 3.5 but less open. Actually, and this might not mean anything, but it works like the d20 STL more than the OGL. But the 4e will not be covered in the OGL, only the GSL.
Whatever WotC is going for with 4E (play style, pace of play, fun, etc)
What if, after seeing the rules, a company finds a way to duplicate these same ideas but with the 3.5 rules, would they be allowed to publish it?
In theory, yes. Monte Cook has already created the Book of Experimental Might which seems to take some of the same ideas found in 4e and applies them to 3.5. Now, Monte developed this material independently but from what I can see some of the concepts are quite similar.
Much about the new GSL remains to be seen but there is a great deal of speculation. There seems to be some debate about the subject you just brought up. It appears that it will be possible for a company to model some concepts from 4e and make them 3.5 compatible. Just how far they can go is yet unclear though I imagine the GSL will have a clear line in the sand just for that reason alone.