Proposal for an Open Gaming Day

[Whisperfoot]

So one of the reasons that I'm less than thrilled with 4th edition has little to do with the mechanics, and much to do with the way that WotC is trying to bury the OGL with their new license and replace it with something that leaves their "partners" totally at their mercy. Without open gaming, there is no independent evolution/experimentation of the game, such as what we've seen already with games like Pathfinder, True20, Acana Evolved, and Iron Heroes. Licensed products like Conan and Babylon 5 become very difficult to do without either using an old system, going to a completely different system, or creating a brand new system. The viral propagation of quality content would no longer exist as a native part of the license. The freedom to create the games that interest us and appeal to all sorts of gamers will be limited to material that marches in locked step with the specific form D&D now takes, with no alteration possible. I know that a lot of people in the gaming community agree with me on this, but what can we do?

My suggestion, which I put forth here and hope will gain some traction not only here but on other boards, is to pick a day that we will designate Open Gaming Day. Ideally, this would be on the day that the OGL was originally released, but since it's too early to get organized at this time, maybe another day would be more appropriate.

So what would Open Gaming Day be? It is a day where consumers show their support for open gaming by buying at least one open gaming product and/or running games published under the OGL, preferably as an event at a local game store, but observing it at home would also be perfectly fine.

This would be our chance to show our appreciation and raise awareness for the publishers who have not only embraced the OGL, but will continue to publish under it.

The first step, aside from getting interested individuals to jump onboard, would be to assemble a list of companies that have announced that they will continue releasing products under the OGL. Obviously Paizo would be first on that list since they're spearheading the push to take the next major evolutionary step with the 3rd edition rules set with the Pathfinder RPG. Necromancer Games has indicated that we might be getting a nice color version of the Tome of Horrors for Pathfinder. I know there are more.

Now that I've thrown the idea out there. Is anyone interested?

[Krome]

While I would be interested, it would be better if organized along the lines of Free RPG Day. OGL Publishers provide some free samples of what they are doing. This would be a way to draw gamers back to the light side :)

This of course would require a serious investment by the publishers and they must have a distributor. The Local Game Stores will need to have an incentive to participate. They will want to have new OGL products on the shelves to sell.

Right now I am not seeing much OGL product being produced. If it is, my store isn't carrying (which would come as no surprise).

We'll also want to see a steady release of high profile products. Paizo is the highest profile company and they are really good about release dates. So far as I know all other OGL publishers lack a large budget for advertising their products and are not exactly reliable with release dates.

Right now Paizo is carrying the OGL community. Someone else has to step up and help. Unfortunately I think everyone is sitting back and waiting to see what happens with 4E and 3.P then they will support the "winner."

[Whisperfoot]

Publisher involvement and free product isn't exactly what I have in mind. What I am suggesting is an organized show of support for those companies that are continuing to publish 3.5 compatible material under the OGL. The product wouldn't have to be new, nor would it necessarily have to be bought from a store. It would be more along the lines of banners for messageboard sigs (assuming that the messageboards allow them), a website, community created T-Shirts, and gaming. If you only end up purchasing one product that day, it can be a print product or a PDF. Retail participation would be nice, but not particularly necessary.

At any rate, it's merely an idea. If nobody gets jumping up and down excited about it, I'm more than willing to forget about it.

[Krome]

I like the idea, but getting a group of decidedly "different" people to do something...at the same time... we just need to figure out to properly "motivate" them :)

[Crow81]

Krome wrote:

I like the idea, but getting a group of decidedly "different" people to do something...at the same time... we just need to figure out to properly "motivate" them :)

I would like to see a roll call of sorts to see who is serious about sticking with the OGL and supporting either 3.5, Pathfinder or some other Open system. I have no desire helping transition companies unload stock so they can jump on the 4e band wagon come October. If there sticking with the OGL and produce quality stuff like Paizo I'll support them.

[Krome]

Yeah I agree with that!

SO far, I have not heard anyone definitively say they are sticking to 3.x besides Paizo. The early adopters of 4E have also fallen silent and don't seem quite so enthusiastic anymore.

I have no idea where most 3PPs stand anymore. I am assuming they don't know either.

[Whisperfoot]

Crow81 wrote:

I would like to see a roll call of sorts to see who is serious about sticking with the OGL and supporting either 3.5, Pathfinder or some other Open system. I have no desire helping transition companies unload stock so they can jump on the 4e band wagon come October. If there sticking with the OGL and produce quality stuff like Paizo I'll support them.

Go to the publishers forum at ENWorld and ask.