Wednesday, January 9, 2008

WOTC Announces Plans for D&D 4E Open Gaming License

Wizards of the Coast recently announced its plans for the 4th edition version of the Open Gaming License for the up-and-cming Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. Noticeable differences include earlier access to 4th ed OGL content and an exclusive "head start" sort of publishing window to companies forking over 5 grand.

Notable game designer Robin D. Laws had this to say in his livejournal recently:

The $5000 access fee is a blunt and imperfect instrument. It keeps the basement operations in the starting blocks, but doesn’t stop a couple of well-funded entities from pumping out deluges of quickie products. It may dissuade some established companies from entering the fray, depriving players of some hypothetical high-quality products. Overall, though, it should go at least some distance toward better matching the quantity of products produced to the market’s ability to absorb them. More finely tuned approaches to the problem, like quality inspection by WotC designers or outside committees, are either financially or organizationally unfeasible. A coarse solution is better than none at all.


What say you, gentle readers?

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