"You can't copyright rules". What happened to this? Why can't OSRIC, OSE, etc. just go on their own merry way and ignore WotC and the OGL? Have I forgotten the crucial point already?
That actually may be the type of legal language I'm talking about squeen. Instead of a full page of 7 to 8 font OGL stuff, I may just have one sentence like yours and call it good...lol. No, I think you are right....and I think Guy Fullerton had it right back in 2012 when he posted just this:
"Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and AD&D are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, and are used without permission. Chaotic Henchmen Productions and this product are not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast."
And that's basically it. At the time, I was nervous about that language, mainly because I'm not a lawyer and lack the patience to read or understand all the jargon--no one really wants to get sued. They want you to use the OGL in your products, so it felt like Guy slapped them in the face when he didn't put the OGL in there, but I think as long as you don't add the copyrighted monsters (beholder, etc.) then they probably aren't going to do anything--especially to 1e and 2e material since they consider that 'dead'. And with new revelations about WOTC, I'm glad Guy slapped them in the face.
I won't speak to all creators, but having something to fall back onto--like your own ruleset just "feels" more clean, comfortable, and safe. Because even putting out adventures for OSE, you have to follow a few rules (like sending the rules creator your adventure for free, etc.) or you got to check for all the little rule changes to make sure it goes along with how OSRIC did it or whatever. A creator is going to know their own rules pretty good, so it's less of a hurdle to have to double check how a retroclone does AC or movement or whatever.
One thing also that always bothered me too was what if you want a NPC spellcaster to have a spell that is not in say OSE's rules--like Grease. Do you have to put in an Appendix in the back of your adventure with "New Spells" and then convert Grease to OSE rules? I mean, I get most players probably know what Grease does, but what about people just playing OSE and not knowing about the original rulesets? Ok...going off tangent...
"So anyway, best case scenario from my perspective is that I can ignore Greg Gillespie's new ruleset and still be able to buy and run his best adventures anyway." -Hemlock
I think that's the best approach. I think people like us who have been playing forever already have their own established way of playing. I think new rulesets/retroclones are more interesting for people just joining the hobby and trying to figure out their own table's rules and enjoy comparing new ideas. People are just going to read adventures and convert it to whatever system they are playing anyways. But if YOU are interested in a non-streamlined, number-crunching, 2eish, ridiculous new optional ruleset, then keep your eyes open for Journals of Nevermore, where YOU could be like the 7th person in the world to use it--coming soon, probably with our Coming of Winter Kickstarter in Octoberish (or maybe November).
@Hemlock --I barely remember that DFRPG thread and I remember just stumbling upon it randomly. Were you the guy that was trying to convert Ascent and was emailing me? That happened awhile ago...
? My inbox is all bunged up with Dolmenwood kickstarter spam as well. I guess people are buying this stuff. My question is: Are they actually playing these things or are they just supporting their favourite bloggers?
