GSL = Ugh

While not officially released as of this moment (or even finished yet, for all I know), the OGL replacement--GSL (Game System License)--looks to be about as appealing as a trip to the proctologist. If you haven't yet read the newest gossip (including comments from WotC folk), please see the front page of ENWorld...all done? Okay, good.

So, why do you suppose WotC wants to put the genie back in the bottle? And by the genie I mean the third party support started and nurtured by the OGL back in 2000. Is it to keep some of their market share from splintering into 3rd party pockets? Perhaps, but Hasbro is a juggernaut and I doubt the loss of a few bucks would prompt the horrendous way they're handling the GSL's formation and release. And I mean horrendous in every sense of the word--from the early $5K fee to jerking those truly interested companies around who would have plunked down that outrageous fee, to delaying, to backtracking on what was said before, to now, 49 days before 4e's release, still not knowing what the hell they're doing.

Oh, what's that Scott Rouse, you're still listening to what people are saying on the messageboards so you can continue to nudge the GSL's language appropriately. Dear Lord, people, make a fucking decision. You're not going to please everyone so stop trying. Of course, pleasing people isn't apparently a goal considering today's revelation that not only will the former d20 logo have to be filed off all third-party products by year's end but also that a company will not be able to release 3e products and 4e products--choose the fate of your company!

Do you know what all this is telling me? That the decision makers at WotC are scared. Scared that their precious new golden game cannot stand on its own two feet. Scared that fans who are willing to buy the core books will then flee in terror back to 3e supporters after they see what the company has wrought. Why else force third-parties to make the choice (again, nothing is set in stone but this looks like the way it's headed)?

For the record, I'm very glad that I had Tricky Owlbear produce products only under the OGL umbrella. Before 4e's announcement, I knew the logo might cause a problem down the road and thought it best to leave it off our stuff. We can sell the pdfs just fine without it, thank you very much. Consumers are savvy enough to know what "v3.5/OGL compatible" means.

In any case, it'll be very interesting to see what eventually shakes out of WotC with the GSL but I won't be surprised to hear more fan and company disapproval before it's all said and done. Viva la 3.5!

Good Game!

The planar campaign's recent installment--"Calamar"--went according to plan. An island prison accessed only by a carefully controlled glyph gate was the dumping ground for the more dangerous criminals of the gnome-dominated Fendaris Imperium (hah, did you hear that WotC, gnomes will crush you!). Not long before the PCs arrival, another team from the Protectorate was sent on a standard recon mission (note: the campaign, if you haven't been keeping track, is essentially a Stargate rip-off without goa'uld) and they are overdue to report back. When the PCs arrive, it seems the prisoners are loose and the guards are dead (wouldn't much of an adventure without that, eh?). Seems the Imperium enjoyed implanting mind flayer tadpoles into inmates to make them very susceptible to suggestion (thereafter being productive, if docile, members of society). But now, they decided to implant those creatures into the resident trio of chuul (thus making uchuulon from the Stormwrack supplement) and then all hell broke loose. To make this long story short, one member of the other team was recovered (just barely avoiding implantation) and the PCs recovered the piece of the glyph gate needed to make it function and return home.