I don't get to roleplay near as much as I used to or would like for that matter (oh, why must I be a responsible adult?), but I still try to keep up on the goings on in the world of table-top RPGs. Wizards of the Coast is putting out the 4th edition of D&D this June. In a somewhat surprising move they are going to release a license for the rule set, but unsurprisingly it is going to be much more restrictive than the OGL that accompanied 3rd edition. Chris Pramas, one of the major (and better) third-party developers blogs about what this means for WotC and the industry.
Clearly many changes are in the wind. Until we see the Game System License we won't know all of them for sure. No matter what I'm positive publishing under the original OGL will continue (that's how we'll do M&M and True20, for example). A year from now the publishing landscape will likely be quite different though. I think the big question is whether any of the prominent third party publishers will decide to just skip 4E and the GSL and continue to publish 3.5 material. I think Paizo is best positioned to pull this off but it would be a gamble for sure. As for WotC I guess I continue to be surprised they are making this attempt at all. I seriously wouldn't blame them for saying, "This is a huge headache with few tangible benefits for us, so 4E will not support 3rd party publishing."
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