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Re: GSL

June 19th, 2008

As some of you may already know, Wizards of the Coast has decided to stop supporting the Open Gaming License (OGL) with the release of 4th Edition. Instead, for many months now, they have been promising to unveil the Game System License (GSL). They were originally planning to roll the GSL out early this year and charge early adopters who wanted to release products in time for GenCon $5,000.

This was a marked contrast to WotC’s approach in 2000, when they eagerly sought out companies like Atlas Game and Green Ronin to have products available at GenCon when the 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook was first released. Those products — Three Days to Kill and Death in Freeport — created huge amounts of buzz for the new edition.

Ultimately, the $5,000 money grab proved irrelevant because WotC couldn’t get their ducks in a row. As a result, when the GSL was finally released to the public this week, everyone was given the same starting date: October 1st, 2008.

We have known for a long time now that the GSL was going to be deliberately more restrictive than the OGL. WotC considers the OGL to be a failure. With 4th Edition, the only material they want produced is supplemental material which feeds directly back into the sales of their core rulebooks.

The announcement of 4th Edition put a freeze on the development of my own personal company, Dream Machine Productions. Until it became clearer what 4th Edition was going to be, it was difficult to make any meaningful decisions. And, since my company was young, I had the luxury of simply waiting until I could make an informed decision.

My trepidation over the 4th Edition rules have grown over the past several months, but — in the end — I had come to the decision that I would playtest Keep on the Shadowfell and make a final decision pending that experience. Honestly, I thought it quite likely that — if nothing else — I would be publishing The Slave Lords as a 4th Edition adventure path.

However, the GSL has now been released and those plans are shifting once again. This license is, frankly, completely unacceptable. The most problematic sections are these:

6.1 OGL Product Conversion. If Licensee has entered into the “Open Gaming License version 1.0” with Wizards (“OGL”), and Licensee has previously published a product under the OGL (each an “OGL Product”), Licensee may publish a Licensed Product subject to this License that features the same or similar title, product line trademark, or contents as such OGL Product (each such OGL Product, a “Converted OGL Product”, and each such Licensed Product, a “Conversion”). Upon the first publication date of a Conversion, Licensee will cease all manufacturing and publication of the corresponding Converted OGL Product and all other OGL Products which are part of the same product line as the Converted OGL Product, as reasonably determined by Wizards (“Converted OGL Product Line”). Licensee explicitly agrees that it will not thereafter manufacture or publish any portion of the Converted OGL Product Line, or any products that would be considered part of a Converted OGL Product Line (as reasonably determined by Wizards) pursuant to the OGL. Licensee may continue to distribute and sell-off all remaining physical inventory of a Converted OGL Product Line after the corresponding Conversion is published, but will, as of such date, cease all publication, distribution and sale (and ensure that third party affiliates of Licensee cease their publication, distribution and sale) of any element of a Converted OGL Product Line in any electronic downloadable format. For the avoidance of doubt, (a) any OGL Product that is not part of a Converted OGL Product Line may continue to be manufactured, published, sold and distributed pursuant to the OGL; and (b) this Section 6.1 will survive termination of this Agreement.

That’s a thick bundle of legalese, but what it boils down to is that, if you publish a product under the GSL, you cannot publish (or continue to publish) the same product under the OGL. Nor can any other product in the same product line be published (or continue to be published) under the OGL.

This, in itself, would be okay. The problem is that WotC sets itself up as the sole arbitrator of what constitutes a “similar title” or “similar product line”. This means, ultimately, that once you publish anything under the GSL, you have explicitly given WotC the legal authority to prevent you from publishing any OGL product.

11.1 Termination. This License and the rights granted hereunder will terminate automatically upon written notice to Licensee or upon posting on its website of a termination of the GSL as applied to all licensees.

[…]

11.3 Effect of Termination. Upon termination, Licensee will immediately cease all use of the Licensed Materials and will destroy all inventory and marketing materials in Licensee’s possession bearing the Compatibility Logo. Licensee will remove the Compatibility Logo from all advertising, web sites, and other materials. Licensee will solely bear all costs related to carrying out this provision (in addition to any other provision) of the License. Wizards may, in its sole discretion and upon written agreement between Wizards and Licensee, extend this License for those Licensed Products that otherwise comply with the terms of this License.

And then there are these clauses, which are fairly straight-forward: WotC can terminate the GSL at their whim. And, when they do so, you are legally required to immediately destroy all of your GSL products.

However, and this is important, section 6.1 survives the termination of the license.

This means that, once you accept the GSL, you have given WotC the ability to immediately shut down your OGL and GSL product lines in their entirety. The entire license is a giant poison pill — just as many people (including myself) were predicting months ago.

The counter-argument can be made — and will be made — that WotC are all a bunch of really swell guys and they would never use their powers for evil. In fact, this counter-argument has already been made many times over in many different places across the internet.

But it doesn’t really matter whether they’re currently planning to use their “if you accept this license we can immediately order you stop publishing all OGL and GSL products at our whim” powers in a malicious fashion. The point is that, by accepting the license, you’re giving them those powers. And if you’re actually in this business — i.e., you’ve got money on the line — then you can’t afford to just ignore that. You have to take it into meaningful consideration and make an informed choice.

And if you’re making that decision based on your belief that the guys down at WotC are a swell bunch of guys who would never screw you over… Well, frankly, you’re a fool. Because even if those guys are all swell, they could all be fired tomorrow.

If you’re making this decision, then there’s really only one question you need to ask: If WotC decided, at any time, to terminate my ability to publish all OGL and GSL products, would I be OK with that?

If you’re OK with that, then you’re golden. If you’re not, then you shouldn’t be using the GSL.

Personally, there’s no way that I could ever do business in that environment. I will not be developing under the GSL. I will not swallow the poison pill.

So what lies ahead for Dream Machine Productions? A good question.

For right now, I can tell you that the City Supplements will be continuing, although I will probably be moving them in a more systems-neutral direction. (They were not particularly stat-heavy to begin with, and I don’t see any reason not to make them as appealing as possible for fans of both editions.)

I am also currently waiting for an artist to return a signed contract. As soon as I’ve got that in hand, I’ll be making a major announcement. All I can say of that for right now is:

3RD EDITION LIVES!TM

Go to Part 1

Keep on the ShadowfellSPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

DESIGN NOTES

I have two primary goals with this material:

First, I’m trying to raise the stakes. The activities of the cult are placing Winterhaven in jeopardy. Unless the PCs do something, people are going to start dying. Kalarel is going to win.

Second, by having events in Winterhaven develop over time we keep the location fresh. As a result going back to town in order to rest up is more than just a mechanical contrivance: There is something for the PCs to do or interact with.

And if I’m successful in these design goals, then hopefully Winterhaven will feel more like a living, breathing place. That will help make the entire scenario more memorable.

Special thanks to Smerg and EnigmaShock at the WotC forums who helped spur some of the ideas used below.

Winterhaven

RATIONING

Lord Padraig declares martial law and places the village under rationing in an effort to conserve supplies. The inn serves breakfasts of boiled oats; lunches of thin barley soup and a quarter crust of a small loaf of bread; and suppers of boiled potatoes with a small amount of fatty bacon.

Streetwise (DC 10): There’s a fair amount of discontent over the rationing. There are rumors being spread that various farmers in the valley are hoarding food.

Streetwise (DC 15): There are rumors that Lord Padraig is still feasting in his manor while he leaves the villagers to starve. The Regulars won’t do anything about it, because they’re receiving extra food from Padraig, too. (TRUTH: The Regulars are getting extra rations; Padraig is not.)

THE GUARD’S FUNERAL

The PCs return to Winterhaven to see a procession of Regulars led by Sister Linora heading towards the graveyard. An elderly villager died the previous evening… but didn’t stay dead. Shambling to life as a zombie, it attacked and killed one of the gate guards.

SIEGE SUPPLIES

A crowd gathers outside the inner gate leading to the manor house. The villagers demand that Lord Padraig open the siege supplies and distribute them. But Lord Padraig is hesitant to do so until the situation is truly dire. He suspects that a true siege may be coming soon.

FEAR OF CULTISTS

If the PCs being spreading around the knowledge of the cult of Orcus, the village will slowly descend into paranoia: Villagers will begin accusing each other of being cultists.

CULTISTS IN WINTERHAVEN

There will be two interludes in which the cultists strike directly at Winterhaven: The Dead Walk and Cultists in Our Midst. Both of these will be dealt with tomorrow.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

The actions of the PCs may significantly alter the situation in Winterhaven. For example, they might go to the farms in the south; organize a caravan of supplies; and then guard it. Depending on the situation at the time, they might have to fight off a party of kobolds or goblins. Or, perhaps, they’ll have put enough fear into Kalarel’s minions that — with them guarding the caravan — they won’t be attacked at all.

If something of this nature happens, consider having Lord Padraig throw a feast in the PCs’ honor. It will probably still be a meager affair, but it gives them a chance to feel like heroes and keeps them engaged with the village (albeit in a more positive fashion).

Continued…

Go to Part 1

Keep on the ShadowfellSPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

PERRIEN

QUOTE: “Rune-born, eh? I always wished that I’d been born with a rune!”

BACKGROUND: Perrien is the son of Sir Caliban, but he was taken in and raised by Bairwin Wildarson after Sir Caliban died. Perrien doesn’t know his true heritage.

Perrien idolizes his adopted father and will often tell tales of Bairwin’s adventures (some of them true, some of them not). He has begun training with the Warrior Guild, thinking to either one day join the Winterhaven Regulars or perhaps go on the road like his father did.

APPEARANCE: A young lad with strapping broad shoulders, pitch-black hair, and green eyes.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Effusive. Perrien is full of energy and enthusiasm, and he’s not afraid to share them with anyone nearby.

SALVANA WRAFTON

QUOTE: “Would you care for a cup of soup with that? Or a loaf of bread? Or perhaps a slice of mutton? There’s not nearly enough skin on those bones of yours. You’ll be looking like Eilian if you’re not careful.”

BACKGROUND: Wrafton’s owner and proprietess. She employs a serving boy named Thom, who she treats like her own son.

APPEARANCE: Salvana has a round face, rosy cheeks, and a maternal smile. She keeps her hair tied back in a scarf, but wisps of black poke out here and there.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Salvana is friendly and open, quick with a smile and a warm welcome. She speaks with a folksy charm. Her hands always moving, either wiping on her apron or patting people on the arm.

VALTHRUN THE SEER

QUOTE: “That’s quite an interesting question. I wonder if Rodham’s Almanac would have any information on that…”

BACKGROUND: Valthrun is a sage and scholar who lives in the a tower within Winterhaven’s walls. Valthrun is knowledgable about the area, though his knowledge doesn’t run particularly deep and he knows nothing of the death cult’s activities.

APPEARANCE: A man in his late forties, with pale brown hair and large brown eyes. He dresses in robes of red and black and wears a long cream-colored scarf. His fingers are thin and tapered; his hands delicate in both form and movement.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Valthrun is a good listener, asking just enough questions to keep whomever he speaks with talking. He peppers his own speech with frequent references to specific tomes – “I’m quite sure I read it in” or “I’m not sure, but let me check” or the like.

SAMPLE BOOK TITLES: Rodham’s Almanac, Crowley’s Third Compendium, Collected Lore of the Dansuuns, Apocrypha of Tehmal, Yasuul’s Unnamed Tome, Othordian’s Handbook

Continued…

Go to Part 1

Keep on the ShadowfellSPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

DESIGN NOTES

Way back in 2001, Atlas Games published In the Belly of the Beast, a D20 adventure by Mike Mearls. This was a roleplaying-intense adventure featuring multiple factions trapped inside the belly of an immense demon. In and of itself, it’s a pretty awesome adventure.

But In the Belly of the Beast is particularly notable, for me, because of the format Mearls used for presenting the roleplaying information for his NPCs. As noted, the adventure is a complex roleplaying scenario with multiple factions each comprised of multiple characters. And yet, due to the utilitarian format Mearls pioneered, the adventure runs smooth as silk: I was able to pick up an NPC, quickly identify what the character’s goals and personality were, and then slide straight into character.

Basically, all Mearls did was break the NPC information down into six sections: Key Information, Quote, Background, Appearance, Roleplaying Notes, and Goals.

Like most good ideas, it seems simple enough… it’s just that nobody had done it before. So instead of trying to parse several paragraphs of dense text summarizing every NPC, you could immediately find exactly what you needed.

I promptly absconded with it, and have been using the format to great success ever since. For NPCs, I generally simplify it down to: Quote, Background, Appearance, and Roleplaying Notes.

(I ditched Key Information because it generally just duplicates information found elsewhere. The Goal section reappears when needed and often in different forms. For example, it doesn’t appear at all in my City Supplements because the NPCs aren’t part of any particular adventure. On the other hand, in my personal campaign, I recently ran a high society party where everyone had a Notes section just to bullet-point out particular interactions I wanted to make sure I hit. In the case of Keep on the Shadowfell, as you’ll see below, it manifests itself as Plot Points/Information, which is, once again, just a bullet-pointed list to make sure I hit particularly important details.)

In my experience, the format not only helps me when it comes to running NPCs, it also helps me to prepare only the information I need to prepare for a given NPC.

LORD PADRAIG

QUOTE: “Welcome to Winterhaven. I wish that you might have come at a more auspicious time.”

BACKGROUND: The Lord of Winterhaven, descended from a noble family that ruled this area under edict of the old empire. Folks around Winterhaven were happy with Lord Padraig’s father’s authority, and they have found answering to the rules of the new lord no more arduous. On the other hand, Padraig doesn’t have absolute power. For instance, he has been unable to raise a force from among the villagers to deal with the kobold problem.

APPEARANCE: Lord Padraig is a man of medium height and middling years. His brown hair is thinning, but he still cuts a trim and handsome figure in clothes of rural finery. His face is open and friendly.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Padraig is amenable to meeting with anyone, and if he knows the PCs are rune-marked he will greet them as heroes and potential allies. If he doesn’t know they are rune-marked, he will assume they are dignitaries from another village or possibly merchants scouting trade routes.
He remains friendly and open unless he believes the PCs to be mere treasure hunters or opportunistic mercenaries. In that case, his respect diminishes (although in his desperation he may still seek to secure their help).

PLOT POINTS/INFORMATION:

  • Ask them their business in Winterhaven (potentially leading to finding the heir). During the time that Sir Caliban would have arrived, Lord Padraig would have been in Fallcrest attending to his education.
  • Will offer a bounty for hunting kobolds; 5 gp for each right hand.
  • Pays a reward of 50 gp for the location of the kobold lair; would pay 200 gp if someone were to wipe out the kobold threat.

BAIRWIN WILDARSON

QUOTE: “You young ones ought to bear a wary eye. You may have many fine weapons and the like, but the roads have grown dangerous of late.”

BACKGROUND: When he was a young man, Bairwin left Winterhaven and “traveled the world”. He didn’t get any farther than visiting the dwarves in Hammerfast a hundred miles to the east, but that does make him more widely traveled than anyone else in the village (including Lord Padraig).

When Sir Caliban died in the village, Bairwin took in his infant son (Perrien) and raised him as his own.

APPEARANCE: This weather-worn man has a deep scar running down his left cheek. His brown hair and beard are giving way to salted white, but there’s still a lively twinkle in his blue eyes.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Bairwin has a rough exterior, but a heart of gold. He is slow to anger, but once that anger has been roused it burns as a quick rage.

PLOT POINTS/INFORMATION::

  • Bairwin took in Sir Caliban’s son, Perrien, after the knight died.

EILIAN THE OLD

QUOTE: “These troubles are not as bad as you might think. I remember back in ’72, when I was still just a wee lad and Padraig’s father was still lord here. We had an ettin come down out of the Stonemarch and go hiking up and down the length of the valley. We eventually managed to rouse the southern farms and we hunted that creature down to its cave.”

BACKGROUND: This old farmer is a regular customer at Wrafton’s. Every night, Eilian takes a seat at a table in the corner. He has a farm just a half mile outside the city’s walls. Eilian has an interest in Winterhaven’s history.

APPEARANCE: A crooked back, a wisp of white hair, and cheeks made rosy with age.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Eilian loves to talk.

NINARAN

QUOTE: “No offense, but I don’t trust outsiders. Particularly at a time like this. How are we supposed to know that you aren’t in league with the cultists?”

BACKGROUND: An elf hunter. Ninaran arrived in town about six months ago. Now she serves as Kalarel’s agent in Winterhaven and reports back to him about happenings in the village.

APPEARANCE: Gaunt-faced with chocolate-brown hair tied back in a long pony-tail down to her waist.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES: Ninaran drinks alone and has little interest in conversation. Stiff and bitter in demeanor.

PLOT POINTS/INFORMATION:

  • Ninaran will tell them that she saw a “half dozen kobolds or so” by a waterfall to the southeast of town. She can draw them a very detailed map. (Her goal is to lure the PCs there and have Irontooth kill them.)

Continued…

Go to Part 1

Keep on the ShadowfellSPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

THE HEIR

When Sir Caliban came to Winterhaven, he was carrying an infant son. He left his son in the village and went to the Keep of the Shadowfell, pursuing an unknown mission. Few remember the wandering knight or the fact that his son, Perrien, was taken in Bairwin Wildarson and raised as his own.

Now a seventeen year old boy, Perrien is a member of the Warrior Guild and hopes to join Lord Padraig’s Regulars when he reaches the age of his majority.

STREETWISE - THE HEIR
DC
RESULT
15
A knight? When would he have been here? I don't know. Maybe Eilian would remember. He remembers a lot and he's been around here longer than most. (Eilian does remember and can tell them that the knight's son was taken in by Bairwin.)
20
Bairwin Wildarson: "Yes, I remember Sir Caliban. I took in his son, Perrien."

LORD PADRAIG: Lord Padraig will ask them their business in Winterhaven (see above); if they tell him, he will make inquiries himself and find out Perrien’s identity.

THE GRAVEYARD: If they find Caliban’s gravestone in the graveyard, it says: “Survived by his son Perrien”. This makes it relatively easy to find the boy.

Continued…


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