Where Daemons and Dragons Collide

The Free Software and Open Source movement is infectious. While the software industry has been rocked by Linux and the GPL, the ideology is flowing over into other industries, as well. The D20 System is the stand-alone game system behind the long-awaited Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Wizards of the Coast VP Ryan Dancey is on a mission to release the system as an open standard, and bring the Open Gaming movement to the forefront of the market.

In a quick question-and-answer session on the Wizards of the Coast website, Ryan goes into the bits and pieces of his idea, paying homage to Richard Stallman and the Free Software movement as the basis for his crusade. He makes it rather clear that people will be able to write their own modules and game systems using the D20 System, and sell them on their own, without permission from Wizards of the Coast.

Like computers and caffeine, Dungeons and Dragons is a geek staple. The chances are good that geeks who aren't 'clued in' to the Free Software movement may get their first impression from reading a paragraph about it in a RPG manual. For the system to arrive on store shelves, though, it needs support from individual stores and distributors. The good thing is that they're excited about this, too. I recently spoke to Tony Kautz at Bridgetown Hobbies and Games, an RPG shop located in Portland, Oregon.

Slashdot: What was your first impression of the 'opening' of the D20 System?

Tony: I think it is a really good idea. The reason why Second Edition and Second Edition Revised did well is because they were based on the First Edition, which had a lot of resource material available. When they change the rules to the D20 system from the one they're using currently, a lot of their previous statistics won't be usable. Now that they've opened it up for other people to make supplements using their rule system, it'll make resource material a lot more available and a lot less expensive, because they'll have to compete with competitors with their own rule system.

Slashdot: Do you think that your store would carry D20-compatible modules and home-grown games using the system?

Tony:Yeah. We'll probably carry just about anybody that we can get a hold of. Some companies are too small to use distributorships, and so they have to do direct, like via mail order or online, but everybody else we will. We're pretty open to any manufacturer that comes along.

If you build it, they will come. One of the key reasons that Dungeons and Dragons is so popular is because you're limited only by your imagination. Experienced gamers thrive on being able to make their own choices and doing things their own way. Sounds like Linux system administration 101, doesn't it?

Needless to say, Open Source software developers think that the extension of the Open Source ideology into different industries is a fantastic idea. Downtime developer Justin Wheeler shares his thoughts with us: "The whole concept of keeping things open is the way most business should have been from the beginning. Imagine if Einstein kept the theory of relativity private? We'd not be able to work on it, or build on it. When thoughts are kept within a small group/society, others don't have a chance to work on them. If everyone has a chance to help at it, the company may find something that they missed. Companies often fear they're going to lose money if they give out their trade secrets. If Coke gave away their recipe, do you honestly think I'm going to brew up my own batch of Coke when I'm thirsty?"

Cooperation and a Laissez-Faire approach from Wizards of the Coast may make the D20 System the most popular approach to Open Gaming the world has ever seen. Until the boxes hit the store shelves, we'll just have to wait and see how successful Ryan Dancey is in promoting the ideals of Free Software and Open Source in the RPG arena.

Comments

Re:Who's eagerly awaiting 3rd edition

[Alan Shutko]

No political, pr crap about not including demons or devils or evil gods in the monster manuals.

No, just political pr crap about not including angels in it. 8^) (Somewhere around Dragon 39, I think.)

The COG Engine

[Cycon]

String ShamelessSelfPromotion="
Anyone interesting in creating their own Zork/Myst style games (read "interactive fiction") using a simple, straight-forward, GPL'd engine that can played via any java-enabled browser might want to check out The COG Engine. The first beta was released this past weekend, and we're looking for more developers over at the SourceForge site right now.";

System.out.println(ShameLessSelfPromotion);

Re:Boy talk about missing the point...

[ywwg]

Wrong wrong wrong. Here are the ingredients in Coke (see this page)

Citrate Caffein, 1 oz. Ext. Vanilla, 1 oz. Flavoring, 2.5 oz.
F.E. Coco, 4 oz.
Citric Acid, 3 oz.
Lime Juice, 1 Qt.
Sugar, 30 lbs.
Water, 2.5 Gal.
Caramel sufficient

Mix Caffeine Acid and Lime Juice in 1 Qt Boiling water add vanilla and flavoring when cool.

FlavoringOil Orange, 80
Oil Lemon, 120
Oil Nutmeg, 40
Oil Cinnamon, 40
Oil Coriander, 40
Oil Neroli, 40
Alcohol, 1 Qt.
let stand 24 hours.

The thing is, getting de-cocanized coca leaves (Fluid Extract of Coco) requires a special license from the gubment. Guess who owns the only license?

(note that this is an older recipe, but it's a starting point :)

Boy talk about missing the point...

[Rombuu]

If Coke gave away their recipe, do you honestly think I'm going to brew up my own batch of Coke when I'm thirsty?"

No, they think Pepsi, or someone else, would brew the same stuff, sell it at half the price and kill their profit margins.

My first patch

[FascDot Killed My Pr]

For the good of all humanity I'm submitting this patch to D&D:

+if(HoursSinceLastShower > 24) {
+ if(Player.Girlfriend)
+ &nbsp Girlfriend.StormOut;
+ Player.Shower;
+}
--

A few notes

[Alan Shutko]

The D20 game system will be under the OGL, but if you want to use the D20 trademarks, you'll need to follow the D20 license. It offers some restrictions, like not giving the rules for character creation (they want you to buy the PHB).

So, as an example, you could take the rules, change them, and release them as a different system (also under the OGL, kind of like the GPL). But you couldn't say it was compatible with the D20 system, and I don't think you could mention the D20 system at all.

Or, you could write supplements, new characters, modules, etc. and say it was compatible with the D20 system. The impression I've gotten is that the D20 license will not restrict things like that.

If you want to say "Compatible with D&D", you have to enter into a separate license for that trademark.

I'm not certain, offhand, what that would mean if say, you wanted to write a character generator. It seems to me that that wouldn't be allowed under the D20 license, but I'd have to ask for a ruling.

Writing old AD&D stuff (and other things...)

[trims]

OK, I run one of the big AD&D hobbyist web sites (I get ~200k hits/month). I'm not posting it here, 'cause I can't take being /.-d. :-)

I've been writing AD&D rule expansions and collecting and editing alot of material from the Web for almost 10 years now. I'm also one of the two people involved in maintaining the Great Net Spell/Prayerbook stuff (I do the editing and rule-checking). I've had alot of dealings with TSR in their old incarnation, and also with WOTC when they first took over TSR, though none recently.

Here are the legal guidelines that govern add-ons to the AD&D system (that is, what you can legally do, and what can be published).

• You can't use trademarks of TSR without permission. TSR had published a list of words/terms it claims as trademarks - find it here. Additionally, there is a list of non-registered ones here. Some of the unregistered trademarks are dubious (eg. "goblin"), since they are well-established in prior literature.
• You can't copy text from any TSR work. That is, you can't quote any section or description from a rulebook. However, you are allowed to rephrase the section, as the book is covered under copyright, not any other law.
• You cannot wholesale copy tables from TSR books. The layout and presentation of those tables is copyrighted. However, you can copy the contents of those tables and create your own tables from the information contained therein. The info in those tables is considered game mechanics, which is NOT covered by trademark, trade secret, copyright, or any other IP law. Game mechanics are expressly excluded from protection.
• You can use generic terms (such as Armor Class, Hit Dice, Hit Points) from the TSR rules. Generic terms are those which express concepts in game mechanics. Note that DM (ie Dungeon Master) is a TSR trademark, and is NOT a generic term.
• You can reference items and information in TSR works. This is perfectly legal. What you cannot do is provide any specific language that such a work includes.
• Writing your own rules and extensions is NOT considered to be a derived work. The base AD&D system is a game, and as such, is subject to different legal status than literature. Using items, characters, and settings from TSR literature (such as The World of Greyhawk) is not allowed, as that is considered a work of literature. However, the base AD&D world and ruleset is not protected from others building upon it, no matter what TSR says.

After about 7 years, I'm about 90% of the way through a complete, free, unencumbered re-write of the 1st Edition DMG + PHB. I've tried to be very aware of all these issues, and I suspect that the D20 initiative is really intended to head off the possible impact that works such as mine would have on TSR income (there are several others working on similar, free rule tomes).

To look at it in a simplistic view, all we've done is to clone Monopoly. There are large numbers of Monopoly-like clones out there: same rules, same board layout. However, notice they have different artwork and labels for things. This is what you can do.

To reiterate, Game Mechanics Are Not Protected . All TSR can do is prevent you from using their trademarks, exact text/layout and developed settings. Everything else is fair game.

-Erik

Open Sourcing of Weakest system in Roleplaying

[sugarman]

This is a shame. TSR has long been the M$ of roleplaying, extending their roleplaying system into any and all genres, including some that where is obviously didn't fit. The reason there have been so many additions (patches) is that for anything beyond a quick dungeon crawl, AD&D breaks down quickly in being able to handle the complexities of the rules.

AD&D has largely been a cludge, a hack, since its inception. It has since been surpassed by most other systems that are out there. WhiteWolf, FASA, SJG, and GamesWorkshop all had much more workable systems, that scaled much better. AD&D has just always had more money, more marketing, and a larger installed user base to allow it to maintian it's market dominance, despite the system being crap. The fact that most players would leave AD&D and not look back once they discovered some of the other systems out there only serves to prove how flawed the AD&D's system was.

The reality of the weaknesses in TSR's strategy was revealed once they faced a true open paradigm from the CCG's. It was small, lightweight, and portable, usable on a variety of hardware, and was able to cross a number of language and cultural boundaries by dealing with differng sytems iconically. The wooshing sound that was heard was the rush of players moving to the open CCG style. Of course we saw an incredible influx of different distributions, and there were those that were advocates of one or the other, but in the end it all came down to the same thing: playing cards.

Now, years after they've been beaten in the marketplace, so badly in fact that the've been bought out by one of the upstarts who 've caused their downfall, (And don't think that the upstarts isn't laughing about that every single day) they are forced to look for any way to recapture their glory days. And they release their system to the public.

Unfortunately, they still don't 'get it'. They have kept a number of the key components (D20, PHB) under their strict control, and you still need these to buy in. Sure, they say you can use D20 now, but what's preventing them from pulling that resource in the future, as Unisys has done with GIF's. No, what they are really trying to do is capitalize, finally, on what everybody has been doing all along, since the game was originally released:

Making up their own stuff.

They're just trying to capitalize on buzzwords.

[M. Silver]

Roleplaying games are inherently "open source." (You can't copyright the rules themselves, only the specific text of the books.) The so-called OGL grants no rights above and beyond what you already have, and actually takes some away.

Look closely at what's happening... they're trying to control the source anyway through use of the "D20" trademark.

And they're claiming to be first, when critters like Steffan O'Sullivan's FUDGE has been doing this for a long time.

Not just missing the point, misleading the point.

[seebs]

The entire point of this is to mislead and misdirect. This is *HASBRO*. Remember, the people who are suing "clue.com" into the ground for existing? The people suing other companies because they claim to have a copyright on a "triangular ship with thrusters"?

The *SOLE* purpose of this is to try to crush all competing gaming systems, while preserving WOTC's rights.

Ryan Dancey is a scumbag. He also does not understand copyright law.

When asked about ownership of gaming materials created for use with the AD&D system (say, you run your own campaign, and you have a world), he said that WOTC owns them. He claims that anything that works with a gaming system is a derivative work of that system, and that *ALL* ownership and rights of derivative works goes to the "original" copyright holder.

He is a dangerous, slimy, man. Do not trust anything he says; he's probably wrong, and either way, his goal is to eliminate competition from his market by making his system the only viable one - while still holding all the trademarks and making sure everyone has to buy his products.

WOTC was bought by Hasbro; they are now expected to follow Hasbro's path of buying franchises and suing to eliminate competition.