dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
hdrider67 said:
As long as it is for your own personal use, you're a-ok.
SRD
- Thread starter hdrider67
- Start date
As long as it is for your own personal use, you're a-ok.
msprange said:
Matt,
Any idea when you might release this? I stopped working on my cheat sheet weeks ago when you posted this.
Not that it would have done me much good since I stopped largely because I've been buried with work. Now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I'm hoping not to have to work on my cheat sheet again.
gloomhound
Mongoose
Any clue whats going to be in the SRD?
gloomhound
Mongoose
Infojunky said:
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Gruffty the Hiver
Banded Mongoose
[Stewie from Family Guy]...So...uh...this SRD...any sign of it? Hm? Mebbe held up a little, hm? A few minor problems, eh? Yup, could be...[/Stewie]
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
gloomhound said:
My guess (mind you, this is only a guess, even if it is educated*, it is still a guess) is that it will have definitions, most of chargen, the whole skills, combat, space combat, equipment sections, and most of the world creation system. Maybe some of the trade section.
I'm hoping that a standardized NPC, ship, and world statblock as well as standardized descriptions of maps and symbols (i.e. planet map looks like this, subsector map looks like this, mountain chains are represented by two mountains in a single hex, dotted lines/straight lines on subector maps, etc) will be present as well.
* My qualifications for making an educated guess: I've read the D20 SRD as well as the MRQ SRD. Additionally, I've read the True20 core books (now revised edition), the Pathfinder RPG Alpha test book and the Fudge rules and paid particular note as to what was released OGL from each of them. I read each of these to determine which game would be optimal for me to write for, so I had to know what material from each I could use and which I couldn't. There are certain things each system book has in common. Those things are reflected in my above guess.
spinwardpirate
Mongoose
So what can I do with this SRD when it comes out? Publish my own games using it, so long as I pay proper respect to those who hold the rights?
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
spinwardpirate said:
Publishing purposes there are three important parts: The System Reference Document (SRD), the Open Game License (OGL), and the Traveller Logo License (TLL)
The SRD is a series of files (usually released in .rtf format) that is released under the OGL. This material is for publishers to legally copy, modify, or write material that works with whatever book or books the SRD is derived from. Typically, the SRD is most of the material from a core book, but there is no reason why it cannot add to it later (example: if mongoose wanted to expand the worldgen possibilities of other publishers from stuff they published in their future world creation book, they can copy that material into the SRD). Why would a publisher add to the SRD at a later point in time, to sell more books. If Mongoose publishes a book that greatly expands psionics, they'll sell alot more of that book, if another publisher writes an adventure using that book or creates a source book that requires it or etc.
The OGL is the legal document that allows the SRD to be used. Using the SRD in this fashion would otherwise be called "plagerism." So if you want to make a stand alone game using nothing but the Traveller SRD and your imagination for how you want to tweek the system, the OGL allows you to do that without fear of legal reprocussions (This is exactly what Green Ronin did with Mutants and Masterminds, sections they wanted changed, they changed, sections they thought were perfect were copied and pasted straight from the d20 SRD). The OGL was started because TSR (the old owner of Dungeons and Dragons) was sue happy against companies that made material that was compatable with D&D. TSR lost just about all of those cases, but it still cost companies time, effort and resources to fight it. Wizards saw the legal writing on the wall and decided to work with other companies instead of fighting them. The OGL is what made it possible, but one of the stipulations is that you cannot claim compatability. This brings us to ....
The TLL is the legal document that allows you to indicate compatability. While you still cannot outright state that your material is compatable with Traveller, you are allowed to have a symbol on your product that customers can easily recognize as meaning it is fully compatable with the game. So while the OGL allows you to use the Traveller SRD, no one will know that it is compatable with other Traveller. The trade off for putting the Traveller logo on there includes that you will not show how someone can create stats for NPCs like Str, Dex, Soc, etc and stats for worlds like Size, Law Level, Hydro, etc. This effectively means that if you use the TLL, you are not creating a stand alone game which the OGL would otherwise permit you to do.
Does this help?
spinwardpirate
Mongoose
Thanks. I believe that does help. So for instance, if I wanted to make my own game that was in no way Traveller, but based on the SRD, I could do so under the terms of the OGL?
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
spinwardpirate said:
Bingo. If you got the license to ... Star Trek, for example, and wanted to release it as a stand alone product instead of requiring your customers to buy another book to play it, you could use the OGL to wholesale copy the system from the Traveller SRD and put in "phaser" and remove shotgun from the equipment section. Why would you do this? Because those playing Star Trek would care more about the name Star Trek then the system that it uses (provided the system is quality). So indicating compatability with Traveller wouldn't be your top priority.
But if you made a sector book that was totally of your own creation, having the Traveller logo on your book will help sell books. Why? Because customers will quickly recognize what the basic game should feel like, that the stats in the material can be used in their existing game, and most importantly, that they already know how to play the game. Gamers today have alot less time then when we were kids. So selling a product that has a little logo on it that indicated that they don't need to learn a new system is a big deal and a big selling point.
spinwardpirate
Mongoose
That's Brilliant! I was hoping I understood the mechanics of the whole thing. Sounds like I do. So when do we see that SRD and OGL?
:lol:
:lol:
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
spinwardpirate said:
The SRD is completely up to Mongoose. Whenever they get it out is when you can read it.
The OGL can be found many places, but I prefer here. You can ignore the contents of Section 15 on this version. When Mongoose releases their SRD, it'll accompany a copy of the OGL with a proper Section 15. I know its a little boring to read, but its not that long and if you are serious about freelance writing or publishing under it, you really do need at least a working knowledge of what is in it.
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
Ok, now that I'm home and looking at my traveller book, I'll make a better guess as to what will/will not be in the SRD.
- Chargen most of it present, missing the way to determine characteristics and 3I aliens.
- skill and tasks near virbatum
- Combat near virbatum
- Encounters and Dangers no samples or random encounter tables, or planetary quirk table, other then that, probably near virbatum
- Equipment near virbatum
- Spacecraft Design/Spacecraft Operations/Space Combat most present but not all.
- Common Spacecraft this I am totally unsure about. I can see it totally not there, or all there or some there some not.
- Psionics most present, missing the way to determine PSI characteristic.
- Trade while I could see it there, I'm going to guess it will be missing.
- World Creation Most present, again missing way to create a world's characterists. What they mean will most likely be there, but not "roll 2d6-7+size
I'm guessing the holdup is probably due to the goose having to write up some fairly extensive errata and clarification rules. There's no point in releasing the SRD if it'll be superseded within weeks by the rule fixes that are also due out.
I'm hoping to see something on their idea of the power fix for starships. That might have been the biggest boo boo of the book. I suspected it was dropped because of the nastiness of the play-test commentaries but I'd hate it if it was permanently dumped in a fit of pique.
Still...
Matt? We can haz SRD soon?
I'm hoping to see something on their idea of the power fix for starships. That might have been the biggest boo boo of the book. I suspected it was dropped because of the nastiness of the play-test commentaries but I'd hate it if it was permanently dumped in a fit of pique.
Still...
Matt? We can haz SRD soon?
spinwardpirate
Mongoose
So the Wizards OGL is the OGL that they are using? Fascinating.dmccoy1693 said:
Thanks!
spinwardpirate
Mongoose
Roger that.dmccoy1693 said:
For what I'm thinking of, I'd probably only be using the Chargen, Skills and Combat sections, and I'd probably tweak Combat, and change portions of the Chargen.
dmccoy1693
Cosmic Mongoose
spinwardpirate said:
There is only one OGL. Wizards owns the license to it and they alone can change it. Mind you, it says that that you can publish under any version of the license, so revising it is meaningless (hense why 4E D&D uses a totally different license). But yea, there is nothing in there that says that you hav to use anything that wizards publishes when using the license. So creating your own SRD with it and releasing it under the OGL is completely ok.
