D20 Crackdown

Right after GenCon this year, a message went out through the game industry, sent by Ryan Dancey, VP of Wizards of the Coast and spearhead of the whole D20/Open Gaming License movement. In essence, the message (now archived on numerous sites on the web) read: "Goddamn it, you screwed up, and now we're gonna hafta start paying attention."

Basically, the jist of the situation is this: Wizards of the Coast was unprepared for the rash of D20 products released in the first year of the license, and had pretty much been content to let most products pass unnoticed, under the radar of the corporate giant. Unfortunately, the huge amount of non-compliant product available at GenCon was far too much for Wizards of the Coast to ignore, and now the Hasbroids are going to have to start running spot checks on D20 products, checking for compliance and enforcing the terms of the licenses.

"I KNEW IT!" came the cry from the so-called 'experts' who frequent the various forums on the web. "Those money-grubbing corporate bastards planned this all along! It's a bait and switch! So much for 'Open' gaming." The rabble raised a hue and cry, claiming that this was Hasbro's Evil Plot^TM from the beginning—a brilliantly executed plan (which, naturally, the pundits saw through from the very beginning, being brilliant and clever themselves) to scuttle the games industry and wipe out the competition in one fell swoop.

What a load of shite.

The simple fact of the matter is that a load of amateur basement operations jumped into publishing without having the slightest concept of how to go about handling a legal license, or otherwise take care of business, and now, because these morons pissed in the pool, things are a lot more of a hassle for the rest of us.

Here's how the story goes: Fanboy Wannabe, Inc. decides to publish the founder's home-grown D&D campaign under the OGL and D20 licenses. ('Cause naturally, it will revolutionize the industry, because in THIS setting, the elves are blue.) Instead of going to a lawyer and figuring out what they can do under the terms of the license (and in some cases, it appears, not even bothering the READ the license itself), Fanboy Wannabe, Inc. figures that if they take a look at what Amateur Press, Inc. did with their release (the revolutionary one where the elves were red), they can just do the same things and everything will be hunky-dorey.

Problem is, Amateur Press, Inc. did the same thing, staying close to the format used by Clueless Halfwit Studios, an established but not terribly professional company. CHS' product (a revolutionary series of adventures which feature no elves at all, but do have green halflings) wasn't compliant—they never bothered to check. So, API's product isn't compliant either, and thus, neither is FWI's. And so it goes.

At GenCon this year, the number of non-compliant products was staggering—and obvious, even to the third-party observer. Products were available that referenced the Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual by name—sometimes even emblazoned on the cover. Products were released that featured character creation rules, and yet still featured the D20 logo. Products came out that didn't even feature the required copy of the OGL within its pages. It was simply ridiculous. Wizards of the Coast had spelled out the very simple requirements that would allow publishers to have access to the massive network of D&D players, world-wide, and still people couldn't be bothered to follow them. Yet again, the amateur nature of the majority of the industry had jumped up to bite itself on the ass.

So now, WotC will be coming down on everyone, across the board. For companies that have D20 products in distribution, this could represent a major financial hit, as the companies will be forced to pull non-compliant products out of distribution. Other companies will be able to continue to sell product with only minor correction (tipped-in errata sheets will most likely become as common as Mon's Goblin Raiders, if you'll forgive the Magic reference).

In any case, all future D20 releases will have to be produced in a far more circumspect manner than before. Publishers will have to make doubly sure that their D20 releases actually follow the terms of the licenses before releasing them onto the market, or they will face the possibility of having the full weight of Hasbro come crashing down upon their heads.

Either way, it seems that from here on out, D20 producers will be forced to be more professional—and I can't see how that is a bad thing.

The amateurs will either put themselves out of business through their own stupidity, or will decide that it just isn't worth the effort in the first place...or they can become more professional, by necessity.

For better or worse, the bar has now been raised, and I for one say that it's about time.

This week's recommendations—I'm reading KNIGHT'S WYRD by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald and I'm listening to NIGHT WILL FALL, a CD by A Moment of Clarity (www.amomentofclarity.com).

See ya in 7.