Playing 4E, or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the GSL
Y'know, after playing D&D 4th edition, I find myself just a bit more favorably inclined towards the idea of publishing stuff for it.
The game's just fun at the table. We did a 3-player game, and had two fights that felt pretty white-knuckle at certain moments as hit points got played close to the wire. I was at single digits and nearly out of healing surges at least once over the course of play, and our final fight against an occasionally-invisible baby-eating demonic dire badger and his cultist and skeletal minions was exciting -- you gotta love the sudden urgent necessity of fighting that erupts when someone blows their Stealth roll.
In the face of all that, given the fun that it brings, given the inevitable development of a fan-base, I know I WANT to see it supported with good, interesting stuff. And given the GSL's "by product line" restrictions, so long as any effort to support it is well quarantined, and risks are appropriately managed (sticking to a combo of PDF, POD, and short-run printings) it might even be attractive. Sure, having to play stupid tricks to be able to put statblocks in your product is a hassle, but so is doing anything for a system/property you don't wholly own yourself, if you ask me, so that stuff comes out in the wash.
This isn't to say that Evil Hat will do 4e products in the future (though I have an idea or two). But the issue's definitely a bit more grey and a bit less black and white for me, having gotten a chance to play it.
The game's just fun at the table. We did a 3-player game, and had two fights that felt pretty white-knuckle at certain moments as hit points got played close to the wire. I was at single digits and nearly out of healing surges at least once over the course of play, and our final fight against an occasionally-invisible baby-eating demonic dire badger and his cultist and skeletal minions was exciting -- you gotta love the sudden urgent necessity of fighting that erupts when someone blows their Stealth roll.
In the face of all that, given the fun that it brings, given the inevitable development of a fan-base, I know I WANT to see it supported with good, interesting stuff. And given the GSL's "by product line" restrictions, so long as any effort to support it is well quarantined, and risks are appropriately managed (sticking to a combo of PDF, POD, and short-run printings) it might even be attractive. Sure, having to play stupid tricks to be able to put statblocks in your product is a hassle, but so is doing anything for a system/property you don't wholly own yourself, if you ask me, so that stuff comes out in the wash.
This isn't to say that Evil Hat will do 4e products in the future (though I have an idea or two). But the issue's definitely a bit more grey and a bit less black and white for me, having gotten a chance to play it.