Out of OGL Chaos

Iron Kingdoms
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As said in another topic, I think this can have its own thread.

Now that OGL selfinflicted chaos seems settled (a portion of the community seems to think that they can renew their intentions after the movie has it’s time at theathers), maybe we can explore options as though experiment .

5E have a CC-BY SRD now, but probably 5E will cease to be supported by Wizards sooner than later, specially if the Executives that wanted Menoth knows what are still there with a spirit of revenge after being forced to CC the SRD.

OGL will probably be litigated or in a unstable position, now that everyone gained a Read Mind spell and the intentions of Wizards and Hasbro become public and crystal clear.

We don’t know a lot about PP’s position, other than the saying-not-saying post back in the day. Even Critical Role, who we know are absolutely tied by contracts, were more clear (if only because we could see their faces when asked). But we can interfere they were not jumping and dancing of joy.

Now we have:

Possibility to build a player’s guide that replace 5E players guide, using CC (not OGL please), not opening any of that. There is a lot of stuff in DnD players guide that is not in yje SRD, so there is work to do here.

Possibility to pick a 5E-compatible project with enough traction to be popular, and build a Player’s Guide from there. Kobold’s Press "Core Fantasy Roleplaying " (Project Black Flag until few days ago) seems to be the main contender here, Cubicle7 is also developing a ruleset.

Probably this means going ORC as license, this means opening all mechanical concepts for others to use (not the IP).

Then, there is the 2D6 ruleset, with his share of fans. Opening it under ORC should be as easy as putting the notice and, taaadaaaa, all mechanics are open for anyone to use and make their own games using the mechanics there (not the IP and copyrightable material).

I think a “Core Fantasy Roleplaying” own book, with PP production values and choosing the set of rules and options that they think better fit the world would be an extra top thing to have (even if some info is repeated in the Requiem Guide), but probably the majority of current 5E fanbase is ultrahappy with the resolution of the OGL thing, and see no reason for further changes after winning that battle.

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Given how the 5e situation shook out I’d guess that PP will stick with the 5e CC/OGL for at least the next expansion while everyone waits to see what the situation with 6e/One ends up being. I don’t know enough about the other pseudo-D&D projects like Core Fantasy to say how much it would have compatibility problems with the existing Requiem content.

Of course I’d love to see them go back to 2d6 but I don’t expect it; being compatible with the game that’s effectively 95% of the TTRPG industry is probably too valuable to risk going back to their own system.

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They aren’t going to stop supporting 5e. At their recent creator convention, they walked back that one d&d was anything but an evolution of 5e and are actively saying that it’s little more than an update. They’ve also said they’re updating the OGL with one d&d content and that it will also be Creative Commons.

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I kind of wonder if the rules are too close to Warmachine’s for them to want to release it under ORC. That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing the setting going to other systems in a licensed fashion. Pathfinder and Rifts both got a Savage Worlds treatment. And if not IKRPG, then maybe Warcaster. But then Savage Worlds started as a wargame or skirmish game system? So then maybe not… hrm.

Cortex Prime? :stuck_out_tongue:

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I love Savage Worlds, and think it would be a great rule set for an IK RPG. That being said, I think sticking with 5e is the smart move commercially. If OneD&D is going to be as backwards-compatible as WotC says it will, I imagine just some errata will be needed for any current IK stuff.

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I have no idea what ORC and CC men in this thread, but I for one hope it all sticks with 5e, I’ve just gotten through converting the first 2 books of the Witchfire trilogy. I’m finally getting to run them after having bought them at release.
More 5e options is good as far as I’m concerned, plus mor of the cloth maps, they are lovely and will be decorating my dining room once I get them framed.

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CC stands by Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/) is a way of licensing stuff to be shared, with various kinds of license depending on what you want to share and how.

After the OGL Chaos (mid-December to late January) caused by Hasbro/WOTC (owners of D&D, Wizards of the Coast is part of Hasbro), they decided to regain the huge amount of faith lost on them by putting the 5E SRD entirely under a CC-BY license (CC BY 4.0 Deed | Attribution 4.0 International | Creative Commons)

This means that you can:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
  • for any purpose, even commercially.

Given that you give them credit, as the unique requisite.

This means that the base of 5E can live forever, no matter what HAsbro or WOTC does with it, or does with the OGL if they attempt to revoke it again. Everyone can take anything from the SRD word by word and adapt it, or share it as-is, or build from it.

//

ORC is a license born from the OGL Chaos. Paizo (Pathfinder creators) used the OGL (as many others do), and the attempt from WOTC to revoke it was seen as a torpedo directed to them (and that could make many other companies to close or bankrupt, such as PP, with little margin to do anything before being involved in court cases by WOTC/Hasbro).

So Paizo contacted a lawyer firm specialized in gaming stuff to develop a new license that could be used to substitute OGL, that license is the Open RPG Creative (O-R-C) license, which just released the public draft few days ago.

https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6si9y?First-Draft-of-the-ORC-License-Ready-for

Chaosium has been the first using it in their Basic Roleplaying, which is entirely licensed under ORC.

Kobold Press will do a 5E Core book (Project Black Flag), also to be licensed under ORC, in order for them to keep compatibility with all the 5E stuff they produce, so the next Hasbro “smart” move don’t caught them flat-footed.

IF Hasbro decides to do something weird again, all 5E compatible stuff should be still compatible with Kobold’s “Core Fantasy”, and other projects (like Cubicle7 project).

PP could release a core rules book using the CC-By license of the SRD, adapting it to their needs, for example, so they have a set of rules (that is just 5E rules with whatever they want to readapt, exclude, etc) so, when Hasbro destroys 5E, they have a ruleset ready to be used for as long as they want.

The thing is that Hasbro/WOTC cannot be trusted again, once we saw what was inside their minds in that OGL Chaos incident, so 5E will live in the future in community’s hands.

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Oh, I quite agree. I think, for me, the fact that Pathfinder went Savage Worlds kind of suggests that allowing a formal version of the game on a less mass-market system doesn’t necessarily cannibalize the main product line. Not going to say that’s exactly the case since if D&D is the 8-ton kaiju gorilla in the industry then Pathfinder is like the 800lb one. And frankly Rifts (if not Palladium in general) is such a unique position in the industry I don’t you can look at them meaningfully for comparison. I think they’re kind of like GURPS in that lots of people buy the books and convert

In the meantime I’ll continue brainstorming HERO Warcaster for my group :stuck_out_tongue:

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An standalone Savage Worlds: IK, in the same spirit as the Pathfinder IK, could be awesome. I’d buy that on a hearthbeat. Savage Worlds was the first big system that everyone wanted the 3.5 version translated back in the old IKrpg discussions in the old forum. Also they wouldn’t need to emulate 5E mechanics, but the IK “feel”, directly taken from the Warmachine fiction.

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Yeah. Again, maybe a partnership could be worked out. Companion books by Mystery Company X.

I think the trick with “feel” is it’s so subjective. Some folks argued to me that Fate or something similar would be WAY better for getting the “feel” right. But, much like the story of the blind men and the elephant, the game/setting as a whole has many different feels depending where you’re interacting with it. And what one person considers their “must have” feature is someone else’s “take it or leave it” while being yet another’s “deal breaker.” Oh, and someone else might even be, “that’s in the game/setting?”

When the old bundle came out for IKRPG 2012 I answered a lot of questions and sold a number of folks on it based on the setting, not the system. I think most folks will agree that overall the setting is a lot of fun.

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Well, for Fate, it’s easier for every group to adjust the dials to go with their flavour. Fate does well the “we get a lot of damage and consequences and suffering and then we spend all that in exchange of an epic finale” , I did L5R with it with minor adjustments, but only one-shots.

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True. But you have to like Fate in the first place. My gaming group is 8-13 players on Saturday nights and they love their minis, big tactical combats, etc. Hell, our default system for things is HERO and we’re often playing on half of a 10’x5’ table with map and terrain.

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yeah, I don’t quite like Fate other to for playing “Fate games”, if that makes a sense, it’s like it’s their own category of games, tangent to roleplaying. Too much care of metacurrencies and non-linear play, although everyone I saw playing seems to not use the “editing scene” feature as much as the books says.

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Savage Worlds: Iron Kingdoms would be interesting for sure.

I do not know how well the Magic System for SW would play out. It would definitely need some work, I am thinking of Healing and how the IK Gods do not respond well to being asked for lots of healing spells.

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Well, things would have to be tailored / advised on just like the 5e version.

I mean, honestly, I’m sure someone out there is running it already along with IKRPG GURPS, IKRPG Palladium, etc. Healing is being houseruled on to be more compatible with the system or the setting based on what people like or need. Now I’m wondering about IKRPG Pathfinder with an Iron Kingdoms version of Kingmaker.

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I have been GMing the Witchfire Trilogy using Pathfinder 1e, it has been pretty solid.

I had to explain some things about Sorcerer Bloodlines, but that was the only obstacle I recall.

OwlCat making an Iron Kingdoms video game would be cool. They’re currently busy making a 40K Rogue Trader game.

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Who did the Battletech and Shadowrun video games? I heard those are really good.

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I ran it once using the World of Darkness system (the very first “new world of darkness” series with the core rulebook separated and the Vampire:Requiem sourcebook).

I used a pair of books focused on human magic (sorcerers, mind powers …) and just did a custom advantage for the Gunmage character.

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We’re solid with the 5e rules for now! And the next project is coming up fast:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/privateerpress/iron-kingdoms-into-the-deep-wild-5e

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Uooo

I should get the Spanish translation of Requiem this summer, like in time for birthday, but maybe I just skip and jump to the English one.

Sorry if the talk on other systems hurts the 5E development team!!! We love you too, Team!!

(Can Next-next project be a 5E ruleset totally tailored for IK and opened with non-OGL license? Please? Did you read the birthday part? :stuck_out_tongue: )

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