I was halfway through writing my neat d20-based version for a Nahast RPG sourcebook when I heard the news that D&D would launch it’s 4th edition the following year, so I put the project on hold in wait of what the new system would be.

The date has arrived and D&D 4th Edition is out in the stores, and the new license to use their system has also been released. For those not up to RPG geekiness, when Wizards of the Coast published D&D 3rd Edition, they released the core system as a kind of open-source system for anyone to use, plus a more limited license for the rigth to use the “d20 System” logo; this license was also free. It was the d20 license and the Open Game License that allowed many small publisher to ride the success train of D&D and offer freelancers like me a bigger client pool. It was a boom big enoug that I became a staff writer for a british publisher, writing nothing but d20-based books as add-ons and sourcebooks to Dungeons & Dragons.

Now, with 4th Edition, WotC is debuting the GSL, a new license that, compared to the previous d20 license, is a nooze around the neck of anyone daring to use it. I haven’t gone through all the details myself, but one of the most glaring is that, once a product is released using the GSL and under the 4th Edition system, it cannot be adapted to the previous d20 system, even if/after the license is revoked. The most important third party d20 publishers are looking at the new license askance.

I really want to put Nahast as an RPG book out within the year, but this new license has me pondering what would really be the best option. I’m not a small publisher even, just a lone developer with a pet project. Since the whole background is tied to the comic, selling the product to a bigger publisher is most likely a no-no, because I don’t want to hand over my creation just like that, unless I manage to interest someone that will allow me to retain full creative rights to the setting itself.

So, my options look like this:

Go 4th!: I can go past my misgivings and go for this option; after all, I’m not a big publisher with multiple game lines at stake, and getting a hitch on the D&D train could be very good for me. On the other hand, the GSL lays claim to any new term they want to include in the future, so if I make my Shaman and Witch classes, once WotC includes a Shaman and Witch class in their reference document, I’d be in violation (I could safely come up with more folky names, like Nahual and Bruxia…). Work: Full rewrite of classes, adaptation of other stuff.

Blaze with Pathfinder: Paizo Publishing, the people who were in charge of Dungeon and Dragon magazines until WotC decided to take them online, are making their own RPG based on the old 3rd Edition d20 system, called Pathfinder. They have a great acceptance and their product is still governed under the OGL, allowing me to freely use the base rules, although tying Nahast to their game would require negotiation and contract thingies. Work: Slight adaptation.

M&M Superlink: Green Ronin’s great Mutant & Mastermind system is more or less open and free; it uses an open, point-based creation system and an original and simpler combat system. Using the Superlink logo and terms would also require negotiation, but I’m finishing a book for them, so the contact is already open. Work: Full rewrite.

Go it alone, d20 style: Rather than use a base, pre-existing system, write the whole thing from scratch based on the still free d20 system, with the freedom to add several variants to the rules, but also forced to include all the base rules as there is no pre-existing base book I can refer readers to. Work: Slight rewrite as sudden freedom opens up options.

So many options, so little money for contingencies…

In any case, once I get the ball rolling, I’m going to need playtesters and artists *wink, wink, nudge nudge*