This just in from the D&D FAQ:

Q. Do I have to give up my right to publish 3.5 OGL products in order to publish 4e compatible products?
A. No. Publishers are free to print product lines under either the OGL or 4E GSL. We would love to see our industry colleagues convert their entire product offerings to 4E, as we are doing, but we do not expect or require entire companies to convert to the new edition.

For all I know they may end up screwing this up. I just think its early to call foul.

I read through the posts of the senior WOTC guys and I'm not seeing a clear distinction that a company can't produce both old and new content.

Again, I can be wrong, but I would rather wait for a real statement on the clearly hot issue than assume.

Wait until there are some facts before we start slamming it. This is all we officially know from Wizards at the moment:

"
Wizards of the Coast is pleased to announce that third-party publishers will be allowed to publish products compatible with the Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition game system under the new Dungeons & Dragons 4E Game System License (D&D 4E GSL). This royalty-free license will replace the former d20 System Trademark License (STL), and will have a System Reference Document (SRD) available for referencing permissible content.

The D&D 4E GSL will allow third-party publishers to create roleplaying game products in fantasy settings with the D&D 4th Edition rules, and publishers who register with WotC will be granted the right to use a version of the D&D logo that denotes the product as compatible with the D&D 4th Edition Roleplaying Game, in accordance with WotC’s terms and conditions. The effective start date for sales of D&D 4E GSL publications will be October 1, 2008.

The license associated SRD will be available on June 6, 2008, at no cost. A small group of publishers received advanced notice and will receive these documents prior to June 6, at no cost, in order to prepare for publication of compatible materials by the effective start date. If you haven’t already been contacted by WotC, you will be able to access the documents on the Wizards website beginning on June 6, 2008.

Wizards is also working on the details of a second royalty-free license, the d20 Game System License (d20 GSL). This license will allow third-party publishers to create roleplaying game products in non-fantasy settings with the 4E rules. The exact details for the d20 GSL will be released as they become available."

That's it.

There are a ton of people who are simply anti-4th edition and will jump on any rumor or bit of speculation and run wild with it without backing it up.

Wait until they actually suck before we call suck.

There is not going to be a Mac client in the forseeable future and I sort of agree with the poster above who said "my imagination looks so much better than that". I'd like a fast way to whip up some NPCs but I much prefer sitting at a table and playing than playing on a PC. I'll play WoW if I want to play on a computer.

I'll be at the D&D Experience convention this coming weekend. They're going to demonstrate D&D Insider there. I'll yell and scream about mac support when I show up.

When Sony dropped their DRM I actually called the Audible help line. I am a subscriber and a paying customer but I hate the idea that my audible books are temporary - they cost twice as much as the novel which will last 1000 years buried in mud for crying out loud.

Anyway, I reached a very nice lady. I put on my best "How to Win Friends and Influence People" mentat like skills to convince her to send a note up the supervisory chain stating that A. it was hurting me as a customer. B. It cost them a lot more in support costs for people who switch. C. The music industry spent millions trying to fight it and eventually gave up. D. The authors didn't always want it. and E. people were starting to get mad, including both authors and users.

I think we just have to keep the pressure on, especially as it moves to Amazon. They probably won't listen to techno-libertarians like us but they will listen to the mom and pop who want to go from an iPod to a mp3 CD player in their car.

Hi Greg, can you send me an email at mike@mikeshea.net? I'd like to talk to you more about how to do this.

Thank you very much!

Mike Shea

@Whalefish: Derivitave works are allowed under the Creative Commons 3.5 License. See the end of the HTML.

"2. You may distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly digitally perform a Derivative Work only under the terms of this License, a later version of this License with the same License Elements as this License, or a Creative Commons iCommons license that contains the same License Elements as this License (e.g. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Japan)."

@other folks. This includes both Time of the Dragons and Last of the Zinja.

Thanks to all for the kind words and thanks to those who sent me the PDF of Illuminatus.

So next question for you fine folks: Would anyone be willing to volunteer to scan and OCR Shaman or Saracen?

Thanks again, my friends,

Mike Shea

I can't thank Mark enough for posting this note. I can't describe how much it means to me.

Deadmeat, that's a great story! My dad was probably the more subtle of the two Bobs, but I've heard one or two stories like that. One time a woman showed up in our bushes in our suburban home outside of Chicago. My dad talked to her for a while and then she left. My mom wasn't very happy about the whole thing; she had flashes of John Lennon's end in her head.

I'm hoping some day to work out a way to get Illuminatus on the web. The rights are split up at the moment, with half to me. If anyone happens to have a digital text version, I'd love to get a copy. I don't think it's technically a copyright volation to send them to one of the copyright holders.

Also, if anyone has the energy and capability of scanning and OCRing my father's other books: Saracen and Shaman; I'd love to release those as well.

Thanks again!

Mike Shea