Using OpenQuest to publish

[naturaltwenty]

I'm strongly looking at using the Classic Fantasy rules to produce an adventure but don't know if I want to end-up going the monograph route. I downloaded the OpenQuest developers kit and picked up the PDF on lulu.com.

As a quick run-through OpenQuest seems to be based on RQ3/Mong Runequest vs. the current incarnation of BRP, i.e. I noticed the SZ stat and armour points for armour.

I started working on some layout elements (see goblin below and some of my WIP cartography in the Classic Fantasy thread) but don't know if I should continue with OQ or just pitch a monograph?

Any drawbacks to using OQ other than the obvious that it won't be potentially OOB compatible with BRP?

[threedeesix]

Any drawbacks to using OQ other than the obvious that it won't be potentially OOB compatible with BRP?

No drawbacks I guess, but if it was to be a monograph and/or a true Classic Fantasy adventure, this author would be quite willing to work closely with you and provide official stats for creatures, spells, classes, etc that have yet to be released.

Rod

[wbcreighton]

Could you provide dual stats so it was useable for either game ?

[Vile]

This is an interesting question which I am also pondering, especially in the wake of the Mongoose announcement that there will be no SRD for MRQ2. I am more comfortable with the OGL / SRD route. As a 3rd party publisher you have far greater control and freedom than under the rather more formal Chaosium licensing system.

However, as Newt has told me, Open Quest is quite a minimal system if you strip out things like magic and creatures, so anything you publish will be virtually a new game anyway. But I'm still not willing to dismiss the possibility yet, and will be discussing it further on Newt's D101 Forums.

[RosenMcStern]

As a 3rd party publisher you have far greater control and freedom than under the rather more formal Chaosium licensing system.

:confused: What is in the Chaosium license that does not give you control and freedom?

[NickMiddleton]

This is an interesting question which I am also pondering, especially in the wake of the Mongoose announcement that there will be no SRD for MRQ2. I am more comfortable with the OGL / SRD route.

Bear in mind that using an SRD for a rule system released under the OGL gives you no access to Trademarks. Equally however, the material made open content under the OGL (such as the MRQ SRD) cannot be made closed again. So you can carry on using the MRQ SRD, and add whatever open content you wish to it as long as you want. But if MGP pull the MRQ STL (as WotC have done with the d20 STL), then ALL RQ STL compliant publications will have to cease and be repackaged, in accordance with whatever termination conditions MGP stipulate / have stipulated...

If it wasn't of the fact that some decent current and planned projects are adversely affected by all this it would be mildly amusing to watch all this kerfuffle after the flack I got from some quarters for NOT getting Uncounted Worlds tangled in all this nonsense...

As a 3rd party publisher you have far greater control and freedom than under the rather more formal Chaosium licensing system.

Err, there is no "Chaosium licensing system" - there is a sample license (the terms of which were pretty reasonable and flexible by industry standards when it was issued in early '08) that was drawn up in early 2008 - and it's now nearly 2010... My advice would be to put a firm, well reasoned and documented proposal to Dustin (assuming he's back at work after the move back to Texas) as to what you want to do and take discussions from there.

Cheers,

Nick

[Newt]

I deliberatly set OpenQuest up to be completely OGL to avoid lisencing nightmares futher down the road, the hint's in the name

That be said I did wake up in a bit of a cold sweat this morning worrying that Mongoose could pull the plug on OQ by withdrawing the OGL that it sits on, then had a quick read of it and realised this is not the case.

SO TO REITERATE OPENQUEST IS COMPLETELY UNEFFECTED BY MONGOOSE'S DECISION NOT TO OGL/SRD MONGOOSE RUNEQUEST 2

re:lisencing and BRP I'd fully recommend getting in touch with Dustin and having a quick chat about what you plan to do. You never know unless you ask

[Vile]

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that the Chaosium license is particularly restrictive - just that going through the MRQ SRD would have been less restrictive. I did discuss the licensing with Dustin, and it's still an option I would consider. It does require a much greater level of commitment.

I also understand that you can still publish things under the MRQ OGL, but I don't think you'll be able to have the RuneQuest logo on your 3rd-party product once MRQ2 takes off. The main point of which is purely brand recognition - without that, a publisher could easily write their own D% system, but it would be very hard to make a dent in the market.

The context in which I was wondering about OQ was just an idea that it could possibly become an alternative route of 3rd-party publication for BRP-like games, one which had its own brand recognition yet was still associated with BRP.

[RosenMcStern]

If it wasn't of the fact that some decent current and planned projects are adversely affected by all this it would be mildly amusing to watch all this kerfuffle after the flack I got from some quarters for NOT getting Uncounted Worlds tangled in all this nonsense...

You are a wise man, Nick :lol:

As for OpenQuest and GORE, as Newt said, the license they use cannot be revoked. The only problem could be for products that use the RuneQuest logo, and I am not sure that even in this case it would be possible to withdraw the license. However, the RQ logo is currently being used for new products, AFAIK, only by Sceaptune Games and us. Other companies have not produced any more stuff with the RQ logo during the last year, IIRC. And to be very honest, if you look at page count there are only two "indies" that are actually supporting MRQ, Sceaptune and Alephtar.

Edit: I checked, and they can pull the license for the logo. But they also swore they would not do it unless you published pornography or such.

[RosenMcStern]

just that going through the MRQ SRD would have been less restrictive.

Mongoose has just shown why this is not, in fact, the case.

The context in which I was wondering about OQ was just an idea that it could possibly become an alternative route of 3rd-party publication for BRP-like games, one which had its own brand recognition yet was still associated with BRP.

For very small press, it is now the only viable alternative. I am not counting GORE in the equation as there is virtually no talk about it, AFAIK.