SteveC said:
My point is that if you wanted to make an adventure based around a gnome bard, something that you can do in 3x you can't do it in 4E unless they add that extra content to the SRD.
I'm not sure we're on the same page here. As soon as the 4eSRD and 4eOGL are out, we don't NEED WotC to add anything else. Under the OGL, you can make all that stuff yourself. Moving from the example I mentioned about the 3e release and SSS Creature Collection, if you think there's a big sales possibility for gnomish bards, stat up gnomes, stat up bards, and sell them yourself under the OGL. The whole idea of the OGL is that you and I have the opportunity to give people the content that WotC either won't or can't.
SteveC said:
Now I don't know why you would want to build that evil gnome bard, but I expect that if we're losing four classes and two races, there has to be something people like that will no longer be open.
Again, if you're making your own, original content, what WotC puts out as open content doesn't matter. Even if they give us a list of things that they insist are not open content - lets say bards, sorcerers, and barbarians - nothing stops any of us from making a Minstrel, Conjurer, or Berserker class and distributing it on our own.
Just look at psionics. As far as we know, which ain't much, they aren't in the PHB. Still, there are plenty of people that want them. I'd be willing to bet money (if I had any) that there will be a psionics supplement within six months of the 4eMM release. If WotC hasn't made one by then, another publisher or a fan will, whether it's a good faith attempt at porting the 3.5 psionics from the current SRD or a new system from scratch.
SteveC said:
Given the nature of the OGL, I'm frankly unsure that you can actually do that (take something open and close it in a new edition :\ ...)
For a new edition, I imagine they could try in some way, but I'm not a lawyer. On the other hand, why would they? The OGL is considered enough of a success that they've already said its coming for 4e as well. They have to know that basically trying to shut down anything that's already open is going to be met with a big backlash, at least amongst the OGL faithful. Plus, a move like that would seriously rattle the bigger third-party publishers that WotC is already trying to attract to the 4e market.