Mongoose Runequest 1 (MRQ1) had an SRD that was OGL.
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You may have misread what I said. RQ and Traveller both have OGL licenses created. I wasn't saying they were the biggest "name" examples of those that are using the OGL
That is not correct. What Steve had designed was a city setting. Gold Rush Games was originally supposed to publish it for the Hero System but it never happened.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I will say that some of my criticism of the OGL has been echoed by you. I have no problem with OGL per se (I think the license has pros and cons), but I think you represent the more pragmatic side of game developers. I was also inspired by your posts back in 2008 of the OGL.
Ex-Teenage Rebel: Debating the OGL
Ex-Teenage Rebel: Picking the Right Weapon
And steering this back to Necromancer, this is why Green Ronin is still publishing, because as a smart move you were already trying to form your own niches and not be dependent solely on a license or compatibility with D&D. M&M is a stand-alone product with it's own target audience, True20 is different from standard D&D, and you also have games that aren't using the OGL.
Necromancer was way too dependent on the D&D teat. They mostly focused on adventure modules. One of their most successful products was Tome of Horrors, but that was very dependent on past work of TSR (specifically Gygax and the FF contributors). Other publishers found ways to diversify. But if your output is solely dependent on an existing product, you are at risk of being marginalized if the primary producer changes strategies.
You would argue that Mearls would have been hired by WotC regardless of his OGL work. I would argue that you couldn't prove it one way or another because the reality is that Mearls did OGL work and was noticed because of it. "What ifs" are all very well for fiction but have no real value in determining actual history.
I'm going by past precedence. A lot of the big name designers came from their prior work, not because of the specific system used. Two major cases in point: Warren Spector came to TSR after doing some kick-ass design work for Steve Jackson Games and others. Monte Cook came to TSR after a lot of work on Rolemaster.
And if you, as you say, can't prove it "one way or the other", why do people constantly bring up that the OGL is what "created" Mike Mearls?! If my view is suspect, isn't the opposite the same? Past precedent even shows that it's not the system used that matters, but the skill of the designer.
I'm just trying to make sure critical thinking is applied. There's a lot of talk about the OGL, but I think a lot of its proponents are looking at it from--for lack of a better term--a "faith-based" approach. They see it as a movement or the "future", rather than just a license. I'm not sure it's going to be the "approved new paradigm" of game publishing.