“An evil empire has overshadowed the land, destroying personal
freedom and imposing conformity on a free-thinking community. But
now you can take up the “open source” ideal and fight for freedom,
justice and treasure….”
“,i>Wizards of the Coast, which obtained the rights to
Dungeons & Dragons in 1997, is hoping to bring the
swords-and-sorcery game back to the popularity it enjoyed in the
early 1980s with a modern ideal — the software-born “open source”
concept.”
“When the third edition of D&D is released in August,
Wizards plans to give the core rules for the game away for anyone
to use, hoping that when other companies publish games — whether
they are supplements for the basic D&D game or new games
entirely — it will lead gamers back into the fold.”
“We’re not creating a new game, but we’re creating a much better
version of the rules,” said Ryan Dancey, vice president in charge
of D&D at Wizards, based in Renton. “We think these rules will
be flexible enough for a wide variety of games.”