Nottingham based RPG publisher 6d6 Fireball have announced their plans to release the 6d6 RPG system under Creative Commons license. This means other publishers will be able to use the system without cost. They can even publish rules variants along as they credit 6d6 Fireball as the original authors.
There is a twist though. Chris Tregenza has said they have launched a trademark application for “6d6”. I wonder how that will work. I’m sure there are many commercial RPGs that make very heavy use of the phrase “6d6”.
How will 6d6 Fireball make money? They will still be selling adventures and sourcebooks for the game. In fact, the standard Creative Commons argument is that if the wider use of the rules by more than one publisher creates a greater demand for the game then 6d6 Fireball will sell even more of these supplements than they would otherwise.
The secret money making plan 6d6 Fireball have is what they call “6d6:OLT” – their 6d6 Online Tools. That will be a significant challenge. I hope they’ve come up with something that works in Air or Sliverlight – or, better yet, a Chrome Extension or HTML5.
6d6 Fireball’s first book will be Mince Pies & Murder.
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