When does a design cease to be indie?

[Michael Hopcroft]

When does a designer or a publisher lose his indie-cred round these parts?

I'm getting kind of worried now that I have a D20 project in the works and will need a co-production agreement of some sort to print it. Does doing something original with the OGL change the fact that you're using the OGL and falling into WOTC's cunning trap to swallow the entire industry?

[Maurice Forrester]

Don't know about anyone else, but my interest is in good games and not "indie-cred."

[Spooky Fanboy]

Seperating myself from all the regular, industry-standard fanboys out there for a second, I have to agree with Maurice.

Don't expect me to purchase anything d20 or OGL, unless you've done something cool with it, like Mutants and Masterminds has. But don't expect me to have a knee-jerk hissy-fit over it, either. d20 gets people into the hobby, where the cool indie games have a chance to keep them in. ;-)

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Michael,

Read About the Forge. Does it say anything about the OGL, d20, or some ineffable "coolness" factor?

And for that matter, this question - "Does doing something original with the OGL change the fact that you're using the OGL and falling into WOTC's cunning trap to swallow the entire industry?" - assumes a lot that would be better discussed instead of thrown out as fact.