Editing D20 System (section)

==History ==
===Development===
[[Ryan Dancey]] believed that the strength of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' came from its gaming community instead of its game system, which supported his belief in an axiom that [[Skaff Elias]] promoted known as the "Skaff Effect" which posited that other role-playing game companies increased the success of the market leader, which at that time was [[Wizards of the Coast]]. Dancey also theorized that the proliferation of numerous game systems actually made the role-playing game industry weaker, and these beliefs together led Dancey to the idea to allow other publishers to create their own ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements.<ref name="designers">{{Cite book |last=Appelcline |first=Shannon |title=Designers & Dragons |date=2011 |publisher=Mongoose Publishing |isbn=978-1-907702-58-7}}</ref>{{rp|287}} This led to a pair of licenses that Wizards of the Coast released in 2000, before 3rd edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'' was released: the [[Open Gaming License]] (OGL) made most of the game mechanics of 3rd edition ''D&D'' permanently open and available for use as what was known as system reference documents, while the d20 Trademark License allowed publishers to use the official "d20" mark of their products to show compatibility with those from Wizards of the Coast. Unlike the OGL, the d20 License was written so that Wizards could cancel it in the future.<ref name="designers"/>{{rp|287}}

===2000–2003: d20 boom===
Initially there was a boom in the RPG industry caused by its use of the d20 license, with numerous companies publishing their own d20 supplements. Some companies used the d20 system to attempt to boost the sales of their proprietary systems, such as [[Atlas Games]] and [[Chaosium]], while many other publishers produced d20 content exclusively, including existing companies such as [[Alderac Entertainment]], [[Fantasy Flight Games]], and [[White Wolf Publishing]], as well as new companies like [[Goodman Games]], [[Green Ronin]], [[Mongoose Publishing]], and [[Troll Lord Games]].<ref name="designers" />{{rp|287}} The success of the d20 license helped create an industry for [[PDF]] publishing for role-playing games to fill the demand for d20 products, where electronic delivery presented players with a very quick and inexpensive method to distribute content.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|288}}

Wizards also began using their d20 system beyond just fantasy games, including their own ''[[Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Wizards of the Coast)|Star Wars Roleplaying Game]]'' (2000) and the ''[[d20 Modern|d20 Modern Roleplaying Game]]'' (2002).<ref name="designers" />{{rp|288}} Wizards developed one of the settings from ''d20 Modern'' into the full ''[[Urban Arcana|Urban Arcana Campaign Setting]]'' (2003) sourcebook, and further extending the d20 into science-fiction with ''[[d20 Future]]'' (2004) and into historical settings with ''[[d20 Past]]'' (2005), then finished up their ''d20'' line in 2006 with the classic ''[[Dark•Matter]]'' campaign setting.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|292}} Third-party publishers used these d20 genre books to base their own campaign settings on, such as White Wolf using the ''d20 Modern'' rules to publish a licensed version of ''[[Gamma World]]'' (2006) and some supplements.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|292}}

===2003 onward: 3.5 edition and d20 bust===
In response to the sexually explicit ''Book of Erotic Fantasy'' (2003) announced by Valar Project for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', Wizards of the Coast changed the d20 license so that publications were required to meet "community standards of decency", prompting Valar to simply remove direct references to ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and publish the book under the OGL. This event, by highlighting that Wizards of the Coast still held wide discretionary power over what counted as legitimate d20 material, made third-party game writers leery of publishing under the d20 license.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|293}}

Wizards of the Coast released an updated version of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', edition 3.5, at [[Gen Con]] 36 in August 2003. Third-party publishers were given little warning regarding the update and therefore many companies were stuck with books that were out-of-date before even reaching their audience. Wizards did not make any 3.5 update available for the d20 trademark.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|293}} Between these two crises, many d20 publishers went out of business or left the field, but most that remained totally abandoned the d20 trademark in favor of publishing under the OGL. Publishers realized that they could publish d20 games successfully without depending upon the core books from Wizards of the Coast, and publishers even started to create OGL-based games that were direct competitors to ''D&D''.<ref name="designers" />{{rp|293}}