Campaign Websites - Fair Use?

myorke · Mar 6, 2004

Since taking over as DM for our Monday night group, I've put together a website for our players and all agree it's been an added bonus for the game. I get to weave plots and ideas, share hints and red herrings, and encourage the players to think about the game between game nights.

One of the things I've been doing is scanning pictures from modules and sourcebooks or pulling them from the web to serve as illustrations. Nothing beats a picture to show the player's the 'nasty bloody humanoid with acid for blood' instead of telling them to look up Quth-Maren in their MM. NOT telling the creature's name is the fun part.

In order to avoid any sort of challenge, I've kept the website protected by password so that only the six of us have any sort of normal access to it. Does anyone, especially those who author or illustrate for these books I'm using, have suggestions on what sort of disclaimer I could use to basically say I'm not challenging anyone's hard work or copyright, yet make the site public for future expansion? Should I bother making the site public? I'm thinking other like-minded DMs might benefit from reading the journals and such, as I have done with other DM's campaign sites.

Ultimately, if time permitted, I'd love to have all original artwork on the site, but I seriously doubt that will happen any time soon.

EricNoah · Mar 6, 2004

There are few hard and fast rules when it comes to fair use. You'll notice I say "probably" a lot in the following explanation, because if it comes down to it only a court can decide if a particular instance of use is fair or not.

Fair use has to do with a few different things: the nature/purpose of the use, the nature of the work itself, the amount you are using, and how your use affects the potential market for the work. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html

If the work (let's say an illustration, for example) is already on the web with the blessing of the owners, the issue of "how your use affects the potential market" and the "nature of the work" are pretty clear -- your duplication/display of the material won't have much impact, especially if you are only displaying a few items. Good example: WotC's online art galleries at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/archive.asp?x=dnd/ag,3 -- they have posted practially every image from every book for people to use in a "fair use" manner. Do they want you to post every picture from every book on your website? No, and that wouldn't probably be fair use. Will they have a fit if you post a few pictures on your site? Probably not. Having a link that goes to the original source would be nice, as would giving proper credit for the illustrations.

If the material in question is not already on the web with the blessings of the copyright owner, then posting the material probably isn't fair use in most situations. Your method of limiting the distribution of the material -- password protection -- helps quite a bit, because that makes it a lot like running a photocopy and handing it out to a few friends, an activity that is generally considered fair use.

As far as things like your campaign notes/logs, etc. ... part of the nature of RPGs is that in the process of playing you create a "derived work." To my knowledge WotC has never bothered anyone about sharing/posting this sort of material.

ManicFuel · Mar 6, 2004

I've had two sites where I used published artwork. In both cases, I contacted the owners of the works asking permission, with a link to the site. Both times I got a "sure no problem!". I think the important thing is that the owner's know where and how the works are used, so they can decide for themselves what fair use is.

Most of us aren't trying to make money on someone else's labors, just trying to add something to our games. So they are usually open to our modest plans.

Ranger REG · Mar 6, 2004

But unfortunately, a lot of people skip the "ask permission" part.

mojo1701 · Mar 6, 2004

Ranger REG said:
But unfortunately, a lot of people skip the "ask permission" part.

Yeah. You see it all the time.

barsoomcore · Mar 7, 2004

For campaign websites, I'm not sure there's much need for alarm. Barsoom's website is a mess of copyright infringement to be sure, but I've never heard a peep out of anyone, and I don't expect to.

The site exists solely for the benefit of my players and for my own personal amusement. There's no revenue being generated that the copyright owners might legitimately claim a chunk of, nor am I running around pretending to be a great artist because hey, look at all the pretty pictures.

That said, it IS copyright infringement, it IS illegal, and anyone who wanted to could come after me for it. I'm reasonably confident that it won't happen because I'm reasonably confident nobody cares. If it does, I won't fight it, I'll just yank the picture and say I'm sorry. If they sue me for massive damages, well, good luck to them.

My Modern SRD site is a completely different kettle of fish. It's a public resource on the web and as such, I have to be very careful about how I present and license information. There are six images on the site (for the basic classes), and I was careful to give credit and a link to WotC. Their legal wolverines have seen the site and gave me a list of corrections to make which I did and everything's now okay.

Ranger REG · Mar 7, 2004

I don't know if you're advocating and defending your action and saying to the public that it's okay or what.

myorke · Mar 7, 2004

Thanks for the information and the examples. I had no idea that virutally ALL of the pictures I'd scanned were already posted on WOTC's website. I will seek their permission to use them before taking the password protection off the site. I will also have to do some editing to make sure sites and artists get their proper credit.

I was under the general impression that many were probably doing the same thing as myself, but wanted to know how many were getting challenged by the big guys. I guess it depends on the market and the material. I'd heard of many sites with Simpsons material getting notices very quickly. This is a smaller market with a lot more derivitive work being produced (and encouraged), so it stands to reason that they might be more willing to work with us in general and with campaign websites in particular. After all, a campaign site where everyone appears to be having a good time is a pretty good endorsement for a product!

Ranger REG · Mar 7, 2004

Even with good intention, you should still ask, as a courtesy. Don't second-guess the IP owner. That's like having your girlfriend redecorate the one room designated "For Men Only" (TV room, den, game room) without your permission.

Silvanos · Mar 7, 2004

I agree. "Noone gets hurt/I'm not making money on it" is no excuse not to ask permission. Someone has the gift, and puts their blood sweat and tears into something, and then someone else steals it.

Nevermind that the artist MAY be trying to make a living off of their work...

Just ask, everytime.

D