MCWoD - Open Game Content

[talien]

So on page 385 of Monte Cook's World of Darkness, the following books are listed under the COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
* World of Darkness Rulebook Copyright 2004, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* Vampire: The Requiem Copyright 2004, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* Mage: The Awakening Rulebook Copyright 2005, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* Werewolf: The Forsaken Rulebook Copyright 2005, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* World of Darkness; Chicago Rulebook Copyright 2005, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* Promethean: The Created Copyright 2006, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
* Changeling: The Dreaming Rulebook Copyright 2007, White Wolf Publishing, Inc.

According to the Wizards Q&A on COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

Q: What is the COPYRIGHT NOTICE?

A: The COPYRIGHT NOTICE is a specific part of the License itself, as opposed to a general copyright notice that might appear elsewhere in a given work. The License requires that you combine all the COPYRIGHT NOTICE sections of each Open Game License you are extracting or deriving Open Game Content from, and include the consolidated notice with the copy of the Open Game License you will be distributing.

This mechanism is the way that proper credit is retained for each person who contributed some work to the Open Gaming community. No matter how small the contribution, each and every COPYRIGHT NOTICE propagates forward.

So if I'm reading this correctly, did a bunch of World of Darkness books just become OGC compatible? Were there OGC licenses in those books? And if they did not contain OGC licenses, couldn't just about anyone reference any existing game license and insert it into their COPYRIGHT NOTICE?

Presumably one needs permission. But still, I was under the impression that for a product to be listed under the copyright notice, it had to have OGC to begin with -- and my understanding is that all of the content used is in MCWoD Product Identity and NOT Open Game Content. I'd list the product identity in its entirety but it's so long and exhaustive it makes my eyes bleed. Here's a hint: it includes geographic locations, historic events, likenesses, poses, and...songs.

I'm guessing I'm misinterpreting the license here, but I'm curious as to what others think about it.

 

[Committed Hero]

The new world of darkness is a different bird - definitely not open in any way shape or form. I'm guessing those books were included because McWoD refers to them, or White Wolf liked it that way.

 

[Roudi]

My current understanding is that any OGC sources used in an OGL book are required to be cited under the copyright notice. In this case, citing them in the copyright notice does not make their content open... each cited book would have to include a copy of the OGL as well as a specific statement declaring which parts of the book are open and which are protected.

My guess is, Monte had them cited in the copyright notice simply to ensure that his sources were cited, whether they were open or not. He certainly had permission to use the non-open material from within the cited books.

That said, is any portion of Monte Cook's WoD cited as open?

 

[talien]

It's hard to tell. The PI is so comprehensive that I'd be afraid to use anything, because I may stumble on a "likeness" or a "pose" or, god help me, a "song."

My understanding of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of the OGL is that the "License requires that you combine all the COPYRIGHT NOTICE sections of each Open Game License you are extracting or deriving Open Game Content from" -- so that means by listing WOD books, there is some "Open Game Content" being "extracted" or "derived" from normally "closed content".

What is that content, I wonder?

 

[Roudi]

If the cited World of Darkness books had no OGL, and no declaration of Open Content, then I am afraid that they had none to cite at all... regardless of the fact that Monte decided to cite them in McWOD. Really, the answer to your question, "what is that content?" can only be found in the cited books. I'd be interested to hear something definitive from someone who has one of those books.

Also, talien, there should be a paragraph somewhere that states "X and Y is open content." Open content from other sources must always remain open... it can't be protected under PI if it wasn't PI in the cited source. So somewhere in the book, it has to say what content is open, if any of it is open at all.

 

[Jadasc]

That said, is any portion of Monte Cook's WoD cited as open?

The Product Identity portion includes the following:

* Any of the World of Darkness or MCWoD logos, trademarks, or trade dress, including the names of the various books or product lines.
* Any of the text under a "description" header of any creature, spell, supernatural item or NPC.
* Any elements of the WoD or MCWoD setting, including but not limited to the names of all kinds of things.
* Any of the stories, plots, thematic elements or dialogue.
* All of the artwork, symbols, signs, depictions, and other graphical elements that don't come from the SRD.

Everything else is OGC. That does leave quite a bit, and a lot to work with as long as you're willing to do a lot of build-up on your own.

 

[Odhanan]

So if I'm reading this correctly, did a bunch of World of Darkness books just become OGC compatible?

No.

If said works included designations of OGC and Product Identity, some part of their contents could become OGC, provided the works also include the Open Game License. Any product can do this.

This is however not the case for said works, so they do not contain any Open Game Content, so no portion of their content may be used under the OGL.

 

[Roudi]

Wow. That's a remarkable amount of open content, even without seeing the book itself. Now that I think about it, I guess it would have to be, since I've heard that the system is very heavily based off of d20 (the system, not the trademark logo). Anything deriving from open game content must also remain open, and since the core of the d20 system is contained in the completely-open SRD...

Yeah, that makes sense now. Cool. So what do you think are the odds of another publisher picking up on the system presented in McWOD and working with it?

 

[Urizen]

Wow. That's a remarkable amount of open content, even without seeing the book itself. Now that I think about it, I guess it would have to be, since I've heard that the system is very heavily based off of d20 (the system, not the trademark logo). Anything deriving from open game content must also remain open, and since the core of the d20 system is contained in the completely-open SRD...

Yeah, that makes sense now. Cool. So what do you think are the odds of another publisher picking up on the system presented in McWOD and working with it?

I certainly would/will if I can ensure that the OGC is accurate. A MCWOD SRD would be incredibly useful, if anyone is interested in tackling that. Indeed, I'd pay someone to do that legal work.

 

[talien]

I'm pretty sure you can standardize the "point powers" between the various races (demons, werewolves, and vampires) using psionics.

Mage is obviously very different.