Official D&D names to avoid for published eBook

[Matt James]

TLR

You really need to contant an attorney for questions like this.

 

[Desdichado]

TLR

You really need to contant an attorney for questions like this.

That seems like a depressingly defeatist approach. I think common sense and filing serial numbers off can be pretty clearly deduce-able to be OK in most cases, given how incredibly frequently it happens in published works.

And the best defense is, of course, to be beneath the notice of the IP holder that you're riffing off of anyway.

 

[Cor Azer]

That seems like a depressingly defeatist approach. I think common sense and filing serial numbers off can be pretty clearly deduce-able to be OK in most cases, given how incredibly frequently it happens in published works.

And the best defense is, of course, to be beneath the notice of the IP holder that you're riffing off of anyway.

Happens frequently by folks who have deals with publishing houses and thus, very likely, lawyers on retainer who vet stuff.

Disclaimer - thought pulled entirely from nether regions not called the Shadowfell...

 

[jorgeo]

Man, forgot to subscribe by email to my own thread. I thought it was being ignored

Some good advice here. I like Ulrick's tip on using different names, but keeping them somewhat familiar to the reader. It's hard to put a bunch of explanatory text for each "re invented" god in a pantheon in the middle of a story. Maybe I'll use some Latin word stems.

I wouldn't call a inspiration a derivative work, it's not like I'm expanding a setting.

Still not sure about putting something like "inspired by D&D". Like Dannyalcatraz says, it might help promote a fantasy book... Would it increase your guys' interest in a story if a novel said that in the acknowledgements? I know I've been guilty of buying World of Darkness novels just because they said WoD, but haven't seen anything like "inspired by D&D" or "inspired by WoD" before.

I'll have to read these campaign-based stories you linked to.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Personally, no, it wouldn't be a draw for me. However, it would definitely be a draw for some people. The question is, "How many?"

 

[Herobizkit]

Personally, no, it wouldn't be a draw for me. However, it would definitely be a draw for some people. The question is, "How many?"

For the uninitiated, our red-shirted [MENTION=19675]Dannyalcatraz[/MENTION] has lawyer training.