Recent content by Keith Ammann

My question was literally which seemed to me like more of a "TTRPG forum question" than a "lawyer question." I haven't supported my family for five years writing unauthorized D&D books without knowing whom to ask for legal advice.

My lawyer and my publisher's lawyers seemed to think it mattered. As far as they were concerned, I was free to mention beholders, mind flayers, etc., as long as I had something to say about them, but I shouldn't depict them in any illustrations. That distinction seemed important to them.

A "pirate admiral" is product identity?! Not even Hasbro could make that claim with a straight face.

Ah. This is the list of Monster Manual monsters that weren't in the SRD four years ago.

May I ask where you found this list? ETA: I'm not sure how WotC could claim the pteranodon, djiini, cyclops or yeti as product identity.

Naturally. But first I want to have something in writing that I can direct my lawyer's attention to. I'm asking my lawyer for the legal advice; I'm asking the Internet for a list I can show to the lawyer.

And what if I'm not using either the OGL or the SRD, since I'm publishing commentary under fair use? I've been advised in the past not to include illustrations of monsters that WotC claims as product identity. Having an explicit list of what those are is helpful. To assume—or to assert—that...

Is there an up-to-date list of what's considered WotC product identity in 5E24, or is the list in the 5E14 OGL still in effect?

And here's what I wrote about it at the time: So if they're doing now with other monsters what they did then with the roper, that definitely suggests a new prescriptivism in Multiattack wording. I think we do need an official statement.

Well, that one's easy: If it's capitalized in the index, capitalize it. If it's not, don't.

I don't think this is safe to say at all. Take a look at the roper: Multiattack. The roper makes two Tentacle attacks, uses Reel, and makes two Bite attacks. Not only are the actions not listed in alphabetical order, the attack actions are divided up, with one before the Reel action and one...

Well, that's what I'm here for. But I can't be giving DMs advice that turns out to be contrary to the rules unless I clearly indicate that that's what I'm doing. So I have to know what the rule is.

In 5E14, it was established that monsters could use the attacks in their Multiattack in any order. I'm starting to wonder whether that policy has changed in 5E24. In the carrion crawler stat block, Multiattack is defined thus: "The carrion crawler uses Paralyzing Tentacles and makes one Bite...

If it's so important to distinguish generative AI and LLMs from other expert systems, maybe the marketing departments of the companies pushing generative AI shouldn't have worked so hard to blur the distinction.

The paper trail. Sketches, WIPs.