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The peryton article is so fascinating because it's a fake article about a fake monster with a fake history. That is, it was never a "real" monster in the first place. Borges "invented" it for his book on other mythological monsters (of which there were many, legitimately drawn from folklore, in...

From here on out I will refer to the AI assistants working on D&D as "AI Demons." 50% chance it's called a "DM's Familiar."

We previously discussed WOTC’s tangles with writers’ rights, but how does that apply to AI? Picture courtesy of Pixabay. This Again Judging from CEO Chris Cocks’ latest statements about generative artificial intelligence at a recent Goldmach Sachs event, it’s clear Hasbro is not going to give...

Updated, thank you!

That's really the question, isn't it? Everything I'm seeing is it's an edge case. Certainly, newspapers have been threatening legal action against OpenAI (of ChatGPT fame) and OpenAI is either settling or making financial deals in advance for access. That said, I'm not hearing how journalists...

Thank you for this additional context! Tasini is still relevant (the National Geographic case pivots on it, with the appellate courts bouncing it back and forth because of Tasini) but to your point the Nat Geo case is even more significant in the context of a CD-ROM collection. Given TSR/WOTC's...

I feel like it's standard now for most contracts in print magazines to ask for worldwide/perpetual rights. The issue as always is whether these contracts still hold up as new technology is introduced. Print pubs couldn't envision digital archiving, and digital archiving couldn't envision AI...

I'm going to hike Philmont. I'm trying to hype myself up to do it next year. I hope it's a little less aggressive in terms of elevation (that is, not climbing one foot forward, one foot up with every step like this hike was). But I'm committed and at 52, it's probably the last hike of this scale...

At a guess, it feels less like "WOTC ignored rights of creators" and more "inherited TSR's mess and was hoping TSR had done their legal homework." It's telling that Adkinson is mentioned and when the SSFWA speaks to him, he said he'd look into it (as opposed to clearly stating that rights were...

I have the CD-ROM. The search is terrible too. I ended up using Windows search (which could grab keywords) and that worked much better. Oh the irony. There's a whiff of "this CD-ROM project is something we inherited and couldn't be bothered to do more" to the whole thing. Then again, search on...

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if"PDF = original format." It seemed this whole issue was less about the outcome of the case case as it was about generating enough uncertainty to make it worth it for an organization to threaten a lawsuit. If there was even a whiff they could lose (and at...

You're right, I messed up the date of the archive vs. the actual date it was posted (which isn't listed) but it is indeed 1999. Updated, thank you!

It's tricky because details weren't shared, so we have to back into it from what was said publicly. Hack Master was using the AD&D license (officially, but it required "an element of humor" according to a post on EN World from years ago): HackMaster: The New Edition - Page 4 - EN World: RPG News...

There's something to be said for reacting in real time to your players. I too write my adventures out as if they are to be published (and I publish them). The difference is stark. The biggest change is that what I plan for is not how things actually work out, and that has much to do with the...

Hasbro's plan to include AI in D&D brings WOTC's controversies over digital rights back into the spotlight, specifically the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM Archive. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. A Simple Idea It all started with a simple idea: wouldn't it be great to have all the past issues of Dragon...

In my experience, these sorts of controversies are often cultural. That is, in the U.S., copyright/trademarks are top of mind, and concerns about intellectual property are at the forefront of many creators minds. Internationally, due to laws being different and a more relaxed approach to sharing...

The places I'm covering in these articles are locations I actually visited, and the pictures you see are the ones I took. I try to be respectful of each country's heritage, particularly if I don't identify as part of their culture. If I ever get to travel elsewhere (if I can afford it, I will!)...

There's nothing under "risks" about it either. None. Not a whiff that it might be a problem.

I have no money left. This was our 25th wedding anniversary cruise. But maybe someday!

Zakynthos, the "Flower of the Levant," offers not only a glimpse into the rich cultural and historical past of Greece but also endless possibilities for adventure. Meet Zakynthos Zakynthos is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands, named after...