smerwin29
Reluctant Time Traveler
To add to what the wise Kenobi said, what your friend is referring to sounds like the issue with the to "non-RPGA Living Campaigns" that were asked to cease and desist by WotC. The "advertising" part of the equation was this: if your Intellectual Property is being used without your permission, AND YOU KNOW ABOUT IT, and you don't take measures to protect it, then you risk losing it. These two campaigns were small enough so that WotC could safely ignore them and be able to claim that they were unaware of them. But then the campaigns started advertising too broadly and too frequently for WotC to be able to claim ignorance of their existence.
Note that I am not an expert on such things: I am only repeating what I was told by principals of one of those campaigns and by people at WotC. Also, even lawyers with experience in such matters say that it is a really hazy area of law, especially since it is a game meant to be played by the public, and that such use could possibly be protected. Another has told me that most legal minds would just consider the scope of the issue.
So basically, if you are running a small campaign at local game days in your area, you are probably safe using non-OGL material (or only OGL material, of course), as long as you don't advertise so widely and so publicly that WotC will not be able to ignore your campaign. So don't attempt to run your campaign at large conventions with lots of exposure. Don't put out public calls for participants. Don't talk in great length about the campaign on public forums where WotC reps might be. Essentially, the less "organized" the campaign seems, the more likely it will be to be ignored.
I hope that makes sense.
Note that I am not an expert on such things: I am only repeating what I was told by principals of one of those campaigns and by people at WotC. Also, even lawyers with experience in such matters say that it is a really hazy area of law, especially since it is a game meant to be played by the public, and that such use could possibly be protected. Another has told me that most legal minds would just consider the scope of the issue.
So basically, if you are running a small campaign at local game days in your area, you are probably safe using non-OGL material (or only OGL material, of course), as long as you don't advertise so widely and so publicly that WotC will not be able to ignore your campaign. So don't attempt to run your campaign at large conventions with lots of exposure. Don't put out public calls for participants. Don't talk in great length about the campaign on public forums where WotC reps might be. Essentially, the less "organized" the campaign seems, the more likely it will be to be ignored.
I hope that makes sense.
