TSR AD&D 1e MMIII?

[Micah Sweet]

Yep. An impossible task. A lot of folks seem to have this misconception that as long as you're not selling it, then you can reproduce and give it away. That's not how Fair Use works.

If WotC released it, they would charge for it. Not what I'm talking about.

 

[Nikosandros]

I don't get it. You can make something like that for yourself, but the instant you show it to anyone else it's against the law?

Showing photos and talking about it is perfectly legal. Sharing it, is a violation of copyright.

 

[Nikosandros]

If WotC released it, they would charge for it. Not what I'm talking about.

If I want to run an adventure which stars Luke Skywalker, Hermione Granger, The Black Panther and Luthien Tinuviel, I can. If I were to publish it, even for free, it would be another matter entirely...

 

[Micah Sweet]

If I want to run an adventure which stars Luke Skywalker, Hermione Granger, The Black Panther and Luthien Tinuviel, I can. If I were to publish it, even for free, it would be another matter entirely...

That seems so ridiculous to me. Can you lend it to someone? Is this a question of how many copies exist? How much can you show before it's suddenly illegal?

 

[Sacrosanct]

If I want to run an adventure which stars Luke Skywalker, Hermione Granger, The Black Panther and Luthien Tinuviel, I can. If I were to publish it, even for free, it would be another matter entirely...

Imagine how wild that would be, if you could legally distribute someone else's IP as long as you didn't charge.

"Hey guys, I bought the new PHB, don't worry about anyone else buying it cuz I've got it on my website."

Ask Napster how that went.

 

[Hex08]

That seems so ridiculous to me. Can you lend it to someone? Is this a question of how many copies exist? How much can you show before it's suddenly illegal?

Lending it to a friend or member of your gaming group won't get you in trouble. Making a copy for all of your friends probably won't either because who is going to know? Making it publicly available is where it gets sticky.

It's a question of how tolerant the owners of the copyright are. Comic artists regularly produce commissioned work of characters that they don't own and if Marvel or DC wanted to drop the hammer on the artists they could but generally don't (although I know an artist who did receive a cease and desist letter from DC for selling cheesecake illustrations on eBay). Star Trek and Star Wars fan films fall into the same boat although Paramount/Star Trek changed its policy because of Axanar.

Copyright law is a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the monsters in the OP's book were created by people who never had another writing credit (or very few) and so tracking the original creators or their estates would be next to impossible so the work can't be legally reproduced for distribution. There are literally millions of orphaned works out there that can't be used by the general public even though the rights status can't be determined.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Lending it to a friend or member of your gaming group won't get you in trouble. Making a copy for all of your friends probably won't either because who is going to know? Making it publicly available is where it gets sticky.

It's a question of how tolerant the owners of the copyright are. Comic artists regularly produce commissioned work of characters that they don't own and if Marvel or DC wanted to drop the hammer on the artists they could but generally don't (although I know an artist who did receive a cease and desist letter from DC for selling cheesecake illustrations on eBay). Star Trek and Star Wars fan films fall into the same boat although Paramount/Star Trek changed its policy because of Axanar.

Copyright law is a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the monsters in the OP's book were created by people who never had another writing credit (or very few) and so tracking the original creators or their estates would be next to impossible so the work can't be legally reproduced for distribution. There are literally millions of orphaned works out there that can't be used by the general public even though the rights status can't be determined.

It's not just the writing either, a lot of it is the artwork. I'm sure many artists wouldn't want their art they did being redistributed as well.

 

[JEB]

Well, I guess it'll all be public domain material in checks 2086...

 

[Voadam]

I don't get it. You can make something like that for yourself, but the instant you show it to anyone else it's against the law?

Copying that information for yourself from stuff you own can constitute fair use and not violate the authors' copyrights. Copying their stuff and distributing copies can arguably go beyond what would be considered fair use under copyright law.

You can show your friend your stuff. If you bought a book you can lend or give it to your friend. Giving them a separate copy you made can cross over into copyright issues.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Copying that information for yourself from stuff you own can constitute fair use and not violate the authors' copyrights. Copying their stuff and distributing copies can arguably go beyond what would be considered fair use under copyright law.

You can show your friend your stuff. If you bought a book you can lend or give it to your friend. Giving them a separate copy you made can cross over into copyright issues.

So silly.

 

[Hex08]

So silly.

It may seem so on the surface, but I have a friend who is an author who might disagree. However, giving your friend a copy of a book you made may technically cross over into copyright issues but unless your friend decides to sell your gift on eBay there isn't really going to be an issue.

 

[Kai Lord]

Could this be what the 1e MMIII would have been?

All the OD&D and 1e monsters from Dragon magazine. I did both a pdf and this hardcopy. (A TON of manual typing as formatting on the pdfs was really bad). Only for my personal use only of course, since I don’t own the IP. I do own the original magazines and CD collection, FWIW, so basically I just kit bashed my own material. But I can’t share, so don’t ask.

In fact, I recently found out that no one really knows who owns the IP. When WoTC released the digital Dragon CD collection, they got into trouble because many of the creators said they held the rights. Turns out, TSR record keeping was horrible, and no one knows what those original contracts were for all of the folks who submitted monsters to Dragon. That’s why despite WoTC selling reprints of 1e books, you’ll never see them do something like this. Which unfortunately is pretty sad.

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That...is stupendously awesome. Bravo!

 

[Jahydin]

That is so freaking cool!

I remember seeing those Dragon Compilations on CD-ROM at my FLGS at thinking it was a silly thing to buy with how great 3E was.

So regret not getting them...

 

[rredmond]

Great discussion, but just wanted to add my "that book is beautiful" to the chorus.
Well done @Sacrosanct !