Can a FR Campaign Website have this???

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

*EDIT* Let me try to make my question more clear...

On my website I want to have background information on the Realms for my PCs. I do change a little stuff around, but that doesn't change the fact that the FRCS is WotC's property and I dont' wanna get in a ton of trouble for posting informational descriptions for my players. If possible, things like feat and or spell lists from the FRCS (not descriptions...just the names) would also be nice to have on the page.


After reading Johnn Four's article in the latest Dragon about a campaign website, as well as the advice of several people on the boards, I've decided to open up myself a campaign website. It would be nice to include maps and quick rule summaries of some of the stuff in my campaign, but I'm not sure if I can since I'm running the Forgotten Realms. Is it legal to post stuff from the books on my website? I want to get some answers before I put a lot of work into the site. Thanks in advance!

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

*BUMP*
Perhaps I should have put lots of question marks in my title....

anyway, please help me here--i want to have information for my players on the website, but i need to know how much i can legally put up on the web!

 

[Liquide]

*BUMP*
Perhaps I should have put lots of question marks in my title....

anyway, please help me here--i want to have information for my players on the website, but i need to know how much i can legally put up on the web!

Technically nada, zip none of the written stuff that has an copyright in the modules/books I think!

Suggestion: Ask someone of our lawyer friends we have on this board on this matter if possible add [law-wranglers] in the subject line maybe!

--// Liquide

 

[Eosin the Red]

ENWorlds guide to all things d20

Go to the bottom of the page.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

*BUMP*
Thanks for the help....But I still need some more help--see my edited first message up top!

 

[Eosin the Red]

Ryan Dancey on WotC's fan site policy:

[EDITED for brevity]

Right now, my plan is pretty simple: If you're charging money for any aspect of D&D, you're going to be required to use the OGL and the d20 STL. If you say you're following the OGL or the d20 STL, you're going to be forced to follow them. So, if you've got a fan site that's a collection of characters, and they don't claim to be using the OGL or the d20 STL, and they're not charging money, we're going to ignore them.

For the time being, all we're worried about is commercial publishers.

[Obligitory: I do not practice law.]

Lists and such should not be a problem, look a half of the links on the links page and you will see what I mean. If you start coping text from books, expect trouble. Don't put up anything that would allieviate the need to buy WotC products and you are just one of many fan sites. Voilate that maximum at your own peril.

There are lots of FR sites out there, look at them.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Now I can sort of enter the realm of possibility here since I'm curious...this is just a what-if.

Would a quick summary, in my own words, of the general area that my players are in be wrong? What if I included with this brief summary more detailed information about stuff specific to MY campaign? Just curious. Would be interesting if some WotC guys on the boards saw this, just to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

 

[Zappo]

As long as you don't make money on it and you don't claim it's d20 or OGL, you will have no problems. I reckon they would be pissed off if you scanned huge sections of the manuals and posted them, but summaries and even small parts taken directly from the books will be no trouble. IANAL.

You see, basically if WotC wanted they could shut down 99% of the D&D sites on the net. But they don't want to, because they favor sales much more than they hurt them. Myself, I've originally switched from OD&D to AD&D just because I knew I would have nigh-infinite web support! And my old RPG site, which I no longer support, and which breaked dozens of copyrights of TSR, WotC, White Wolf, Games Workshop and then some, has gained at least ten players to D&D and a couple to the World of Darkness (the ones I got email from; who knows how many never contacted me... and we know that actually for each new DM there are about four new players, so make your math and you'll see why WotC won't annoy you).

 

[jhallum]

My fan site

My webpage (should be in my sig) for my game has some FR stuff on it, but none of it is directly copied from any books. I've never really inquired about the legality of any of it because of Ryan Dancey's statements for a few years ago. However, it has been up for about a year now, and no one from WotC has complained.

 

[kobold]

Another option is to not make your site public. This is what I do. Unless you know the exact address you'll never find it using a search engine. Most of the free webhosting has an option to promote and advertise your site, making it accessible to search engines. This option is usually on by default and you'll have to turn it off. The 2 lawyers who play in our group have never indicated to me that this could be a legal issue, of course I never asked. But this amounts to personal use, and most companies have disclaimers about photocopying for personal use etc. and this is not much different. Besides Ryan Dancy has said if theres no profit WoTC is not interested in shutting you down.