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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CBS Brian" data-source="post: 754199" data-attributes="member: 6019">Now I'd like to start off by stating that I am aware that most d20 publishing companies purchase material from freelancers on a work-for-hire basis.  I'd also like to say that I'm not going to complain about this policy; for the most part it makes a lot of sense to me.  However in some cases where a product goes well beyond an adventure or sourcebook, and has as much material dedicated to flavor as it does to rules material, that's where things start to get kind of vague.  The obvious example is a campaign setting.Totally hypothetical example:I'm creating a campaign setting for Mages of the Bay, including iconic characters, really cool city locations, the whole nine yards.  What if I want to be sure that the publisher isn't going to publish my setting, and then produce future supplements that (pardon the expression) crap all over my vision of MY creation.I'm just curious how publishers feel about sharing ownership of certain works in certain situations.  I know Monte Cook has stated that Malhavoc Press writers retain their own copyrights, but MP is somewhat of an exclusive club (not complaining, just saying Mr. Cook only invites certain individuals to write under the MP banner).  For you other publishers out their, under what circumstances would be willing to negotiate joint ownership, would you be willing to do such a thing at all, what are some of the legal complications that come into play?As a conclusion I just want to reiterate I'm not trying to destroy the basic work-for-hire system, am just curious about different publishers and their policies on this matter.</blockquote>

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