D&D Mechanics in Fiction

[Sado]

If I were to use D&D mechanics in a work of fiction that I was trying to sell, are there any copyright issues I should be aware of?

For example, if magic in my story works as it is described in the SRD and spells have the same names, do I need to get anyone's permission or what? Likewise, if I use monsters from the SRD do Ineed to do anything special?

EDIT-And what if I want to use mechanics from third party D20 publishers? Say I wanted to use spells from FFG or Mongoose?

 

[Yair]

First, I would be very careful and actually consult a lawyer before commercially publishing ANYTHING, especially since you have legal issues to sort out.

I am not a lawyer, but here is how I understand things to stand.

If you want to just use the effects of the mechanics, you probably don't need anyone's agreement. For example, if you say "Fellstaff pulled out some sulfur from his spellpouch and intoned the spell. As it erupted into a fiery conflagation, he hurled it at the approaching ogre. 'That's it guys' he said, 'I'm all out of spells!'."
This is tricky, as you can easily fumble and reference expressions in such a way that they will be "derivative work". So I don't actually recommend it.

The second way is to use the Open Game License (OGL). Make sure you read it well and do some net browsing to figure out the finter points of it before you do. Once your product goes OGL, you can use all the SRD (but NOT wizard's other offerings, with a few exceptions) and all 3rd party d20 or OGL products (subject to their OGC declarations, which often precludes actual spell names and such, so you have to be careful). In this way you can say "Fellstaff casts another fireball", for example.
You need to reference your sources in Section 15 of the OGL, and print the OGL in your product. You need to declare what of your material is Open Game Content (material others may use just like you use the SRD and 3rd party stuff); I'd recommend something along the lines of "anything derivative out of OGC, the names of specific places or persons (but not their description), and the first paragraph at page XX, all of chapter 1, the 12th to 25th paragraphs of chapter 4, ...". Be generous, but not to the point that someone could publish your work himself. Allow them to harvest your work for spells and ideas though, just like you are harvesting other's open content.
There is nothing saying flavor or foction cannot be released under the OGL. Indeed, there is a lot of OGC "fluff" around.

You don't need permission if you are using the OGL. You just need to confrom to the OGL.
You can't use terms such as "fireball" or a monster's appearance that is OGC unless you use the OGL (or have permission from the copyright owner).

You might want to also take a look at the d20 STL license. It is more restrictive, and dangerous in the sense that WotC can revoke or change it at their whim. For a fiction product, I don't think there should be a problem as long as you don't treat real-world religions or ethnicities, don't include scenes of explicit sex or excessive gore, and designate at least 5% of your text as OGC. I don't think marketing a work of fiction as a d20 product will be desirable, however, so I don't recommend it.

 

[Gez]

Depends on how precise your references are.

If you want to have, to take Yair's example, a scene where a wizard is described at casting a fireball at an ogre, that's hardly derivative work. Concepts of ogres, wizards, and fireballs are universal in today's pop-culture.

Now, if you want to say something like:

Seeing his companions unable to affect the ogre, their carefully-aimed strikes seemingly deflected, Felstaff understood their foe was warded by potent magic, probably shield or mage armor. He incantated a dispel magic targetted at the ogre, feeling the magical wards melt under the strength of his arcane arts. He followed by launching a spell of Melf's acid arrows on the hulking brute. "Try again now," he shouted to Ulfrid the fighter. "He should be easier to hit!" The ogre moved now more clumsily, with much less accuracy. Syarnia sacrificed a hold person spell, useless against an ogre, to change it into a cure moderate wound to heal the wounded Zorvick. The halfling, regaining consciousness, lost no time in moving to flank the ogre with Ulfrid, sneakily punching the ogre's hocks. As Ulfrid coup-de-graced the downed ogre, Felstaff was worried. Who could have warded that ogre? He became even more worried when he felt the presence of a scrying sensor peeking at them!​

That's more debatable. You clearly make a lot of direct references to D&D, and getting WotC's authorization would be necessary.

Now, I don't believe in the usefulness of using the d20 license if all you do is tell a story. By the way, in that case, it's better to refrain from describing the mechanics too much. A novel should read as a novel, not as a session report.

On the other hand, if the novel features a few rulesy stuff (the heroes's stat blocks, at the start and at the end of the adventure, for example, and maybe a few unique magic items or creature you invented for the story), then it would be legitimate to brand it as a d20 book. Remember the 5% OGC rule -- it's kinda pointless to say the opening chapter of a novel is OGC, so you'd have to give actual gaming content.

Nothing beats asking authorization, anyway. You'd have to respect the license, but you could be allowed to use the actual names of magic items (Melf's acid arrows, Mordenkainen's disjunction, Hevard's handy haversack) if you ask politely and provide the proper legal blah-blah ("Melf, Mordenkainen and Hevard are IP of WotC, used with special authorization, blablabla").

 

[Stone Angel]

Could you give us a sample that way we could better give you some advice on your endeavor.



The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Insight]

There's a certain amount of fair use and public domain involved in a lot of this discussion. I would say as a rule of thumb that any word you can look up in the dictionary is public domain (as long as it is not a brand name). So things like wizard, sorceror, witch, dragon, ogre, troll, fireball, lightning bolt, etc., are all fair game.

The trick is whether or not your work would be derivitive based on things found in the D&D books and/or SRD. This is likely going to depend on how closely your spells, creatures, magic items, etc., resemble those found in published works.

For example, if your story has an ogre who is four feet tall, with scaly skin and tufts of coarse red hair all over his body, you are probably ok as this is not very close to the Ogre description in the D&D books. On the other hand, if you were to describe an ogre exactly as in the MM, you are being derivitive - in fact, if you use the same exact words, it is plagiarism.

I would think that if you stay away from terms you would never see outside of D&D, you are OK. For example, monk is public domain, so you would be safe. Psychic monk, while a little odd, is probably OK. Fist of Zuoken would be a no-no.

 

[MonsterMash]

Magic working in a similar way to D&D spells should not be an issue as it copies Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories anyway, with Wizards memorising a limited number of spells from books. Specific names would be copyright, so no Morkendaines or Bigsby's spells. Also calling spells by the names makes magic sound pretty dull IMHO. After all what sounds better:

He gestured and threw a handful of sand into the air, the air round him shimmered

He cast mage armour

 

[Tonguez]

Its probably not a good idea to refer to Mindflayers, Beholders, Yuan-Ti, Gith or Carrion Crawlers either

But like the others said - being descriptive and changing the names should be all good

 

[Desdichado]

If you want to be specifically "d20" fiction, I'd go by what's in the SRD, and then include the d20 and OGL licenses with your work.

 

[Sado]

I would think that if you stay away from terms you would never see outside of D&D, you are OK. For example, monk is public domain, so you would be safe. Psychic monk, while a little odd, is probably OK. Fist of Zuoken would be a no-no.

Suppose I have a person I call a monk who is immune to all normal diseases, immune to all poisons, can set up vibrations within the body of another creature, and can assume an ethereal state (without actually calling these abilities Purity of Body, Diamond Body, Quivering Palm, and Empty Body, or even describing the abilities in those words)?

Magic working in a similar way to D&D spells should not be an issue as it copies Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories anyway, with Wizards memorising a limited number of spells from books. Specific names would be copyright, so no Morkendaines or Bigsby's spells. Also calling spells by the names makes magic sound pretty dull IMHO. After all what sounds better:

This is pretty much what I was thinking about when I asked. What if I use the same spells, even if I don't actually name them? What if a spell with a similar effect to a D&D spell requires the same components without actually naming the spell?

I'm just curious as to how far I can go with similarities.

 

[Desdichado]

You can go extremely far, as it turns out. You ever read the Iron Tower (I think) trilogy by Douglas McKiernan? It's an extremely blatant ripoff of Lord of the Rings which little more than the names changed, in some cases.