Does d20 cover all the Planescape stuff?

[Excalatus]

Thanks guys; this helps me out a lot. The inclusion of some of the proper names and all similarities therein was more of a convenience than a necessity. I don't plan on copying straight from D&D, it's just a potent inspiration for my own material. The main thing I wanted was the right to use certain creatures (like drow, for instance), but I of course know now to make their home notably different from the Underdark. I still like the forced to go underground motif, though. Since I'm writing a work of fiction that takes place on my own world (I'm sure I read the OGL covers books, too) and not composing a game (not yet, anyway), this is pretty painless.

And a-ha!

"The following items are designated Product Identity, as defined in Section 1(e) of the Open Game License Version 1.0a, and are subject to the conditions set forth in Section 7 of the OGL, and are not Open Content: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Dungeon Master, Monster Manual, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, d20 (when used as a trademark), Forgotten Realms, Faerûn, character names (including those used in the names of spells or items), places, Red Wizard of Thay, Heroic Domains of Ysgard, Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, Tarterian Depths of Carceri, Gray Waste of Hades, Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, Nine Hells of Baator, Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Twin Paradises of Bytopia, Blessed Fields of Elysium, Wilderness of the Beastlands, Olympian Glades of Arborea, Concordant Domain of the Outlands, Sigil, Lady of Pain, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti."

Obviously I won't be using the Faerun stuff, but my eye is fixed on the names of the planes. Do you think there is any particular reason why they write them out like "Heroic Domains of Ysgard" instead of just Ysgard? My guess is because Ysgard is used in a public domain. They can't copyright actual mythology, only their versions of it, I suppose. Thought the mention of the tanar'ri and baatezu kind of hurts me. Maybe I can use plain old "demons" and "devils". I wonder if those include all the monsters included in the tanar'ri and company categories.

 

[Psion]

Do you think there is any particular reason why they write them out like "Heroic Domains of Ysgard" instead of just Ysgard?

1) (The real reason) As a compromise between the old school plane names and the new school.
2) (Also something they probably considered) To make them unique and distinct from their mythological sources so they can claim some sort of intellectual property protection.

 

[Excalatus]

1) (The real reason) As a compromise between the old school plane names and the new school.
2) (Also something they probably considered) To make them unique and distinct from their mythological sources so they can claim some sort of intellectual property protection.

Speaking of which, the SRD doesn't cover anything in 2e, does it?

 

[Staffan]

Speaking of which, the SRD doesn't cover anything in 2e, does it?

The SRD covers exactly what is in the SRD, and no more. Currently, that is (more or less):
3.0 core books
3.5 core books
Psionics Handbook
d20 Modern

minus flavor text and about a dozen monsters.

 

[Ranger REG]

Speaking of which, the SRD doesn't cover anything in 2e, does it?

That is correct. 2e and past AD&D material are covered under the standard [US] intellectual property law (copyright, trademarks, etc.). Wizards owned the IP through the purchase of TSR.

 

[Excalatus]

That is correct. 2e and past AD&D material are covered under the standard [US] intellectual property law (copyright, trademarks, etc.). Wizards owned the IP through the purchase of TSR.

That's what I thought. But how can a website like the Creature Catalog legally use (and convert) monsters like the mind flayer and beholder when the SRD clearly states those are Product Identity?

 

[hong]

That's what I thought. But how can a website like the Creature Catalog legally use (and convert) monsters like the mind flayer and beholder when the SRD clearly states those are Product Identity?

They asked WotC for special permission, and WotC said yes.

 

[Excalatus]

They asked WotC for special permission, and WotC said yes.

Ah. Alright, I'll take Ranger Reg's advice and see if I can make a deal with WOTC. I don't see any reason why they should say no, since my stuff is in no way meant to intrude on theirs.

 

[Wycen]

Historical, mythological and public domain ideas, such as Hell, Asgard, Hades, Heaven, Purgatory, Nirvana, and similar ideas that could be called "planes" are free game, you don't need to contact Wotc to use them. But Mechanus or Ysgard or Sigil you would need permission, unless you just are writing for fun and want your players or friends to read it with no intent to publish or make money with it or claim it's your own.

 

[Excalatus]

Historical, mythological and public domain ideas, such as Hell, Asgard, Hades, Heaven, Purgatory, Nirvana, and similar ideas that could be called "planes" are free game, you don't need to contact Wotc to use them. But Mechanus or Ysgard or Sigil you would need permission, unless you just are writing for fun and want your players or friends to read it with no intent to publish or make money with it or claim it's your own.

And you know, I like it better this way. There's no pressure for me to match the D&D cosmology to a tee, since I can make it my own now. I liked Ysgard spelled "Asgard", anyway.

Yeah, the planes aren't a problem. I can doodle up my own cosmology fine. It's the monsters that I'm interested in. Especially some of the more universal ones. I could go without using a raggamoffyn, but I would really like to use the paraelementals. We'll see what happens.