Game settings and copyright law

[ChimericDream]

I'm working on a fairly expansive homebrew setting that will, by the time it's playable, be quite large. I've got 100% original setting material, and several new and altered mechanics. My question is mainly concerning the parts of the setting that aren't open gaming content.

It is my understanding (as a layman) that as long as I'm using content for personal use, or possibly for the use of my players, I can use text from copyrighted sources. However, I would like to eventually publish this as a PDF. Most likely it'll wind up being free, but if there's enough interest that I might be able to make a couple bucks off it, I may go that route. But what do I do about copyrighted content? Since the amount of copyrighted content (basically, just some spells and feats) I'm using is so small compared to the rest of the setting (SRD and original material), what sort of approach should I take?

Ideally, I don't want to require people who pick up my setting to have to own a dozen different books or magazines in order to use some of the things I find most interesting. I'm sure I need to request permission from Wizards (and Paizo... that's who publishes Dragon, right?) to use their content in a free setting, and I'm almost positive I'd need to pay some kind of licensing fees if I wanted to charge. I mainly wanted to see if anyone else here had done something like this, and a thread about mechanics and copyright on another board got me to thinking about this.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Crothian]

If you publish it get rid of anything that is copywrited. In the past they have made special arrangements but that is with established game companies.

 

[Keith Robinson]

As Crothian says.

If you have any intention of publishing this thing (for free or otherwise) at any point in the future, then DO NOT use copyright material without the owners explicit permission. Failure to do so could result in a law case against you at the very worst and, at the very least, will see your product required to be withdrawn until the copyright infringement is removed.

If there's stuff you'd like to have, then write your own versions - it's fun to do. Also, ask yourself this question. If you go ahead and write your setting, and then someone else comes along and uses all your ideas illegally in their own product, how would you feel about that? The chances are that you wouldn't be too happy about it and you'd consider it, at the very least, damn rude. When dealing with others in this manner, bear in mind how you'd like others to deal with you.

 

[arscott]

It is my understanding (as a layman) that as long as I'm using content for personal use, or possibly for the use of my players, I can use text from copyrighted sources.

Wrong. If something is illegal for you to copy, then it's illegal for you to copy. That applies whether you just make a copy for your gaming group, or send a copy to every gamer in the world.

 

[Nikosandros]

Wrong. If something is illegal for you to copy, then it's illegal for you to copy. That applies whether you just make a copy for your gaming group, or send a copy to every gamer in the world.

Yes, but how exactly is that prohibition enforced?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Yes, but how exactly is that prohibition enforced?

By the Gaming Police!!!


But seriously, there is something as "fair use" clauses. You can get away with minor replications - copying a single map or page or so for your own personal uses should be okay. Copying whole books for your friends definitely isn't, though.

And if you want to publish it for the whole world, it becomes even more restricted. Quoting short passages, if done with proper citations, is one thing - especially if those quotes can't stand on their own. But large-scale copying of text without references is plagiarism.

 

[RFisher]

1. Don't worry about issues of publishing until you're actually publishing.

2. When you are ready to publish, get an intellectual property lawyer to help you figure out what you can & what you can't publish.

3. Summon up your muse & write replacements for the stuff you can't publish.

 

[RangerWickett]

There's a chance the stuff you're using might be so minor that no one would notice the theft. I mean, if you had 'The Misty Mountains' as an area in your campaign, I'm pretty sure the Tolkien estate wouldn't sue. But if you had a kingdom called Gondor ruled by Aragorn, well yeah, that's a no-no.

What specific stuff are you using?

 

[Catavarie]

Wrong. If something is illegal for you to copy, then it's illegal for you to copy. That applies whether you just make a copy for your gaming group, or send a copy to every gamer in the world.

Actually according to copywrite law: Up to 10% of any copywrited material can be used in another publication by someone other than teh copywrite holder and still not violate copywrite law. So the trick is to figure out if the entire book is copywrited as a whole, or if the individual pieces you are wanting to use are copywrted seperately.

Of course you run into a whole new problem when you get into Intellectual Property Law.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'd be curious as to what spells and feats are so vital that they have to be left in. If you absolutely had to have them in, I'd contact WoTC and find out if those are Open Content or not. If they are not and are vital to your setting, see if there is some arrangement that can be made. I'd have a hard time imagining what those feats and spells would be, though. You should be able to rewrite almost any spell to have virtually the same effect without directly or even indirectly copying the WotC spell. The feat might be a bit harder, but look at the effect it's meant to produce.