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Message: <blockquote data-quote="woodelf" data-source="post: 1826287" data-attributes="member: 10201">OK, let's nip this one in the bud (unless it's already too late):  1: you can distribute anything you want for free, so long as it's yours, or you have permission to distribute it in teh first place--which the WotC OGL gives you WRT OGC. 2: Those long lists in the WotC OGL are exemplary, not definitive--you can make any sort of content OGC, and any sort of content PI (and leave any sort of content simply closed).  With two very important exceptions: 2A: If it's derived from OGC, it has to itself be OGC.  2B: Trademarks are automatically treated like PI, or are PI--the license is a bit muddled on this.  Of course, the license doesn't define derived, and general IP law is pretty fuzzy on the matter. Now, some people have argued that if it's a rule, and it interfaces with the rules taken from the D20SRD, then it is "derived" from those rules, and must be OGC. So, it might be accurate to say that all rules in a D20 System book (D20STL or no) must be OGC. But i could create a new game and make the rules all PI, the fluff all closed, and the examples OGC, if i so chose. More importantly, since "derived" is not defined in the license, it's worth noting that the generally-accepted use of the term in IP law is pretty much exactly the opposite of what most D20 System publishers treat it as being: In IP law, a derived work is, loosely speaking, the same content in a different format. Different content in the same format isn't really addressed by conventional IP law. I.e., a new class that's designed to work with the D&D3E rules, but contains none of the rules actually published by WotC, is not, according to conventional interpretations, "derived" at all. An excellent example of a derived work, under general IP law: the LotR movies--same content, but transformed in some way (in this case, different medium, primarily).  The flaw in that argument is assuming that all those people played different systems against their wishes--that they really wanted the same rules for every setting, but those darned publishers kept coming up with new rules. The existence of the D20 System licenses, and the current state of the market, clearly shows that to be false. There may have been some people out there who, frex, loved Star Wars for RPing, but didn't like the D6 System. But, given that, if anything, the non-D20 System side of the market is stronger and more diverse now than it was 5 years ago, i think it's an oversimplification to say that switching systems was an impediment to switching games.  Of course, the fact that there's not a "minimum level of similarity" required by the D20STL sorta undermines that ideal. Quick: which is more like D&D, and can more easily be plugged into your game (in whole or in part) without modification: Spycraft, which has a D20 System logo on the cover, or Arcana Unearthed, which doesn't?</blockquote>

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