Is the Unearthed Arcana SRD online?

[woodelf]

Interesting interpretation. I'd be interested to see any discussion threads on this, if you could point me in the right direction.

Go to the Open Gaming Foundation (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org) and sign up to the ogf-l list, and read the archives. It was a *long* discussion, over several months, if not years. Pay special attention to Ryan Dancey, Alec [forgot-his-last-name], and Clark Peterson (and i think there's one more of actual legal training, but i forget who it is).

My reading of those sections is that you can use OGC, but are not required to declare your own product as OGC. OGC material used must be declared in the license, but remains OGC. You are also required to include a copy of the license with any products that uses OGC.

Of course, the word derivative is ambiguous, so I may have misinterpreted what you meant by it. My interpretation of what you're saying is that pretty much anything that uses the SRD is a derivative of it and hence is required to be OGC - and that doesn't seem right. Excsue me if I'm just being dumb and that isn't what you meant.

The license seems to revolve around derivative elements, not derivative works. So, if you use the OGC troll stats to create a cyber-troll, you have to make the cyber-troll OGC. Now, some have argued that anything compatible with D20 System mechanics is using D20 System mechanics, and anything using them must therefore be derivative of them, and that therefore any D20 System product must make all rules OGC, because they're all derivative. With the possible exception of those that have a clear prior history elsewhere (such as the starship construction rules in T20)--though some have even argued that simply making them compatible makes them "derivative" of D20 System. Personally, i don't buy that--i think you could make, say, a completely new magic system and make it not-OGC, but it's not clear.

So, the license is viral but not infectious--once something is OGC, it not only remains OGC, but anything derived from it must also be OGC; but an entire work isn't required to be OGC just because it has some OGC in it.

 

[elijah snow]

This sounds like a great project. Is there an update on the status of it?

 

[CRGreathouse]

Go to the Open Gaming Foundation (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org) and sign up to the ogf-l list, and read the archives. It was a *long* discussion, over several months, if not years. Pay special attention to Ryan Dancey, Alec [forgot-his-last-name], and Clark Peterson (and i think there's one more of actual legal training, but i forget who it is).

I believe the archives are down (and have been for a few weeks now).

So, the license is viral but not infectious--once something is OGC, it not only remains OGC, but anything derived from it must also be OGC; but an entire work isn't required to be OGC just because it has some OGC in it.

(As a nitpick) If you own the rights to the material in question, though, you can stop marking the content OGC. That is, if you write a story unrelated to other content (not using, say, dwarven urgroshes) and mark it OGC, you could later publish it without the OGL. Similarly, if someone wrote an OGC story based on the OGC story above *and then bought the rights to the first story*, they could distribute it without the OGL.

 

[barsoomcore]

To the question of artwork, as someone involved in creating one of the online SRDs that includes artwork:

Modern SRD

I included the images of the Basic Classes on my pages. There is a clear note on the front page of the SRD that those images are the property of Wizards of the Coast, and they indeed contacted me and said, "We'll let you keep those images up for now, but don't include any more, and don't be surprised if we ask you to remove them at some point in the future."

Which I thought was very fair of them.

So I would suggest keeping any images out of a UA online project.

Oh, and I want one. Now. Who's on top of this?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Has anyone been doing this lately?

 

[woodelf]

Has anyone been doing this lately?

I'll reiterate: i'll do all the hard work (editing, formatting/layout), but i don't own the book, so someone else is gonna have to scan & OCR it, first. I haven't heard anybody volunteer to do that part.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I'll reiterate: i'll do all the hard work (editing, formatting/layout), but i don't own the book, so someone else is gonna have to scan & OCR it, first. I haven't heard anybody volunteer to do that part.

Isn't that because scanning/OCR'ing it and then sending it to you without editing out the PI and Closed material first an OGL violation? Whomever did the scanning would have to make it a legal-copy before sending it to you or anyone else; they make a mistake and that copy got into circulation, liability to WotC would be an issue.

I don't have a scanner, or I would volunteer for the task. But I don't so I can't.

On the other hand...

I'd volunteer to transcribe an OGL-friendly section, however; I do it for d20X a bit, already, as well as for my own material, so I've got experience in "getting it right". I'm not keen on transcribing all of UA, however, being that I'm only using a few parts of it and it's not exactly a small book.

I can also set up a private message board for volunteers to discuss issues and post their transcriptions for compiling them together. I just don't want to set it up and be left sitting there by myself with my thumb... Well, you can imagine what I mean, so I'll leave it at that.

So, how about it..? Can we get 3-5 more people to indicate their interest in volunteering now so I know setting up the message board is worth it?

 

[Wormwood]

I'd volunteer to transcribe an OGL-friendly section, however; I do it for d20X a bit, already, as well as for my own material, so I've got experience in "getting it right". I'm not keen on transcribing all of UA, however, being that I'm only using a few parts of it and it's not exactly a small book.

I just dicovered thi thread, and I think I can help.

I've got the following sections fully transcribed, OGL-compliant and in RTF format:

1. Bloodlines (no Yuan-ti, naturally)
2. Alternate classes (All of them; both in UA summary form and in complete SRD class-listing format)
3. Weapon Group feats
4. Generic classes
5. Gestalt classes.
6. Action point system

I plan to eventually transcribe all the alt.rules I find useful (75% of the book).

It never occurred to me to share it---and I'm still unclear about the legalities involved. I'd love to help if I could.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I've got the following sections fully transcribed, OGL-compliant and in RTF format:

2. Alternate classes (All of them; both in UA summary form and in complete SRD class-listing format)
4. Generic classes
6. Action point system

See how much work you've just saved me?

The "legalities" is one of the reasons I'm willing to set up a private forum; We can "get it wrong" in private and fix any errors prior to releasing it in public.

 

[Wasgo]

I'll reiterate: i'll do all the hard work (editing, formatting/layout), but i don't own the book, so someone else is gonna have to scan & OCR it, first. I haven't heard anybody volunteer to do that part.

If t hasn't been done by May, I'll give it a go. Just have exams first.