Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is this legal?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 2645019" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>Altazar, what's your background? lawyer, engineer, writer? Without knowing your background, taking your advice at face value is legal suicide.</p><p></p><p>We know Mark's, he's a publisher that has had to study the OGL.</p><p></p><p>I'm a software developer. I have real experience with the patent process, so I understand intellectual property reasonably well. I am not a lawyer, so I prefer to err on the side of caution.</p><p></p><p>As I understand it (from reading the OGL faq a while ago), the OGL grants you permission to use the SRD material, on the basis that you can't do certain things. I definitely recall the faq mentioning that they specificly intend to exclude character creation and advancement, thereby requiring use of the PHB.</p><p></p><p>So I would expect that the OGL contract (haven't read it lately) would cover that either directly or indirectly (by process of exclusion).</p><p></p><p>Therefore, while Altazar is correct that you can't copyright a process (but you can patent it), you're walking in dangerous territory. WotC specifically does NOT want people releasing character advancement info in their d20/OGL products. If you have deep pockets, you can try to skirt this and win. If you do not, then it is not worth the hassle.</p><p></p><p>A real world example of this is gamehub.com. They have an online character management tool there (I use it). They had several issues with putting non-ogl content (feat names and such) which are exactly the type of thing you need in a char-editor. WotC had some issues with the site. They have resolved things peacefully, the gist being, WotC will let you use the names of things like feats, spells and skills, but no descriptions are allowed (for closed content). They also skirted the XP table thing by making each user input their own XP table. The system would then compare your total XP to the table you entered (and saved in your account).</p><p></p><p>Just some thoughts,</p><p>Janx</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 2645019, member: 8835"] Altazar, what's your background? lawyer, engineer, writer? Without knowing your background, taking your advice at face value is legal suicide. We know Mark's, he's a publisher that has had to study the OGL. I'm a software developer. I have real experience with the patent process, so I understand intellectual property reasonably well. I am not a lawyer, so I prefer to err on the side of caution. As I understand it (from reading the OGL faq a while ago), the OGL grants you permission to use the SRD material, on the basis that you can't do certain things. I definitely recall the faq mentioning that they specificly intend to exclude character creation and advancement, thereby requiring use of the PHB. So I would expect that the OGL contract (haven't read it lately) would cover that either directly or indirectly (by process of exclusion). Therefore, while Altazar is correct that you can't copyright a process (but you can patent it), you're walking in dangerous territory. WotC specifically does NOT want people releasing character advancement info in their d20/OGL products. If you have deep pockets, you can try to skirt this and win. If you do not, then it is not worth the hassle. A real world example of this is gamehub.com. They have an online character management tool there (I use it). They had several issues with putting non-ogl content (feat names and such) which are exactly the type of thing you need in a char-editor. WotC had some issues with the site. They have resolved things peacefully, the gist being, WotC will let you use the names of things like feats, spells and skills, but no descriptions are allowed (for closed content). They also skirted the XP table thing by making each user input their own XP table. The system would then compare your total XP to the table you entered (and saved in your account). Just some thoughts, Janx [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Is this legal?
Top