Need help with OGL or D20 licensing

[drifter-bob23]

Hi folks

I'm an occasional writer of RPG material, I wrote a book for Riddle of Steel RpG and one for Pelgrane Press out of England among other smaller projects. I have actually been on Enworld on and off for years but I couldn't figure out how to reactivate my old account because my email has changed several times since I was last on here.

I am a HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) practitioner and have a combat rules suppliment for 3E D&D that was developed over the last few years, and has been playtested and edited, and has illustrations etc. I want to put it here, on RPG .net or somewhere and make it available as a PDF for download for a few bucks. All the tests have gone very well and feedback has been excellent, so I'd like to get it out there for a wider audience. The only thing holding me back is that the guy I used to work with on D20 stuff has kind of retired from the business. I don't want to go through any publisher for this , I prefer to do it independently, but I don't understand the D20 or OGL licensing. I know you have to do various things to stay in compliance, it's not just a matter of slapping the license agreement to the end of your PDF.

I have friends who play RPGs but they are old folks none of whom have any patience for strict interpretations of rules, let alone grasp the legal nuances of OGL or D20. I need to find somebody who can help me put my document into compliance so I can release it, preferably quickly since it's ready to go. I was going to just put a notice up at the FLGS but who knows what kind of response I might get or from whom. This forum has always been a place I've found good advice on RPG projects, I was hoping someone here direct me to where I might find a solution to my dilemma.

I'd be willing to share whatever income the project generates, if any, with whoever could help me with this. Other than that I don't have a budget for this project, it's really an experiment. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

DB

 

[FraserRonald]

DB

Email inbound. I have some thoughts I want to share with you.

Cheers!

 

[Nellisir]

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

First question: Do you understand the difference between the d20 and OGL licenses?

(this is not sarcasm. This is determining what you do know)

 

[drifter-bob23]

Frankly I really don't and i don't know which would be better for this project. The key issue is with regard to referring to D&D rules, such as Feats and Skills.

 

[Urizen]

Maybe you should grab a copy of the D20 SRD.

Anthying that is in that set of documents can be used freely under the terms of the ogl license.

 

[Nellisir]

Frankly I really don't and i don't know which would be better for this project. The key issue is with regard to referring to D&D rules, such as Feats and Skills.

OK, I gotta do this quick because I'm short on time.

The OGL, or Open Game License, is mandatory. That allows you to use the rules in the SRD, as well as anything else any other publisher releases as Open Game Content. Anything that you create based on OGC, you must make OGC. So if you create a new spell or a new class, you have to make them OGC and allow other people to use them. You do not have to make the names OGC, however (though it's nice if you do).

The d20 license allows (requires, in fact) you to indicate compatibility with Dungeons and Dragons, and lets you use terms like MM, PH, and DMG. You cannot use page numbers, but you can reference chapters (see Chapter Two of the PH). If you use the d20, you cannot include an experience point chart or instructions on how to advance a character in your product. Your product must also have a certain minimum amount of OGC (5%, I think).

 

[Gilwen]

How did you originall source your rules infomation? Did you take if from the DnD books or did you use the SRD? If you used the SRD and not information from WOTC's printed books things will be easier to ensure you don't include none open information. If you also took info from other OGL publishers then it complicates things only a bit because you need to ensure that the stuff you included in OGC and no PI.

you will also need to make a decision on what original content that you made that you want to open up. As Nellsir said anything already OGC or derived from OGC has to stay OGC. Artwork, prose, proper names, etc can be declared PI and not be reused down the line (legally anyway) without your permission, this of course assumes that the info wasn't OGC.

If you have any quesitons post them and we can help you understand the licenses. I'm not a lawyer but I have a pretty good grasp of the licenses.

Gil