Open Content question

[alsih2o]

Can a person produce 3-d representations fo Open Content monsters without fear of reprisal, or just write about them?

 

[Henry]

In my (not-a-lawyer-of-course) opinion:

Interesting question. It's definitely one worth contacting wizards about, but in truth I think the big problem is more along the lines of avoiding duplicating the likeness of a given creature exactly - in other words, modelling a 3-D art directly off of a 2-D picture.

Another set of people worth contacting is Fiery Dragon - I'm sure they resolved this issue for their Creature Counters collections, and they are likelier to give you a more experienced answer than a WotC customer support person would.

 

[der_kluge]

The answer is that there is no clear answer. This was debated on the OGL forums a while back.

Technically, the art in the Monster Manual is copyright WoTC. So, that's unapproachable.

However, read the SRD. When you do this, don't develop from the MM, or any other "book" - only use the SRD. Print it out, bind it, do whatever. Make that your source.

Anyway, look in the SRD - monsters have a description. Take troll for example:

"Trolls walk upright but hunched forward with sagging shoulders. Their gait is uneven, and when they run, their arms dangle and drag along the ground. For all this seeming awkwardness, trolls are very agile.
A typical adult troll stands 9 feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. Females are slightly larger than males. A troll’s rubbery hide is moss green, mottled green and gray, or putrid gray. The hair is usually greenish black or iron gray."

So, throw out every preconceived notion of a "troll" and create a troll solely based on this description. Do that, and you'll be perfectly fine.

Also note that certain creatures are no longer in the SRD, such as beholders, umber hulks, mind flayers, and carrion crawlers, among others.

 

[Voadam]

Can a person produce 3-d representations fo Open Content monsters without fear of reprisal, or just write about them?

As long as you go solely from open content there is no question you can do this under the OGL. D20 license might have some restrictions on miniatures and what not that might apply but the d20 license is not necessary for OGC use.

Copying or similar looking standard images from WotC non open sources I could not say.

 

[der_kluge]

That's true - WoTC added something into the license regarding the creation of a miniatures based game based on the OGL. But that shouldn't affect you.

 

[Len]

That's true - WoTC added something into the license regarding the creation of a miniatures based game based on the OGL. But that shouldn't affect you.

Just to make sure they don't get the wrong idea and start hassling you, you should make sure that your models aren't "miniature". Make them full size.

 

[alsih2o]

Just to make sure they don't get the wrong idea and start hassling you, you should make sure that your models aren't "miniature". Make them full size.

I was thinking half scale, but yeah.