Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder and OGC

[Herobizkit]

A buddy of mine was musing about taking his campaign world/history and creating a series of modules for Pathfinder. I know that PF is still under OGC... does that still mean that anyone can publish using the PF brand so long as the OGC is printed with the material?

 

[IronWolf]

This portion of the FAQ on Paizo's site should get you started. Asking on the Paizo forums for items needing clarification beyond the FAQ will probably get you answers straight from Paizo though.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

The FAQ should be able to help you, but there's something I want to clear up real quick: there's a big difference between the mechanics and the brand. The mechanics are covered by the OGL, so you can use them all you want as long as you abide by the terms of the OGL. The brand, however-- the Pathfinder name and logo, the iconics, et cetera.-- is not covered by the OGL and the OGL does not allow you to use any part of it.

Paizo offers a separate license for using the Pathfinder brand. I'm not familiar with the license myself, but if you want to publish Pathfinder material... you make certain that you are.

 

[Kinak]

The agreement for "Pathfinder Compatible Products" is here. There's an FAQ link from there that should clear some things up for the non-lawyers in the crowd.

If your friends wants to include a "Pathfinder Compatible" logo on his books, he needs to follow that agreement and the OGL. They're both really easy, but he should make sure he's comfortable with both before he starts.

If he wants to build a new system from the ground up, incorporating some rules from Pathfinder, that would fall more under the normal OGL.

In neither case can he use flavor elements from Golarion or Pathfinder's iconic characters. It doesn't sound like that'll be a problem, but it's important to keep in mind.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[gamerprinter]

That's pretty much what I've done - taken a homebrew setting, and began creating adventures and supplements for use in PFRPG. Kaidan (Japanese horror) setting has just completed a successful Kickstarter to pay for the creation of the setting guide books - all using the OGL and Pathfinder Compatibility License.

Just comply to the license, post the license in back of each book and place the Pathfinder Compatibility License logo on the front cover. Easy, peasy.