Publishing Questions For 3.5e Compilations

[_Michael_]

So, I'm creating a tome for a game world I'm designing, complete with class tweaks, and tweaks to the skill list courtesy of other third party 3.5e material, and I was curious as to what I need to do to ensure I stay legal and am able to post the results (for free!) on this site and DTRPG.

The method I'm using is basically listing the skills as they appear in the PHB, but re-written as much as humanly possible to avoid direct plagiarism, with the same format. However, I'm also drawing from several other sources to make the skill list compilation: Green Ronin's Advanced Player's Manual, Mongoose Publishing's Ultimate Game Designer's Companion, Rite Publishing's 101 New Skill Uses (which, oddly, seems to have directly plagiarized several skill descriptions from Ultimate Game Designer's Companion...), and a book called Experts v.3.5. I'm basically copying the skill uses in other books, rewording them, and then incorporating them into my list with tweaks where appropriate. I'm putting a footnote number next to each skill entry (or subskill entry), and at the end of the chapter, I'm inserting footnotes listing the titles so they get full credit, as well as mentioning in the beginning of the chapter what books I'm using. This skill list will then become the de facto skill set I will use to build all the NPCs of the world I'm designing.

Now, most of the skills added are those under Craft, Knowledge and Profession, so it's nothing too radical, just filler stuff that (I hope) will encourage player's to focus more on using their skills in new and quirky ways rather than falling back on the "Muh fireball!" deus ex machina of magic. Plus, it will allow greater NPC diversity as they'll have greater range of knowledge and skills to fill in the background of cities and their shop-lined streets--characters will now be able to find cordwainers, tin smiths, and dyers, for instance, in addition to the usual "tavern/inn/blacksmith/weaponsmith/armorsmith/magic shop" circuit the players will usually run when they come into a city.

Is there anything I need to add or do to ensure that 1) these companies I'm borrowing from are given their due, and 2) ensure that I will be able to publish it on DTRPG and here without running afoul of the fine print in the ToS about trademarks and all that? My intent is really not to steal or defraud anyone, but redirect those who enjoy my game world to the resources I used so that they may enjoy those sources of gaming goodies as well and even use them in my game world in ways which I have not anticipated. I want to ensure I can reach as wide an audience as possible, but don't want to be immediately DMCA'd into oblivion for an unintentional error.

Furthermore, am I able to publish links to that list and description for those who want to come see what I'm up to? It's in a google docs page, and I would love some feedback along the way, but again, I haven't uploaded it here simply because I'm unsure of exactly how far the OGL protection extends to third party material and what the site will allow in regards to unpublished/unfinished works. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, @Alzrius, how is that Ultimate Game Designer's Companion? I've been waiting to hear what you think. lol

 

[Alzrius]

Reading this over, I have several thoughts:

The big one to keep in mind is that this isn't going to be a question of plagiarism, but of Open Game Content. All of the sources you list are published under the Open Game License, and it's entirely legal (i.e. not plagiarism) to repost Open Game Content published under the OGL. So long as you do that, everything is perfectly legal. No rewording needed.

Now, doing so means following a number of steps, including:

1. Make sure that what you reprint falls under the Open Game Content declaration of the books you're drawing from.
2. Make sure that the product you're reproducing that content in has its own declaration of Open Game Content, and a declaration of Product Identity (these are required by the OGL).
3. Reprint the OGL in full somewhere in the body of your product.
4. Under the Section 15 listing of your product's reprinted OGL, reproduce the full Section 15 of every book whose Open Game Content you use. You'll also need to add an original listing for your own book to the Section 15, which should include the book's title, author's name, and year of publication.

That's really all you need to do.

Now, you can't say that it's compatible with D&D/Dungeons & Dragons, since that would require a separate license with WotC (e.g. if you wanted to publish it under the DMs Guild, which I think is incompatible with using the OGL), and saying it's compatible with Pathfinder would require using Paizo's Pathfinder Compatibility License (which has several additional terms and restrictions, and in exchange lets you use the Pathfinder Compatibility Logo). But if those aren't concerns for you, then you're fine.

As far as indicating where the Open Game Content came from, I'm pretty sure you're fine there. Monte Cook's 2004 supplement The Year's Best d20 (affiliate link) openly listed where each reprinted item came from right in the body of the text (i.e. without footnotes) and that was perfectly fine.

In fact, now that I have my own copy of Mongoose Publishing's Ultimate Game Designer's Companion, it seems to be a perfect example of what you're trying to do here, since much like the aforementioned Year's Best d20, the entire book seems to be reprinted Open Game Content from other sources. That's not a knock against it, I should note: I'm quite enjoying having so much great material in one place! If you want to do the same sort of project, you should definitely go for it.

 

[_Michael_]

I have a feeling attempting to parse what all is covered under OGL licenses for each book is going to be the sticking point...Trying to read their licenses is like trying to study caselaw. lol Having footnotes will make it easier...for me to go to each source. I'm more worried about other aspects of the UGDC I want to incorporate, things like their reputation and panache systems, and various other tidbits, like savage crafting and poison manufacture. However, I think the descriptions themselves (the flavor text) are not part of the OGL, so I have to be careful about that. I hate that I'm likely going to have to come back here and pester people far smarter than I to explain it to me. lol I don't trust AI enough to give me the truth as it will lie when convenient, so asking Bing is pointless, which is why I'm grateful for your advice. This is going to be a huge part of the campaign world as it will give me the building blocks to make interesting NPCs.

 

[Alzrius]

I know that working with the OGL can be intimidating, but it's really not nearly as difficult as it seems. Notwithstanding a few books that forget to make a declaration of what's Open Game Content and what's Product Identity, it's usually very straightforward.

For instance, the Ultimate Games Designer's Companion has theirs right on page 1, under the "Open Game Content & Copyright Information" header. Notice what the sixth sentence under that header says:

"All text within the Ultimate Games Designers Companion is to be considered Open Game Content."

That's it; all of the book's text is open and can be legally reproduced in another OGL product. While there technically should be a statement of what's Product Identity (i.e. cannot be reproduced) that's somewhat redundant since all of the text is open (though it should still be there to explicitly state that things like Mongoose's company logo aren't Open Game Content).

And you're absolutely right not to trust AI for this. I strongly recommend against relying on any AI for any kind of advice in this regard; that and I'm very happy to talk about this particular topic, since it's my hobby.

 

[_Michael_]

Awesome sauce. I really appreciate it. That's one huge name off the list, then, of Stuff That Must Be Checked For OGL Compliance. lol

How hard would it be, in theory, to get licensed by WotC for 3.5e OGL stuff? I mean, there's still companies putting out OGL 3.5e material, so it can't be that hard, right? Not like trying to pry a Star Wars license out of Disney's grasping hands...or is it just as bad?

Plus, I'm not one for merely copying--I'm completely rewording the descriptions so that they're unique to my own campaign world. Granted, some of the changes are just a word or two, but there's effort throughout. It won't be just another copied and pasted rehash of skill uses.

 

[Alzrius]

Insofar as 3.5 material goes, if it's already published under the OGL, you already have a license from WotC for it, that being the OGL itself. You don't need any further permission from them, nor even their acknowledgment. That was what made the OGL so revolutionary: so long as you abided by its (very few and incredibly generous) terms, you had carte blanche on what you could do with it. (Which was why there was so much outrage when they tried to renege on that promise a few years ago, to the point where they were forced to back down.)

Though just to be clear, that doesn't hold true for stuff that WotC never released under the OGL in the first place. So if you want to use 3.5 material from, say, Races of the Dragon (one of WotC's 3.5 D&D books) then you're out of luck; the best you could do would be to either write original material that's thematically/mechanically similar to what you wanted to reuse, or find a third-party OGL product that's already made something similar.

Likewise, you absolutely can reword things if you want to; that's permitted also.

 

[_Michael_]

Crap. That was one of the books I wanted to crib off of for mining rules, especially the Profession (Miner) stuff. lol Know any sources of similar material that is OGL for mining in terms of production and ore? The only other books I'm using the stuff from are the PHB and the DMG, but again, trying to rewrite most of it.

 

[Alzrius]

Unfortunately, nothing comes to mind for any sort of OGL replacement for mining rules. They might very well be out there, but if so the hard part is finding them; searching on DTRPG only turned up things like a miner class or stuff with "mineral" in the description.

 

[Morrus]

How hard would it be, in theory, to get licensed by WotC for 3.5e OGL stuff? I mean, there's still companies putting out OGL 3.5e material, so it can't be that hard, right? Not like trying to pry a Star Wars license out of Disney's grasping hands...or is it just as bad?

Close to impossible to get a specific license. But you don't need to because 3.5 was released under the OGL 20 years ago, so grab yourself a copy of the 3.5 SRD and have at it! Just make sure you read the OGL and do what it says.

3.5 SRD is on this page:

Other SRDs — Advanced 5E System Reference Document

a5esrd.com

I wrote a how-to article for the OGL here:

How to Use the Open Game License — Advanced 5E System Reference Document

a5esrd.com

 

[_Michael_]

Close to impossible to get a specific license. But you don't need to because 3.5 was released under the OGL 20 years ago, so grab yourself a copy of the 3.5 SRD and have at it! Just make sure you read the OGL and do what it says.

3.5 SRD is on this page:

Other SRDs — Advanced 5E System Reference Document

a5esrd.com

I wrote a how-to article for the OGL here:

How to Use the Open Game License — Advanced 5E System Reference Document

a5esrd.com

The issue is with their other books, such as their Races of Stone and Races of the Dragon, which I'm not sure are covered under the SRD...? I was looking specifically for mechanics for mining stone and ore, and using the Profession (Miner) they have in those.

Another question (on a separate tangent, but I figured I'll pick the brains of you gentlemen (ladies?) while I have you here), how would I use Knowledge for creating a subcategory for medicine? I already have a Profession (Physician) but it seems that there should be a Knowledge check for generalities if I'm going to use Craft (Alchemy) and Heal for autopsy-related stuff, even if anatomy is still a primitive science in a fantasy setting.