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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
So, 5e OGL
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<blockquote data-quote="prosfilaes" data-source="post: 6672716" data-attributes="member: 40166"><p>That is the type of stuff that copyright law does not care about. Just because one person uses the term "muggles" doesn't stop someone else from using the term. The OGL is not particularly clear here, in my opinion; I'm not sure that changing the name from Advantage is necessary, nor that changing the name would sufficient.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Stuff like the examples I brought up; plotlines, characters, cultures, stuff that's all traditionally copyrightable. Where is the line between the 3E ettercap and the 5E ettercap, and have you crossed it? Where is the line between the 1E/2E kobold and 3E kobold, and are you using stuff from 1E? Looking at the SRD kobold, it leaves many kobold traits unspecified, implied at best; a lawyer doesn't have the time to draw out all the implications of having egg-laying, dragon-associated kobolds (not technically SRD traits) in a comparison of maybe 500 pages of SRD with 700 pages of 5E. An excellent well-paid lawyer might want to read "Tucker's kobolds", Dragon Mountain, the Complete Book of Humanoids, Races of the Dragons, etc., to see if you're treading too close to WotC-copyrighted expression, but your lawyer probably doesn't have the time to consider kobolds in particular if you're tossing everything at them on a budget.</p><p></p><p>To a large extent, I think all this talk about lawyers misses some of the point. No company wants to get into a lawsuit, and a WotC that has released an open license for 5E has signaled their intentions to work with companies wanting to produce 5E material outside of a specific contract. And I'm pretty sure that courts are going to be less lenient on reusers pushing the limits of the 3E OGL, but less lenient on WotC if there's a new license they wrote inviting people to use 5E. A lawyer working for you can't take remotely the risk away that WotC can by simply releasing a new license.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prosfilaes, post: 6672716, member: 40166"] That is the type of stuff that copyright law does not care about. Just because one person uses the term "muggles" doesn't stop someone else from using the term. The OGL is not particularly clear here, in my opinion; I'm not sure that changing the name from Advantage is necessary, nor that changing the name would sufficient. Stuff like the examples I brought up; plotlines, characters, cultures, stuff that's all traditionally copyrightable. Where is the line between the 3E ettercap and the 5E ettercap, and have you crossed it? Where is the line between the 1E/2E kobold and 3E kobold, and are you using stuff from 1E? Looking at the SRD kobold, it leaves many kobold traits unspecified, implied at best; a lawyer doesn't have the time to draw out all the implications of having egg-laying, dragon-associated kobolds (not technically SRD traits) in a comparison of maybe 500 pages of SRD with 700 pages of 5E. An excellent well-paid lawyer might want to read "Tucker's kobolds", Dragon Mountain, the Complete Book of Humanoids, Races of the Dragons, etc., to see if you're treading too close to WotC-copyrighted expression, but your lawyer probably doesn't have the time to consider kobolds in particular if you're tossing everything at them on a budget. To a large extent, I think all this talk about lawyers misses some of the point. No company wants to get into a lawsuit, and a WotC that has released an open license for 5E has signaled their intentions to work with companies wanting to produce 5E material outside of a specific contract. And I'm pretty sure that courts are going to be less lenient on reusers pushing the limits of the 3E OGL, but less lenient on WotC if there's a new license they wrote inviting people to use 5E. A lawyer working for you can't take remotely the risk away that WotC can by simply releasing a new license. [/QUOTE]
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