Update me with 2e stuff – what can we use of it?

[Joël of the FoS]

Update me with 2e stuff – what can we use of it?

Hello,

I’d like to have an update on the situation with WotC’s older material, mainly 2nd edition. Many of these books were not converted to 3e and some of them should be as they were quite cool (ex: planescape, dark sun, ravenloft).

My question is: as far as we know from observation or WotC statements, can we expand a 1 page material from WotC to a 10 page document, with many of our ideas in it, and make it available on the net? For example, can we take a 2e NPC and fully flesh this character with our own ideas, or take a geographic area and develop it tenfold?

Also, what is the latest news from converting NPC or monsters 2e stats to 3.5?

Many thanks,

Joël

 

[Napftor]

I wouldn't touch any of these with a 10-foot pole unless you're just fleshing them out for your home campaign. Making these available on the net, not even for sale, seems risky at best without written permission of WotC.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Sure I understand these NPC and geographic areas are property of WotC. I would not dare indeed reprint this material as is.

But if we take a part and expanded it? What is the accepted / tolerated limit in this area? What are Dark Sun (or other settings site) doing?

Joël

 

[Turjan]

Sure I understand these NPC and geographic areas are property of WotC. I would not dare indeed reprint this material as is.

Also the names of the settings themselves are copyright WotC. You'd have to have a license to use them, or a specific authorization by WotC.

But if we take a part and expanded it? What is the accepted / tolerated limit in this area? What are Dark Sun (or other settings site) doing?

Most of the old settings have official fan websites that operate with authorization. Dark Sun can be found at athas.org, a site with D&D 3.x conversion material and new adventures. Planescape can be found at planewalker.com. Ravenloft is an active license of Arthaus (Sword & Sorcery/White Wolf). There are similar pages for most other classic settings.

The trademarks of WotC are listed here.

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Any link to a legal text / guidelines from WotC on online fan made material?

Joël