TheAndy tm
First Post
As the person who is mostly responsible for checking software for OGL and d20 issues, I thought I’d take a moment to fill everyone in on what exactly we’ve been looking at.
To begin with, just a little warning for anyone thinking about using the licenses: The Open Gaming License and the d20 System License are legally binding contracts. It is the user’s responsibility to comprehend the terms of the licenses and to comply with them. We strongly suggest that people who do not fully understand the terms seek legal counsel before proceeding with the licenses.
There has also been some confusion about the differences between the two licenses and what each allows someone to do. The Open Gaming License allows someone operating under the terms of the license to use anything that has been designated as Open Content. The only Open Content from Wizards is in the System Reference Document (SRD). This currently contains most of the core rules information.
The d20 System License lets someone use certain trademarks, such as d20 and Dungeons & Dragons, and to advertise the product as being compatible with D&D. This license has some more stringent requirements in exchange for permission to use these trademarks.
The following are the major problems we've had with software:
Flat out infringement - If something by Wizards is not in the SRD, it is not Open Content. Currently the only material in the SRD has been derived from the Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual and the Psionic's Handbook. Those books are *not* open content themselves. However, versions of the information in those books have been made into the SRD which *is* open content. Understanding the difference is vital. Currently no other books have entered the SRD and thus the rules in those products are unavailable. Even a free web-enhancement is still copyrighted (and the copyright section of our web-enhancements specifically state that they are not Open Content). Using copyrighted material without permission is infringement. This is a bad thing.
Section 8 of the OGL - Section 8 of the Open Gaming License states that “You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Content.” For software “clearly indicated” means that someone has to be able to see all the Open Content. It isn’t enough to say “all rules are Open Content”, someone using that program has to be able to see those rules. The whole point of the OGL is to allow anyone to use Open Content under the license. If that content is compiled into binary, a user can’t access that and use it freely.
The “no interactive games” stipulation of the d20 License - The d20 System Guide states that no d20 product can be an interactive game, then goes on to define interactive game as being software that “is designed to accept inputs from human players or their agents, and use rules to resolve the success or failure of those inputs, and return some indication of the results of those inputs to the users.” Success and failure are the sticking points: because under standard d20 rules a high roll is always better than a low, we are treating any randomization (such as ability score generation) as having success and failure. The reason behind our hard line on this (and the reason this requirement exists at all) is that we have a licensee for all electronic games. We cannot authorize anything remotely resembling a game without seriously violating our contracts.
The prohibition against character creation and leveling - The d20 license prohibits describing the process of creating a character and the process of applying the affects of experience to a character. We’ve actually taken a fairly lenient stance on this. A character generator can provide the pieces of a character, it just can’t explain what to do with them or determine when a character has enough experience to gain a level. As long as the software doesn't describe how to create or level a character, it is ok.
These are the major problems we’ve encountered again and again. We’re working on updating the license FAQs to explain more fully what needs to be done regarding software. We are also working on a new version of the licenses that has clear language about software. If you are considering using the licenses, please read the licenses and the FAQs found here: www.wizards.com/d20/.
To begin with, just a little warning for anyone thinking about using the licenses: The Open Gaming License and the d20 System License are legally binding contracts. It is the user’s responsibility to comprehend the terms of the licenses and to comply with them. We strongly suggest that people who do not fully understand the terms seek legal counsel before proceeding with the licenses.
There has also been some confusion about the differences between the two licenses and what each allows someone to do. The Open Gaming License allows someone operating under the terms of the license to use anything that has been designated as Open Content. The only Open Content from Wizards is in the System Reference Document (SRD). This currently contains most of the core rules information.
The d20 System License lets someone use certain trademarks, such as d20 and Dungeons & Dragons, and to advertise the product as being compatible with D&D. This license has some more stringent requirements in exchange for permission to use these trademarks.
The following are the major problems we've had with software:
Flat out infringement - If something by Wizards is not in the SRD, it is not Open Content. Currently the only material in the SRD has been derived from the Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual and the Psionic's Handbook. Those books are *not* open content themselves. However, versions of the information in those books have been made into the SRD which *is* open content. Understanding the difference is vital. Currently no other books have entered the SRD and thus the rules in those products are unavailable. Even a free web-enhancement is still copyrighted (and the copyright section of our web-enhancements specifically state that they are not Open Content). Using copyrighted material without permission is infringement. This is a bad thing.
Section 8 of the OGL - Section 8 of the Open Gaming License states that “You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Content.” For software “clearly indicated” means that someone has to be able to see all the Open Content. It isn’t enough to say “all rules are Open Content”, someone using that program has to be able to see those rules. The whole point of the OGL is to allow anyone to use Open Content under the license. If that content is compiled into binary, a user can’t access that and use it freely.
The “no interactive games” stipulation of the d20 License - The d20 System Guide states that no d20 product can be an interactive game, then goes on to define interactive game as being software that “is designed to accept inputs from human players or their agents, and use rules to resolve the success or failure of those inputs, and return some indication of the results of those inputs to the users.” Success and failure are the sticking points: because under standard d20 rules a high roll is always better than a low, we are treating any randomization (such as ability score generation) as having success and failure. The reason behind our hard line on this (and the reason this requirement exists at all) is that we have a licensee for all electronic games. We cannot authorize anything remotely resembling a game without seriously violating our contracts.
The prohibition against character creation and leveling - The d20 license prohibits describing the process of creating a character and the process of applying the affects of experience to a character. We’ve actually taken a fairly lenient stance on this. A character generator can provide the pieces of a character, it just can’t explain what to do with them or determine when a character has enough experience to gain a level. As long as the software doesn't describe how to create or level a character, it is ok.
These are the major problems we’ve encountered again and again. We’re working on updating the license FAQs to explain more fully what needs to be done regarding software. We are also working on a new version of the licenses that has clear language about software. If you are considering using the licenses, please read the licenses and the FAQs found here: www.wizards.com/d20/.
