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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DLIMedia" data-source="post: 7684543" data-attributes="member: 6668167">A lot of items being published continue to use the "advantage"/"disadvantage" wording simply because it's fairly generic and doesn't explicitly state what it means. Having "advantage" on a die roll could, theoretically, mean anything and is up to interpretation.Basically, the guidelines I use:1) Do not use any creatures that are explicitly forbidden due to them being "product identity". These monsters are listed in the 4E GSL: Balhannoth, Beholder, Carrion Crawler, Displacer Beast, Gauth, Githyanki, Githzerai, Kuo-Toa, Mind Flayer, Illithid, Slaad, Umber Hulk and Yuan-Ti. Put simply, do not use any of these creatures in any way, shape or form. If you do, god help you.A better guideline for this is: if you've seen the monster on the cover of any recent core manual - especially the Monster Manual - don't use it.2) Do not reference anything that's part of the D&D world that has a proper name. Do not even mention campaign settings (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Eberron, etc.), geographic locations (Neverwinter, Greyhawk, Athas, etc.), NPCs (Drizzt, Elminster, Mordenkainen, etc.), deities (Corellon, Tiamat, Lolth, etc.), named monsters (Acererak, Iggwilv, Orcus, etc.) and so on.Now, some argue "you can use Tiamat because that's a Mesopotamian deity"... Well, technically that's true, but it's not the same creature and everybody knows that. The Mesopotamian goddess and the five-headed dragon are not the same creature, and if you include it in anything that's a D&D product we all know which of the two you really mean. That being said, I highly recommend you avoid using named creatures of this nature, even if their names come from origins outside of D&D.3) Do not use any WotC imagery, such as logos or branding. This should go without saying, and as someone who has received a C&D because I stupidly used the Gamma World logo, trust me on that.Furthermore, if you really want to use the OGL:1) Do not mention "D&D" at all. Say "5th Edition" and leave it at that; your readers should be smart enough to know you don't mean Shadowrun. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />2) Do not reference the core manuals at all. You cannot say "cone of cold (see Player's Handbook, page XXX)"... Just leave it as "cone of cold".3) I highly recommend that you create mostly new creatures, but if you use existing creatures simply present their names and do not mention their source. For example, leave it as a "gelatinous cube" but don't mention that it comes from either the Monster Manual or the Basic Rules.4) Be very careful which spells you mention. Spells with proper names in them, such as Mordenkainen's Sword, may or may not be safe for reasons I've described above.5) Do not make attempts to explain rules. Reference them sure, but don't explain. Say "make a Dexterity saving throw", but don't elaborate on what that means. Furthermore, do not attempt to change or amend any rules.6) For god's sake, if you're going to publish using the OGL... ACTUALLY INCLUDE THE OGL IN THE BACK OF THE PRODUCT. I've seen several products released that say that are OGL-ed but don't actually include it. That's a catastrophic error.</blockquote>

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