D&D General Who “owns” a PC after the player stops using them?

[Irlo]

Legally, there is ownership. D&D was unable to make "Hobbit" a D&D species, for example. But it seems D&D was able to use "Halfling" as a species, and it being deemed sufficiently "transformative", or at least sufficiently part of the public domain.

Likewise, parodies are a kind of transformation and viewed as legal.

Oh, I was not speaking of published works. I can draw Gandalf, I can write Lord of the Rings fan-fic, I can run a D&D game using Tolkien's characters and setting. Any ownership of the characters and ideas does not restrict anyone from that.

 

[aco175]

How do people have only 10 posts per page and not 20. I mean, I'm still on page 10 of the thread.

 

[tetrasodium]

How do people have only 10 posts per page and not 20. I mean, I'm still on page 10 of the thread.

You account>preferences>posts per page

https://www.enworld.org/account/preferences

 

[Yaarel]

Oh, I was not speaking of published works. I can draw Gandalf, I can write Lord of the Rings fan-fic, I can run a D&D game using Tolkien's characters and setting. Any ownership of the characters and ideas does not restrict anyone from that.

Most authors tolerate or welcome fan creations because it is in their own self-interest to propagate the works by the author within a mainstream popculture.

Nevertheless, the authors have legal ownership and could do a cease-and-desist or sue if they wished.

WotC has a special legal contract that D&D fan creations implicitly must adhere to when using D&D content.

The "fair use" of copyright works (including an informal unregistered copyright) lacks clear bright lines and is normally adjudicated on a case by case basis.

 

[Blue]

Very clearly, we don't all agree on that. Or at least we don't agree on what rights the purported ownership conveys on the player.

Okay, I'm sorry. I should have written: It is a fact that the character created belongs to the player, even if not all agree. Just like an artist designing an original character while not under contract owns their character.

 

[Lanefan]

Well, yeah, that's a different beast, but as I've noted before if you decide to wander off from what all the other PCs are doing, don't expect me to keep taking the time out to run, effectively a solo game for you.

As DM, I'm quite happy to run solo sessions for wandered-off PCs, depending what they've wandered off to do. In my view it's no different than when the party splits during a session e.g. when a scout PC goes on ahead, as I run that solo too (i.e. the player and I go to another room) if I can.

Sure, I don't have a problem with that; but I think that's a bit different from a situation where someone wants no interaction with the character at all after they've left the game.

Which strikes me as odd: you don't have a problem with one set of instructions yet you do with another. If the player's departing instructions go something like "Please leave my character out of future play", IMO those instructions should be followed - and with rare exceptions it's trivially easy to do. Even if the PC has a place of importance (e.g. has become the local ruler), it's easy enough to have the PCs only ever be able to meet with an adviser or vizier or whatever in the future, instead of meeting the actual ex-PC noble.

 

[Blue]

I would say they have ownership precisely to the point where it concerns trademark, copyright, or some other commercial concept.

They have zero moral right to restrict my usage in any non-commercial manner.

Moral rights. Now we're talking.

So you are asserting that your moral rights to use someone else's creation without permission exceed their rights not to have it used without permission.

Is that correct?

It's sociopathic to assume that only one person as moral rights, so how do their moral rights to their creation fit into this?

 

[Blue]

Ownership by a creator over an original character does not restrict anyone from drawing that character, writing or telling stories about that character, or using that character in a role-playing game. I don't think that restriction is a reasonable expectation by the creator, especially if left as an unspoken assumption.

This seem that you are saying that the player DOES own the character but that doesn't restrict others from using the character.

This thread is about owning, I just want to make sure I'm reading this right and not putting words in your mouth.

 

[Lanefan]

Does the character sheet matter?

I mean I never kept sheets of the characters or asked for them if they died or left the game, or even when the game ended. I feel that is the players. The concept of the character in the game world is something I do not have a problem with using. Especially in another campaign that is in the same world where I am DMing. The old PC is now a NPC, but I do not have the sheet or if the new PCs somehow chose to fight the old PC, it would not have the same powers or items. I would just run it like a monster

As DM I try to keep the character sheets, for a bunch of reasons:

--- bookkeeping, e.g. if we ever need to figure out what became of a significant magic item or if the character owes (or is owed) money
--- stats and records, as I sometimes run analyses on various character aspects and I don't make mirror copies of the sheets
--- if ever needed, I know where to find the sheet and the player knows I have it - unless my place burns down, it can't get lost

 

[Yaarel]

As DM I try to keep the character sheets, for a bunch of reasons:

--- bookkeeping, e.g. if we ever need to figure out what became of a significant magic item or if the character owes (or is owed) money
--- stats and records, as I sometimes run analyses on various character aspects and I don't make mirror copies of the sheets
--- if ever needed, I know where to find the sheet and the player knows I have it - unless my place burns down, it can't get lost

In addition, a DM needs the player character sheets to understand what each character can and cant do.

Often the DM happens to be more familiar with rules generally, and is often in the position of explaining what the rules on a character sheet mean.