Will Mages of the Beach get mad if i convert magic cards to monsters?
Don
First Post
As long as you don't use any trademarks or copy their descriptions verbatim, there's nothing they can do legally...although the sending of baseless Cease-and-Desist letters are all the rage with corps nowadays.
I think there's some stupid copyright laws that apply to the way you display information, too, so you might not want to use the official d20 stat block.
I'm still hoping someone will have the time to make public domain spell cards (i.e. with spell descriptions written in their own words, not bound by the Open Gaming License nonsense).
I think there's some stupid copyright laws that apply to the way you display information, too, so you might not want to use the official d20 stat block.
I'm still hoping someone will have the time to make public domain spell cards (i.e. with spell descriptions written in their own words, not bound by the Open Gaming License nonsense).
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
As long as you don't sell them for money, you're home free. Otherwise the Creature Catalog is highly illegal, and this site's been getting threatening letters from WotC. Since it hasn't...
Greatwyrm
Been here a while...
(Psi)SeveredHead said:
We've been down this road a thousand times. Profit has absolutely nothing to do with copyright infringement. If I scan the Monster Manual and put it on the web as a .pdf for free, I have violated WotC's copyright and should expect to get sued.
If you want to use Magic as inspiration for other creatures, you'd be in a better situation. As a previous poster said, don't use any of their trademarks, artwork, etc. Bear in mind, you're still walking a pretty thin line.
You are pretty much free to do as you please as long as it's for your own use. If you want Sengir Vampires in your own Saturday-night game, go right ahead. But as soon as you put your Sengir Vampire on the web or something everybody to use, you're stepping on WotC's toes.
Gamecat, seriously, why don't you approach WOTC and see if they would hire you to design a Monster Compendium complete with creatures from M:TG. If you really do have the time see if they would be willing to publish a book with converted monsters using their d20 system.
This would be good for everyone, the company, you, and fellow gamers.
This would be good for everyone, the company, you, and fellow gamers.
Gaiden said:
In the past, MotB have been reluctant to tie these franchises together, because they don't want to dilute the Magic brand. I think that the logic goes something like this: "We don't want to lose our profitable M:TG players to our D&D franchise."
Asking couldn't hurt, though.
Gez
First Post
Gaiden said:
I prefer Lizards on the Toast myself. This was a card from Guardian.
Legally, you should know if some of the name you want to use are trademark. I mean, "Hill Giant" is hardly trademarkable, except in a strange country where everyone is obsessed by lawyers and trials, and where you could trademark common names like "windows" or "bookshelf" and sue people who use them. But such a nightmarish country is pure fiction, isn't it ? Well, if the name is free, like, uh, Snow Goblin or Merfolk Lord, you can do what you want with it, provided you don't use the art or flavor text used on the card. For something like a Sengir Vampire, it's more tricky -- Sengir may be trademarked. You could go away by using a similar name (like Mithril/Mithral, or Warg/Worg, you know) and call them Sengian Vampire or Senger Vampire. Or even Sengyr Vampire, eheheh.
Now, giving d20 stats to these MtG creatures would not be exactly like scanning the MM and publishing it on Internet. After all, it would be an adaptation to a totally different media, not a "warez" version. But I don't think you could put them under the OGL and d20 licenses, unless you cheat with the names.
