Question on Including an OGL with Article

[mook]

Howdy Folks -

I was thinking of submitting an article on using Fate Aspects with GURPS for the future 'Alternate GURPS II' Pyramid issue. Thing is, I assume that would require including the Fudge/Fate OGL, which is just over 1,000 words by itself, nearly 1/3 to 1/4 of most Pyramid articles!

Would a hyperlink to the online OGL be sufficient, or does the entire text need to be included with the article? (Question asked publicly as I imagine the answer could benefit others).

Thanks!

[Steven Marsh]

Frankly, I'd rather not worry about the entire matter; trying to figure out what's needed with OGL material in Pyramid is a whole brand of headache I don't wanna deal with. :-)

[mook]

Fair enough! Neither did I - glad I asked first. :)

(Note: If I ever actually write something up, instead of just doing it in my own games, naturally I'll post it on my website and give a shout out to the GURPS board).

[Pragmatic]

If I might suggest, put the link to your website in your signature. Just posting a link tends to be called "link dumping," and for some reason (which is likely a good reason, and anyway, it's THEIR boards...) they frown on that.

[mook]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

If I might suggest, put the link to your website in your signature. Just posting a link tends to be called "link dumping," and for some reason (which is likely a good reason, and anyway, it's THEIR boards...) they frown on that.

I imagine it will be fine - at least, it has in the past.

I think link dumping is more like, well, just dumping a link onto a board where it doesn't really fit, or with no explanation of what it is. Providing links to useful game aids, with discussion of exactly what they are, I believe to be not only tolerated but actively encouraged. :)

[Kuroshima]

Disclaimer: Not a lawyer

You don't need to include the OGL for using the ideas behind the Aspects, only if you want to reuse the wording. Game mechanics can not be copyrighted, their expression can. Some games have taken the Aspect idea (IIRC Houses of the Blooded, Icons) given it their own spin, and published it without referencing Fate or their OGL

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Disclaimer: Not a lawyer

You don't need to include the OGL for using the ideas behind the Aspects, only if you want to reuse the wording. Game mechanics can not be copyrighted, their expression can. Some games have taken the Aspect idea (IIRC Houses of the Blooded, Icons) given it their own spin, and published it without referencing Fate or their OGL

I was going to post something very much like the above.

[Steven Marsh]

Lest anyone's ideas move in an odd fashion...

I will note that, if anyone were to submit an article that took another game's concept and adapted it directly, without informing me of the idea's origins, I would not look favorably on that.

This is separate from any copyright issues. I don't want to run a 5,000-word article that can be exactly summed up as "Read the Cool New Power chapter from Other Cool RPG, only use an IQ roll instead of the Smarts attribute." That's a 20-word article. :-)

This isn't to say that you can't be inspired by other games. However, the distinction is usually pretty clear. Ours is a relatively small industry, and I'd rather not ruffle feathers by taking another company's ideas whole cloth . . . even if it may be technically done in a legal fashion.

(Please note that I'm not accusing the original querier of this in the slightest. However, many times these threads have an undead lifespan, and I see a potential for confusion in the realm of "you can't copyright ideas" for someone else who may stumble upon this thread in the future.)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

If I might suggest, put the link to your website in your signature. Just posting a link tends to be called "link dumping," and for some reason (which is likely a good reason, and anyway, it's THEIR boards...) they frown on that.

Posting a link without context is link dumping.

"This is my article about using Fate points and Aspects (from FATE) in GURPS." is not link dumping. Just posting a link in an otherwise empty post (or with some extremely vague statement that looks like you wrote a decent post and then deliberately edited out the useful parts to be more mysterious or something) is.

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

(snippage)

Just saying, he'll get more traffic from a link in his signature, than in a thread that'll drop to page 5 within a couple of weeks...