Game Aids: A Question

[TheAmishStig]

A little background: I'm in the process of making game aids for GEV / Ogre Minis level play...unit identification and quick reference, meant to compliment the 'Terrain Effects' sheet. Part of that involves taking pictures of the counters, hex overlays, etc.

This is the first time I've made a game aid using pictures of components instead of sticking to excerpts of rules text...is there anything I need to be doing beyond putting the standard Content Policy disclaimers in place, and does using pictures of the tokens preclude me from sharing pictures of the final product (in the context of "Check out this cool thing")?

Forgive me if it's a stupid question...when it comes to IP rights, it's one of those situations where it's way better to ask first, not ask forgiveness.

[brunns]

For personal use, or are you going to distribute them, or even sell them?

Either way, I'm not going to offer advice, but I think that detail would be useful.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by brunns

For personal use, or are you going to distribute them, or even sell them?

Either way, I'm not going to offer advice, but I think that detail would be useful.

Good call.

Selling is absolutely off-limits...will start there because that's the easy one. No, no, (fnord) no, absolutely not.

Personal use is the intent, but I don't know where stuff like "Hey forum guys, check out this cool thing I made" crosses the line into distribution, specifically because this is the first project that does more than condense / paraphrase / reformat excerpts of text.

Now that the GEV maps are back in play (thanks to Battle Box and Battlefields), Ogre Minis (the figures) are out, and Ogre Minis (the game) is out, I'm anticipating a lot more "What does this do again?" style questions, and am cooking up a set of "Unit Recognition Cards". Oversized cards that contain all the "what was that again?" information for a single unit...pictures, stats, "Movement Type", and a symbol-based reference of terrain effects for that unit.

The goal is to pair them with the Terrain Effects sheet from ODE (the back of the "Quick Reference" PDF), so that terrain can be referenced either by unit or by hex.

[Cat]

I've done mine up for personal use with counter images from the 'skins' pdfs, but haven't put them online for others to use. Hopefully the powers that be will allow this sort of thing to be shared; it is an extremely needed resource.

[Mallen the dark]

There is a section on the play aids page that I think answers these questions or did a few years back.

Back then, I was planning to write something really useful. But life got in the way. Now others have written different things.

But you are wise to ask.

[TheAmishStig]

I've been using the 'not official' and 'game aid' disclaimers (removing the anchor tag in favor of listing the URL, because you can't click to follow links on a piece of paper) on my Car Wars stuff for a couple years now.

Some of them [printed/enlarged movement & control charts] are useful for avoiding "Pass me the book..." or squinted "which line is which..." moments, and the "condensed" versions are useful for taking some of the intimidation factor out of it for those who have never played before...but none of them are so cool I feel the urge to take a full-frame picture and say "Hey guys, check this out".

With what I'm cooking up for Ogre...just the mental images have me excited enough that the urge is already there.

So like you said: Better safe than sorry.

[Misplaced Buckeye]

I create the "Quick Play" and One Page cheat sheets for when I gm but normally just in back and white. If someone take them hey maybe it might make them buy the game.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by Misplaced Buckeye

If someone take them hey maybe it might make them buy the game.

I bought a few of the gatefolds for that very reason. Somebody at a con event really takes a shining to the game, slip them a gatefold as a memento...in hopes that they start agitating for the big box.

[hcobb]

I'm still stuck at my comfort level for the automated tools on my webpage. (Link at HJC)

If I pushed them much further then it would be an online form of the game which is a no-no.

[TheAmishStig]

Originally Posted by hcobb

I'm still stuck at my comfort level for the automated tools on my webpage. (Link at HJC)

If I pushed them much further then it would be an online form of the game which is a no-no.

This is a total non-sequitur, but thank you. I've been trying to remember where I saw "Ogrethulhu eye as laser" for months now. I never thought to check the rest of your site because I have the regular unit calculator bookmarked...