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#1 |
Join Date: Jan 2024
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HI,
I should ask a lawyer this, but I thought I'd start here first. I want to make an RPG adventure, I want to make it generic so any system can be used. I'd like to direct the purchaser to a webpage that has stats for various system. Am I stepping on any copyright by having "The Fantasy Trip Stats" for all the NPCs listed in the adventure? |
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#2 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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I recommend you read this page. If it does not answer your question, shoot an email to the address on it.
https://www.sjgames.com/general/online_policy.html
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My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more! My GURPS fan contribution and blog: REFPLace GURPS Landing Page My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items) My GURPS Wiki entries |
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#3 | |
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Hmm, looks like Earth, circa CE 2020+
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And I agree with Refplace on checking that link! Lawyers can charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for something that a person could do on their own in an hour or so. (I'm speaking from experience.)
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Top 12 Clues You’re a Role-Playing Old-Timer What it says! Pyramid #4/4: Fantasy/Magic II! Add Sparkle To Your GURPS Game GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves My first GURPS supplement |
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#4 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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On the other hand, lawyers are famously reluctant to give legal advice unless you officially become their client. If they just dole out generic advice that doesn't take into account the unique details of your situation, they could get in significant trouble.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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#5 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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I would note that there's some uncertainty in how copyright law applies to RPGs... but the reason it's uncertain is that no-one has found it worth the money to litigate that divide, and you likely don't want to be the first. If a game has a published policy that you can work with, much better to work with it even if you might be able to get away with more.
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#6 |
Join Date: May 2007
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Note also that, in legal questions, "what the law actually says" is often less important than "who has the best lawyers" or "who can afford to drag out the case the longest before the other party is forced to concede for want of money", and the answer to either question is unlikely to be you. For example, it took years of expensive court proceedings to rule that Warner Chapell Music could no longer shake people down for money when they sang "Happy Birthday", despite it always having been a matter of public record that the song had been written too early to still be copyrighted.
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I predicted GURPS:Dungeon Fantasy several hours before it came out and all I got was this lousy sig. Last edited by ravenfish; 01-17-2024 at 10:50 AM. |
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#7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Lots of people will tell you lots of things. None of them will cite any particularly on-point precedents in actual US case law, because all the actually-litigated cases involving RPGs since their first publication 50 years ago wound up either settled or decided on the basis of non-copyright matters (contracts, prior settlement agreements, and so on). Also note that the people telling you things will almost exclusively talk about US law. Few people can give you a particularly good explanation as to what would happen if someone went after you in a non-US court, which, given the character of the Internet and the terms of international copyright treaties, is something of an oversight. (Only something of one because, even though theoretically possible, you are unlikely to actually be pursued by a publisher under non-US law, if only because most are US-based and so have no easy means of pursuing a case in the many, many jurisdictions that have legal systems that have never heard of, for example, "fair use".) Anyway, the safe thing to do is limit yourself, whenever offering material for a system, to things you have written permission from that system's publisher to do (whether from an open license, a posted online policy, or a specific-to-you authorization). This will, unfortunately, often be more limited or more complicated than what you'd like to do.
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Steven E. Ehrbar GURPS Technomancer resources. Including The Renegade Mage's Unofficial GURPS Magic Spell Errata, last updated July 7th, 2023. |
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