Lone Wolf Development Forums - Realm Works Content Submission Guidelines

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- - Realm Works Content Submission Guidelines (http://forums.wolflair.com/showthread.php?t=57643)

This particular character is in the game rules, though.

I suppose I could create a character that acts as his agent, and mention that the GM can swap him out for the boss. Given what you've suggested, that sounds like a good compromise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob (Post 243899)

A character from the books would definitely cross the line into the use of copyrighted material, so that would be a no-no without express permission to do so. :(

Probably the best thing to do would be to create your own character that the story centers on. I believe you could then safely suggest that those familiar with the books can readily swap out the NPC you create for the known character. Mentioning the character once as something that users could swap ought to be fair use. Going beyond that pushes further into grey areas of legality, which is definitely something we want to avoid.

If you create this story, it really should be playable by anyone that has the game rules. Familiarity with the books should not be required to use your story, just as you don't have to read the books to play the game. Therefore, I think you should probably provide an original NPC that the story centers on. It will ensure that the story can even be used by someone unfamiliar with the Dresden Files game system that wants to adapt the story to a different game system.

Ultimately, BJ, with input from the Grey Council, is going to have the final say on what is/isn't acceptable. So this is something you might want to discuss with BJ once everything is officially "live". I believe BJ is still finalizing things before officially opening the submissions.

Yes, you will all answer to my whims! Muahaha! But seriously, as much as I would love to see Dresden Files in Realm Works, I believe Rob is correct, what you are proposing is copyright infringement. You'll need to be careful. You can read about what is and what isn't OGL over on the Evil Hat website.

Hmm... that post from Evil Hat is from 2010.

The bit about Jim Butcher embracing the Creative Commons licensing for fan fiction seems to allow the use of characters

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil Hat Announcement

This is the goodness, then. You can post about your games, share your ideas about how to hack the setting, the stories that result from your games, etc, under this policy. Jim’s intellectual property remains protected, and since our specific game largely falls under that umbrella, you’re pretty much in the clear from there.

The problem is that Realm Works is a NEW publishing medium. Policies like this may need to be tweaked to account for the differences, and that will take time. In addition, the first few people jumping into gray areas like this would be the ones most likely to become "test cases" in court.

It would probably be best, EightBitz, if you asked Evil Hat about how they see Realm Works fitting into that policy before doing anything that may get you into trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silveras (Post 243939)

It would probably be best, EightBitz, if you asked Evil Hat about how they see Realm Works fitting into that policy before doing anything that may get you into trouble.

That would be the best route yes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ (Post 243953)

That would be the best route yes!

I asked Evil Hat a while back when I was working on the Hero Lab data set.

The basic gist was that including the names of skills and supernatural powers and such, along with the scripted mechanics and inner workings, was OK. Including textual descriptions would have to comply with fair use. When I asked them if they could provide guidelines, they said they couldn't, because they have a license to release the game, but they don't own the actual content. So just to be safe, whenever I've shared the data set (including the recent posting on GitHub), I've made sure to share it without descriptions of anything. It sucks, but it's better than nothing.

That, right there, was the reason I first wrote the redaction script, so I ever make any changes, I don't have to make them twice, once in my copy and once in the distribution copy. I can just make them once in my copy, then run my script to make a distribution copy.

The answer for HeroLab and the answer for Realm Works are likely to be quite different.

HeroLab works with implementing game rules, which have different Intellectual Property laws governing them than story element (names of characters/places/etc., descriptions of characters/places/etc., events/plot/etc.). Realm Works, in contrast, works specifically with story elements, and is rules agnostic. Those story elements operate under different laws and licenses than game mechanics do.

Could this be stickied in a location that is easy to find in the forums. I remembered that it existed, but spent some time try to relocate this
Thanks
Chumbly

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumblybjm (Post 245038)

Could this be stickied in a location that is easy to find in the forums. I remembered that it existed, but spent some time try to relocate this
Thanks
Chumbly

As you wish! :)

Hmmmm, now that the content market is available, can the sticky link be updated/corrected? It leads to a 404 error.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyteach (Post 277532)

Hmmmm, now that the content market is available, can the sticky link be updated/corrected? It leads to a 404 error.

From where are you linking, flyteach?

Are you referring to this link on wolflair.com:

https://sales.lonewolfdevel.com/Products/RW-Content