FR copyrights and amateur games [Archive] - Wizards Community

FR copyrights and amateur games [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
lime73
10-27-06, 12:50 PM What are the rules on this? If you use FR content (i.e. names on cities/continents/races etc.) for a zone/world in a free MUD with everything from 10 to 50 active players, would this be a problem? I see there's a lot of D&D/FR MUDs out there.

L.
mearrin69
10-27-06, 07:37 PM I'd need more specifics (and a law degree) but this sounds like fair use of the material. There's no real difference whether you play the game (using the books you purchased) in person, over the phone, or via the internet.

This is assuming I understand you correctly
M
Ranger REG
10-28-06, 02:08 AM If you're doing in an invitation-only no-fee "private chat room" mode, it shouldn't be a problem.

See my disclaimer below.
lime73
10-28-06, 07:18 AM Well, MUDs are usually open for all though. For instance you can download a client like zMUD (from zuggsoft.com) with links to hundreds of MUDs. Also, you can visit websites like mudconnector.com which rates thousands of them. So they're not "personal invite"-games, but not moneymaking MMORGs either. It's amateur-games in the grey zone, which is basically why I asked. :)

Anyway, thx.

L.
Mirtek
10-29-06, 07:49 AM Like someone once posted in annother thread:

The people you should be asking are:
a) your lawyer
b) WotC's lawyers
c) NEVER, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES take the legal advise from the normal users on this message boards :P
MasterGrazzt
10-29-06, 04:37 PM Yeah, I'm not a lawyer either, but from my experience, I can say that most likely, unless you're making money or somehow demeaning or diminishing the Forgotten Realms brand, (note that parody probably won't fall under this, but rather an active effort to stop people from purchashing the books or somehow swaying their opinion against said brand) nobody will care, even if it is technically iffy. And if anything DOES happen, it will probably be someone telling you to cut it out, and that's that.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lime73 10-27-06, 12:50 PM	What are the rules on this? If you use FR content (i.e. names on cities/continents/races etc.) for a zone/world in a free MUD with everything from 10 to 50 active players, would this be a problem? I see there's a lot of D&D/FR MUDs out there. L.
mearrin69 10-27-06, 07:37 PM	I'd need more specifics (and a law degree) but this sounds like fair use of the material. There's no real difference whether you play the game (using the books you purchased) in person, over the phone, or via the internet. This is assuming I understand you correctly M
Ranger REG 10-28-06, 02:08 AM	If you're doing in an invitation-only no-fee "private chat room" mode, it shouldn't be a problem. See my disclaimer below.
lime73 10-28-06, 07:18 AM	Well, MUDs are usually open for all though. For instance you can download a client like zMUD (from zuggsoft.com) with links to hundreds of MUDs. Also, you can visit websites like mudconnector.com which rates thousands of them. So they're not "personal invite"-games, but not moneymaking MMORGs either. It's amateur-games in the grey zone, which is basically why I asked. :) Anyway, thx. L.
Mirtek 10-29-06, 07:49 AM	Like someone once posted in annother thread: The people you should be asking are: a) your lawyer b) WotC's lawyers c) NEVER, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES take the legal advise from the normal users on this message boards :P
MasterGrazzt 10-29-06, 04:37 PM	Yeah, I'm not a lawyer either, but from my experience, I can say that most likely, unless you're making money or somehow demeaning or diminishing the Forgotten Realms brand, (note that parody probably won't fall under this, but rather an active effort to stop people from purchashing the books or somehow swaying their opinion against said brand) nobody will care, even if it is technically iffy. And if anything DOES happen, it will probably be someone telling you to cut it out, and that's that.