I'm looking to run some groups at a local gaming shop. I'm planning on running Living Forgotten Realms content. In order to promote the game and encourage people to play I want to create plenty of pregenerated characters. The "Pregen Packet" would include: character sheet, power cards--in single trading card plastic protectors, appropriate D&D Mini. These would be for people who may want to play but don't have manuals or time to create characters, select mini(s), read rules, etc.
Question:
The information on the character sheet includes power descriptions and stuff and I don't want to infringe on WotC licensed property. So if I use the Character generator to print out the sheets and cards, and decided to ask for a couple dollars for the "Pregen Packet" to pay for my supplies (printer paper + ink, card sheets, D&D Mini) would that be breaking any rules/laws? If I output the files to a pdf and hosted them on the website I've created for our games (so nobody has to pay for a "Pregen Packet" if they don't want to and we can still maintain a little consistency at the game table) would I be breaking any rules/laws?
I don't work for the hobby shop we're playing at. I'm organizing the events and DM'ing strictly out of a love for the game, and I'm not trying to make a profit from it. However, I would like to cover my expenses.
:D
I will pass your question up to Solice.
I'd make the argument that IF you're running afoul of the law, you're doing it:
A) in a grey area that could be reasoned as fair use in a court of law
B) doing it in such small quantities that no harm is likely to come of it
C) doing so to actually promote further use/purchase of WotC goods.
So, the result is that even if it isn't to the strict letter of the law, WotC legal isn't likely to come after you, lest they be shooting themselves in the foot.
While we're on the topic of running games at your FLGS, might I recommend the RPGA? If you're looking for (free!) modules that can be run in a neatly packaged 4-5 hour timeslot, with enough content to keep people busy for months already, and for years as new mods keep coming out - it's a system that's hard to beat.
Question:
The information on the character sheet includes power descriptions and stuff and I don't want to infringe on WotC licensed property. So if I use the Character generator to print out the sheets and cards, and decided to ask for a couple dollars for the "Pregen Packet" to pay for my supplies (printer paper + ink, card sheets, D&D Mini) would that be breaking any rules/laws? If I output the files to a pdf and hosted them on the website I've created for our games (so nobody has to pay for a "Pregen Packet" if they don't want to and we can still maintain a little consistency at the game table) would I be breaking any rules/laws?
Charging: strictly speaking, yes, you're violating WotC's copyright. You're selling their intellectual property (even though it's not for 'profit', you're still generating revenue as a result of the sale). But that's not the main problem. The main problem is that if you're doing this for a store, to help them drum up business, the store should be providing that material for you and writing it off as a marketing expense. If you run a lot of demos in a semi-professional capacity, you could do the same. Otherwise, you really ought to be giving this stuff away to your players for free; anything else makes you look like a cheapskate, charging players for a couple of printed pages.
The PDF is something WotC likely wouldn't mind, and a much more elegant solution; you can print out what you need at the store and give them out.
-Lefty
INK-black (Canon Pixma PG50, ~300pgs 10% coverage/pg)
$32 / 300 pgs = $0.1066 / pg
INK-color (Canon Pixma PG51, ~75pgs/color 10% coverage/pg)
$32 / 225 pgs = $0.1422 / pg
Regular Paper (500 sheets)
$7.50 / 500 pgs = $0.015 / pg
Photopaper (100 sheets)
$15.00 / 100 pgs = $0.15 / pg
"black & white - regular paper"
black + paper = $0.12166 / pg ~ 12 cents a page
"color - regular paper"
color + black + paper = $0.2638 / pg ~ 26 cents a page
"black & white - photopaper"
black + paper = $0.2566 / pg ~ 26 cents a page
"color - photopaper"
black + color + paper = $0.3988 / pg ~ 40 cents a page
trading card single sheeths
$0.10 ea.
If I print on front and back I save myself a cent and a half per page for regular paper, and 15 cents a page for photo, and all of these figures are at 10% coverage per page. With the thick table borders for the character sheets and power cards it's more than double that.
What I was thinking of doing for the "Pre-gen Packet" was:
Character Sheet (1 sheet / character): black & white, regular paper, front & back ($0.25)
Power Cards (8-12cards/character x 9 cards/sheet = 1-2 sheets/character): color, photo paper, front only, cut out and put in trading card single sheeths ($1.20-$2.40)
So at $1.45 to $2.65 per character (my cost) a player can get a filled out character sheet and a set of power cards for that character at 1st level. If I created about 10 packets (enough to offer a range of character options to the players) that would cost me $14.50 - $26.50 in materials.
I get that it may seem like I am trying to nickel and dime the players, but that's what it would cost me in materials to put the "Pre-gen Packets" together.