RPGA Report: Summer Events Heat Up With New Content!
by Chris Tulach
This summer, we're adding real value to your convention-going experiences with a number of new offerings for existing programs that you can take advantage of in your own backyard. Here's what to look for.
Talk about this Article here.
RPGA Report: Summer Events Heat Up With New Content!
by Chris Tulach
This summer, we're adding real value to your convention-going experiences with a number of new offerings for existing programs that you can take advantage of in your own backyard. Here's what to look for.
Talk about this Report here. (I'm going to try to get the "official" discussion thread pointed here as well).
The new GenCon stuff looks pretty cool too. Adventure mini-series, Ultimate Dungeon Delve details, and the new AC Adventure.
Squeee!
The adventures created by DMs from the My Realms adventure packet will be non-distributable, since they contain WotC IP, copyrighted, trademarked, and other legal mumbo-jumboed material. That means you want to write an adventure and DM it? Awesome. You want to run the adventure over and over for different groups? Rock on. You want to give it to friends to run for other tables? Not cool. This is something we are doing because we think people will enjoy it and it can add a lot to the campaign. But I also know that if it gets abused, it will be removed.
It shouldn't be long (a couple weeks or three) before the first My Realms adventure packet is available, along with the accompanying web information, so hang in there for further details.
Shawn
A web article should go up when the first My Realms adventure packet is ready for release. What I say here may be over-written by that article, but this is what I expect. The first My Realms adventure packet will allow DMs to create their own adventures for the low-heroic tier of play, and therefore PCs level 1-4 can play in them. In the future, a mid-heroic tier My Realms adventure packet (for levels 4-7) will be released. Then after that, a high-heroic tier (for levels 7-10) will be released. I do not know how many will be released in total.
The adventures created by DMs from the My Realms adventure packet will be non-distributable, since they contain WotC IP, copyrighted, trademarked, and other legal mumbo-jumboed material. That means you want to write an adventure and DM it? Awesome. You want to run the adventure over and over for different groups? Rock on. You want to give it to friends to run for other tables? Not cool. This is something we are doing because we think people will enjoy it and it can add a lot to the campaign. But I also know that if it gets abused, it will be removed.
It shouldn't be long (a couple weeks or three) before the first My Realms adventure packet is available, along with the accompanying web information, so hang in there for further details.
Shawn
Shawn,
I don't understand why we wouldn't be able the material we individually created for My Realms with other DMs who are running My Realms as part of a legitimate LFR event. Will this be clear when things are finally released? Thanks.
First of all, I am not WotC, or a lawyer, or any sort of expert on IP. I am only one administrator in one campaign in one part of WotC. I only truly know what we can and cannot do as instructed by WotC, not the reasons why the framework is what it is.
So to answer your question as simply as possible, the reason we wouldn't be able to share our personal My Realms material is because that is not in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth by the My Realms adventure. And I am not exempt from this. Everything I write and distribute I have to do through the same channels as everyone else. And if I write a My Realms adventure, I would be able to DM it for a table of players, and I could not distribute it for others to run.
I am not sure I understand your question, as I think you are missing some word like "share" or a synonym. But I will answer what I think you intented to ask.
First of all, I am not WotC, or a lawyer, or any sort of expert on IP. I am only one administrator in one campaign in one part of WotC. I only truly know what we can and cannot do as instructed by WotC, not the reasons why the framework is what it is.
So to answer your question as simply as possible, the reason we wouldn't be able to share our personal My Realms material is because that is not in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth by the My Realms adventure. And I am not exempt from this. Everything I write and distribute I have to do through the same channels as everyone else. And if I write a My Realms adventure, I would be able to DM it for a table of players, and I could not distribute it for others to run.
I was indeed missing the word "share". And based on your response, I think I will forego further questions about this until I actually see the packet, as your answer seems to be of the "it's in the packet" nature.
One workaround I can see is if multiple people get together to author a work. Might allow at least a small pool of author-DMs instead of just one person.
Technically, there was nothing stopping you previously from writing a Forgotten Realms adventure, going to a convention, and running it for players. There's no distribution going on if you as the author and DM are the only one who gets to read the adventure.
Only now, following whatever rules My Realms sets forth, your players can get LFR credit for the event.
-karma
The adventures created by DMs from the My Realms adventure packet will be non-distributable, since they contain WotC IP, copyrighted, trademarked, and other legal mumbo-jumboed material. That means you want to write an adventure and DM it? Awesome. You want to run the adventure over and over for different groups? Rock on. You want to give it to friends to run for other tables? Not cool.
In this scenario I can do this:
a) Write up an adventure, print it out, take the print out to my friend's house, use the print out to run the adventure and then I take the print out home.
But I can't do this:
b) Write up an adventure, print it out, take the print out to my friend's house, have my friend run the adventure and then I take the print out home.
That just seems silly and ridiculous. I understand that the legal department has most likely come up with this restriction. But that doesn't make the restriction any less silly or ridiculous.
Unless of course I've misunderstood what I can and can't do. In which case ignore everything I've said.
NOTE: I am not flaming anyone associated with the RPGA or WotC. I'm not even flaming Hasbro's legal department. It could be that scenario (b) is significantly different to scenario (a) under the law (although that doesn't make it any less silly or ridiculous if it is).
Can I run the "My LFR Adventure" at a public event and it counts for the players or is this for private play only?
We will have to wait and see what the final answer is on running them at public events. They can definitely be run at private events.
To answer another question asked elsewhere, PCs can play them multiple times at each tier. However, the PC might be a bit behind the proverbial curve in terms of rewards if they get too high a ratio to My Realms games versus other LFR play opportunities. While you certainly could run a complete LFR campaign with only My Realms adventures, they are truly meant to supplement the regular adventures, not replace them.
In this scenario I can do this:
a) Write up an adventure, print it out, take the print out to my friend's house, use the print out to run the adventure and then I take the print out home.
But I can't do this:
b) Write up an adventure, print it out, take the print out to my friend's house, have my friend run the adventure and then I take the print out home.
That just seems silly and ridiculous. I understand that the legal department has most likely come up with this restriction. But that doesn't make the restriction any less silly or ridiculous.
(Disclaimer: IANAL)
Yup, as I understand it, that's exactly the issue. When you buy copyrighted material, you're allowed to use it for creating your own adventures, but when you give stuff you've written to someone else to DM, then you're considered to be "publishing", and in violation of the IP rights of the original author.
KarmaInferno and I both worked on the independent Legends of the Shining Jewel campaign (which was originally an extension of Living City, and set in the Realms), and so, we've seen how this works first-hand. When WotC's legal team learned that LSJ was using Realms IP material, they forced LSJ to stop using that material (the same thing happened to Living Sarbreenar over in the UK).
As I understand it, if an IP owner *doesn't* put a stop to such use of their IP when they learn of it, they risk losing their rights to their own IP. So, yeah, it may be a pain, but that's the way the law works.
As I understand it, if an IP owner *doesn't* put a stop to such use of their IP when they learn of it, they risk losing their rights to their own IP. So, yeah, it may be a pain, but that's the way the law works.
That's true only for trademarks. Copyright can never be lost this way.
The current DME rules, undefined as they are, can theoretically let a DM exercise great control over a mod, rewriting it to their needs.
Example: Many of us in Portland, OR are trying to promote 4E and gain new players for LFR. A store in our area agreed to let us run the mod, but that day is their "zombie" day, so they asked us for mods with zombies or to add in zombies. I wrote up a change to CORE1-2, which I know well and love as-is, so that it has zombies in one of the encounters. I'm pretty confident I made some nice balanced changes that preserve the feel and difficulty of the original encounter, and which will be enjoyed in the same way by players old and new, experienced and inexperienced. Then again, I have decent experience in putting together adventures and I have run that mod some 4 times and played it three times.
But, I could have done a terrible job. In looking over "zombie" in the DDI Database, there are some broken combos I could have thrown at the party and made the fight much more of a challenge. This would likely be a disaster, as the mod gets harder after that and the mod works best with an easy initial fight. New players, getting hammered early and TPKed in the last battle, might conclude LFR is bad, the RPGA is bad, and that they should play Legend of the Five Rings (which rocks too!).
And that, I think, is the issue. WotC and RPGA want a format that players you know up front that the DM employed creative license. Just like you know that the PH2 gameday promotes the PH2 and the MM2 promotes monsters, people should know that My Realms promotes DM creativity. They should also know, all the time, that when they play LFR they will get what went through the author/admin/WotC review process. It is a nice protection for players.
By placing My Realms in one more open category and LFR in a more closed category you get much better IP control. This works in everyone's interest. If My Realms were out now, that's what I would have used to meet the needs of the store, and the players would know that this was a special modified adventure under those rules. It becomes a selling point instead of a liability. Come, create if you wish! Or, if you want stability, play all the other mods.
From the conversations on the boards, it sounds as if admins have worked hard to make this happen so as to provide freedom to those DMs wishing for some creative control. That's awesome! It would have been far easier to rewrite DME to not allow creativity.
The one area left hanging is the idea of contributing to the campaign. Many DMs making My Realms changes will want to share their creations. But, they can't. That's a shame in some cases. I'm sure some real genius will never be shared because of the rule. But, one step at a time. What we get is a good first offering and if it becomes popular enough we just might see that rule open up. The reverse will be true if we abuse it.
The idea of the Adventuring Companies mods is similar. I think many of us have seen tremendous excitement over ACs, then seen interest drop radically. The AC is very little without a stable group you play with. And, even then, the rule limiting players to one PC in an AC makes it very difficult for that RP link to stay active. It is too easy for one player to play too little and one or two to play a lot and soon the levels don't match up and the AC fragments. The AC mods is a good attempt to provide some new plot and to encourage ACs, but I suspect more is needed. In particular, I would love to see players be allowed any number of PCs in one AC.
KarmaInferno and I both worked on the independent Legends of the Shining Jewel campaign (which was originally an extension of Living City, and set in the Realms), and so, we've seen how this works first-hand. When WotC's legal team learned that LSJ was using Realms IP material, they forced LSJ to stop using that material (the same thing happened to Living Sarbreenar over in the UK).
Well, almost the same thing.
We had been operating under the assumption that a previously documented, established legal agreement was still in effect, and we had permission to use the properties. Obviously, WotC disagreed, so we acquiesced to their request to remove the content.
I'm not sure Sarbreenar had a similar legal standing.
-karma
Well, almost the same thing.
We had been operating under the assumption that a previously documented, established legal agreement was still in effect, and we had permission to use the properties. Obviously, WotC disagreed, so we acquiesced to their request to remove the content.
I'm not sure Sarbreenar had a similar legal standing.
Very true; I'd forgotten about that part.
The one area left hanging is the idea of contributing to the campaign. Many DMs making My Realms changes will want to share their creations. But, they can't. That's a shame in some cases. I'm sure some real genius will never be shared because of the rule. But, one step at a time. What we get is a good first offering and if it becomes popular enough we just might see that rule open up. The reverse will be true if we abuse it.
Well, those people can always contact the local PoC of the region or a global they want to set the adventure in to see whether they can make it an official adventure ;) We are always looking for more authors, although, due to deadlines and review processes it might take months before the adventure is released or the writing administrator might ask to stick to a few plotpoints.
I think the point is brand identity, less than copyright/trademark. It isn't that they think they will lose the right to Drizzt, but rather that a DM might hack a mod, include Drizzt in a really lame way, and erode the quality of their intellectual property.
I'll be honest, I'm having a really hard time buying the "quality control" or "brand identity" argument.
We already have DME, which means that not all scenarios will be run the same way. And that's sort of implied anyways -- two judges won't run the scenario the same way. And it's more than that as well: two groups won't react the same way either.
Example: Is it surprising that in AGLA1-1 some PCs might actually *help* the cultists instead of stopping them?
And then with My Realms we're allowed to use IP, to write something from nothing with *zero* oversight and approval, and do non-canonical stuff.
So I apologize, but to me saying that it dilutes IP or that it's due to maintaining quality control is a little hard to believe.
Sounds like IP protection and QC to me.
Using DME as an argument doesn't work that well either. It's already been stated time and again that DME isn't meant to allow a DM to do anything they want to the module (i.e. reskinning). It's just a shame they didn't write better guidelines on it to start.
If you only reference the monsters & powers and such by name, and create everything else for the campaign yourself, not using any WotC owned trademarked names (like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk), you are basically following the D&D 4.0 Game System License.
As a GSL compliant adventure you have permission from WotC through the license to use the D&D 4.0 system, monsters, & powers in your product and can distribute it or sell it.
See the GSL web pages here for specifics:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/welcome
It will NOT be LFR-compatible, however, and cannot be used to advance LFR characters.
You might be able to get credit in the RPGA for running a home game, basically getting rewards for your DM, but not LFR credit.
"My Realms", as detailed in the link from the first post in this thread, is a new option for the Living Forgotten Realms campaign. As described, it will allow DMs to write their own adventures set in the Forgotten Realms, and have it count for official RPGA LFR credit when the event is reported.
You will have to follow a few restrictions, however. The actual document detailing all the stuff to My Realms has not yet been released, but we know it that each My Realms packet will include story hooks, monsters, and treasure awards, and the rest you flesh out as you see fit.
You will almost certainly be required to stick to the treasure awards specified in each My Realms packet, but the rest is uncertain.
One last restriction. You cannot share the stuff you write for My Realms with other people. At all. You can run the adventure for your players, but you can't let anyone actually read your adventure.
If you want to share your stuff, you can't do it through My Realms. Sorry. Go look at the GSL page for other options.
-karma
It's just not really related to LFR or My Realms.
Think of them as different types of license contracts, used for different purposes.
The GSL is the 4E version of the Open Gaming License, and is used to make 3rd party 4E products.
My Realms is so you and your players can get LFR play credit.
-karma
(There's some arguement that the GSL is just a bad license, since it really gives you nothing that IP law doesn't already give you, but is more restrictive than IP law, but that's a seperate discussion)
There's still a dangling question that hasn't been answered...How would it work if 3 different people write a My Realms adventure together? IMO, there should be a way to play your own mod and let someone else run it.
That will be addressed when further information on My Realms adventures is released.
That will be addressed when further information on My Realms adventures is released.
Any idea when this will be? The article says "Late May", and Friday's about as late as you can get unless it's getting (surprise!) pushed back.
Any idea when this will be? The article says "Late May", and Friday's about as late as you can get unless it's getting (surprise!) pushed back.
~shrug~ When they said "Late May" I heard "Early June" since a little birdy tells me that's when new D&D Rules Updates and the new CCG are slated to hit. It would seem efficient, to me, to drop this information along with the CCG. (not IN the CCG, but alongside it).