OGL and GSL rundown...in english - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

OGL and GSL rundown...in english

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
aitrus
Jul 02, 2013 11:58:51 Basically, I love D&D! I DM for my group of friends and always end up creating homebrew solutions such as items, feats, races, classes, and lots of adventures. They are generally well liked by the group. So, I figured if I am going to all this trouble...why not publish my stuff.

So, I need to get familiar with OGL and GSL...except all the legal-ese is very confusing and I am not able to get a legal consultation.

Can anyone give me an english overview?

Can I publish my own work, and possibly make a little money off of it? What do I need to do? Do I need to get permission from WotC? or just reference their material when necessary?

Is it edition specific? are the rules different between 3e and 4e?

Any help would be great
#2
bone_naga
Jul 02, 2013 19:40:04 Ok, I'm not a lawyer but I've become rather accustomed to reading and interpreting legalese.

They are not edition-specific. The OGL is associated with 3e and the GSL is associated with 4e, but you can use the OGL for a product of any edition. The GSL is much more restrictive than the OGL. However, the GSL allows you to slap a D&D logo on your product, which may be important if you are doing this for profit, but if it's a free product than probably not so much. You could also create a product with no license at all, although most people prefer having a clear set of do's and dont's to work with.

Personally, I prefer the OGL. It's much easier to work with and can't be revoked. However, keep in mind that anything you publish via the OGL can be stolen and used in any other OGL product.

Also, you need to understand the difference between the licenses and the SRD (system reference document). The SRDs between 3e and 4e are drastically different. In 3e, the SRD was basically the core rules minus pictures and fluff. This allowed people to copy and paste entire sections of the PHB and republish them under the OGL. The 4e SRD is basically just a list of terms you can use. It's pretty useless because you can already reference terms just as part of fair use.

It's important to understand this because even though you can use the OGL to publish 4e material, since the 4e SRD is much more limited you cannot copy and paste entire PHB chapters from 4e like you could from 3e.

Here is a set of articles written by an IP lawyer that may help you out loremaster.org/content.php/123-protectio...
#3
aitrus
Jul 02, 2013 21:07:50 Now how does a publisher like paizo get around that? I'm sure they used the OGL to make Pathfinder but I'm also sure they copyrighted the hell out of it so no one could use it without say so. How does that comply with the OGL?

Also, does the OGL prevent specific content? For instance if I wanted to make content for under mountain in FR, fill in every inch of the dungeon...could I do that? Or do I have to whitewash it and make everything generalized?
#4
Bomberg
Jul 03, 2013 3:07:51 You have to take the SRD into account. The Open Gaming License is a formal construct one can attach to pretty much anything. There are games around which use the OGL and having next to nothing in common with D&D; they just use a (similar) legal coinstruct.

The System Reference Document (SRD) is an abridged extract of the 3e and 3.5e rules of D&D. This content is subject to the OGL and can thus be used in other products by 3rd party publishers. Think of the SRD as D&D without serlect items. You'll find orcs and Magic Missile in there, but no beholder or Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound.

So Paizo built its Pathfinder game on the basis of the SRD.

The OGL doesn't prevent any specific content; what's published under the OGL can be used and re-used. But the FR material isn't published under OGL. So using any FR-specific stuff - like names - is a violation of copyright.
#5
aitrus
Jul 03, 2013 7:01:03 Thanks for the advice...now I just need to build a customer base
#6
bone_naga
Jul 04, 2013 22:53:27
Now how does a publisher like paizo get around that? I'm sure they used the OGL to make Pathfinder but I'm also sure they copyrighted the hell out of it so no one could use it without say so. How does that comply with the OGL? Also, does the OGL prevent specific content? For instance if I wanted to make content for under mountain in FR, fill in every inch of the dungeon...could I do that? Or do I have to whitewash it and make everything generalized?

Paizo didn't get around anything. Like I said, the SRD is separate from the OGL. You can use the OGL with whatever material you want to publish for any edition, but only the SRD from 3e included basically the entire 3e PHB. Since Pathfinder is basically 3.75, well there you go.

Even if it wasn't, I think (I could be wrong as it's been a while since I read through the books) Pathfinder is actually mostly "original" (as in tweaked enough to probably count as original) so they could probably have published it even without the 3e SRD.

You can publish a 4e supplement through the OGL but since the 4e SRD only includes the word "Fighter" rather than the entire ruleset for a fighter, you could not take the fighter entry from the 4e PHB and paste it into your own product. However, you could make your own system that used the same framework as 4e and make your own class called a fighter and publish it. You just couldn't make your fighter entry identical to WotC's. Basically, the specific text is protected, the general rules are not. I'm not sure if I'm helping here or if that confused you, but again go read the Protection From Chaos articles as they are very helpful in regards to understanding IP laws and gaming.

Bomberg already explained that the campaign-specific stuff was not released under OGL and so you cannot use it without WotC's permission. At least not for profit. If you create your own personal adventure for your group, well that's what D&D is all about, and even if you release it online, you're generally ok if it's free and you release it as your own homebrew adventure rather than as part of a product line from your own personal company (free or not I wouldn't do that since that may cross the line and go beyond fair use but again I'm not a lawyer). There's a world of difference between "hey guys check out my homebrew FR adventure, courtesy of bone_naga" and "hey guys here's a link to a new FR adventure published by Bone Naga Studios".

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 aitrus Jul 02, 2013 11:58:51	Basically, I love D&D! I DM for my group of friends and always end up creating homebrew solutions such as items, feats, races, classes, and lots of adventures. They are generally well liked by the group. So, I figured if I am going to all this trouble...why not publish my stuff. So, I need to get familiar with OGL and GSL...except all the legal-ese is very confusing and I am not able to get a legal consultation. Can anyone give me an english overview? Can I publish my own work, and possibly make a little money off of it? What do I need to do? Do I need to get permission from WotC? or just reference their material when necessary? Is it edition specific? are the rules different between 3e and 4e? Any help would be great
#2 bone_naga Jul 02, 2013 19:40:04	Ok, I'm not a lawyer but I've become rather accustomed to reading and interpreting legalese. They are not edition-specific. The OGL is associated with 3e and the GSL is associated with 4e, but you can use the OGL for a product of any edition. The GSL is much more restrictive than the OGL. However, the GSL allows you to slap a D&D logo on your product, which may be important if you are doing this for profit, but if it's a free product than probably not so much. You could also create a product with no license at all, although most people prefer having a clear set of do's and dont's to work with. Personally, I prefer the OGL. It's much easier to work with and can't be revoked. However, keep in mind that anything you publish via the OGL can be stolen and used in any other OGL product. Also, you need to understand the difference between the licenses and the SRD (system reference document). The SRDs between 3e and 4e are drastically different. In 3e, the SRD was basically the core rules minus pictures and fluff. This allowed people to copy and paste entire sections of the PHB and republish them under the OGL. The 4e SRD is basically just a list of terms you can use. It's pretty useless because you can already reference terms just as part of fair use. It's important to understand this because even though you can use the OGL to publish 4e material, since the 4e SRD is much more limited you cannot copy and paste entire PHB chapters from 4e like you could from 3e. Here is a set of articles written by an IP lawyer that may help you out loremaster.org/content.php/123-protectio...
#3 aitrus Jul 02, 2013 21:07:50	Now how does a publisher like paizo get around that? I'm sure they used the OGL to make Pathfinder but I'm also sure they copyrighted the hell out of it so no one could use it without say so. How does that comply with the OGL? Also, does the OGL prevent specific content? For instance if I wanted to make content for under mountain in FR, fill in every inch of the dungeon...could I do that? Or do I have to whitewash it and make everything generalized?
#4 Bomberg Jul 03, 2013 3:07:51	You have to take the SRD into account. The Open Gaming License is a formal construct one can attach to pretty much anything. There are games around which use the OGL and having next to nothing in common with D&D; they just use a (similar) legal coinstruct. The System Reference Document (SRD) is an abridged extract of the 3e and 3.5e rules of D&D. This content is subject to the OGL and can thus be used in other products by 3rd party publishers. Think of the SRD as D&D without serlect items. You'll find orcs and Magic Missile in there, but no beholder or Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound. So Paizo built its Pathfinder game on the basis of the SRD. The OGL doesn't prevent any specific content; what's published under the OGL can be used and re-used. But the FR material isn't published under OGL. So using any FR-specific stuff - like names - is a violation of copyright.
#5 aitrus Jul 03, 2013 7:01:03	Thanks for the advice...now I just need to build a customer base
#6 bone_naga Jul 04, 2013 22:53:27	Now how does a publisher like paizo get around that? I'm sure they used the OGL to make Pathfinder but I'm also sure they copyrighted the hell out of it so no one could use it without say so. How does that comply with the OGL? Also, does the OGL prevent specific content? For instance if I wanted to make content for under mountain in FR, fill in every inch of the dungeon...could I do that? Or do I have to whitewash it and make everything generalized? Paizo didn't get around anything. Like I said, the SRD is separate from the OGL. You can use the OGL with whatever material you want to publish for any edition, but only the SRD from 3e included basically the entire 3e PHB. Since Pathfinder is basically 3.75, well there you go. Even if it wasn't, I think (I could be wrong as it's been a while since I read through the books) Pathfinder is actually mostly "original" (as in tweaked enough to probably count as original) so they could probably have published it even without the 3e SRD. You can publish a 4e supplement through the OGL but since the 4e SRD only includes the word "Fighter" rather than the entire ruleset for a fighter, you could not take the fighter entry from the 4e PHB and paste it into your own product. However, you could make your own system that used the same framework as 4e and make your own class called a fighter and publish it. You just couldn't make your fighter entry identical to WotC's. Basically, the specific text is protected, the general rules are not. I'm not sure if I'm helping here or if that confused you, but again go read the Protection From Chaos articles as they are very helpful in regards to understanding IP laws and gaming. Bomberg already explained that the campaign-specific stuff was not released under OGL and so you cannot use it without WotC's permission. At least not for profit. If you create your own personal adventure for your group, well that's what D&D is all about, and even if you release it online, you're generally ok if it's free and you release it as your own homebrew adventure rather than as part of a product line from your own personal company (free or not I wouldn't do that since that may cross the line and go beyond fair use but again I'm not a lawyer). There's a world of difference between "hey guys check out my homebrew FR adventure, courtesy of bone_naga" and "hey guys here's a link to a new FR adventure published by Bone Naga Studios".