Hi,
I want to use some of the OGC from Necromancer's The
Tome of Horrors
(ToH), but was just looking for some opinions.
Many of the creatures in the ToH are used with
permission as they were
previously printed by TSR. In the designation of
OGC it states:
[start quote]
All text contained within this book (including
monster names, stats, and
descriptions) is hereby designated as Open Game
Content with the
following exceptions:
1. Any text on the inside or outside of the front or
back cover or on
the Credits or Preface pages is not Open Game
Content.
2. Any advertising material - including the text of
any advertising
material - is not Open Game Content.
3. Any material contained in the "Credit" section of
each monster is not
Open Game Content. See the "Note on the Credit
Section" below;
Note on the "Credit" Section: The credit section
for each creature
contains information detailing the origin of the
particular monster.
This content is not Open Game Content, as explained
above. Some
material within the Credit section is copyright
TSR/Wizards of the Coast
and/or Necromancer Games, Inc., and is used within
the Credit section by
permission. You are not allowed to use any of the
information in the
Credit section under the Open Game License.
[end quote]
For those that haven't seen a Credit, it looks like
this:
Credit
The Haunt originally appeared in the First Edition
module A2 Secret of
the Slavers Stockade (© TSR/Wizards of the Coast,
1981) and later in the
First Edition Monster Manual II (© TSR/Wizards of
the Coast, 1983) and
is used with permission.
So, am I right in thinking that the stat blocks for
these creatures are
OGC, but their names (and any other info in the
Credit section) is not?
That is to say, I can use the stat block, so long as
I use a different
monster name? That's my reading of it.
To follow on, the book later sets out how they would
like the Section 15
declaration to be made, which is an entry for each
individual creature
used. Since I cannot use anything within a Credit,
this means I cannot
fulfill this (since I cannot use a name if it
appears in the Credit).
So, how should this best be dealt with? Is the
license itself exempt
from this decleration (thus allowing me to use the
actual creature
name)? I wouldn't have thought so. The method for
setting out Section
15 is just advice (there is a disclaimer stating
that it is not legal
advice), so should I just add something like:
Tome of Horrors, Copyright 2002, Necromancer
Games, Inc.; Author
Scott Greene. Additonal Authors: list of additional
authors here.
I think this fulfills my legal obligations. Not
sure about any ethical
ones, however.
I have emailed Necromancer Games on this matter, but
haven't received a
reply. As it has been a while I thought I'd ask
here.
Any help, suggestions and opinions appreciated.
Many thanks!
Keith Robinson
--
Keith Robinson
A whole new world...
http://www.thekyngdoms.com
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