Hi. I have an issue I hope folks can help with. We have a new modern horror game out with its own system. A company that has done a few horror supplements for d20 Modern is interested in reworking some for our proprietary system. However, those supplements were originally published as Open Game Content, as in "Everything in this product is Open Game Content." Some people in our company are concerned that re-publishing the fluff text with our mechanics will result in our mechanic becoming 'contaminated' and becoming Open Game Content.
I maintain that, since the fluff text will be published again by the original publisher, that company can publish it without having to do so under the Open Game License. In other words, the text published with our licensed system would be 'closed', even though identical text published elsewhere would be 'open.' That being the case, the OGL would appear nowhere in the product and thus none of the material, including the licensed mechanics, would be Open.
One alternative that's been suggested would be for the publisher to make some small changes to the text and then publish it with the licensed mechanics. That exact text would never have been Open in the first place, so it should not be an issue. However, if OGC can contaminate other material, then even one sentence that was not changed could still be considered OGC and possibly result in problems. I would rather not take this approach if it can be avoided.
Some of our people are having a hard time with this, and I would appreciate any corroboration or correction. Thanks.
Vicki Potter
Editorial Minion
Tabletop Adventures
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