> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ole Sebastian Stein
> Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2000 10:30 AM
> Currently, I am writing a setting that I intend to release under GFDL or
> OGL (I don't know which yet, but GFDL seems better). However, say I would
> be interested in using a Ravenloft novel as background and use the names
> from it (Van Richten for instance) in my setting. Is this possible? My
> intuition says NO, but then again I'm not sure.
No. The WotC campaign settings are not being released under OGL, so if you
based your product upon them you'd be just as wrong as if you wrote a
completely non-D&D game based on those novels.
> What does this mean?
A couple of things;
1: The Kargatane is the official Ravenloft site now--they have permission
from WotC to further develop the campaign world, and if Ravenloft is ever
ressurected their canon contributions will count as much as published canon.
2: TSR properties (the campaign settings) are still governed by a years-old
policy that lets fans make non-for-profit material based on them.
> May I write something that includes TSR
> trademarks but
> I still hold the copyright and doesn't risk to get sued? What about the
> "revenue" part? If I find another license that says something
> like "you may
> take this and do whatever you want with it as long as I retain the
> copyright and you make your changes visible, and as long as nobody is
> allowed to make revenue on it". Can I then use TSR trademarks?
How the TSR-properties permission relates to OGL'd web pages and netbooks is
a question for a lawyer--or a WotC executive. For now, I wouldn't try and
make any money using the WotC trademarks if I didn't have permission...
(well, unless I was going to charge admission to my games...)
Doug Meerschaert
World of Dunandralis Content Manager
http://www.Dunandralis.com
P.S. I am not a lawyer, and if you mistake me for one it's your own damn
fault. I'm a freshman, for Pete's sake!
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