Community Use Approved Product List (does licence apply to images in PDFs)

[teducation]

I am new to Pathfinder. My questions are regarding clarification of the Community Use Policy.

I'm ok and clear about use of the items from paizo.com/communityuse/package.

1. However, my question is whether the images in the various items from Section 1 fall under the community use policy as stated below:

Community Use Approved Product List
As long as you comply with the Community Use Policy, you may descriptively reference trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, artifacts, places, etc.), locations and characters from products listed in Section 1 of this list. You may use the cover images, as displayed on paizo.com, from products listed in Section 1 or Section 2.

For example, if an item from Section 1 were purchased as a PDF, can the artwork be used under the license?

2. If I were to purchase Pathfinder Pawns: Heroes & Villains Pawn Collection does this allow non-commercial use of the 100 PDF images?
This product is in Section 2.

Sorry for the confusion - I hope someone can clarify.

[Chemlak]

“Descriptively reference” and “cover art” tells me that the answer is no, images cropped from the pdfs will be a no-go.

You can wait for a formal answer from Paizo, and I’m sure they’ll give it, but start off assuming that you can’t.

[Vic Wertz]

The only artwork that may be used:
• Art that's in the Community Use Package
• Cover images of products on the Approved Product List
• Art from the Paizo blog (with some stated exceptions)
• Art from the web fiction

[teducation]

Vic Wertz wrote:

The only artwork that may be used:

• Art that's in the Community Use Package
• Cover images of products on the Approved Product List
• Art from the Paizo blog (with some stated exceptions)
• Art from the web fiction

Thank you so much for clarifying. Noticed also that the Community Use Packages were updated today :-) Hooray!

[Jonah G]

Chemlak wrote:

“Descriptively reference” and “cover art” tells me that the answer is no, images cropped from the pdfs will be a no-go.

You can wait for a formal answer from Paizo, and I’m sure they’ll give it, but start off assuming that you can’t.

I know this seems painful, well, it is. You've got a megaton of great art, that you even paid for! But you can't use in your own creations.

The Community Use Package from Paizo is extremely generous, I spent many nights combing the blogs for images and was able to get hundreds of them. It's a bit annoying to see them popping up again and again in other peoples' projects, but for my first adventure I actually wrote game illustrators on Deviantart (the pros not the doodlers) and asked if I could use their art in my non-profit, personal Pathfinder mod. 4/5 times they said yes, and we ended up with a whole lot of original art, It was great.

Other than that, hit Boardgamegeek and ask around for collectives that share fantasy/game GNU-licensed art (their game design forums and geeklists are invaluable for every part of the process). It's not the easiest thing to find but it can be done. I am surprised there isn't an organization of fantasy illustrators who are willing to separate from their concept art pieces not slated for sale. If there is I'd love to know about it.

Oh and always be polite and accept No with grace and a thank you. :)

Edit: There is one more option... Hire an artist. With crowd funding, you can find someone in Poland who probably worked on Mysterium or something who will make beautiful things for you. I've seen kickstarters do that, guys with no experience making games getting connected with these fantastic illustrators. Begging is my preferred tactic.