I don't know if thats the best way to phrase it, but in general i was wondering, will i be able to put out my own modules, supplements, etc for pathfinder products--either the world, or the system, or both? can i say pathfinder compatible on the cover? can i cite to or even quote passages of text from various pathfinder books in mine? like monster stat blocks, etc? will i also be able to do that with new pathfinder stuff that comes out later or just the core base stuff initially published? will third party publishers be able to put out pathfinder products royalty-free?
thx
joe
I don't know if thats the best way to phrase it, but in general i was wondering, will i be able to put out my own modules, supplements, etc for pathfinder products--either the world, or the system, or both?
System, yes. Paizo's world, no. Your own world, yes. And the term is "Open Content"
can i say pathfinder compatible on the cover?
No. There will be a pathfinder logo license (ETA of going live: GenCon '09) that you can have on your own products, but claiming catability is not allowed by the OGL.
can i cite to or even quote passages of text from various pathfinder books in mine? like monster stat blocks, etc?
Depends on the passage. Monster stat blocks generally are a yes, but check the individual product to be sure.
will i also be able to do that with new pathfinder stuff that comes out later or just the core base stuff initially published?
Again, depends on the product and individual passage. Read the part of the books that designate what is open content and what is product identity. Generally on the bottom of the acknowledgements page.
will third party publishers be able to put out pathfinder products royalty-free?
Yes.
thx
joe
Welcome joe. Glad I could help. Incase no one's said it to you, Welcome to the boards.
Welcome joe. Glad I could help. Incase no one's said it to you, Welcome to the boards.
Seconded. :D
Edit:Oh, and be careful of how you use the word 'smurf'....
In case you have the time to waste:
*Link to 'The Great Smurf Experiment' thread*
Yeah, that word is Troublingly smurfalicious.
Yeah, that word is Troublingly smurfalicious.
Holy smurf flaps smurfman, when did you become a contributor?!?
If the pathfinder equivalent of the SRD is not open source, then I bid you all good day.
Open gaming is my number one concern when supporting these products.
EDIT: Smurf
If the pathfinder equivalent of the SRD is not open source, then I bid you all good day.
Nearly all of their rules will be open content. Things like XP and ability score generation, but everything else will.
thanks for the welcome, and the responses.
does paizo have any official policy as to their open content anywhere? as to what they will allow and what they wont allow? i know some of it is out of their hands, as far as the ogl material goes, but how about their own material? for example, if they have a feat in their books which is not in the ogl open content material, can i reference the feat in any material i publish? if they create a specific monster or magic item in their core books or supplements, can i use it in my adventure i publish?
how come i cant say pathfinder compatible? i can see why i cant say D&D compatible, but did paizo specifically say no to pathfinder compatible being on the cover?
sounds like i cannot put out material set in their worlds, right?
thx
joe
You'll want to check the declarations of Product Identity and Open Content in each publication. For instance, the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting has the following:
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, artifacts, places, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, language, incidents, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress.
Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the contents of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Game License and the d20 System License, please visit wizards.com/d20.
The Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting hardcover is published by Paizo Publishing, LLC under the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the world’s most popular fantasy roleplaying game. The OGL can be found on page 256 of this product. Paizo Publishing and the golem logo are registered trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC. Pathfinder, Pathfinder Chronicles, and GameMastery are trademarks of Paizo Publishing, LLC. Use of other names without mention of trademark status should not be construed as a challenge to such status.
So, don't use a trademark ("Pathfinder" being an example), proper name, artwork, etc. from the PFCS without written permission from Paizo. The feats from the PFCS, however, would be good to go. You would, however, need to comply with the terms of the OGL if you intend to publish under its framework.
This will indeed in many ways preclude you from publishing for their setting. Unless you get an agreement from them in writing. Fairly standard stuff, really, as they wouldn't want anyone putting out sub-standard material that they can't control and thus confusing buyers about what is and is not "Paizo" quality product.
Director of Brand Strategy
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thanks for the welcome, and the responses.
does paizo have any official policy as to their open content anywhere? as to what they will allow and what they wont allow? i know some of it is out of their hands, as far as the ogl material goes, but how about their own material? for example, if they have a feat in their books which is not in the ogl open content material, can i reference the feat in any material i publish? if they create a specific monster or magic item in their core books or supplements, can i use it in my adventure i publish?
how come i cant say pathfinder compatible? i can see why i cant say D&D compatible, but did paizo specifically say no to pathfinder compatible being on the cover?
sounds like i cannot put out material set in their worlds, right?
thx
joe
Joe, are you sure you're a lawyer? The OGL is a pretty simple legal document, and many gamers who are not members of the legal profession understand what it permits and what it restricts. As to what Paizo will and won't allow, every product they release under the OGL contains a listing of specifically what is and isn't open content. It varies from product to product, but it is essentially all the game rule information, while setting specifics, characters, art, and other "proper nouns" are copyrighted material of Paizo and can not be used without a specific license from them to do so. This is in part why you can not say "Pathfinder compatible" as "Pathfinder" is a registered trademark of "Paizo Publishing," which itself is a trademark of Paizo (the company). If you read over the OGL and the OGL text in every Paizo OGL product, it should provide the answers to all your questions.
thanks for the welcome, and the responses.
does paizo have any official policy as to their open content anywhere? as to what they will allow and what they wont allow? i know some of it is out of their hands, as far as the ogl material goes, but how about their own material? for example, if they have a feat in their books which is not in the ogl open content material, can i reference the feat in any material i publish? if they create a specific monster or magic item in their core books or supplements, can i use it in my adventure i publish?
how come i cant say pathfinder compatible? i can see why i cant say D&D compatible, but did paizo specifically say no to pathfinder compatible being on the cover?
sounds like i cannot put out material set in their worlds, right?
thx
joe
Paizo doesn't really have any say in what someone else will do with their open content. They do, however, have a say in what someone does with their compatability logo. IIRC, Paizo has said they only want it used for fantasy. So using it to make a d20 future knock off isn't gonna fly with the Pathfinder logo on it. Someone can however use the Pathfinder system to make their own future game. They can't make any reference to Pathfinder.
The OGL says you cannot claim compatability. Saying something is compatable is a breech of the OGL.
In thier world, no. But certain sections are open content. The elemental planes are open content. the plane of shadow, ethereal plane, and similar planes are open content. The LN plane of Axis is, however, not open content. You could write your own LN plane.
Say you want to set an adventure in Falcon's Hollow, you have 3 choices: 1) Write an adventure that takes place in a town that resembles Falcon's Hollow but is not Falcon's Hollow, 2) Wite an adventure that takes place in a general town on a river, 3) beg Mona. That's it. I'd recommend #3, but that's just me.
When James assigned him the third part of the Legacy of Fire AP set for next spring.Yeah, that word is Troublingly s----alicious.Holy s---- flaps s----man, when did you become a contributor?!?
'Tis true.
I should be devoting myself exclusively to school right now, but there are those times in life when someone makes you an offer you can't refuse. This is one of them.
On that note, I really dig my avatar. Anyone else really dig my avatar?
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I should be devoting myself exclusively to school right now, but there are those times in life when someone makes you an offer you can't refuse. This is one of them.
And , man, am I glad that you didn't. Serpent Kingdoms is one of my all-time favorites and I had a great time in Lyrandar Tower as well.
So this is really great news.
And sorry to have to say that but as far as your avatar is concerned, I dug deeper and depper but found no flesh and no blood either. So you'll probably understand why I stopped digging it.
If the pathfinder equivalent of the SRD is not open source, then I bid you all good day.Nearly all of their rules will be open content. Things like XP and ability score generation, but everything else will.
In the Beta rules, the xp tables and ability score generation material is not Product Identity, as far as I can tell. (Although I don't know exactly what is meant by saying that "all language" is Product Identity.)
does paizo have any official policy as to their open content anywhere? as to what they will allow and what they wont allow?
Nothing official, but expect this: The "crunch" (rules stuff, like new feats, spells, races, and so on) will be open content, but the "fluff" (setting and background informations, as well as the stories) will not.
for example, if they have a feat in their books which is not in the ogl open content material, can i reference the feat in any material i publish? if they create a specific monster or magic item in their core books or supplements, can i use it in my adventure i publish?
If they create a feat, monster, or anything else that is not open content, you may not use it, because it is not open content. But usually, that stuff is open content, so you should be home free.
how come i cant say pathfinder compatible? i can see why i cant say D&D compatible, but did paizo specifically say no to pathfinder compatible being on the cover?
I think it's part of the OGL. I'm not a lawyer, and haven't read the OGL, though.
But they're working on a way to indicate compatibility. There will be logos which you will be able to use.
sounds like i cannot put out material set in their worlds, right?
Nope. Not without a special permission. I don't know whether Paizo would grant permissions in special cases, but I guess not, because they want to retain control over what happens to the Pathfinder Chronicles.
The only way I see is getting good at the stuff and getting hired as contributor...
If the pathfinder equivalent of the SRD is not open source, then I bid you all good day.
I don't think that "open source" applies here as a concept. It's not as if there was any source code they could make open for you to inspect or alter.
But I do guess that they will release their own SRD, which will be a lot like the 3e SRD - free to use, free to reproduce, free to make money with; just follow a couple of rules and you're fine.
From what has been said only the Gods are closed....I do believe char gen and XP tables are gonna be open
From what has been said only the Gods are closed....I do believe char gen and XP tables are gonna be open
I see no reason not to do this, but I am no lawyer.
To the best of my understanding, this was a feeble attempt by WotC to guarantee sales of their core books. They might even think it worked, but I think they could have stood on the merit of their published product alone. Make the game free to everyone, and people will buy the book if they were ever going to buy anything at all. Sure, some people won't buy the book, but they weren't likely to anyway.
I think Paizo knows where it's at. This is an internet-age publishing strategy. I've been paying them $13 a pop for PDFs (that's easy money)! And I will subscribe to hardcopy when Legacy of Fire launches. And I'm doing it because they gave their core rules away.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I don't know if thats the best way to phrase it, but in general i was wondering, will i be able to put out my own modules, supplements, etc for pathfinder products--either the world, or the system, or both? can i say pathfinder compatible on the cover? can i cite to or even quote passages of text from various pathfinder books in mine? like monster stat blocks, etc? will i also be able to do that with new pathfinder stuff that comes out later or just the core base stuff initially published? will third party publishers be able to put out pathfinder products royalty-free?
There's a fair bit of misinformation in this thread... here's the real deal.
Paizo's RPG products are all published under the OGL. Each product contains material specified as Open Game Content (which is freely available for use in other products published under the OGL) as well as material specified as Product Identity (which is not available for use by third parties). Though we spell it out a bit more specifically in each product, generally all of the mechanics are Open Game Content, while all of the world & setting stuff is Product Identity. So, if you publish under the OGL, you can use our mechanics but not our setting. (For the Pathfinder RPG, our setting material is pretty much just the names of the gods in our world; all of the character generation and XP stuff is indeed Open Game Content.)
It is true that you can't use any of our trademarks (including the word "Pathfinder") to indicate compatibility, but that's not due to a decision we made—it's actually mandated by the OGL: "You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark."
We will be releasing a royalty-free open license that will allow you to indicate compatibility with the Pathfinder RPG (so long as you follow all of the rules in that license); the earliest date you'll be able to publish products under that license will be August 2009, when the finished Pathfinder RPG is released. That license may be used by both professional and non-professional publishers.
We'll also be releasing a Community Use policy that will allow royalty-free use of some of our setting material, but that policy will be restricted to not-for-profit, non-professional publishing. If you're a professional publisher wanting to use our world, you'll need to contact us for a separate license (and we don't plan on giving out a lot of those licenses).
Also, while the OGL does actually allow you to use our beta mechanics in OGL products right now, we'd really prefer you don't, as this is, after all, a beta product. Further, when we do release the Pathfinder RPG Compatibility License, it will specifically require you to use the finished rules, and does not allow you to use anything from the playtest rules that isn't in the finished rules.
Further, when we do release the Pathfinder RPG Compatibility License, it will specifically require you to use the finished rules, and does not allow you to use anything from the playtest rules that isn't in the finished rules.
I kinda suspected this, but its good to have a confirmation.
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Chief Technical Officer
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From what has been said only the Gods are closed....I do believe char gen and XP tables are gonna be openI see no reason not to do this, but I am no lawyer.
I think the source of the confusion here is that Wizards' d20 license forbids "Describ[ing] a process for Creating a Character or Describ[ing] a process for Applying the Effects of Experience to a Character." Which is one reason why our character creation process and XP tables are different from the official D&D methods. However, ours are Open Game Content.
I think the source of the confusion here is that Wizards' d20 license forbids "Describ[ing] a process for Creating a Character or Describ[ing] a process for Applying the Effects of Experience to a Character." Which is one reason why our character creation process and XP tables are different from the official D&D methods. However, ours are Open Game Content.From what has been said only the Gods are closed....I do believe char gen and XP tables are gonna be openI see no reason not to do this, but I am no lawyer.
Now that's why I love Paizo.
On another note, thanks Vic for responding to my email
SG