Hi there,
Along with a few colleagues, we are planning on selling Pathfinder compatible adventures in the not too distant future. Now, our personal setting of choice is Golarion, which we can't refer to expressively in the products of course, according to the Pathfinder compatibility license.
My question is this: Let's say our adventure PDF is squeaky clean and makes no mention of Paizo IP, could we post an article for free on our website that explains how to integrate the adventure into Golarion?
Chief Technical Officer
|
Hi there,
Along with a few colleagues, we are planning on selling Pathfinder compatible adventures in the not too distant future. Now, our personal setting of choice is Golarion, which we can't refer to expressively in the products of course, according to the Pathfinder compatibility license.
My question is this: Let's say our adventure PDF is squeaky clean and makes no mention of Paizo IP, could we post an article for free on our website that explains how to integrate the adventure into Golarion?
Nope—if you're selling anything, you may not reference our trademarks or non-Open Game Content in any way not specifically allowed by the Pathfinder Compatibility License—even in stuff that you're not selling.
Thanks Vic, I thought that might be the case. It's a shame though, as we all love Golarion and have no desire to craft a new world, but of course we fully respect the need for you to protect your IP.
We'll make the adventures setting neutral instead.
|
Nope—if you're selling anything, you may not reference our trademarks or non-Open Game Content in any way not specifically allowed by the Pathfinder Compatibility License—even in stuff that you're not selling.
Would that be on the same site or would it be for any site you own/work with? Specifically, if one were to place free items on one independent site (using Community Use images) and set up a separate site for items which fell under the OGL which you were to sell (but not use Community Use images), would this still be verboten? I guess what I'm truly asking is would it be possible to have a Pathfinder fan site with free content and then a retail site?
And, as a secondary question, if one does put up Community Use items on one's site or on a site run by someone else, and then down the road one decides to put products up for sale under the OGL, would one have to remove all instances of Community Use items they put out on other sites?
Just curious.
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
Nope—if you're selling anything, you may not reference our trademarks or non-Open Game Content in any way not specifically allowed by the Pathfinder Compatibility License—even in stuff that you're not selling.Would that be on the same site or would it be for any site you own/work with? Specifically, if one were to place free items on one independent site (using Community Use images) and set up a separate site for items which fell under the OGL which you were to sell (but not use Community Use images), would this still be verboten? I guess what I'm truly asking is would it be possible to have a Pathfinder fan site with free content and then a retail site?
And, as a secondary question, if one does put up Community Use items on one's site or on a site run by someone else, and then down the road one decides to put products up for sale under the OGL, would one have to remove all instances of Community Use items they put out on other sites?
Just curious.
Both of these things are covered in the following excerpt from the Community Use Policy:
When we say "non-commercial," we mean you cannot sell or otherwise charge anyone for access to content used under this Policy. If you make any commercial use of Paizo Material, your rights under this Policy will be automatically terminated, and any permission granted by this Policy will be immediately revoked. If Paizo believes that you are in the publishing business, you are considered to be a commercial user, and you are not granted any right to use any Paizo Material under this Policy.