Someone is posting uncensored conversions of spells with death tyrant in the title, as well as spells with proper names from Forgotten Realms. they seemed confused when I advised them to change things. Are they new to the hobby or has the legal status of Hasbro's intellectual property changed?
If not, should there be a sticky topic?
Someone is posting uncensored conversions of spells with death tyrant in the title, as well as spells with proper names from Forgotten Realms. they seemed confused when I advised them to change things. Are they new to the hobby or has the legal status of Hasbro's intellectual property changed?
If not, should there be a sticky topic?
There's no reason to think the legal status has changed. That said, there may be a difference between an individual posting a spell for purposes of discussion and a third-party publisher such as Paizo using the content in products they sell. Of course, Paizo's forum guidelines assert ownership of all content posted, which in turn means that they have to redact content the original poster didn't own the rights to transfer to Paizo... which I think is why that stuff usually gets moderated off.
I'd just flag it and/or reply to the OP so they know there's an issue. A sticky won't do anything productive because someone has to already respect copyright and expect a problem to go hunting for such a sticky to read it.
I tried talking to them in the open. It's in homebrew "Spells from the Lost Spellbooks" Their name sounds like they are in Sweden and they keep asking "But Why!".
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If this was an issue 75% of the PFrpg conversion forum would be nuked by moderators.
It's also possible that they're confused about WotC's policies about fan-generated content through the D&D Dungeon Master's Guild. That allows special use of WotC intellectual property, such as WotC Product Identity for monsters and spells, and Forgotten Realms setting material.
The caveat is that it all must be registered and distributed exclusuvely through the DM's Guild website. Such content also must be exclusively for D&D 5e. (I.e. no conversions to other RPG systems, including previous versions of D&D.)
I looked into this to see if I could publish a Pathfinder conversion of I6: Ravenloft through the GM's Guild, and realized it was a hard "no."
If this was an issue 75% of the PFrpg conversion forum would be nuked by moderators.
Not so. The vast majority of 3.5e material is published under the OGL, which allows republishing. Older/other material that isn't 3.5e by definition is reworked, resulting in a new creation, and as long as that doesn't refer to proprietary IP by name, it is legal.
Basically, you can - for instance - convert much of the 3.5e Eberron material to Pathfinder by simply changing names. And you can convert AD&D material to Pathfinder by creating the new, appropriate mechanics.
But beyond that, some things were reserved, and can't be handled cleanly. Filing the serial numbers off certain creatures isn't quite enough to get away with republishing.
There's no reason to think the legal status has changed. That said, there may be a difference between an individual posting a spell for purposes of discussion and a third-party publisher such as Paizo using the content in products they sell. Of course, Paizo's forum guidelines assert ownership of all content posted, which in turn means that they have to redact content the original poster didn't own the rights to transfer to Paizo... which I think is why that stuff usually gets moderated off.
I seem to remember there being a court case where forum discussion by fans was deemed to fall under “fair use”. I don’t think Paizo’s ownership of the forum post changes its character, it merely means you can’t claim ownership of stuff you’ve posted here (nor claim Paizo stole it from you).
As I understand it, we can stat up Gandalf on the forums, but Paizo can’t then publish it in a book.
If this was an issue 75% of the PFrpg conversion forum would be nuked by moderators.Not so. The vast majority of 3.5e material is published under the OGL, which allows republishing. Older/other material that isn't 3.5e by definition is reworked, resulting in a new creation, and as long as that doesn't refer to proprietary IP by name, it is legal.
Basically, you can - for instance - convert much of the 3.5e Eberron material to Pathfinder by simply changing names. And you can convert AD&D material to Pathfinder by creating the new, appropriate mechanics.
But beyond that, some things were reserved, and can't be handled cleanly. Filing the serial numbers off certain creatures isn't quite enough to get away with republishing.
Okay, try this: flag the posts that look concerning and let the mods deal with it. But I'm giving strong odds no action is taken.