A little bit of help with understanding the OGL and Community Content Stuff

[Banzaikoowaid]

Hopefully this will be clear, concise and understandable; But I apologize in advance if I posted this in the wrong place, this is being texted out while a migraine ravages my brain. So to provide a bit of a backdrop I've been an ADHD D&D 5e Dungeon Master online and fledgling creative for five years. After the egregious fiasco that was the new OGL by WOTC and other various reasons I have started looking into Pathfinder 2nd Edition, and desire to expand my horizons as it were. While I am still some years away from reaching a desired level of artistic skill I would like to, ideally in the possibly near future, create a new fictional multiverse with its own cosmology for a myriad of future projects such as stories, music, monsters, artwork and campaigns, etc. that use and/or reference the Mechanics, Ancestries, Classes, Spells, Weapons, etc. of the Pathfinder 2e RPG.

With that in mind I have tried my dam- darnedest to read the entirety of the OGL, Licensing requirements, Third Party Content guidelines, and FAQs to the point of melting my brain. I considered contacting Paizo directly via email, but figured it better I start here on your forum. I do not represent any business or company, rather I am a future-freelancer. While reality can be disappointing, I would, eventually, and ideally create this fictional multiverse and all branching content for free as a lifelong passion/career; But probably link a donation page or something as to make maybe *some* money to get by, and inevitably start a family.

I'm no lawyer nor does legal jargon connect well in my mind, but I understand there are statutes as well as limitations alongside Paizo's need to protect its Independent Project/Product. I'm also not sure what exactly my 'make free stuff for Pathfinder 2e and it's community hoping to earn money via donation' sub-dream would fall under. Nevertheless everything starts somewhere, and an explanation/advice in simpler/layman's terms would be greatly appreciated. Paizo seems to care about its customers and community, with a cleaner history than WOTC. Having heard you are passionate about what you make, and friendly about it is what led me to write this.

With this all texted out, I eagerly await any constructive responses.

With reverent anticipation,

-Banzaikoowaid/Gus Strandberg

[Today is a good day to... halp]

Just a layperson's view on it but always better to check with the lawyerly-legal types, just in case:

I thinks that the OGL is the legal documentation stuff that you hafta copy down on a work using it; treat it like a bibliography of sorts of where you got something from somewhere from another source using that.

The Community content stuff is for free stuff that allows you to use the PF logo on it, but you gotta follows the guidelines that comes with them. ;)

[Loreguard]

OGL clearly releases you from risks from you re-using the rules content, mechanical aspects of the rules. (things that likely wouldn't have been a problem, especially if you re-worded things in your own words, but the OGL allows you the simple chance to pick up the pieces you want as they are.

What it doesn't give you, is the ability to use anything designated as IP (Intellectual Property) or images. So the OGL lets you play a game that plays exactly like Pathfinder or other OGL games, using all the same mechanics. However, things Proper Names, that aren't already considered Public Domain, you don't have any right to use as is. So you can talk about a goddess of fire, or even goddess of dawn, but you can't just grab and say the Goddess of the Dawn Sarenrae. You can talk about the Archdevel Asmo.... (sorry old habit of not invoking the name) because that name is an old cultural reference that is public domain, not attributable to anyone who can claim to own it as PI>

So the OGL gives you the game mechanics. The Pathfinder Compatibility license gives you the ability to use a given logo owned by Paizo, but it also involves you agreeing to certain limitations with your products. (I'm not completely sure of all the limitations, but I'm pretty sure most of it involves NOT seeming to imply that you represent Paizo. I think you can't use any specific setting IP with the compatibility license. You have to come up with all your own 'setting' which means you may need to replace components of some rule language to have generic, or replacement IP in various material that it exists in.

Pathfinder Infinite, gives you the ability to publish using all the OGL material, and even allows you to use much of the setting and other aspects of Paizo's IP, but you agree to limit yourself to publishing out of the given Pathfinder Infinite publisher, and the publisher and Paizo get cuts of any sales. I believe it also gives them the ability to insure your product doesn't violate certain Terms of your Agreement, with respect to the type of material you create with the agreement. The Infinite program includes access to a lot of the Paizo IP, including some baseline artwork that can be used.

The Community Use Policy is another important thing that someone could leverage if they want to publish some things that include more than just OGL components but includes a subset of Paizo IP such as their setting. The Community Use Policy allows people to a subset of the Paizo IP, including lots of setting lore as well as the ability to use a lot of images if they are non-photographs that have been used on their BLOGs. The big limitation there is that what you produce has to be non-commercial/free and includes stipulations that it can't be free/behind a paywall, etc.

They talk about there being other commercial licenses, but don't go into details except for that they normally only work with established companies. I think with small start-ups, the Infinite program would be the go-to program if you are looking to do something commercially. If you were wanting to do free and Non-Commercial you could look at the CUP(Community Use).

If you are breaking completely clear of any Paizo Lore/WorldBuilding/etc. and just using to rule framework, and creating your own setting that people could use, playing Pathfinder, I think you're probably pretty safe publishing Pay-What-You want via simple OGL or Compatibility License, however you would like. But if you want to build off of some of Paizo's IP, especially to start with, you should probably look into the Infinite program. I believe it would be able to offer you a Pay-what-you like option. I don't know what all the requirements are for leveraging it. Otherwise, if you are just starting off creating content for free to start, you can probably get started using the CUP, limiting yourself to free items until you get more familiar with insuring you aren't accidently using Paizo IP when you aren't meaning to.

I'd say before you ever start accepting payments for things, it probably a valuable thing to sincerely talk to a lawyerly sort of person to make sure you aren't making an expensive mistake.

You can also start by having homebrew discussions in the Pathfinder homebrew forum to get reactions from people on your thoughts.