Open Game License?
- Thread starter Archer
- Start date
I think this may not be possible with MQ. There was a wealth of outside source materials publised for RQ and HQ (mostly fanzines), but I'm not sure the license allows it for MQ.Rurik said:
If you get Issaries' permission, you can create Gloranthan source material, but not directly reference the non-open part of the MQ rules.
So you couldn't use MQ monsters, Cult spells, etc, which would make it difficult to write a Gloranthan scenario and self-publish.
And I suspect that part of the deal with Mongoose is to try and tightly control what gets release for 2A, so Issaries may not be as liberal as they have been in the past about letting people put out fanzines.
I don't think fanzines will be an issue. TIghten the reins too much and the only people playing the game will be the ones with persmission to write for it.
I think that the liscensing issue is only going to be enfirced for commercial products. I doubt they are going to go chasing down a fanzine of webpage if they put a new Glorantah cult write up or sceanrio. A Gloranthan campaign pack that retailed for for $19.95 would be another matter.
In theroy, I would suspect that a HQ/MRQ crossover product would be possible, if both games were set in the same age. From what I heard, part of the move to 2nd age was to make it easier to get stuff oficcial approved by Greg. OUtside writers can't mess up Greg's world much if everything is going to get trasheed at the end of the age anyway. Greg can keep what he likes and have the rest get eaten by dragons.
I think that the liscensing issue is only going to be enfirced for commercial products. I doubt they are going to go chasing down a fanzine of webpage if they put a new Glorantah cult write up or sceanrio. A Gloranthan campaign pack that retailed for for $19.95 would be another matter.
In theroy, I would suspect that a HQ/MRQ crossover product would be possible, if both games were set in the same age. From what I heard, part of the move to 2nd age was to make it easier to get stuff oficcial approved by Greg. OUtside writers can't mess up Greg's world much if everything is going to get trasheed at the end of the age anyway. Greg can keep what he likes and have the rest get eaten by dragons.
Per the Issaries policy, as I read it, it pretty much covers everything except:atgxtg said:
Your game or campaign.
Posting conversational stuff on newsgroups
Posting campaign write-ups on the above, or your website
Writing reviews, critiques and other "fair use" types of things.
So, say you did something derivative, like create a new Cult for a city in Safelster, it theoretically has to be licensed.
Rurik said:
This would depend on two things:
- Whether Mongoose have an exclusive licence to use Glorantha (or indeed they may even have bought the IP outright)
- Whether the RQ logo licence precludes using it on Glorantha-based supplements (if so you would have to publish your supplement without a RQ logo on it and without mentioning RQ by name)
Re: Fanzines.
I do not work for Mongoose (except on a very occasional freelance basis) and this is not an official answer, just my own (very) humble opinion. This might sound a bit nasty in places, but it's not intended to (apart from where it is)
First off, submit everything to S&P - it's free to everyone so there's no reason to put anything in a fanzine unless they reject it. You also get paid.
Don't do anything else unless S&P rejects the article.
If that happens, I'd stick to what the SRD and the RQ logo licence allow you to do - invent towns, races, etc that could fit into Glorantha without directly referencing anything Glorantha-specific (yes this means no mentions of cults, nations, gods, or anything else of that nature). These have been provided in order to allow people to legally use someone elses IP.
If you really, positively, have to infringe on IP and post free Glorantha material, then to the best of my knowledge Mongoose have never told anyone to take down material based on any of their licenced game settings (B5, Dredd, SST) when posted on the web. If they do sue you, do not blame me. Do not blame Mongoose either, as large sections of IP law are dependant on protecting your IP whether you want to or not, or you lose all rights to said IP. Just to be a little safer, I'd keep it in emails and members-only yahoo groups where it's not a "public" infringement and is more a sharing of information between like-minded players of the game. That way you're making copies for personal use and not publishing the material, and this might (only might) have a diminishing effect on the legal penalties the court applies if the worst happens.
Note: This is not me providing ways to hide yourself from the law. This is me trying to inform people how said law works. Judges are human beings (whatever else you may have been told) and might (only might) take a far more serious view of something with worldwide distribution to the general public than a group of people "innocently" sharing IP-derived material without permission.
The only thing you should 100% avoid doing is putting stuff in a printed fanzine that charges for distribution (even just to cover printing costs), or a website that charges you to access it (even just to cover bandwidth). Either give it away at the authors expense as their contribution to the hobby or don't do it at all, because the second money changes hands it's a whole new ball game legally.
Finally, if you want a proper answer rather than my uneducated essay on the subject, email Matthew Sprange at Mongoose (msprange@mongoosepublishing.com) and actually ask for permission to do whatever it is you want to do - the worst that can happen is that he says "no".
I do not work for Mongoose (except on a very occasional freelance basis) and this is not an official answer, just my own (very) humble opinion. This might sound a bit nasty in places, but it's not intended to (apart from where it is)
First off, submit everything to S&P - it's free to everyone so there's no reason to put anything in a fanzine unless they reject it. You also get paid.
Don't do anything else unless S&P rejects the article.
If that happens, I'd stick to what the SRD and the RQ logo licence allow you to do - invent towns, races, etc that could fit into Glorantha without directly referencing anything Glorantha-specific (yes this means no mentions of cults, nations, gods, or anything else of that nature). These have been provided in order to allow people to legally use someone elses IP.
If you really, positively, have to infringe on IP and post free Glorantha material, then to the best of my knowledge Mongoose have never told anyone to take down material based on any of their licenced game settings (B5, Dredd, SST) when posted on the web. If they do sue you, do not blame me. Do not blame Mongoose either, as large sections of IP law are dependant on protecting your IP whether you want to or not, or you lose all rights to said IP. Just to be a little safer, I'd keep it in emails and members-only yahoo groups where it's not a "public" infringement and is more a sharing of information between like-minded players of the game. That way you're making copies for personal use and not publishing the material, and this might (only might) have a diminishing effect on the legal penalties the court applies if the worst happens.
Note: This is not me providing ways to hide yourself from the law. This is me trying to inform people how said law works. Judges are human beings (whatever else you may have been told) and might (only might) take a far more serious view of something with worldwide distribution to the general public than a group of people "innocently" sharing IP-derived material without permission.
The only thing you should 100% avoid doing is putting stuff in a printed fanzine that charges for distribution (even just to cover printing costs), or a website that charges you to access it (even just to cover bandwidth). Either give it away at the authors expense as their contribution to the hobby or don't do it at all, because the second money changes hands it's a whole new ball game legally.
Finally, if you want a proper answer rather than my uneducated essay on the subject, email Matthew Sprange at Mongoose (msprange@mongoosepublishing.com) and actually ask for permission to do whatever it is you want to do - the worst that can happen is that he says "no".
Urox said:The nominal cost fanzines were a big part of the RQ Renaissance of the early 90s and continued through HQ -- it would be a shame to see them not continue for MQ
Well like I said, you can always ask for permission and see what answer you get
Legally speaking, any kind of fanzine usually breaks all kinds of IP laws, so it's always best to ask for permission. They might say yes, they might say no, they might say "you need to go and ask someone else instead/as well". Either way asking is good Often all you'll be asked to do in return is add some copyright text explaining that you don't own any of the work within the fanzine (remembering that by most countries IP laws derivative works automatically become copyright of the person who owns the original IP if you do it unlicensed), don't claim any kinds of rights over anything, and that trademarks X, Y, and Z are owned by company W and used with their very very kind permission
Essentially, you're asking for a non-profit license to use certain material (a one-off RQ logo license with extra rights just for your own use, if you prefer to think of it that way). Always ask. 
