SRD/Open Content Question

[Wyrmshadows]

I am in the process of writing up a fantasy roleplaying setting and have recently become quite a fan of the Runequest system. It has more of a fantasy literature feel than D&D's fantasy superheroes system. I ran D&D campaigns for 22yrs and had good experiences however I find myself incredibly tired of 3/3.5e. I am unsure as to 4e. I like some of the changes but on the whole I am not terribly interested.

I was initially creating my setting to be D&D 4e compatible but have been shopping around for something else. Recently I discovered True20 and Runequest. I am partial to Runequest. I am also pleased to see that there isn't much in the way of non-Glorantha settings available for the system making it a wide open market for a quality setting with a different feel.

My question is. How much of the non-Glorantha supplement material is OGL? I have to excellent Luxury SRD but I am curious to know how much of more recent material is currently available for me to use, tweak or integrate fully into my setting. For example, is the Runequest Spellbook, Arms and Equipment, or Runquest Monsters OGC?

I ask for two reasons. The more OGC material is available beyond merely the core rules ie. basic monsters, a diversity of spell and magical systems and utilitarian equipment and weapons the more I can tend to creating the actual setting and not reinventing the wheel so to speak when good solid concepts exist that just need a bit of tweaking. OGC is a huge timesaver as well as a help in the creative inspiration process.

Just a few questions.



Wyrmshadows

 

[DirkD]

As a general rule, everything not in the srd's is not open content. I remember that one or two articles in s&p are open content and you can probably look through some fan/3rd party products.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

OGC does not constitute everything in a book. Certain aspects of the book are open content. If you look at the SRD's in the Wiki site, they have them there, and you will not find all the information in the book, though alot of it is fluff...

It is all rather confusing to me, and I (and others) are doing a conversion and we have some questions that need answers...

Now, from what I was told, Legendary Heroes is not OGC, I am not sure the spell book is either..

I think as far as Glornatha, it may not be... Since Glorantha required a license from someone else, who also does Glorantha (ISSARIES)..

Like I said, it is pretty much confusing to me..

 

[medievaladventures]

For the Runequest material, none of the published books are open content that I am aware of. If you have any questions about if a book's contents are open or not, simply look at the statements found on the title pages of the books. For example, my copy of Legendary Heroes states:

This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission.

The SRD contains most of the material that you have available under the OGL. Some Runequest material in S&P is open gaming content. See the specific issue for the declaration. Only content that is explicitly noted to be Open Gaming Content is open. If there is no such designation in the book or magazine material, then it is covered by standard copyright laws.

For example, in Signs & Portents Issue #36, there is an article on pages 28-32. On page 32, the following statement occurs:

All the data in this article is Open Game Content

So, just be sure that you look at the published material and read whether or not the publisher has declared it open content. If you can't find an explicit statement, then you'll have to seek permission from the publisher to use any of the material.

 

[Wyrmshadows]

Well it is unfortunate that the Runequest Spellbook, Monsters and Equipment books aren't OGC, especially the equipment because I can really enjoy creating new magic and monsters but equipment, that's not as engaging to say the least.

I guess it is possible that some of these things will be added to the SRD. Mongoose has been quite good about making sure the SRD is current and I certainly appreciate that.

I can ask for specific permission of course and maybe I will.



Wyrmshadows

 

[DirkD]

Well it is unfortunate that the Runequest Spellbook, Monsters and Equipment books aren't OGC, especially the equipment because I can really enjoy creating new magic and monsters but equipment, that's not as engaging to say the least.

The stats of the creatures are in the monsters srd, you just have to write your own descriptions.

 

[Wyrmshadows]

Well it is unfortunate that the Runequest Spellbook, Monsters and Equipment books aren't OGC, especially the equipment because I can really enjoy creating new magic and monsters but equipment, that's not as engaging to say the least.

The stats of the creatures are in the monsters srd, you just have to write your own descriptions.

Yeah, I'll do that for the basic necessary creatures and then just direct the buyer to the MRQ Monster book for addtional basic monsters with an indicator as to which of these beasties are appropriate for the setting. On top of that I'll be creating creatures specific to the setting.

What's unfortunate about the non-SRD weapons equipment is that there is a good chance I will simply be renaming and redescribing weapons and items that already exist in the Weapons and Equipment book while using the same stats. That is why I wish weapons and equipment were SRD because it just seems so redundant when the weapons and gear already exist. Oh well, maybe by the time the setting is nearer to completion these things will be in the SRD. Only time will tell.


Wyrmshadows

 

[soltakss]

Wyrmshadows

Are you planning on selling the world as a supplement?

It seems that it is easier to write things using non-SRD sources if you are doing it as a free website or PDF.

My policy has always been "Write first and wait for the lawsuits" and nothing has happened so far .....

I suppose it all depends what you want to use. If you have an NPC who uses a Tulwar (taking a weapon at random from Arms and Equipment) then you could list it as Tulwar (2D6) 70% 4/14 or whateverand include something in a footer or appendix saying that Tulwars are written up in Arms and Equipment and that would be perfectly fine. If you reproduced the stats and description of a Tulwar then that might be a problem. I you listed all the equipment then tyhat would certainly be a problem.

But, if you wanted to be sure you were absolutely OK, then drop an email to someone at Mongoose and ask if it's OK.