The Fair Use Policy

[MongooseMatt]

Thanks for clearing this out!

However, does that policy mean that non-commercial material for pre-MGT OTU settings is OK as before, while anything OTU for MGT is restricted to Foreven alone? Or could we make free OTU material for any system (including MGT) as long as it is 100% commercial?

I presume you meant non-commercial at the end.

You can make whatever you like, share it with your group and your friends, as you can with any of your games - we are not going to bust your door down to stop you

However, we want to provide a structure for people to share their ideas with the wider Traveller community, but we need to put a system in place to do this with the current OTU material.

Marc has very kindly given a very free licence to use previous versions of Traveller, pretty much however you wish so long as it is non-commercial.

We have taken a slightly different approach (for several reasons, including the fact that Traveller is still in production - and will be for many more years!), in that we wanted to make no distinction between commercial and non-commercial, but also wanted to allow people to be able to work with the OTU - the Foreven Sector will effectively become a Free Sector. You will be able to reference pretty much any OTU material, so long as it is in reference to that sector, including creating scenarios, characters, detailing worlds, fighting wars. . . If you want Giant Space Hamsters devouring stars, you can do it (!), so long as it is restricted to Foreven - basically, we want to keep District 268 as it is, and rodent free However, you could certainly have a hero hailing from the Spinward Marches front and centre in the Hamster Wars. The Marches could be mentioned, just not changed.

We'll be covering all of this in the licence, so please bear with us just a little longer, and we'll bring you all kinds of Traveller goodness

 

[Vile]

Well, that all sounds pretty zarjaz to me!

 

[dmccoy1693]

yes, yes. thank you!!!

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

:shock:

:?:

:!:

:idea:

Thank you, Matt! :mrgreen:

(??I think???? :? )

 

[Golan2072]

Many thanks - both for the new license AND the speedy and detailed answer!

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Once again Mongoose shows it's COMMON SENSE approach to fans and it's games.

This is really becoming quite a habit with you all isn't it? :wink:

 

[GamerDude]

...the Foreven Sector will effectively become a Free Sector. You will be able to reference pretty much any OTU material, so long as it is in reference to that sector,...

(emphasis mine).

Matt, I'm a little confused on this.

I gather that any third-party OTU will be set in the Foreven Sector.

But, this again begs the issue of defining what is the OTU. I mean does this open up anything GURPS:Traveller, or from Quicklink Enterprises, etc. and without having to pay them anything?

 

[Infojunky]

3. A new licence is being finalised (just as soon as I can clear some space on my desk - any delays now are all down to me, not Marc!). This will be the Free Sector Licence, which allows you to use any and all OTU references with respect to the Foreven Sector only - again, for commercial reasons or otherwise. This means (so long as you stay within the bounds of the Foreven Sector) anyone would be free to publish OTU material, including references to the Zhodani, the Imperial Scout Service, Third Imperium, or anything else you like.

Matt is the location of the Foreven sector fixed? Some of us don't use/write for the Spinward Marches area....

 

[EDG]

So to be clear:

Any OTU material (including sectors that aren't Foreven) can be published so long as it's released non-commercially (e.g. in free fanzines like Stellar Reaches, on personal websites etc)? This would be the ideal solution IMO.

But if we want to commercially publish material set in the OTU then it has to be set in Foreven? So we'd basically get lots of alternate Foreven sectors?

Or are you saying that the only OTU sector that can be used for anything commercial or non-commercial (and the only context that anything OTU can even be mentioned in) is Foreven?

 

[MongooseMatt]

So to be clear:

It won't be clear until we release the licence, but. . .

Or are you saying that the only OTU sector that can be used for anything commercial or non-commercial (and the only context that anything OTU can even be mentioned in) is Foreven?

This is correct.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Matt is the location of the Foreven sector fixed?

For the OTU it is. For you. . . well, that is pretty much up to you

 

[Infojunky]

Matt is the location of the Foreven sector fixed?

For the OTU it is. For you. . . well, that is pretty much up to you

So any chance of a Reserve that isn't behind the claw?

Most of my recent games, (meaning the last decade or so has been in the Sol Rim region).

 

[dmccoy1693]

So Stellar Reaches and any other free, non-commercial fanzines and personal websites are buggered then (this is why I highlighted "or non-commercial"). Because that sounds like they can't mention any OTU at all that isn't Foreven. If this is the case, this isn't an improvement on the previous Mongoose Fair Use license at all.

I really do not understand what the problem is with any non-commercial usage of the OTU at all - that's how it's worked before without any issues, why can't it work like that now?

So just to be sure (again) - are you saying that any non-commercial (by which I mean, "no money exchanges hands") websites, fanzines, or other publications will now be forbidden from setting anything in the OTU outside the Foreven sector?

I highly recommend just waiting for the license itself to come out. He did say that all material from previous version are fair game. If you want to write up some fluff x planet in SM, say its for CT and don't put any stats with it. If you want to have stats for MGT, follow the agreement.

But we don't know the full details of that until we see the actual license. Waiting is better then panicking.

 

[captainjack23]

I highly recommend just waiting for the license itself to come out. He did say that all material from previous version are fair game. If you want to write up some fluff x planet in SM, say its for CT and don't put any stats with it. If you want to have stats for MGT, follow the agreement.

But we don't know the full details of that until we see the actual license. Waiting is better then panicking.

But never as fun....or as provocative..

And so, in the spirit of things:

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!@!!!!!!! ThE UnPo5TeD FaRE Us3 PoliC MiTE Po55IbLE Suxxor !!1! The EndOf Tr4V3113R fAnDom Iz HeAR !"

 

[EDG]

I have reasons for asking this specific a question. Right now I'm not "panicking" (hence my request for further clarification) but given Matt's previous answer I'm not feeling too hopeful here. I just hope they actually do release the license within the next few days so we can see what is going on here.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I have reasons for asking this specific a question. Right now I'm not "panicking" (hence my request for further clarification) but given Matt's previous answer I'm not feeling too hopeful here. I just hope they actually do release the license within the next few days so we can see what is going on here.

No matter how you slice it, it's more then before. The fact that Miller is allowing part of his setting for anyone to have at is ... well ... freaking amazing. I have not heard of that happening before. Ever.

I have to say, Miller is definitely "The Man" this week.

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Hurm.... :? ??

 

[captainjack23]

I have reasons for asking this specific a question. Right now I'm not "panicking" (hence my request for further clarification) but given Matt's previous answer I'm not feeling too hopeful here. I just hope they actually do release the license within the next few days so we can see what is going on here.

No matter how you slice it, it's more then before. The fact that Miller is allowing part of his setting for anyone to have at is ... well ... freaking amazing. I have not heard of that happening before. Ever.

I have to say, Miller is definitely "The Man" this week.

Yes. !!!
He does seem to be comitted to keeping the fan side of his game going, supported, and genrally as happily creatively anarchic as it ever was , yes he does. Which, one can hope, makes up for a whole bunch of lesser flaws and idiosycracies......

Thanks Marc !

 

[Jeff Hopper]

Um, msprange, you do realize that by mentioning the Hamster Wars possibility in the Foreven Sector that a Space Hamster Arms Race may even now be happening amoungst the Traveller faithful...

 

[EDG]

Well, this is where I'm confused because Matt's first point said:

1. Fair Use Policy - covers all previous editions of Traveller in all their forms, lets you do pretty much anything you want so long as it is non-commercial and has a disclaimer.

and then he later on he said:

We have taken a slightly different approach (for several reasons, including the fact that Traveller is still in production - and will be for many more years!), in that we wanted to make no distinction between commercial and non-commercial, but also wanted to allow people to be able to work with the OTU - the Foreven Sector will effectively become a Free Sector.

The first point says "do anything you want with the OTU if it's for previous editions of Traveller (before MGT, presumably) and is non-commercial and has a disclaimer". So I guess articles in things like Stellar Reaches and other fanzines are OK, so long as they're specifically for other versions of Traveller.

The second point seems to say "whether it's non-commercial or commercial, you are only allowed to publish OTU stuff anywhere (whether free or not) if is set in the Foreven sector".

Now he's not specified that the latter only applies if MGT is involved somehow, but I guess that's what it means by implication. But that seems odd because if you're publishing a sector or something else from the OTU then it doesn't necessarily require any stats for any edition at all. So it sounds as if you can publish anything for the OTU if it is pre-MGT, but if you mention any MGT stats it has to be set in the Foreven sector?