A Crazy Idea for the Guild

[hans_worst]

the d20 system has it's own license. If we for example make a pdf. All the d20 stuff we use for it should be in a box. Everything in the box is published under the terms of the Open Gaming License. For all other work we could use the normal copyright or a Creative Commons Licence.

[Redrobes]

Theres some good points here.

First let me reply to the point above about content. I would only be interested in making maps or at most some short descriptions but not so much in the style of a full module and I think most of us are leaning that way in this guild. But I thought be we co-joined at the hips with a group who has more interest in the writing and back story so thats where I thought the module aspect would come from.

In terms of site design w.r.t selling modules I would not think that we need worry about that as RPGNow et al handle all of that. You are right about the money tho in that it would have to be accounted maybe even taxed. Personally I don't give a hoot about the money as I know its going to be very little. Maybe Arcana is right in that if we were shifting many hundreds+ of free modules then there would be more temptation to charge. The difference in take up between stuff thats free and very cheap but not free is drastic tho believe me.

To have a physical product has its downsides too. Unless we have somebody who can print on demand or run small quantity then you end up with stock which has to be stored, posted and accounted for. The digital route is much easier and you can update or make changes to it.

The licensing issues is a little more tricky too. Some applications restrict some content based on it so you would have to be sure that you were able to use the art correctly. Most shared art has a requirement for non-commercial use. I have stated that anyone can use icons from my set as they wish as part of a map but the downloads from the site are creative commons with non-commercial attribution & share-alike. So fine for the CC content but not if you charge for it. I don't know if Kepli is listening to add whether DJ & CC2/3 art is likewise but I see a lot of that on these maps too.

and I am in full agreement with keeping it small to start. When your faced with a large amount of work it can seem very daunting. The skill most required more than any artistic type is just sheer tenacity. Its just so easy to give up on it.

[NeonKnight]

CC3 issues for maps is very....liberal, with their licenses.

The way it was explained to me is as follows:

A CC3 map is like a printed document. You have the right to make and sell the document using the program, but instead of FONTS you have IMAGES. As long as you are only selling the final Image of the finished map and not providing access to the 'fonts' you are OK. Lots of smaller companies out their using CC3 to make and sell map packs, or even image libraries for use with that software (i.e. MS and ADOBE Does not care if I write a document, and then sell said document in WORD or PDF format, as long as I do not provide licensed material/intellectual property to others who did not pay for it).

Does that make sense?

[hans_worst]

But when you download new IMAGES for CC3. The owner of those images may not be so liberal? I believe this is the answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_...omputer_Images

[NeonKnight]

Here is the pertinent text straight out of the License agree for ALL official Profantasy Files (programs, symbol sets, etc):

USE OF SYMBOLS AND ARTWORK

This update includes a large amount of symbols, fill-styles and other artwork in a variety of file formats (OUR ARTWORK). This section sets out how you can distribute maps containing OUR ARTWORK.

(i) Subject to the restrictions in section ii and iii, you may freely distribute the maps you create using OUR ARTWORK in CC3 format, but not the source image files (PNG and bitmap artwork) associated with them. You may freely distribute flat files (for example BMP and PNG) exported from CC3 containing OUR ARTWORK. You may publish such maps for commercial gain.

(ii) You may not redistribute any map that in our sole opinion is, or appears to be, for the purpose of disseminating OUR ARTWORK. Think of your maps as documents, and our symbols as fonts. You can print a document containing Times New Roman font, but you can't give the font file away, or produce a "font book".

(iii) You may not produce commercial products which consist predominantly of floorplan-resolution exports of OUR ARTWORK without written permission from ProFantasy Software Ltd. This includes but is not limited to PDF tiles.