I am not a lawyer and wouldn't trust anything without a better idea of your local law.

I should point out however that there are two conditions at least under which you can publish stuff for WOTC's D&D.

1. Under their license. OGL, GSL etc.... In this case you trade many of your rights as a publisher for license allowing you clear but limited options. The elegance of this is that things should be spelled out enough to reduce lawyers etc...
WOTC does not do this out of the kindness of its heart. Licensees accept a host of limitations and accept obligations to WOTC. This is mostly what people talk about when they talk about publishing 2nd source stuff. Licensees have obligations beyond copyright law because they have accepted a defined license.


2. Copyright - I think this is more complex and certainly more expensive to litigate. My understanding is that you can't copyright game mechanics - this would seem to give publishers some flexibility.
Trademark - WOTC has trademarked a number of names etc... within its properties and you most likely cannot use them in another game.


I think it would be wonderful for the industry to have more liberal licenses or have some well funded game copyright cases define limitations. Nobody wants to go to court. I think there simply isn't enough money in the market for that.
Its possible that small time publications would fall below the radar for infractions etc... Its also possible that since WOTC has to defend its copyrights to keep them they might get a very rude reception.

Sigurd