From: Shannon Appel (appel@erzo.org)
Date: Fri 04 Jul 1997 - 10:42:19 EEST
>RPGs allow derivitive works by definition, which implicitly gives the
>kind of rights you're are talking about Marion Zimmer Bradley giving by
>default when see didn't "aggresively pursue" her copyright. This has
>been my contention: that the very act of publishing a fictional world
>setting in an RPG must by force give up a large portion of the
>copyright. At this point, beyond a forced credit to the author/company
>each time the key terms are used and the right not to have whole or large
>parts of their published products reproduced, all other protected rights a
>fictional work would otherwise enjoy are forfeit...
Just so no is confused, this is purely Brian's own speculation, and
The whole issue seems pretty nonsensical to me in any case. Chaosium
As one other quick comment: you're wrong in saying that Chaosium is
With that said, this is another topic where I say: can we *please*
has absolutely zero basis in legal precedent. (Does MZB give up her
copyright because people might sit around with friends telling their
own stories of Darkover? Absolutely not, nor would such stories
violate her copyright until they started being published. Publication
is the key, the line in the sand as it were. I'm quite sure there's a
very precise legal definition of it.) Based on all the legal precedent
we do have, from closely related fields, trying to rip off a RPG's
background is just as wrong as trying to rip off any similar creative
work.
has very liberal policies regarding web sites and periodicals for
Glorantha, and simply requires approval of non-periodical
publications. You'll be hard pressed to find another professional game
in the industry so open about others publishing in its world.
applying its approval standard irregularly to its favorite
publications. Only one publication meets the 2/year requirement right
now: ToTRM, and that only just barely. It's expected that Trade Talk
will as well when it gets rolling. The Book of Drastic Resolutions
most definitely does not, and indeed the second issue required
approval before it went to press.
move this off the Digest. Feel free to have a last word if you'd like
Brian, but if you have a genuine concern you'd do much better to raise
it with Rob Heinsoo at Chaosium. He is available via email at
robmh@chaosium.com. If you'd prefer to send a more official letter,
you can mail:
Chaosium Inc
950 56th St
Oakland, CA 94608
Shannon
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