2. Reading through these responses suggests that there should be a slightlyI am not (repeat NOT) a lawyer. I have, however, spent far too much time on this list in the last several years. I consider myself an exerpt on the OGL, and confident that the 37 questions below will help just about anyone determine if their project is "right" for the OGL.
easier way to figure out if the OGL is right for your project. An example
would be asking yourself a series of questions. If you answer "no" or "yes"
to any of them, then you have an easy way of knowing. It's just those
questions that elude me at the moment.
(If anyone has any questions to add, or suggestions to this list, PLEASE let me know. I'm going to try and get this distributed as far and wide as I can--so that we can all avoid running into some of these threads again and again and again...)
INTRO:
The questions are divided up into catagories. You don't need to answer "yes" to the d20STL questions if you're not using the d20STL, the software questions if your product isn't software, or the Lawyer questions if you're working off of the "roll over and comply" legal theory of RPG fandom. (I do not endorse the "roll over and comply" legal theory of RPG fandom, and I think that it's an irresponsible way to enter into a legal contract--but it's better to point you towards this and getting your own lawyers than the "I'm a foolish fanboy who thinks I can understand everything about this without a laywer" legal theory of RPG fandom.)
You should be able to answer YES (a resounding yes, in capital letters--not a meek yes in lowercase) to all of the following questions. If not, then my wholehearted advice is to stop whatever it is that you're doing until you can answer YES to all of them.
Basic (OGL) questions:
1: Is your product a roleplaying game product, either standalone or a tool to aid in the use of roleplaying games?
2: Is it based on the d20 System, as detailed in the SRD? (If yes, the OGL is required; if not, you may be able to not use the OGL.)
3: Do you have any part of your product to which you do not have clear and total title to--is there anyone at all who has not directly and specifically approved your product who has ownership of any part of your product, excluding positivly identified Open Gaming Content?
4: Are you legally able to enter into contracts?
5: Do you understand the spirit of the OGL?
6: Do you understand the letter of the OGL?
7: If you lose every last penny you invest in the OGL, will you be able to continue to live?
d20STL questions:
(repeat of above:) 2: Is it based on the d20 System, as detailed in the SRD? (If not, you may not use the d20STL).
8: Will your product benefit from the network effect of the d20 logo?
9: Does your product describe or include character creation, as defined by the d20 System Guide currently hosted at www.wizards.com/d20?
10: Does your product describe or include charater advancement, as defined by the d20 System Guide currently hosted at www.wizards.com/d20?
11: Have you re-defined any of the Required Terms?
12: Have you placed the Required Notice on your product?
13: Do you understand the letter of the D20STL?
14: Do you understand the letter of the d20 System Guide?
15: Do you understand that Wizards of the Coast can revise either the D20STL or the d20 System Guide at any time for any reason, and that them doing so WILL cause you to have to re-evaluate your product?
Software questions:
16: Are you not using the D20STL? (If you are, software becomes hairy.)
17: Do you have clear title to your software libraries and components, or permission to distribute them as OGC?
18: Will you be distributing source code? (a nonissue; the OGL does not require source code, though it's probably a good idea)
19: Is your product a computer game? (If so, NO d20STL)
20: Is your product an in-game aid? (If so, MAYBE d20STL)
20: Is your product a pre-game-aid? (If so, PROBABLY YES d20STL)
21: Is your product a GM-replacement? (If so, PROBABLY NO d20STL)
Lawyer / PI Questions:
(repeat of above:) 7: If you lose every last penny you invest in the OGL, will you be able to continue to live?
22: Have you consulted a lawyer for possible jurisdictional conflicts?
23: Do you have a plan on how to behave if you reieve a "Cease & Desist" letter?
24: Is your lawyer familar with the use of and implications of the FSF's "copyleft" term? If not, does he have an associate who is?
25: Is your lawyer an expert in copyright law? If not, does he have an associate who is?
26: Is your lawyer an expert in contract law? If not, does he have an associate who is?
Compliance Questions:
27: Did you include the OGL with every distribution of your product?
28: Did you update Section 15 with all of our sources, verbatium?
29: Did you add your own copyright notice to your Section 15?
30: Did you clearly identify your OGC? (If not, are you sure that you want to identify EVERYTHING as OGC?)
31: Did you examine those things you did not identify as OGC for items that must be OGC?
32: Can your OGC designation be understood by a 10 year old? (If not, it's probably not clear enough.)
33: Are your sure that your OGC designation doesn't rely on the reader to determine what is and is not derivitive?
34: Does your OGC designation have an "and everything I could have missed" clause?
35: Is your contact information clearly in the work, so downstream derivors can contact you for clarification?
36: Have you avoided all of the names, trademarks, designs, styles, and other forms of Product Identity of your upstream sources and all other OGL'd works?
37: Have you checked to make sure that the following names aren't anywhere in your work? :
Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Dungeon Master, Monster Manual, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, d20, Forgotten Realms, Faerûn, character names (including those used in the names of spells or items), places, Red Wizard of Thay, Heroic Domains of Ysgard, Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, Tarterian Depths of Carceri, Gray Waste of Hades, Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, Nine Hells of Baator, Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Twin Paradises of Bytopia, Blessed Fields of Elysium, Wilderness of the Beastlands, Olympian Glades of Arborea, Concordant Domain of the Outlands, Sigil, Lady of Pain, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti.
DM
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