At 02:56 PM 9/18/00 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>I think world creation projects have a place in the open gaming movement, but
>we have _one_ little problem. We need continuity.
The only way to get continuity in an open setting is to register the
trademark of your version of the setting and allow others to use the
setting in any way they like, but not to call it the same thing as
yours by using your trademark. Your official setting would have the
continuity you like, but you would have to be willing to accept that
there is some derivative work that was created and published separate
from this continuity. (The nice thing about an open license is that
you could make use of some of this material if you found that it was
consistent with your goals.)
There's no way to get absolute editorial control under an open
license. But look at how Linus Torvalds has used the Linux trademark
to advance his goals for the OS, and how people still go to the
central folks for "official" Linux material.
The publishers of Death in Freeport have made the setting open, so others
will be able to set modules in the city. They are even encouraging it in
the text. However, I think consumers will continue to go to Freeport's
creators for "canon" material, even if I publish a Freeport module of my
own.
Rogers Cadenhead
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: http://www.prefect.com
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