> I'm the coordinator of a new spanish rpg design studio called Tantir Games
and
> we are interested to know if we could edit and publish D20 material and
worlds
> in spanish. �Did we need to give the permission of anyone?...need to
translate the
> SRD or OGL to spanish?
If you are translating existing material/worlds, you DEFINITELY need to have
a licensing agreement for the non-Open Game Content portions of the work and
any Product Identity.
This is how Atlas is setting up translations for the Penumbra line:
(1) The translators are paying us for the license to use our product
identity, trade dress, and copyrighted content that is *not* Open Game
Content (text, maps, illustrations).
(2) As a condition of our license, we require the translator to comply with
the Open Game License for use of the Open Game Content in our book.
(3) To use the D20 System trademark, the foreign translator also agrees (as
a condition of our license) to sign on to and comply with WotC's D20 System
trademark license.
It strikes me that if you are publishing original D20 material, you can just
do like any English-language publisher. I don't recall anything in the
licenses that requires the OGL material itself to be in a particular
language.
Your big problem, since D&D3 hasn't appeared in Spanish yet (isn't it
supposed to be in January or something?) is to have access to the
"dictionary" that specifies which specific words in the Spanish language are
being used for which specific terms in the English language. The D20
license guide has a lot of specificity for defining game terminology--in
English. There's a lot of room for confusion with similar synonyms. (For
example, in English one could imagine reversing the use of the terms
"Constitution" and "Fortitude," which would cause no end of confusion if
another translator chose the opposite way.) I would advise anyone
publishing in a foreign language either to wait until the official
translations are available to provide a guide to terminology, or to have
contacts in the publisher in that language that would get you access
(perhaps with a non-disclosure agreement or similar restrictions) to their
official dictionary.
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John Nephew voice (651) 638-0077 fax (651) 638-0084
President, Atlas Games www.atlas-games.com
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For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
