I've spent some time working and thinking on how I can make my product
conform to the OGL (www.paladinpgm.com/dmf if you are interested). Here is
what, I've come up with. Comments?
DM's Familiar is reference tool and a DM assistant type tool. I've
identified 3 areas where I feel I use Open Game Content.
On the REFERENCE side of things, I provide forms where Spells, Skills,
Feats, Monsters and other stuff can be entered by the user. These forms
follow essentially the same layout as the SRD. I think that makes them
derivative works and therefore they have to be OGC. The only portion of the
form that has anything to do with OGC is the actual visual layout of the
form. So I need to identify the visual layout of the form as OGC (not the
entire form: the code for Next, Previous, Delete has nothing to do with
OGC).
For each of those reference items (Spells, Skills, etc.), I include complete
DATA that is from the SRD (the product comes with every spell from the SRD
including description and such). That's obviously OGC. All of my data is
installed in one data directory. I think I need to identify that entire
directory as OGC including the data itself and my file layouts.
Lastly, I implement some very basic rules: Determining Initiative, Making
Attack Rolls, Making Damage Rolls. Most of these are very simply processes:
Take a number and Add a random number to it. Since Ryan noted that processes
cannot be copyrighted, I wonder if these are really OGC or not. I want to
error on the side of openness so I'm going to say that, yes, those routines
have to be OGC. Fourtunately, all of the routines to do those things are
fairly well seperated from the other aspects of the program. To conform to
the OGC, I think I have to identify where I implement the rule ("when you
press "Attack" on the Combat Board, the following routine is run. This
entire routine is designated as Open Gaming Content") and then I have to
give the entire code for that routine as OGC (this is just a text file
containing the code, it's not executable in inself but would be if you had
VFP, my development language). There's nothing in the code itself that gets
me in trouble with licenses other places.
So to accomplish all of that, I'll essentially have a help file that
identifies the OGC. It's accessed from the menu of the program and is
included with all updates. Selecting the help file will give a blurb about
all of the following within the program is OGC and then explain for each
item what exactly is OGC (visual layout, file structures, actual code,
etc.).
That's it. What do you think works and where have I totally missed the boat?
Todd
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