>My understanding is that you can refer to, and utilise, other >sources, so long as they are open content. >In your example, "Tome & Blood" would not be open content, and hence >you couldn't refer to a specifically named item, such as a feat or >prestige class. >If you were referring to something from the Netbooks (which is open >content), you would be fine.
here's my problem with that interpretation. let's say i'm making a "normal" book, one that in no way relies on on Open Content license to exist. further, let's suppose that the content is physics, rather than RPGs. in that context, i can quite clearly say "See Hollenspiel and 'Loven's The Diagrams of High-Energy Particles'" or "I started with Banwick's chart of particles..." [all names/references invented], and so on. that's one extreme. the assertion that i can't make a simple reference to another RPG product within an RPG product released utilizing (in part) tnhe WotC OGL is the other extreme. what i want to know is what has changed between the two. sure, there are lots of differences between them, but what's the key difference that makes citing verboten in the latter? Is it something about the WotC OGL that forbids referencing other works? if so, where?--i don't see it. Is it the fact that RPG products often contain trademarks? if so, then it's only a problem if, going back to the original question, the name of the feat is trademarked (or the book name is trademarked)--and even then, only because the WotC OGL that you've agreed to explicitly forbids using trademarks to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability. Is it the fact that the citation is within an RPG? can you not refer to external works within an RPG for some obscure legal reason? Is it the fact that the thing being cited is within an RPG? can you not cite an RPG for some obscure legal reason? Some combination of the above? why are citations legal in every other genre of book, but not in RPGs? (or, at least, why do people seem to think they are?) -- woodelf <*> [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/ If any religion is right, maybe they all have to be right. Maybe God doesn't care how you say your prayers, just as long as you say them. --Sinclair _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
