Questions about the GSL

[Moon-Lancer]

I have a few questions for the Rouse and the Wizards team


1: It says in the SRD that the terms outlined cannot be redefined.

Lets say I come up with a new race and I publish a book with that race. Later the srd gets an update, and the race that i published by coincidence gets put into the srd.

What happens? Have i redefined a term in the srd? Am I grandfathered in? Am I screwed? What happens if the book is at the printers and its not released yet?

It seems like alot of what ifs. I don't like to gamble, but the gsl seems rather risky and fighting prospect. It also seems very likely that situations like this will occor with people trying to fill the vacuum that a new edition leaves.

2: What happens to our product line after 4e and the gsl is terminated? Can we go back to the ogl? Is their any assurances that 5e will have a license, or are we screwed?

3: we all know dms can make house rules. Can we share house rules with others? How about on the internet like en world? How about on our own website? How about a pdf that we put on enworld? How about a pdf on our website? How about a pdf thats free? How about a pdf thats free but with a suggested donation amount? What if this is a free add-on was only free if you buy the book? what if its only in the book?

hehe i just thought i would try that last one to trip you up sorry. It is a real question though of where does the fan house rules end where does the GSL start.

If your reading this, thanks for you time and thanks for all the work you have done by getting the GSL out. Hopefully it will continue to evolve in a way that offers more freedoms to publishers and still remains highly beneficial to Wizards of the Coast.

*edit* fixed some typos

 

[CountPopeula]

I have a question of my own.

Now, we can't use stat blocks from the MM, I know this. But if I make a new kobold, can said kobold be shifty? Can I put the shifty rule in his stat block? or do I just have to say "see shifty in the Monster Manual."

This may seem small, but it's a deep and burning question to me, and really the only one that matters to me at the moment.

 

[jmucchiello]

I have a few questions the Rouse and the wizards team


1: It says in the SRD that the terms outlined cannot be redefined.

Lets say I come up with a new race and I publish a book with that race. Later the srd gets an update, and the race that i published by coincidence gets put into the srd.

What happens? Have i redefined a term in the srd? Am I grandfathered in? Am I screwed? What happens if the book is at the printers and its not released yet?

Screwed. Make sure your races names are hyper-unique.

2: What happens to our product line after 4e and the gsl is terminated? Can we go back to the ogl? Is their any assurances that 5e will have a license, or are we screwed?

Mostly screwed again. The license tells you that you can't go back to the OGL. You could translate your setting/fluff to a whole other game system though.

3: we all know dms can make house rules. Can we share house rules with others? How about on the internet like en world? How about on our own website? How about a pdf that we put on enworld? How about a pdf on our website? How about a pdf thats free? How about a pdf thats free but with a suggested donation amount? What if this is a free add-on was only free if you buy the book? what if its only in the book?

A fan usage policy is supposedly in the works. The GSL is only for publishers. Fan sites at the moment are governed by normal copyright law, fair use, and general flying under the radar. Remember the GSL lets you put the actual D&D logo on your books. Its not for someone's PDF of their homebrew.

 

[jmucchiello]

Now, we can't use stat blocks from the MM, I know this. But if I make a new kobold, can said kobold be shifty? Can I put the shifty rule in his stat block? or do I just have to say "see shifty in the Monster Manual."

Yes, he can. You have to say "see shift in the Monster Manual" because on pg 58 of the 4e SRD we find "Kobold and below that "Shifty". So you can reference it, but you can't reprint it or redefine it.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Its not for someone's PDF of their homebrew.

I understand. My question is really a slippery sloap fallacy. By that i mean, what if your friends distribute your pdf house rules? can you host your pdf house rules on your own website? ect ect. where is the line? thats my question

 

[wayne62682]

I understand. My question is really a slippery sloap fallacy. By that i mean, what if your friends distribute your pdf house rules? can you host your pdf house rules on your own website? ect ect. where is the line? thats my question

To my knowledge, the current GSL applies only to published works (i.e. for profit). There's supposed to be a separate GSL for non-profit/fan distributed works that will (hopefully) answer what you're asking.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

To my knowledge, the current GSL applies only to published works (i.e. for profit). There's supposed to be a separate GSL for non-profit/fan distributed works that will (hopefully) answer what you're asking.

Well, in this internet connected world, "posting to a forum" equals "publishing"...

However I agree that the GSL only makes sense when it comes to printed materials and that a "website policy" is sorely needed.