A question about copyright and my own game.

**Sofetios** · February 25th, 2015, 14:43

Hello, I just have a quick question about copyright. I currently have a game in the works and was wondering. If I use CoreRPG to make character sheets for my game or if I make a ruleset for it later, does Fantasy Grounds own what I created? This RPG is one I am making myself. Thanks, and sorry if this question has been posted before.

**Trenloe** · February 25th, 2015, 14:55

No one else will own your own work unless you sign it over to them.

If you base something on the work of someone else and then pass it off as your own work or sell it then you'll be breaking their copyright. For example, if you used CoreRPG (owned by SmiteWorks) to create your own ruleset and then passed it off as your own work then that would be breaking their copyright.

SmiteWorks are very good about letting you build community based rulesets on top of the rulesets that come with FG as standard (i.e. not the commercial ones you pay extra for) as long as you don't charge for them and you distribute them publicly to the community, and recognise their copyright.

**Sofetios** · February 25th, 2015, 15:09

Alright, thank you! I appreciate the help!

**Mirloc** · February 26th, 2015, 11:04

I guess I'm a bit confused, isn't the idea of the Core RPG to allow people to create rulesets that all play nicely, in other words the framework from where you can create a game for FG2 based off of original ideas etc, etc.

I didn't realize that the Core RPG was bound by the SmiteWorks copyright.

**damned** · February 26th, 2015, 11:26

Pretty much most things have copyright. If you take a photo and put it on the web - unless you publish it under something like creative commons - and even then you still own the image but you are allowing copying/reuse - its copyright belongs to you.

In this case CoreRPG's coding belongs to SmiteWorks. All the magic coding that makes stuff happen belongs to them.

CoreRPG serves 2 functions.
1. It is a base for development of other rulesets so that when a new feature is added (eg Exploding Dice) to CoreRPG it will also be available to the rulesets that are layered on it (coding dependent). This also helps to reduce (significantly) the amount of work required to develop a new ruleset that is layered on CoreRPG.
2. It is a blank canvas with a funky character sheet that appears to be blank but is in fact very powerful that can be used to develop Character Sheets with clickable/rollable fields to help you play other game systems that arent specifically catered for by a full ruleset.

I dont know the ins and outs of building a commercial ruleset for Fantasy Grounds but I believe that you pay SmiteWorks a royalty and the publisher of the ruleset a royalty and you get a share too.

FG Con 6 – April 17-19th 2015 - register at www.fg-con.com for all the latest info.

**Mirloc** · February 27th, 2015, 00:01

Damned,

Your take on the CoreRPG was what I took away also, but Trenlo's post seems to contradict what I had assumed CoreRPG was for.

Either CoreRPG is supposed to be used as the basis behind new RPGs or it's only for SmiteWorks created content.

Honestly, I'm not trying to stir up any problems, but this is the kind of information that I'd like to know - one of the the things I'd like to do is to make a new game based on CoreRPG. Paying a royalty to SmiteWorks? That's fine, and to be expected. But not being able to put it in the store would definitely color the decision as to if I'd actually go forward with the plan or to table it.

**Moon Wizard** · February 27th, 2015, 00:29

It's for both SmiteWorks rulesets and community rulesets. We built it as a way to offload a lot of the generic functionality used in most RPG games in a way that it could be leveraged by the community as well. Originally, I planned the tool more for the community rulesets, but I used several SmiteWorks rulesets to make sure that it was robust enough and it became clear it was good for all.

We maintain ownership of the code; but we allow the code to be used and modified freely, as long as the modifications are made freely available to the community or sold through the FG store. Any products sold through the FG store provide revenue to the game publisher, the ruleset/extension developer, and SmiteWorks.

Regards,
JPG

**Trenloe** · February 27th, 2015, 01:03

Originally Posted by Mirloc

Your take on the CoreRPG was what I took away also, but Trenlo's post seems to contradict what I had assumed CoreRPG was for.

Sorry for the confusion. In my post I said you can't take CoreRPG, build a ruleset on that and pass it off as your own work. I should have expanded that and said that you can, of course, do that with SmiteWorks permission and if you want to charge for it you would have to come to some commercial arrangement with SmiteWorks. I didn't specifically say you couldn't do this without working with SmiteWorks - I said that if you did it without their permission you'd be breaking copyright. I went on to say exactly what M_W said about community rulesets: "SmiteWorks are very good about letting you build community based rulesets on top of the rulesets that come with FG as standard (i.e. not the commercial ones you pay extra for) as long as you don't charge for them and you distribute them publicly to the community, and recognise their copyright."

You just have to remember that CoreRPG is copyright material owned by SmiteWorks. As M_W says, you can use this as basis for your own ruleset, but that ruleset must be made freely available to the community or sold through the FG store.

**Mirloc** · February 27th, 2015, 01:42

Ok that makes more sense, and give a clear direction. Thanks M_W, and Trenloe, I was just looking for clarification is all.

**damned** · February 27th, 2015, 05:11

Originally Posted by Mirloc

Ok that makes more sense, and give a clear direction. Thanks M_W, and Trenloe, I was just looking for clarification is all.

And I am keen to see what you might come up with

More rulesets is better for everyone!

FG Con 6 – April 17-19th 2015 - register at www.fg-con.com for all the latest info.

Thread: A question about copyright and my own game.

Thread Tools