A Prodigious Title on the Disposition of the Subject of Pathfinder Society and FG

[wvpolarbear]

The answer is yes, you can copy campaigns *



* Legal Text
Mike Brock has indicated Vic Wertz, the technical officer, has no problem with campaign copying. Paizo has no problem with this, but do not violate copyright law. Both GM's must have a copy of the scenario, and any third party material must be removed because of said copyright laws. This will mean anything not ripped from the Scenario PDF or from stock Fantasy Grounds must be removed.


Hope this is clear. Godspeed and good luck pathfinders.

[Nickademus]

Yay!

[Skellan]

Dun dun duuuuuun!
Awesome stuff. Thanks Arthur.
If anyone wants anything from me, just let me know.

[Nickademus]

I want it all! Get slaving. :p

On a side note, do we now need a method to prove valid ownership of scenarios? I personally would rather not post my watermark with my contact info on the open public forum.

[Trueshots]

I want it all! Get slaving. :p

On a side note, do we now need a method to prove valid ownership of scenarios? I personally would rather not post my watermark with my contact info on the open public forum.

Skellan send me seasons 0-5, now! Go go go!!!!!

[Nickademus]

Skellan said 'anything'. I want season 6. Would be nice to have a head start. Get that time machine fired up!

[Trenloe]

On a side note, do we now need a method to prove valid ownership of scenarios? I personally would rather not post my watermark with my contact info on the open public forum.
Yes, I'd like to know what is the recommended way for a GM to confirm that the person they're sending the FG module too has purchased the scenario PDF.

[Trenloe]

Also, just for complete clarity, does this cover Paizo modules and adventure paths too? The statement above mentions "scenario PDF" so is this limited to PFS scenarios only?

[Trenloe]

This is great news!

I've started a thread here where GMs can list what they are willing to share privately: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20244-Private-sharing-of-PFS-scenario-data-available-modules

[Trueshots]

Yes, I'd like to know what is the recommended way for a GM to confirm that the person they're sending the FG module too has purchased the scenario PDF.

I personally would rather not post my watermark with my contact info on the open public forum.
Exactly, There are a few guys I trust here but just random GM's, I don't think so.....There could then be a whole other way for someone to scam the person thats suppose to be proving he has it. Is the GM that is sharing going to have to prove he actually has it also. I have no clue how this can work. To be quite honest I don't think they have thought this portion out. It is so very, very, very, very awesome that we are being allow to do this, but it seems that really the only way to police this is simple trust between 2 people, I don't see anyway to prove validity without taking a risk of breaking confidentiality....How do they validate on Roll20?



This is great news!

I've started a thread here where GMs can list what they are willing to share privately: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20244-Private-sharing-of-PFS-scenario-data-available-modules
Awesome!

[wvpolarbear]

I suggest a forwarded receipt of the customer service email you get showing you bought something, or if you have only hardcopy books for modules and AP's, a phone picture of the book.


This sharing applies to modules, adventure paths, quests, and goblin attacks. Any pathfinder society material that involves a gm and players playing.


And please direct any and all thanks to Jesse Davis aka Ironhelixx who championed your cause to the big people.

[Trueshots]

I suggest a forwarded receipt of the customer service email you get showing you bought something
I can almost promise I have never kept a receipt after I've bought something


a phone picture of the book.
This I can do


And please direct any and all thanks to Jesse Davis aka Ironhelixx who championed your cause to the big people.
Jesse Davis aka Ironhelixx, I want to have your babies.....

[Nickademus]

Don't want to split hairs, but I'd like to know one distinction.



Mike Brock has indicated Vic Wertz, the technical officer, has no problem with campaign copying. Paizo has no problem with this, but do not violate copyright law. Both GM's must have a copy of the scenario, and any third party material must be removed because of said copyright laws. This will mean anything not ripped from the Scenario PDF or from stock Fantasy Grounds must be removed.

Does the phrase "and any third party material must be removed because of said copyright laws" consider us (the GMs, not Smite Works) to be a third party and thus our personal content such as tokens have to be removed? This is assuming an original creation with which we hold IP and copyright, not something off Google.

Also does the phrase "anything not ripped from the Scenario PDF or from stock Fantasy Grounds must be removed" mean that any Paizo material from another product, such as the face cards, have to be removed? I assume yes for sold products but no for Community Use items, though it sounds even Community Use items would have to be removed.

[Mortikar]

Very cool. Thanks to IronHelixx!

Just to be safe, when I create them now I'll only use the pdf, then export that to share, then go back and fill in any gaps with 3rd party stuff for my own use.

[lachancery]

Also does the phrase "anything not ripped from the Scenario PDF or from stock Fantasy Grounds must be removed" mean that any Paizo material from another product, such as the face cards, have to be removed? I assume yes for sold products but no for Community Use items, though it sounds even Community Use items would have to be removed.
Yes, along the same line, I usually make a token from the image in the bestiary when an encounter refers to the bestiary and doesn't include a picture in the scenario. Am I assuming correctly that I would need to replace these with letter tokens? Is that how Roll20 GMs share prepared scenarios? It will unfortunately reduce the immersion, but it's still fantastic news!

Thanks for supporting the FG community!

[Trueshots]

Yes, along the same line, I usually make a token from the image in the bestiary when an encounter refers to the bestiary and doesn't include a picture in the scenario. Am I assuming correctly that I would need to replace these with letter tokens? Is that how Roll20 GMs share prepared scenarios? It will unfortunately reduce the immersion, but it's still fantastic news!

Thanks for supporting the FG community!

Yea I'm just gonna remove all tokens and pictures, let people do their own thing. I'm not sure why paizo would care if I stole images that weren't theirs in the first place. My biggest time sink is entering text and adding spells/effects to parsed mobs. So taking 20-30 mins to find pictures and tokens won't be a big deal.

[Trenloe]

I'm not sure why paizo would care if I stole images that weren't theirs in the first place.
This is a publisher underlining that they have given you specific permission to use their stuff in a limited way: privately between individuals who have both purchased the product; but that you shouldn't distribute other copyright material without the permission of the copyright holders of said material.

From replying to copyright related posts on these forums it is obvious that there is a large proportion of the online community who don't understand copyright at even the most fundamental level: believing it is OK to copy and distribute anything if they don't charge for it, believing that anything found on the internet is copyright free, believing that anything that is published for free is also copyright free, etc., etc... Most publishers will be quick to outline what copyright is - both for their products and for others. I would imagine that this is what Paizo is doing here - reminding people to not include other, third party material that is covered by another party's copyright.

[wvpolarbear]

Trueshots,
if you purchase any materials on paizo.com like a scenario, you will receive a customer service email. This is what I mean when I say a receipt.

As to other concerns:
If you yourself have copyrighted material you own in your scenario, and you give permission to the person your are transferring the campaign to to use it, you can leave it in.
To give a brief description of how a possible game transfer might work, I will use two totally made up names.

GM One has a scenario, and GM Two wants a copy. One must remove all non paizo copyrighted material, and transfer it to Two. Two can then reinsert the material if he enjoys breaking international copyright laws, or has permission to use them.

Community Use Material from paizo is open for use. It can be transferred.

Roll20 campaign transfers work completely different than FG. The originator of a Roll20 campaign always has complete control over any copies and so is still responsible for any content in it. The person they are giving a copy to merely has table rights to manipulate tokens.


I hope that this great news can salve some broken hearts over the chronicle sheet fiasco. I assume that this will greatly reduce the time one needs to prepare for a scenario, as I know it dramatically does for Roll20.

[Nickademus]

Thank you sir for answering our questions. It should be a great help indeed.

Now to come up with a way to prove purchase of digital material (assuming we deleted the receipt email). Is it possible to get the email resent from our Purchase History account section? If not I suggest a single volunteer that we all trust view and validate scenario ownership. I nominate Trenloe since he's, well, a VO. If Paizo trusts him, I do too.

[Nickademus]

Two can then reinsert the material if he enjoys breaking international copyright laws...

Yar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6oKjuvA55g

[Trenloe]

Now to come up with a way to prove purchase of digital material (assuming we deleted the receipt email). Is it possible to get the email resent from our Purchase History account section? If not I suggest a single volunteer that we all trust view and validate scenario ownership. I nominate Trenloe since he's, well, a VO. If Paizo trusts him, I do too.
I'd suggest opening the full order page for the individual order in question within Order History on the Paizo website. Using the Windows "snipping tool" to capture the whole order screen. If you need to erase any personal info (such as an address for physical products) then you can save the snipped screen as an image and edit with Paint (comes with Windows) - use the eraser tool in Paint to remove personal info.

Then copy/paste the screenshot into an email and send to the GM who will review and send you the FG module in return.

How does that sound?

[Nickademus]

Sound like you narrowly avoiding being volunteered. :p
I'll try it.

Edit: That works.

[Nickademus]

While this affects all Pathfinder Fantasy Grounds games, I'm going to post this here as the subject has already been brought up and the Society VO staff have already thread this path.

So we have a means to verify that a FG GM has purchased a Paizo product and have been given permission from Paizo to share with a verified GM the FG-formatted files for a Pathfinder sanctioned adventure. What is the feasibility of this extending to all Paizo/Pathfinder products?

For instance, a GM is planning to run The City of Strangers duet from season 1 and I happen to have the City of Strangers campaign setting book formatted for Fantasy Grounds. If the GM were to verify purchase of the City of Strangers book as well, could I get permission to send him the FG file with all the content formatted into a module? Likewise, if a GM is planning to The Devil You Know series from season 1 and I already have the city map of Cassomir formatted for use in FG, could I get verification of the GM's purchase of the Cities of Golarion book where the map came from and give him the formatted map?

I have most of the Pathfinder resources purchased (especially map packs and flip mats) and would gladly share my formatted files with other GMs if this proof of purchase method could cover all products.

[wvpolarbear]

After a quick investigation, you'll want to take this issue up with Paizo Customer Support or go directly to the technical people. It is not a PFS issue you are asking on, it is a Paizo issue.

[Goss]

How do I get in touch with a GM who has converted the Emerald Spire and willing to share their work. I own the module and have PCs in the 3rd level at the moment so a good quality conversion would be awesome.

[Trenloe]

How do I get in touch with a GM who has converted the Emerald Spire and willing to share their work. I own the module and have PCs in the 3rd level at the moment so a good quality conversion would be awesome.
According to the conversion tracker thread, Emerald aspire hasn’t been done by someone willing to share. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20244-Private-sharing-of-PFS-scenario-data-available-modules

[Goss]

According to the conversion tracker thread, Emerald aspire hasn’t been done by someone willing to share. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?20244-Private-sharing-of-PFS-scenario-data-available-modules

Okay thanks for the speedy reply Trenloe