Copyrighted Material?

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:01

Ok. Hello fellow FG people. It has come to my attention through others that making modules for distribution is considered copyright infringement. Ok that I understand. What I'm confused on is if someone posts they are gm'ing a game say 'I'm doing a game of Rise of the Runelords, Burnt Offerings...looking for players.' Well first off, isn't that a form of copyright infringement? I mean they have the module... they have the materials, yet supposedly the tokens/graphics are copyrighted..OK. That I understand. But what about the maps? And the PFRPG bestiaries..are they not technically copyrighted material? i'm just trying to understand whats going on. I had hopefully thought of my paying my monthly sub and hopefully soon getting the lifetime license I would hopefully be able to do something with the 20 plus GB of pathfinder and D&D 4E materials I have as pdfs would be able to be of use making mods/campaigns. Again from a reliable source we do not have a license with the company that does Pathfinder. That's fine. But I still see the program accepts PFRPG materials. I would appreciate solid confirmation on exactly what we can and cannot post/share on this forum. That way since my subscription is not due until the 15th of Feburary I will be able to make an informed decision as to if I will be keeping my FG program up and running. Thank you and good evening to all.

John Jameson

**dulux-oz** · January 19th, 2016, 02:18

Hi John,

The situation with copyright is like this: if you own a copy of the copyright material you are allowed to make copies for your own personal use only. This would include (in our case) using them in a game being run by yourself. However, you are not allowed to distribute them to anyone else (even if they also own the original material) for any reason, paid or otherwise. So you couldn't give your GM something you'd converted from one of your books, even if you were going to be playing in the module (for eg). Now that's a strict interpretation, and a some other may be more "free", but technically that's the line that most owners of copyright take.

OK, so we can get around it by "lending" our created module to our GM, but if you were "caught" you'd have some explaining to do.

What you can't do, as I've said, is offer anything you've converted to anyone else, and SmiteWorks are really "strict" on this as they don't want to jeopardize any deals that have or are working on by having someone "play around" with copyright issues - and most of the community also don't want to risk this - so we all tend to be pretty conservative around this issue.

Does that answer your question?

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:20

ok so basically unless im the one being the gm i cant do squat with it.. right?

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:24

but if that is the case... then was was there several modules of the bestiaries 2-4 for PFRPG if that is the case? I had thought those were also copyrighted. unless I am wrong. And i have those in pdfs.. and nowhere does it say those are free domain. idk. I could be wrong.

**Mask_of_winter** · January 19th, 2016, 02:25

When you host a game, the GM's material is encrypted. The players can look at it but they can't copy it to their pc. So nothing is distributed.

Every pdf or hardcopy rpg book you have will have a copyright notice on it. It means you can't distribute it even if it was free. There are other licenses, like OGL and SRD, these you have to read.

If you want to become a community developer, I suggest you contact Smiteworks and offer your service. If the material you wish to develop is for a publisher Smiteworks already has an agreement with it should be fine. Otherwise, an agreement with the publisher will need to be ironed out. From what I understand, there are some PF material available but they are from a third party publisher (not Paizo).

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:27

Mask I'll have to find the EXACT link for the files in question about the bestiaries but after looking at PFRPG Bestiary 2 It seems to go hand in hand with the actual Beastiary book that Pathfinder is selling. Like I said, I'm not trying to start any problems or anything, but i am extremely concerned as well as confused. Thank you.

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:30

OK Mask, here is the thread for the files in question. like i said the bestiaries 2-4 in question are i nfact pretty much word for word with the actual book Pathfinder is selling on their website. I'm just extremely confused right now and would like some sort of clarification. ty. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ist-of-Modules

**dulux-oz** · January 19th, 2016, 02:38

The other thing to remember is that game-mechanics can't be copyrighted - but the descriptive text around the game-mechanics can. For example, a monster's stats and special abilities can't be copyrighted, but the text describing the monster (it looks, habitat, battle tactics, etc) is copyrighted.

**johntjamesonjr** · January 19th, 2016, 02:39

AHHHHHH.. ok here we go.... just pulled up the PFRPG bestiary 2 book for FG. seems there is a legal notice thing as well as Open Game License notice that needs to be placed on anything of this type. hmm well i guess thats different.. i guess that was never mentioned. not sure if that was my fault or it was just unknown. or if that would even make a difference or not. idk.

**Mask_of_winter** · January 19th, 2016, 02:39

These are OGL (Open Game License) and SRD (System Reference Document).

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