How to Publish an Adventure?

[Domigorgon]

OK, supposing I want to publish my own adventure in PDF form.
Supposing I want to make some money with it (eg. on RPG DriveThru).

How do I go about it? What are the rules and laws as set forth by WotC? Where can I find them? Any other tips?

Can I use things from the SRD?
What if I modify/homebrew something?
What should I avoid? (I've seen some publications dreading even to mention "That other popular roleplaying game system", does it mean that I can't even refer to D&D without having to pay royalties to WotC?)

In short, I want all that legal stuff in Simple English. :D

[Yora]

The rules and laws about publishing something under the OGL are...

*drum roll*

found in the OGL (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srdarchive).

If you want to sell it through DriveThru, you probably should see their policies. I'm sure they have information for such things on their home page somewhere.

The hard part will be to get people to pay for something made by someone whom they probably never heard of, havn't seen any of his work, and who comes without recommendations. Free adventures people might look into and realize that they like it. But even for very low prices I don't think you'll be able to sell more than two or three if people are unable to take a good look at what's inside.

[Domigorgon]

That was totally unhelpful. :)

I had no trouble finding the OGL by myself. I had trouble understanding what it's saying. Even the FAQ doesn't do much, on the lines of:

Question: Halp, I don't get it! Can you translate all this legalspeak?
Answer: Nope. Consult a lawyer. That's what they're for.

[Milo v3]

Does this (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20050930b)help?

[DonEsteban]

I don't think it does. I'm in no way an expert in this matters and surely can't give legal advice, but here's how I understand it:
The OGL licenses you to "derive" (i.e. modifiy, compile, abridge, etc.) and "use" (i.e. sell, rent, display on a web page etc.) the "Contributors'" (i.e. Wizard's, mainly) "Open Gaming Content" (this means, roughly, the rules of D&D and other d20 products) as long as you release the modfied content under the OGL yourself. This means that you may create new monsters, feats, spells, or whatever and publish (even sell) them, but your copyright for them is very limited. You also cannot say "this is an adventure for Dungeons&Dragons" or even "d20 compatible". This requires an extra license, and as far as I know Wizard's (or Hasbro) no longer grants this license to anyone. You can also not use certain parts of the game that are considered "Product Identity", such as the mind flayer, the beholder, the artwork, and anything describing character creation and advancement!

You may, however, still exclude some parts of your work that are not "derivates", such as the adventure itself, the characters in it and so forth. Check out one of the Paizo modules (like this (http://paizo.com/store/paizoExclusives/v5748btpy82r0)) to see how it's done. Now this is where it really gets complicated and perhaps you should consult a lawyer after all if you plan to make money with your work, because the Pit Fiend is in the details.

I've just found this page (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/br/br20010720a), which the same thing I said in more words. :)

[Zeb The Troll]

Troll Patrol: While it's certainly a laudable goal to want to get something published maybe make a buck or two doing it, these forums are not the place to discuss the nitty gritty lawyerly pieces involved in doing so, I'm afraid.