publishing adventures

[dragsvart]

What are the legal stuff to consider if I were to publish (for profit or for free) an D&D 5e adventure of my own making. I've recently finished running an adventure I wrote and would love to let other people use it and wouldn't mind making some money.

[SharkForce]

<== is not a lawyer.

<== is also pretty sure the vast majority of people here are also not lawyers.

<== thinks that if you want to sell something based on another person's IP, you should probably consult an actual real live lawyer who knows how far you can go without getting sued.

having gotten that out of the way, generally speaking you own your ideas and particularly the exact way you express them (that is, if you have a really awesome logic puzzle, someone else can probably have a similar or even identical one, but couldn't use the exact same words to explain it). you don't own published monsters, but could potentially get around that by using your own monsters instead (this could even extend to something as simple as having "goblin soldiers" instead of "goblins", for example, as long as they aren't identical). you should be able to include any maps you have personally drawn unless they're copies of someone else's material, and descriptive information. you can generally speaking get away with giving people gold coins, a variety of weapons (but probably/possibly not the exact stats of those weapons if they come from a published source), and magic items that you have made yourself (but probably not, say, a flame tongue. you might be able to get away with +1 weapons and similar... but again, this is the sort of situation where asking a lawyer might save you a lot of pain and unpleasantness).

but seriously, ask a (IP) lawyer. preferably not over the internet unless you've at least also met them in real life and/or have some further reason to trust them than just a statement that they are a lawyer.

if you feel like your adventure is particularly good, you might even consider submitting it to a gaming company, and see if they want to pick it up (thus leaving the burden of finding a lawyer and more importantly paying for the lawyer in their hands).

[dragsvart]

<== is not a lawyer.

<== is also pretty sure the vast majority of people here are also not lawyers.

<== thinks that if you want to sell something based on another person's IP, you should probably consult an actual real live lawyer who knows how far you can go without getting sued.



For the record I am not looking for a lawyer, I am looking for anyone who has had more experience than me putting an adventure they have written out for others to see/buy.

[JoeJ]

What are the legal stuff to consider if I were to publish (for profit or for free) an D&D 5e adventure of my own making. I've recently finished running an adventure I wrote and would love to let other people use it and wouldn't mind making some money.

You should email Wizards of the Coast and ask them the requirements. I've seen plenty of third-party stuff for 5e, so they presumably have some policy in place about what you have to do to make it legit.

[SharkForce]

You should email Wizards of the Coast and ask them the requirements. I've seen plenty of third-party stuff for 5e, so they presumably have some policy in place about what you have to do to make it legit.

those are licensed products. I don't think that's quite what he's looking at (though if he is, then I would once again recommend getting a lawyer on your side, because you know they're going to have one on their side).

[JoeJ]

those are licensed products. I don't think that's quite what he's looking at (though if he is, then I would once again recommend getting a lawyer on your side, because you know they're going to have one on their side).

Even if it's not exactly what he's planning, I'll bet Wizards will be able to tell him what the rules are and possibly even some helpful advice. Having additional adventures available makes their product that much more valuable, so why not see if they'll help out? It also completely sidesteps any legal issues, since he'd be working with their explicit permission.

[ImSAMazing]

Even if it's not exactly what he's planning, I'll bet Wizards will be able to tell him what the rules are and possibly even some helpful advice. Having additional adventures available makes their product that much more valuable, so why not see if they'll help out? It also completely sidesteps any legal issues, since he'd be working with their explicit permission.

True. Most of the D&D Settings are made by people NOT from the designers of D&D