Clarification of copyrighted content

[RS14]

I've just started a PbP game, and many of my players would like to use material from books I don't own.

As an example, mentioning a specific rule item or general mechanic, or explaining in general how it functions, does not violate this rule. However, posting an entire stat block for a monster would.
I don't understand if a "specific rule item or general mechanic" applies to something such as skill tricks, or if it would be something such as a feat, or both. What if my players explain what the feature does in their own words?

For example, if Combat Expertise were not OGC, would I be able to say that it has Int 13 as a prerequisite? Could I say that it allows you to subtract a number from your attack roll and add it to your AC? Could I say that this is capped at 5 or your BAB, whichever is lower? Or is a feat something that I could just quote in its entirety?

[Dave Rapp]

Okay, copyright law basically says that you can use anything in nearly any way you want, as long as you're not making money off it. If you are making money then a whole lot of other stuff applies, but since you're not making money you don't have to worry about all that.

Now, trademark law is different and is much more strict. You can't just randomly use, for example, McDonalds' infamous golden arches without their permission. You can if you're parodying them, by, say, having a character in your movie go to Moobie's, a restaurant similar to McD's. But if it's not parody, you can't use trademarked stuff.

But in your case, unless you're dealing with a logo, a slogan, etc, you're almost certainly dealing with copyright law. And there's no law against sharing information in a book, unless you're making a profit. So you're fine.

Hope I helped.

[Guildorn Tanaleth]

Okay, copyright law basically says that you can use anything in nearly any way you want, as long as you're not making money off it. If you are making money then a whole lot of other stuff applies, but since you're not making money you don't have to worry about all that.

Now, trademark law is different and is much more strict. You can't just randomly use, for example, McDonalds' infamous golden arches without their permission. You can if you're parodying them, by, say, having a character in your movie go to Moobie's, a restaurant similar to McD's. But if it's not parody, you can't use trademarked stuff.

But in your case, unless you're dealing with a logo, a slogan, etc, you're almost certainly dealing with copyright law. And there's no law against sharing information in a book, unless you're making a profit. So you're fine.

Hope I helped.

I'm 95.8% sure that's wrong. For one thing, redistributing copyrighted content without permission, regardless of whether you make money or not, is most definitely illegal. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that the freedom to parody only applies to copyrighted content, not trademarks. To reference your example, both the name "McDonald's" and the golden arches are copyrighted, and it would be illegal to use either of them without permission on the basis of parody. However, using a restaurant called "Moobie's" that's represented by, say, a silver horseshoe would be legal because you're not using any trademarked material (at least as far as I know), not because it's a parody.

To the OP: Things like skill tricks & feats are exactly the sort of thing that the phrase "specific rule item or general mechanic" refers to. While describing them in your own words is permissible, describing it in a way too similar to the book or, depending on the nature of the content, possibly even going into too much detail could be construed as copyright infringement.

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[Emperor Tippy]

I'm 95.8% sure that's wrong. For one thing, redistributing copyrighted content without permission, regardless of whether you make money or not, is most definitely illegal. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that the freedom to parody only applies to copyrighted content, not trademarks. To reference your example, both the name "McDonald's" and the golden arches are copyrighted, and it would be illegal to use either of them without permission on the basis of parody. However, using a restaurant called "Moobie's" that's represented by, say, a silver horseshoe would be legal because you're not using any trademarked material (at least as far as I know), not because it's a parody.
How copyright law works and what you can and can not distribute depends very heavily on the country involved. And there are many instances in which you can use copyrighted material without permission.


To the OP: Things like skill tricks & feats are exactly the sort of thing that the phrase "specific rule item or general mechanic" refers to. While describing them in your own words is permissible, describing it in a way too similar to the book or, depending on the nature of the content, possibly even going into too much detail could be construed as copyright infringement.
Again, not necessarily. If one was writing an essay comparing the benefits of 2 different feats one could legally quote those feats in full without violating any US copyright law.

Now you may violate board law but thats another issue.

[Roland St. Jude]

Explaining how a feat works in the course of a PbP should be fine. Copying verbatim a feat is not fine. Doing so for multiple feats or large portions of a copyrighted text would be especially unfine.