Well, I spent a lot of money yesterday. First, I FINALLY got a large screen HD TV which was delivered today. I also bought a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano (which gets delivered tomorrow). My lovely wife teased me, of course, but I had to tease her back. I told her the piano was for her and DD and the piano was for her too. *I* will spend money on a PS3 sometime soon though ;).
I am still sitting on the website update and announcement of the forums I set up (not like anyone will head there until I have products out anyway). I'll be on vacation next week and I would like to make certain I am "around" when I pop the update up.
On the GU front, I think I am going to go ahead with some more "GM Aid" type books that are mostly tables. I have been sitting on the idea a bit to see how the whole GSL thing was going to sort out. Right now, well, the GSL is basically a "bad deal" for most publishers, but I could probably stomach it as I am probably not using the OGL anyway. I don't have any OGL backstock to worry about. The interesting thing is, I know of 2 publishers that previously announced they were going to use the GSL that are now having huge hesitations. I know that one hasn't sent in the response card, not sure about the other. Interestingly, I have only seen one freelancer publicly ask a somewhat important question which boils down to:
"If my contract states that any copyright issues in my writing are my responsibility and I get published with (a company not using the GSL) and they get sued, am I liable?"
I actually asked a lawyer this, and the reply is, of course, depends on the wording of my contract. Based on the wording of some of the basic writer's contracts out there, the publisher could pull the writer into the lawsuit.
Another factor to consider, the internet legal wannabes are discussing how games can't be copyrighted, etc. but an IP lawyer that works in the copyright/trademark area has told me flat out, there isn't enough case law out there to really know what the boundaries are. In other words, sure, you can write something compatible, but there isn't a lot of case law telling you when compatible goes into "derivative work" and crosses into copyright territory. A lot of the case law dealing with "game rules" is also more in the board game realm. What this boils down to is the fact that you could get sued, and win, and not be able to recover your legal fees because the case is considered something that legitimately needed to be worked out in court. If you stay in very safe territory, such as adventures and/or setting material that is completely different and only use stat blocks that have a different design (look and feel) and stay away from any trademarked material, ... anyway, there are things you can do that should be "safe." Creating new classes and powers without the GSL is, in this lawyer's opinion, potentially a "grey area."
The only reason I keep thinking about these things is that I have several ideas for 4e products that are, well already outlined (in one case, even more). I still haven't decided how much I like the gameplay of 4e. Some of it is pretty nice, but so far the only games I have played in have been very rules-focused with very little Role-playing. I am sure this is mostly because people are still getting the hang of the rules. More on that another time though.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
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