> I'm not sure about the needing to ask permission thing, I felt it prudent
> (bearing in mind what happened to [yet another Dan] Prentice who was
> threatened with legal action by Avalon Hill. (I hope you've got a lot of
> pipes, Alex ;) )
Would you mind posting some details on this incident? I know several
digest readers who have been waiting to see what kind of "boundaries" AH and
Chaosium were going to try and set on future RQ/Glorantha publishing.
Clearly their legal mumbo-jumbo implies they reserve the right to shut
down any RQ/Glorantha intermingling, but the "periodicals" stuff implied
that they might be "soft" on this issue. Certainly, Chaosium has to be
soft on this issue to avoid alienating their customer base prior to the
release of GtG, but AH looks like it has no reason not to play hardball.
What seems strange to me is that there has been little discussion on this
issue. It is not at all clear legally whether AH or Chaosium has any
right whatsoever to stop you from publishing RQ/Glorantha material as
long as it is in a form established as being "fair use" of the game (like
a fanzine). Just because they say that they will take legal action does
not mean they can win. Consider this line of reasoning:
- It is the nature of RPGs that those that play them are allowed to
modify scenarios/material or create their own scenarios/material in order
to play the game. This is considered a normal part of playing the game
and therefore an integral part of the "product".
- RPGs often are tied to "fantasy environments", and game play is
encouraged to use these pre-defined environments. Also a normal part of
playing the game and therefore an integral part of the "product".
- RQ3/Glorantha is an established RPG, and customers have the right to
expect the same level of fair use from it as they get from any other RPG.
- The Glorantha world is published for use with the "basic" rules; it is
not an "expansion" or "offshoot" of RQ3 (a lawyer could argue this
based on the "Fantasy Europe is the basic setting, Glorantha is an
extension" POV, but this is far from a foregone conclusion considering that
both AH and Chaosium knew very well when they released RQ3 that the vast
majority of the existing customer base was using Glorantha as their game
world).
- Customers purchasing RQ3 have the right not only to create/modify
material, but of course they have the right to play the game using these
materials, which by the nature of the game involves multiple people.
- A group of people who play RQ3 have the right to integrate creations
of other players into their games, be it rules modifications, scenarios,
whatever...
- Players of RQ3 have a right to share these materials with whomever
they please as long as they give credits for copyrighted material and as
long as they do not "copy" the original products (by releasing a "new"
set of RQ3 rules for sale to the public, for example, or simply copying a
scenario, putting a new cover on it, and re-selling it). BTW, if you're
having a tough time swallowing this one, consider Lotus who tried to claim
a while back that they "owned" all Lotus 1-2-3 macros ever written. This
claim failed, and Lotus users are free to write, distribute, and *sell* any
macros they write.
- If you want to stay out of murky gray waters of scenario publishing,
fanzines are still pretty safe, since they have already been established
as being fair use of the game since its inception.
- As a player, you are free to play the game as it was sold to you,
including all the fair use implications mentioned above. This is where
RQ2 comes in. Even if AH or Chaosium could prove that the RQ3/Glorantha
"split" is valid, you could still continue to play and share RQ/GLorantha
materials by using RQ2 (think about it this way; what if Mattel sold all
future upper torsos of Barbie to Whammo, then 2 weeks later issued a
legal statement saying that Mattel and Whammo had a fight and that no
Barbie upper torsos could be clothed in Barbie clothes owned and
copyrighted by Mattel? Doesn't fly. It is immaterial that two companies
own separate copyrights on the same product. They sold it as a joint
product and customers are entitled to use that joint product until it
crumbles into dust. Even if the lawyers could hoodwink the judge into
allowing this ruling for all Barbie made since the Whammo agreement, they
could never enforce this ruling on past sales of Barbies. Therefore, RQ2
is safe).
This brings up an interesting topic of dinner conversation: let's say
for the moment that by selling the RQ2 rulebook with the Dragon Pass/Prax
map, the 3 cults, etc. that Chaosium was selling a product that includes
both the RQ rules and the Glorantha game world. As a RPG, this product
carries an implicit guarantee that customers can play RQ/Glorantha
forever, does it not? Is RQ3 a new product, or merely an upgrade to an
existing product? Did Chaosium even have the right to sell the RQ rules
to AH without the accompanying Glorantha rights? For the moment, let's
say that RQ2 players using RQ/Glorantha in combination is legally
unassailable. Can they buy GtG materials and legally adapt and play
them using RQ rules? Can they share their adaptions with their play group?
Can they share their adaptions with any RPG player they choose to?
Does a legal agreement between AH and Chaosium to not use each other's
product in tandem anymore have any contraining effect on the people who
already own the joint products? Does the fact that RPG products by
nature allow additions/modifications enable players to publish material
regardless of the companies' legal wrestling?
Anyway, I am not trying to advocate any particular courses of action by
posting these points, merely trying to stimulate some discussion among
players and to perhaps remind AH and Chaosium that they might want to be
careful about what they try to enforce, since issuing a legal statement
and backing it up in a court of law are two different things.
I love RQ and Glorantha, and I admire everyone who has worked to bring
materials for both into the world. Just wanted to end on that note...
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #499
WWW at http://rider.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html