Will ORC let us publish BRP books on Drivethrurpg?

[Korzhin iz Adban]

I have had what I think is a great idea for a Lovecraftesque mini-campaign which, however, is not suited for The Miskatonic Repository, according to Michael O'Brian.

Will we be able to publish it on Drivethrurpg, via some kind of licencing-program?
Or is that yet unknown?

[tzunder]

Yes, as long as you only use what is in the BRP book, nothing from CoC, but also anything at all that you make up, is in the public domain OR in another ORC licensed product.

Now given that it is a campaign that you want to write then most of it will be original and fine, and stat blocks, which just format as they are in BRP. Make new stat blocks for any monsters you want to use, using BRP spells/powers..

 

[Raunen]

First of all: Thanks to the wonderful people at Chaosium who gave us the new BRP edition! 

The only thing i don't quite understand yet is the extent to which the license applies to my original content.

If I want to publish my original fantasy world, and characters, along the short stories I have written before (using it with and dedicating it to BRP) the stats will mostly be PD or ORC licensed, but my original content will not? Is this correct?

[g33k]

7 hours ago, Raunen said:

First of all: Thanks to the wonderful people at Chaosium who gave us the new BRP edition! 

The only thing i don't quite understand yet is the extent to which the license applies to my original content.

If I want to publish my original fantasy world, and characters, along the short stories I have written before (using it with and dedicating it to BRP) the stats will mostly be PD or ORC licensed, but my original content will not? Is this correct?

Have you looked at the (also draft) "ORC AxE"?
https://www.chaosium.com/content/orclicense/ORC AxE.pdf

It looks (and we only have a draft of the ORC license to deal with, so things may change) like you will have some "Product Identity" stuff you'll designate up-front, as non-ORC content (Chaosium has already declared the art, layout, etc as non-ORC).  You may want some named characters &c to be non-ORC.

If you are going to X-ref the Chaosium rulebook, you may not need much ORC material.  If your book has little to no actual game-mechanics per se (just stat-blocks for NPCs (and/or pre-gen PCs)) then you might want to reverse that, shorlisting "only this is ORC" instead of "only that is Product Identity"
Exempli Gratia: "the game-mechanical components, such as stat-blocks and the 'hit location mannikin' diagrams for characters, plus the poisoning rules in Chapter 3, and all materials taken directly from the 'BRP:UGE. book, are ORC content.  All other material, including character-names, place names, and descriptive text (written in sentence format), plus the 'Random Events Tables' on pages 15, 22, & 37, are all Product Identity content, not covered by ORC."

*BUT* -- I am not a lawyer (nor am I Chaosium)... and the ORC isn't finalized.

Edited April 11, 2023 by g33k
disclaimer

[g33k]

18 hours ago, Korzhin iz Adban said:

I have had what I think is a great idea for a Lovecraftesque mini-campaign which, however, is not suited for The Miskatonic Repository, according to Michael O'Brian.

Will we be able to publish it on Drivethrurpg, via some kind of licencing-program?
Or is that yet unknown?

"Lovecraftesque" is a bit of a (c) minefield.  There's plenty of public-domain content... and also plenty that's NOT in the public domain.

[NickMiddleton]

18 hours ago, Korzhin iz Adban said:

I have had what I think is a great idea for a Lovecraftesque mini-campaign which, however, is not suited for The Miskatonic Repository, according to Michael O'Brian.

Will we be able to publish it on Drivethrurpg, via some kind of licencing-program?
Or is that yet unknown?

The ORC license is an open license - provided your work conforms to its requirement, you can attempt to publish it by any method the license is compatible with.

 But currently there is no Community Content Program for generic BRP based material (using ORC or any other arrangement).

21 minutes ago, g33k said:

"Lovecraftesque" is a bit of a (c) minefield.  There's plenty of public-domain content... and also plenty that's NOT in the public domain.

This might prove useful to such an endeavour: https://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/the-open-mythos-a-free-open-resource-for-ttrpgs/

 

[g33k]

1 hour ago, NickMiddleton said:

...

This might prove useful to such an endeavour: https://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2023/04/03/the-open-mythos-a-free-open-resource-for-ttrpgs/

Agreed!
But, given the number of times "fans" have badly-broken the IP & (c) laws around the Eldritch Horror that is the intersection of  (c) X Mythos ...  I take all such endeavors these days with an XL grain of sail -- a 1meter^3 crystal seems about right.

[Raunen]

4 hours ago, g33k said:

Have you looked at the (also draft) "ORC AxE"?
https://www.chaosium.com/content/orclicense/ORC AxE.pdf

It looks (and we only have a draft of the ORC license to deal with, so things may change) like you will have some "Product Identity" stuff you'll designate up-front, as non-ORC content (Chaosium has already declared the art, layout, etc as non-ORC).  You may want some named characters &c to be non-ORC.

If you are going to X-ref the Chaosium rulebook, you may not need much ORC material.  If your book has little to no actual game-mechanics per se (just stat-blocks for NPCs (and/or pre-gen PCs)) then you might want to reverse that, shorlisting "only this is ORC" instead of "only that is Product Identity"
Exempli Gratia: "the game-mechanical components, such as stat-blocks and the 'hit location mannikin' diagrams for characters, plus the poisoning rules in Chapter 3, and all materials taken directly from the 'BRP:UGE. book, are ORC content.  All other material, including character-names, place names, and descriptive text (written in sentence format), plus the 'Random Events Tables' on pages 15, 22, & 37, are all Product Identity content, not covered by ORC."

*BUT* -- I am not a lawyer... and the ORC isn't finalized.

Thank you for the clarification. Of course we will have to wait for the final version of the ORC license. But at least I have an idea how it could work.

[g33k]

2 hours ago, Raunen said:

Thank you for the clarification...

I've shared my own understanding; but I'm not Chaosium.
Only Chaosium can provide "clarification" -- it's their understanding that will matter!

[Korzhin iz Adban]

On 4/11/2023 at 5:07 PM, g33k said:

"Lovecraftesque" is a bit of a (c) minefield.  There's plenty of public-domain content... and also plenty that's NOT in the public domain.

Thanks for all your kind replies:
 

1) This is my original idea:
 

A short mini-campaign prequel to "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" set in the distant, distant past (in the Cenozoic age, actually) in which the players will play "Elder Things Investigators", that is, Elder Things (most probably, the ones that survived, frozen, and were discovered by the 1st and 2nd Miskatonic Expeditions). The temporary title (a bit of a self-referential humour) is "Behind the Sheltering Mountains"

May I do so? What a percentage of references to "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" may I include? I guess maps, etc... will have to be redrawn...

 

I'm planning on modifying the Character Creation process, the character sheet and so on, so in the end the adventure and setting will look... and feel... somehow different, but true in spirit, to classical Call of Cthulhu 7th scenarios.
 

Additionally, I would like to modify some rules from RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha and add them, as Elder Things were taller and physically more powerful than humans. Is it ok to do so?
Are there any special considerations or guidelines I should be aware of? Maybe include references and guidelines from the Jonestown Compendium?

1) They told me this is not an appropriate theme for the Miskatonic Repository.

2) I added this caveat:
What if the Investigators were temporarily trapped in Elder Things' bodies, after having accidently activated used Yithian technology, during a Miskatonic University experiment? Something similar to what happened in "The Shadow out of Time"?

They would still be human beings, and investigators, but they would be able to see the fall of the City as it happened. Their main objective, however, would be to escape the city and return to their own time.

2) They haven't replied yet, but I assume they won't, and tell me again this not appropriate theme for the MR.

So, any ideas on how to be able to release this in Drivethrurpg? Will it be possible to do so using BRP?
Do you think the idea sounds cool and interesting? Or should I forget about the whole business?

[Korzhin iz Adban]

Thanks you all for your comments and answers!

[g33k]

On 4/12/2023 at 9:38 PM, Korzhin iz Adban said:

...

A short mini-campaign prequel to "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" set in the distant, distant past (in the Cenozoic age, actually) in which the players will play "Elder Things Investigators", that is, Elder Things (most probably, the ones that survived, frozen, and were discovered by the 1st and 2nd Miskatonic Expeditions)...

The Mythos is an IP-minefield.  I am unconversant with the safe pathways through it.

Your idea may be violating the IP's of the HPL estate... or they may not.  I have no data...  😕  (other than knowing it's complex).

It might be worth looking at the resource @NickMiddleton linked, above.  Before I relied upon it, I'd want to search around and see if the HPL-fandom has any sort of concensus as to whether the doc is an accurate snapshot of the public-domain vs (c)-protected content, or if it's misinformed.

And then I'd want to dig in deeper.

OTOH, I'm risk-averse when it comes to lawsuits...

[jajagappa]

On 4/13/2023 at 12:38 AM, Korzhin iz Adban said:

I would like to modify some rules from RuneQuest: Adventures in Glorantha and add them, as Elder Things were taller and physically more powerful than humans. Is it ok to do so?
Are there any special considerations or guidelines I should be aware of? Maybe include references and guidelines from the Jonestown Compendium?

That sounds like it would violate IP restrictions as RQG is not part of the BRP license. Additionally, you can't just reference guidelines from the Jonstown Compendium. That is guidance for publishing RQG materials under that specific community content license. 

[g33k]

32 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

That sounds like it would violate IP restrictions as RQG is not part of the BRP license. Additionally, you can't just reference guidelines from the Jonstown Compendium. That is guidance for publishing RQG materials under that specific community content license. 

The ORC license appears unlikely to have the same sort of IP restrictions the the BRP-SRD-OGL had (3 years ago).

I do not believe "Community Content" materials -- neither JC nor MR; nor any others -- are meant to be blended with ORC content; those are entirely-different licensing programs.

I'm not sure what RQG rules @Korzhin iz Adban wants to use for Elder Things, but I'd simply write such rules from scratch, without reference to RQG or the JC program.

Under the ORC, people will publish as independent authors/publishers; not as part of MR, JC, nor any other "Community Content" program.

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by g33k

[MOB]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

The ORC license appears unlikely to have the same sort of IP restrictions the the BRP-SRD-OGL had (3 years ago).

Yes, any restrictions, such as they are, are covered in the Product Identity statement. 

2 hours ago, jajagappa said:

That sounds like it would violate IP restrictions as RQG is not part of the BRP license. Additionally, you can't just reference guidelines from the Jonstown Compendium. That is guidance for publishing RQG materials under that specific community content license. 

Correct.

1 hour ago, g33k said:

I do not believe "Community Content" materials -- neither JC nor MR; nor any others -- are meant to be blended with ORC content; those are entirely-different licensing programs.

Yes. You want to create stuff for RuneQuest? - Jonstown Compendium. Call of Cthulhu? - Miskatonic Repository. Or become a licensee (not really suitable for independent creators).

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Under the ORC, people will publish as independent authors/publishers; not as part of MR, JC, nor any other "Community Content" program.

Yes, but - especially after great interest at Chaosium Con, and a green light from DTRPG if we were to proceed - we may set up a Community Content program specifically for BRP.

[g33k]

1 hour ago, MOB said:

...

Yes, but - especially after great interest at Chaosium Con, and a green light from DTRPG if we were to proceed - we may set up a Community Content program specifically for BRP.

I would applaud such a move!

In particular, I think it'd be very nifty if there was a "BCC" (Basic Community Content) program that let creators use the BRP:UGE basic framework (fonts / templates / etc) in their products (I believe this is currently disallowed).  In my mind's eye, a see a big selection of BRP games with the similar "look & feel" of a cohesive product-line...

Or, folks could just ORC it alone, without leveraging such a "BCC."

Edited April 17, 2023 by g33k
lone ORC

[Korzhin iz Adban]

Thanks for all your comments, and clarifications.

Let's scratch everything and go back to the drawing board again! 

[soltakss]

On 4/17/2023 at 7:41 PM, MOB said:

Yes, but - especially after great interest at Chaosium Con, and a green light from DTRPG if we were to proceed - we may set up a Community Content program specifically for BRP.

Excellent news!