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Might want to note that WotC claims intellectual property rights to anything posted here. Thus, keep your house rules and ideas away from this new forum

Also, first in.

I house rule that HP damage is actually physical damage, and not some abstraction!

Take that, WotC!

Unless something has changed drastically, the point of that rule is not that so WotC can steal your ideas.

Zynete wrote:

Unless something has changed drastically, the point of that rule is not that so WotC can steal your ideas.

I don't believe that at all. I have seen some great stuff out of these forums, and if I were a Wiz, I would certainly try to cash in. My suggestion, post someplace else. then link here, if that gets around it.

Where do I find this information stating that Wizards has legal rights to anything I post here?

jacobi289 wrote:

I house rule that HP damage is actually physical damage, and not some abstraction!

Take that, WotC!

Same here. I also house rule that the alignment system is Good, Chaotic Good, Unaligned, Evil, and Lawful Evil....

Nevermind. Found it in the ToU. Sounds like a CoA to me though. *shrugs*

To post a non-hysterical/non-conspiracy interpretation:

This is a lot like how published authors refuse to read fan submitted material because it opens them up to plaigarism charges. There was already someone on the 4th edition forums who was claiming that Mike Mearls took the 4th Ed Marking mechanic from something he wrote.

The terms of use exist not so that Wizards can steal your work, they generally rely on professional designers, but so that if they develop something that resembles a post of yours on the board you can't/won't sue them for the rights.

There will always be people who are convinced that Wizards is raiding the board to steal ideas from hard-working users but it's kind of absurd. That said if you wish to do professional game design you probably shouldn't be posting it on the internet freely anyways.

Zynete wrote:

Unless something has changed drastically, the point of that rule is not that so WotC can steal your ideas.

And yet, it lets them. Intent is often not a mirror to function, and professionals do not all possess honor beyond reproach. Evidence of this can be found in the news daily. Thus, if you value your intellectual property, you should not post it here.

Rakor wrote:

To post a non-hysterical/non-conspiracy interpretation

For all that you infer that others are hysterical or paranoid, you seem to agree with my point of view.

That said if you wish to do professional game design you probably shouldn't be posting it on the internet freely anyways.

Posting it here represents posting it freely. Posting it in other locations, you can actually copyright your own material, and thus litigate plagiarists.

Thus, as my original post states: if you value your intellectual property, do not post it here. Maybe post links to stuff here, but don't post it here.

OneWinged4ngel wrote:

Might want to note that WotC claims intellectual property rights to anything posted here.

I for one welcome our new intellectual overlords and would like to remind our new masters that they will need someone to whip their forum slaves as they toil in the new idea mines.

OneWinged4ngel wrote:

And yet, it lets them. Intent is often not a mirror to function, and professionals do not all possess honor beyond reproach. Evidence of this can be found in the news daily. Thus, if you value your intellectual property, you should not post it here.

Yes, it lets them. However, I'm not quite sure how often they have used it. Do you know of any specific points where WotC obviously stole anything off of their forums?

Your posts seem to be accusing WotC of being plagiarists, or supporting plagiarists.

ac_noj wrote:

I for one welcome our new intellectual overlords and would like to remind our new masters that they will need someone to whip their forum slaves as they toil in the new idea mines.

OneWinged4ngel wrote:

Might want to note that WotC claims intellectual property rights to anything posted here.

Just because they claim it doesn't mean their claim is enforceable.

While there's nothing wrong with a smidge of protection, don't let it make you paranoid either.

For every person who stands and shouts that WotC can/will steal your ideas, there's at least three that swear WotC never even reads these boards.

Let's not forget their embrace of the Grand History of the Realms either. Where WotC took a fan project and bought the rights to it.

So, let's not forget that WotC is made up of gamers much like us, and people who enjoy the community much like we do. As a corporate entity, they have to cover their liabilities, but that doesn't make them evil overlords either.

They just have to walk a careful tightrope.

Rakor wrote:

... That said if you wish to do professional game design you probably shouldn't be posting it on the internet freely anyways.

Right. And for those of us who aren't professionals, why on Oerth would we be posting here if we didn't want our ideas used by others? Wouldn't the best way for that to happen is for WotC to implement it into printed material. I would love it if an idea I posted here made it's way into a publication, credited to me or not. If I'm in this for fame and glory I will be sadly dissapointed. My character on the other hand...

But wouldn't you like some recognition for your work? And how many people would believe you if you tell them it was your idea, if you don't get your name in the book somewhere?

Most of my ideas become GNU OpenDoc anyway. I'll post snippets that I think are fun.

I had already implemented many ideas that I saw in 4e. Did they "steal" from me, or was it parallel evolution? I really don't care. That's not a useful question.

I expect that anyone who is writing for publication is NOT going to toss off their ideas into the forums. That's not a good way to make money.

ac_noj wrote:

I for one welcome our new intellectual overlords and would like to remind our new masters that they will need someone to whip their forum slaves as they toil in the new idea mines.

I call dibs on the Morale Committee Beating Coordinator.


Remember, citizen, the beatings will continue until morale improves.

If they take things I homebrew WotC is gonna get its ass sued...by whatever I based it off.

Y'know... that would be a great way to start a big corporate battle. Anyone have an RPG system they wanna bolster? I could post "houserules" that form DP9's silhouette system, see if WotC picks it up, and DP9 gets a bunch of $$$ from the following suit.

Them being able to steal your stuff is of secondary importance, as it's hard to prove where ideas come from anyways. The more troubling part of them claiming intellectual rights to anything you post here is that if you post anything here, you can never market it. It no longer belongs to you. I'm actually considering abandoning the forums completely if this position isn't changed. I seriously doubt I'd ever even try to publish anything, but principles still count for something to me.

If I saw one of my ideas suddenly show up in a readily recognizable form in an official D&D product, I'd be so happy I'd probably explode in a burst of purple bunnies. Gods help me should they "steal" one of my campaign worlds!

Hey! Guys! Over here! I call it the "Forever Game" and it encompasses damn near everything that's ever hit the shelves! It's half-canon half-homebrew and would probably be considered an absolute travesty by purists of their respective genres everywhere, but it's been running since 1983! *Whistle!* Over here!

Rakor wrote:

To post a non-hysterical/non-conspiracy interpretation:

This is a lot like how published authors refuse to read fan submitted material because it opens them up to plaigarism charges. There was already someone on the 4th edition forums who was claiming that Mike Mearls took the 4th Ed Marking mechanic from something he wrote.

The terms of use exist not so that Wizards can steal your work, they generally rely on professional designers, but so that if they develop something that resembles a post of yours on the board you can't/won't sue them for the rights.

There will always be people who are convinced that Wizards is raiding the board to steal ideas from hard-working users but it's kind of absurd. That said if you wish to do professional game design you probably shouldn't be posting it on the internet freely anyways.

Right, pretty much it's impossible to work as a company if it's possible to sue the designers for using ideas that came from the boards, because then the designers must read every single post to see if it's similar to their newest idea, and then track down the person who posted it to see if it's okay to use it in game. If that were the case, it would be impossible to write a new rules edition, because somewhere you're going to be borrowing someone's idea from one or two obscure posts on the boards.

Zynete wrote:

Yes, it lets them. However, I'm not quite sure how often they have used it. Do you know of any specific points where WotC obviously stole anything off of their forums?

Your posts seem to be accusing WotC of being plagiarists, or supporting plagiarists.

Not off the forums, but everything in D&D is borne of the ideas of others. "Vancian" magic anyone? All the posts seeing parallels to WoW?

I'd dare to say nothing in D&D is original - it's all borne of someone else's mind, had the serial numbers filed off and put in the game.

If you don't want to see "parallel development" of something you post, don't put it here in the first place.