Tracy Hickman on I6
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Le Noir Faineant
- Rafe, Agent of the Fraternity
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Free publicity.gonzoron wrote:Well, I wonder what Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stephenson, et al.. would have to say about Ravenloft from that perspective.Rafael wrote: The cool the Sithicus domain is, I, as an author, would be really angry if people used my work this way.
The cure for what ails you
Hickman works under the US Copyright laws, which (unlike European copyright laws) does not have ANY provision for moral rights. An artist can make a picture of the Virgin Mary, and I can then take that same picture and fill it with McDonald's advertising if I wanted to.
In Europe, there are equitable remedies for that at law. Not so in America.
Hickman can do what he likes with Soth, a character he created. Likewise, if I like it and I want to use it in a game in the privacy of my own house, not for profit, and with NO IMPACT on any market for Hickman's own legitimate products, I am shielded by the Fair Use doctrine. That addresses the individualized use.
Secondly, TSR (and later WotC) incorporated the character into their campaign settings. Ravenloft itself was a creation by Hickman, and TSR got the rights to alter and make derivative works from that, as you see in the Nesmith/Hayday collaboration in the campaign setting. Already Hickman's work has been altered or transformed in a derivative way. If there was any legal challenge to this (which is unlikely because Hickman may have worked as an employee, in which case TSR owns all copyrights to his work and he owns none) it should have been mounted now. None was, so far as I know.
This is all a lengthy way of saying: a) as individuals using things privately, we can do a fair bit of our own work and adapt things as we like to our games, although distributing and selling it may get us into trouble, and b) as an organization, TSR and WotC probably had the copyrights from Hickman as they likely do from all their contributing artists and writers.
Even more condensed: You can put your whip away, Rafael.
In Europe, there are equitable remedies for that at law. Not so in America.
Hickman can do what he likes with Soth, a character he created. Likewise, if I like it and I want to use it in a game in the privacy of my own house, not for profit, and with NO IMPACT on any market for Hickman's own legitimate products, I am shielded by the Fair Use doctrine. That addresses the individualized use.
Secondly, TSR (and later WotC) incorporated the character into their campaign settings. Ravenloft itself was a creation by Hickman, and TSR got the rights to alter and make derivative works from that, as you see in the Nesmith/Hayday collaboration in the campaign setting. Already Hickman's work has been altered or transformed in a derivative way. If there was any legal challenge to this (which is unlikely because Hickman may have worked as an employee, in which case TSR owns all copyrights to his work and he owns none) it should have been mounted now. None was, so far as I know.
This is all a lengthy way of saying: a) as individuals using things privately, we can do a fair bit of our own work and adapt things as we like to our games, although distributing and selling it may get us into trouble, and b) as an organization, TSR and WotC probably had the copyrights from Hickman as they likely do from all their contributing artists and writers.
Even more condensed: You can put your whip away, Rafael.
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Le Noir Faineant
- Rafe, Agent of the Fraternity
- Posts: 4525
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:25 pm
- Location: The Wind Isles
Because you got me a new toy for Christmas?! *Points to chainsaw.*HuManBing wrote:Even more condensed: You can put your whip away, Rafael.
Seriously, I was perfectly happy with the introduction of Soth to Ravenloft and the way it was handled - my only point is, as an author, I would be understandably disappointed. The same they took away Greyhawk from Gygax, Blackmoor from Arneson or FR from Greenwood. Lamentably not because of the good things that were produced by T$R, like Soth's Sithicus,
but of the many, many mindless mess-ups they did. - Like, 4e Realms, or Spelljammer.
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ewancummins
- Evil Genius
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Well, what about the dread domains inspired by Spelljammer? Can you say vampiric giant space hamster?Rafael wrote:Because you got me a new toy for Christmas?! *Points to chainsaw.*HuManBing wrote:Even more condensed: You can put your whip away, Rafael.
Seriously, I was perfectly happy with the introduction of Soth to Ravenloft and the way it was handled - my only point is, as an author, I would be understandably disappointed. The same they took away Greyhawk from Gygax, Blackmoor from Arneson or FR from Greenwood. Lamentably not because of the good things that were produced by T$R, like Soth's Sithicus,
but of the many, many mindless mess-ups they did. - Like, 4e Realms, or Spelljammer.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.
-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Le Noir Faineant
- Rafe, Agent of the Fraternity
- Posts: 4525
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:25 pm
- Location: The Wind Isles
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ewancummins
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 28523
- Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm
