So I am looking for some opinions on Hacking etiquette. I have a personal project where I am doing a Dungeon World hack of Mouse Guard. I have no intention of selling it but I would like to share it on forums like this one to get feedback and share with anyone who would like to run with my ideas. I know the World system is open source so no real worries there but the Mouse Guard world and fiction is not.
If I do not sell the work do I require permission to publish in a public forum? Is it considered fan fiction? If I remove specific Mouse Guard terms like Mouse Guard and Lockhaven am I covered?
To be clear I have no issue seeking permission to use the intellectual property I just want to know if there is any recourse if it is denied. The feedback I have gotten from friends has been good and I would like to share with a wider audience if possible.
-Thanks
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I’d say the simplest solution is create a game that is inspired by but is not mouse-guard. Have players decide what woodland critter is the basis of their society and use the players and gameplay to build up that society. I personally think that would be a cooler game.
If your set on the mouse-guard world though then the issue is distribution. If you only share this with your friends, legal or not nobody will care. If you share it on a small forum like this one the chances of somebody caring are very small (i saw a straight up star wars hack here and that’s a majorly enforced franchise and I still haven’t heard any blow back). However the more you distribute this and the more money that changes hands in doing so, the more likely you are to bring attention to yourself, so if your looking to create something public I’d contact the author.
So, for one, you can file off some serial numbers. That makes you perfectly safe (and having seen this hack it wouldn’t be too hard to do).
For two, make sure that if it’s really close to the source material, you don’t make it open source (so it isn’t re-useable, and thus dispersing the license – which is what lands you in hot water).
If you also don’t use the logos, and art – you’re probably ok legally. But it might be important to ask anyway.
Therein ends most of my knowledge of such things.
luke crane and I are quite close, and I’m pretty sure he’ll notice it if you share derivitive work on this forum. You should find out from him whose permission you need.
Thanks Vincent Baker +Luke Crane I fully intended to reach out to Luke and others before going any further. I just have never put a toe in these waters and wanted to find out if there were any established rules about this kind of thing. Thanks for all the feedback.
I believe there is a creative commons version of DW somewhere. You can ask Sage LaTorra or Adam Koebel.
I have no idea what the legal precedent is, but personally I don’t think it should be a problem at all. Just about every RPG under the sun is constantly being converted to another system and being discussed publicly, and I haven’t heard anything about anyone trying to lock it down. Even as we speak, Adam Koebel has been working on his own Mass Effect hack and posting his work here.
Again, I don’t know anything about the legal precedent, but if it is indeed an issue, then the RPG internet community is in TROUBLE…
You have my interest but be warned that I fight for the mouse guard system until I drop. Give me a call if you need any help.
Wouldn’t Whispering Willows work for this?
It is a animal based hack for AW.
Ed Gibbs yeah, I’m not filing the serial numbers off or anything. I’m going to finish it, publish it for free and then just hope EA doesn’t serve me a cease and desist. If they do, well, I can’t control the internet.