Classic modules

ravenk1ng · May 2013

Are there any rules against trying to re-create some of the old classic D&D modules. (Like Against the Giants, or Descent Into the Depths of the Earth) If not, is anyone doing it?

And yes, I know I am showing my age there. I actually owned an original "White Box D&D" set....sigh.

cornkneelius · May 2013

I think that you can. It will not be feature tho if it has such material in it that is copyrighted.

boydzinj · May 2013

ravenk1ng wrote: »

Are there any rules against trying to re-create some of the old classic D&D modules. (Like Against the Giants, or Descent Into the Depths of the Earth) If not, is anyone doing it?

And yes, I know I am showing my age there. I actually owned an original "White Box D&D" set....sigh.

I see nothing wrong... other than the copyright stuff. However, keep in mind this:

In edition 1 thru 3... a level one character (fighter, mage, or cleric) faces three goblins and a kobold. The character is probably toast. In this game, the same three goblins and one kobold - are a joke. A Single frost giant can kill some characters outright at level 3... in here, with a few other monsters... they are a joke.

chinspinner · May 2013

boydzinj wrote: »

I see nothing wrong... other than the copyright stuff. However, keep in mind this:

In edition 1 thru 3... a level one character (fighter, mage, or cleric) faces three goblins and a kobold. The character is probably toast. In this game, the same three goblins and one kobold - are a joke. A Single frost giant can kill some characters outright at level 3... in here, with a few other monsters... they are a joke.

Just put the costume on a harder encounter (assuming those costumes are available).

apocrs1980 · May 2013

I am currently taking on the realm of Ravenloft, Cryptic holds the rights to Dungeon's & Dragons and there for anything Dungeons & Dragons should be fine. I think the only downside is if there are any copy written characters in the module they can not feature it...I think that's correct. I may be mistaken however.

coanunn · May 2013

Recreating old modules is not strictly allowed due to the copyright issue, but based on the fact that like boydzinj said the difficulty scale is way different you could probably fudge it and squeak it by. Couple things, 1) They are almost completely not enforcing the copyright rules as they are there more so that if you copy someone's work Cryptic/PWE aren't liable. 2) With some of the older stuff you could copy it 100%, word for word and less than 10% of the people who played it would ever know because fossils like us are rare in THIS community. I use us since I too owned a white box. 3) If it gets recognized it will never be eligible to be featured as cornkneelius mentioned, but if you use it only in spirit, rename/reskin the encounters and just follow the framework you can avoid that altogether and it'll be more engaging due to the difficulty ramp.

cuddlesmacheese · May 2013

List your source material and give credit to the original team.

I am working on "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh U1"

keylord02 · May 2013

cuddlesmacheese wrote: »

List your source material and give credit to the original team.

I am working on "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh U1"

I can't wait to see it then. U1's one of my all time favorites!

celantra · May 2013

I doubt cryptic has the rights to the classic modules. Having dealt with both TSR and WOTC these licenses are separate and maintained for different contractors. Cryptic would have to have separate licenses, for each subset of authors, realms, and other divisions that have been constructed. The translation of classic modules directly into the foundry should constitute copyright infringement where such copyright exists. I would be careful unless you have other evidence. Telling an original story based upon a setting is different than taking a story out of a module and reproducing it wholesale.

camenwolf · June 2013

I imagine there are many nuances that affect the copyright status of the various literary works associated with the Dungeons and Dragons franchise. In their purest form I suppose the modules would be considered literary works, so it would seem they would be fall under the protection of the Copyright act of 1976 which, I believe, protects literature for the life of the author plus 50 years. However, it is possible if not likely that many of these modules were written under contract and/or by staff writers, and so in that case the copyright would not actually be held by the author(s). Also this would be literature that is written as part of a franchise… like say, for example, a Star Trek novel, or Forgotten Realms novel, or what have you. How does licensing of that franchise for the production of the literary work affect the author(s) copyright? Again, is it a work produced under a contract? Was repudiation of copyright part of the licensing of the franchise? This is all conjecture; I don’t know any of this. I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s a cut and dried case of copyright as would be, say, a novel written by a single author and published by a publishing company.

All that said, the real question of copyright comes down to whether or not an entity wishes to claim infringement. If the holder of a copyright never claims infringement then the point is moot. I think the driving factor is most often revenue. Sometimes pride and/or principle, but most often profit. If the holder of a copyright feels he is potentially losing money because his work is being illicitly reproduced then an infringement suit will typically follow. In this particular case I’m not sure this is an issue. If you remember Neverwinter Nights 1 (and maybe 2), there were many MANY classic D&D modules that were implemented as custom modules and published on myriad of sites for free download. I don’t think there was ever a copyright issue. And we are talking about some well received and popular classic modules here. In the case of this game, it’s possible that these modules may have copyrights that could potentially be infringed upon (and it’s possible that they do not), but I seriously doubt it will be an issue. No one is going to go down to their bookstore and buy a copy of Ravenloft for a first edition D&D game, and though the existence of some well implemented classic modules may in fact increase the notoriety of this game and indirectly have a positive effect on Cryptic’s bottom line, it would probably be very difficult to draw a strong correlation between any one particular module and the effect on the revenue stream of a company like Cryptic studios. In the end, if it ever was an issue, it would be an issue for Cryptic, not for the end user. So they will address it appropriately if they have to by restricting access to modules, taking them down, or whatever they need to do. You aren’t going to have copyright cops knocking at your door. The most that would happen to an end user is they would have their module removed. If that is the case, then I think the best thing to do would be to follow some of the advice here and keep the basic structure, making enough changes that the work would no longer be considered derivative, and republish it.

Regards

kamaliicious · June 2013

Keep on the Borderlands is a featured quest. Next question?

sourcreamking · June 2013

ravenk1ng wrote: »

Are there any rules against trying to re-create some of the old classic D&D modules. (Like Against the Giants, or Descent Into the Depths of the Earth) If not, is anyone doing it?

And yes, I know I am showing my age there. I actually owned an original "White Box D&D" set....sigh.

Haha, I still have my white box - along with every single edition up to and including 3.5 plus close to a hundred source books. The missus won't let me have them in the bookshelves though, so they're stored in the attic for now

cuddlesmacheese · June 2013

I am mainly going to work on classic modules. I am close to finishing part 2 of Saltmarsh.

After that, I will move onto:
Palace of the silver Princess B3
Castle Amber X2
??

gorgothus · June 2013

know the feeling...ah the good ol days... not even sure of my age (8 or 9yrs old) when D&D was brought to my attention by my older brother. All the way till around 3rd edition with a splash of "Boot-Hill" "Gamma-World" "Car-Wars" "Villians and Vigilantes-Champions" in between.

(R.I.P bro, hope you get the internets up there, cause this game sure does remind me of things)

Classic modules

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