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Question About Legel-ness

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fjur
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Question About Legel-ness

I have several question regarding the terms set forth in the FAQ:

  1. I have had several* ideas for fan-made Spirits and one fan-made Scenario in my head for quite some time now, and I was just wondering why I can't post them here.
  2. Am I allowed to post links to Board Game Geek posts that have my stuff in them?
  3. Am I allowed to post any fan-made Lore on here? after all the terms set forth in the FAQ don't say anything about that.

*Currently about twelve.


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Ameena
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This is a thing that's been around since the early days of Sentinels - basically fan-made content is okay with >G but you're just not allowed to post any of it here because their lawyers suggested such, on the basis that if >G come up with an idea that resembles something someone already posted, that person might start accusing them of stealing their idea and stuff. It's just to cover themselves against that kind of thing, really. But go nuts on posting your own ideas anywhere else - I understand the Board Game Geek forum is a popular place for such things, and is where the bulk of the fan-made Sentinels content is posted. I expect there are at least a few fan-made Spirit Island spirits and stuff up there too, by now, but I never visit so I have no idea personally.


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TakeWalker
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I've never considered applying that FAQ to anything posted here. I don't think it was meant to be used here.

Ameena's right, anyway. And if that reasoning isn't enough for you, consider that the FAQ is there so the creator of Spirit Island can check out your content, and he posts on BGG, not here!

fjur
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Thanks for the answer(s). Can anyone answer my last two questions, posting Lore/Links?

Ameena wrote:

This is a thing that's been around since the early days of Sentinels...

Why does everyone always compare everything to Sentinels?! I've looked at the game and considered buying it and I have nothing against it but it's just annoying.


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Bigbywolfe
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In this case, because it was the company's first game and set the precedent of what the company allowed on their website. No one was "comparing everything to sentinels", they were explaining that the rules had been this way since the early days of the company and their first game...

 

 

 

fjur wrote:

Thanks for the answer(s). Can anyone answer my last two questions, posting Lore/Links?

 

Ameena wrote:

 

This is a thing that's been around since the early days of Sentinels...

 

Why does everyone always compare everything to Sentinels?! I've looked at the game and considered buying it and I have nothing against it but it's just annoying.

fjur
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I was exaggerating...


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Ameena
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I wasn't comparing anything to anything, I was just explaining how this forum works, this forum run by >G, the company who created and published Sentinels and several years later also publish Spirit Island. The "no posting your fan-made" content is a forum-wide thing, and I mentioned the duration because that's how long it's been around - the URL for this website used to be sentinelsofthemultiverse.com, but the rules still stick now that it's greaterthangames.com :P.


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fjur
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Ameena wrote:

I wasn't comparing anything to anything, I was just explaining how this forum works, this forum run by >G, the company who created and published Sentinels and several years later also publish Spirit Island. The "no posting your fan-made" content is a forum-wide thing, and I mentioned the duration because that's how long it's been around - the URL for this website used to be sentinelsofthemultiverse.com, but the rules still stick now that it's greaterthangames.com :P.

Okay, can we just drop the whole Sentinels thing? I just want to know if I can post Lore and/or links to my stuff on other websites? Technically, Lore isn't game mechanics.


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Braithwhite
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BGG or your own website is the place to post fan-created content to an existing game.  This avoids any sort of legal issues with us "stealing" ideas if we use something vaguely similar down the line in (in this case) a spirit island expansion, or if you eventually decide to turn your creations into their own thing in a different game.  Lore Forge Games (who are designing Prime War) started as a bunch of Sentinel Tactics players who wanted to make Tactics better and ended up taking it in an amazing new direction.  Heck, I started going down the path that ended with joining GtG as someone who liked Sentinels stuff so much I designed a bunch of custom heroes, dove deep into the lore, and just kept going down the rabbit hole!

There's no issue with you posting links to said content once it's done, and Lore/Fan Fiction is always welcome here. We have a specific section for Sentinels Lore and Sentinels Fan Fiction, but thus far there hasn't been any need for Spirit Island specific versions.  Have fun designing!

Ameena
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Well, pardon me for trying to explain how things work around here :P.


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fjur
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Braithwhite wrote:

There's no issue with you posting links to said content once it's done, and Lore/Fan Fiction is always welcome here. We have a specific section for Sentinels Lore and Sentinels Fan Fiction, but thus far there hasn't been any need for Spirit Island specific versions.  Have fun designing!

Theproblem is that the lore is for spirits of my own invention.

Ameena wrote:

Well, pardon me for trying to explain how things work around here :P.

You are pardoned. ;)


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Powerhound_2000
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If the lore is specific to your fan created content then I would err on the side of just posting links to it here.  


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rjc917
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At the risk of bringing up Sentinels again, how would that be different from all the lore about self-made Sentinels RPG characters that people post on here?  Because clearly that's fine.

TakeWalker
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That's more an intentional effect of the RPG. It's placing gameplay in the hands of characters. New material for existing published board games, though, is fan work on the back of existing canon content, from which ideas could be gleaned. For legal reasons, it's best to avoid such things.

...That was just a bunch of words that probably didn't do much to explain things, but I tried. ._.

Braithwhite
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For what it's worth, I do see a difference between lore about Sentinels RPG characters vs fan-created spirits.  The Sentinels RPG was explicitly created with fan content in mind- making your own hero is one of the primary functions. I don't know as there is a legal difference, but like I said, I'm fine with lore here.   

Trajector
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I do wonder a little bit about these rules. Basically, what I am curious about is the fact that there have been communities on the internet created and maintained by the property creators for a long time, and those communities have an awful lot of speculation. Think of the official forums for Star Wars, Marvel, and so on. If someone speculated on those forums about something to take place in a sequel and they were right, could they then claim that the original company stole their idea when making the next product in the property? Is that the same thing? (Or is it just that >G doesn't have a big enough legal department to manage all the vagaries and subtleties?)

This may be a tangent from the original topic, but hey, the people who are knowledgeable about it are here, and I'm curious!

Ameena
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Well, people speculated a lot about the lore here (like "Who is the tenth Scion?", for example), and I'm sure there were plenty of ideas there which turned out to be right once the various expansions were released/explained. Maybe theories/predictions about storylines are different from coming up with your own physical part of the game that other people can use to play with?


I am the Wordweaver...

Basically, I like writing stuff ;)