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Latest ReviewsOregon | | Reviewed by: Ron McClung |
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D20 News: Wizards Of The Coast Changes The D20 System Trademark License
Posted 2003-09-07 16:10:50 by damonwhite |
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Planesdragon Reports: "Wizards of the Coast has quietly revised the d20STL to require adherence to "Qualitiy Standards." Wizards now has the right to review any work carrying the d20 logo, and require a re-write or removal of the logo if they find the content
too violate their standards of desency.
From the current (v.5) d20STL:
4. Quality Standards
The nature of all material You use or distribute that incorporates the Licensed Articles must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as community standards of decency, as further described in the d20 System Guide. You must use Your best efforts to preserve the high standard and goodwill of the Licensed Trademarks. In order to assure the foregoing standard and quality requirements, Wizards of the Coast shall have the right, upon notice to You, to review and inspect all material released by You that uses the Licensed Articles. You shall fully cooperate with Wizards of the Coast to facilitate such review and inspection, including timely provision of copies of all such materials to Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast may terminate this License immediately upon attempted notice to you if it deems, in its sole discretion, that your use of the Licensed Articles does not meet the above standards.
Not that this doesn't make sense, what with the recent plethora of "mature D&D;" products, but it is someting to be made aware of. Wizards of the Coast has put us all on notice that they will review and revoke our license to use their trademarks if we do not comply with their "standards of descency."
If you don't agree with this, your only choice is to not use the d20STL. You can still use the OGL and any and all OGC, and there is nothing (short of the Supreme Court rendering copyleft null and void) that anyone can do to undo the OGL (If you want to use a seperate logo, I suggest the "OpenDie" and "Prometheus" logos from the Free Gaming Association.)
The relevant section from the d20 System Guide:
Quality Standards
In determining whether a product complies with community standards of decency, Wizards of the Coast uses, but is not limited to the following. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Wizards of the Coast reserves the right to determine, in its sole discretion, whether a product complies with community standards of decency.
Violence and Gore – Descriptions of combat are acceptable in a Covered Product. However art or text depicting excessively graphic violence or gore is not acceptable.
Sexual Themes - Sexual situations—including abuse and pornography—may not appear graphically in art or text. When depicting the human form—or creatures possessing humaniform features—gratuitous nudity, the depiction of genitalia, bare female nipples, and sexual or bathroom activity is not acceptable. While sensuality and sexuality may appear in a Covered Product, it must not be the focus nor can it be salacious in nature.
Prejudice - Covered Products can not depict existing real-world minorities, nationalities, social castes, religious groups, genders, lifestyle preferences, or people with disabilities as a group inferior to any other group. Current, real-world religions and religious groups and/or practices will not be portrayed in any way that promotes disrespect for these religions or their participants. A Covered Product can not endorse or promote any specific religion or religious practice.
Now, none of this seems extremely unbearable for mainstream RPG products--but there are a few that are probably specifically targeted by it. And because of the nature of the d20STL, these change are retroactive to every product that's ever been written using any version of the d20STL."
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