Questions regarding module creation

The wiki says this Regarding content (textures, programs you use, etc) you acquire from a website, company, or any other source: you must be certain you hold the proper license to release such content for profit. For example, many sites that offer textures for artwork creation require you to purchase an "extended license" if you are planning to modify the image and use it in a product you sell for profit. It is the Creator's responsibility to attain these licenses. We stress these issues to protect all Creators from legal issues and copyright infringement. What if the content used was purchased from Roll20?  i.e.  Making a module but using map assets and images purchased through the market place or using the tokens provided by the purchase of a compendium on Roll20 like the D&D monster manual.  Are these covered by an extended license since they were purchased here to be used to create content here?

For content that is made by Wizard of the Coast, i dont think you can make modules using their stuff (even if you buy their products) As for marketplace artist, that would depend on each artist and I would suggest you try to get in contact with them (for example my sets are for personal-non comercial use only).

We buy all the D&D stuff but we can't make an adventure to sell using their stuff.  Does that mean, I can't use a beholder or that I can't use an image made by WotC to depict a beholder? What would be a reasonable fee/commission for an artist to make up a bunch of tokens and possibly handout images for a module for the market place that planned to sell for say $20?  Maps aren't the issue, its the tokens primarily if you can't use the ones from WotC MM purchase.

Cant tell about the beholder thing, if you would be able to use it for an adventure or not. As for the art part, let me ask HalflingGypsy, he does modules here, what he usually does is do collab work with an artist, so the artist works for "free" but a part of the sales goes to them (like 2 people working on one module and splitting the money) If you want to commission art for commercial use, price would change a lot from artist to artist, maybe you find someone who charges $20 per token or someone who charges $100+ per token (usually art for commercial use is more expensive).

d4m1ty said: The wiki says this Regarding content (textures, programs you use, etc) you acquire from a website, company, or any other source: you must be certain you hold the proper license to release such content for profit. For example, many sites that offer textures for artwork creation require you to purchase an "extended license" if you are planning to modify the image and use it in a product you sell for profit. It is the Creator's responsibility to attain these licenses. We stress these issues to protect all Creators from legal issues and copyright infringement. What if the content used was purchased from Roll20?  i.e.  Making a module but using map assets and images purchased through the market place or using the tokens provided by the purchase of a compendium on Roll20 like the D&D monster manual.  Are these covered by an extended license since they were purchased here to be used to create content here? .... What would be a reasonable fee/commission for an artist to make up a bunch of tokens and possibly handout images for a module for the market place that planned to sell for say $20? Maps aren't the issue, its the tokens primarily if you can't use the ones from WotC MM purchase Stuff that you buy through Roll20 doesn't come with "Commercial Rights", just "Use Rights". So you can't put them in a product and sell them**. You will need your own art for tokens, maps/battlemaps, map items, handouts, portraits etc. As far as what you can pay... I have had quotes for Commercial Rights artwork at the low end of around $30USD each item, and the top end up around $100USD each item.  With some artists you can make revenue split agreements, but they need to trust you because as I understand it there is no good way for Roll20 to let them know your sales without you handing over login and password to your account so they can check the sales records. And as I understand it there is no way for Roll20 to split sales revenue amongst two artists (for instance, you want to sell it at $20 and split it 50-50 with Dsurion up there... Roll20's marketplace doesn't have the functionality to make the price "$10 for D4m1ty, $10 for Dsurion"). So you will need a relationship with your artist if you're going to go for revenue splits. **Big caveat here is stuff released under OGL which is basically "What you find in the compendium".

**Big caveat here is stuff released under OGL which is basically "What you find in the compendium". Can you clarify this statement?

Hello! Roll20 Production Coordinator here: Short answer: A - You cannot reuse another creators Marketplace content to construct a module for profit without their express permission. B - Many popular D&D creatures (including Beholders) are property of WOTC and cannot be used in an independent module for resale. Long answer: All 5e content that does not require a license to use is listed under the SRD (which you can find in our  Compendium or the  5ESRD website ) We do check modules for content that may be licensed, including art, monsters and copy before allowing them on the Marketplace. This information is all outlined in 3.4 - 3.5 and 3.8 in the  Marketplace EULA , if you'd like to research further. Hope that helps clarify! P.S. Outside of my role at Roll20, I have been a freelance artist for years. A reasonable fee for custom color art starts at $50 an image. I know there are artists who charge less, but in my opinion, artists should be making a living wage for their work :) It may be worth your time to look at licensing another artists work (ie: paying them a flat fee to use images they've already created.)

d4m1ty said: **Big caveat here is stuff released under OGL which is basically "What you find in the compendium". Can you clarify this statement? The Open Game License (OGL) by Wizards of the Coast allows you to use Wizards material that is covered in the System Reference Document (SRD).  The Compendium here on Roll20, as I understand, is a current and accurate record of the SRD material. If it isn't in there, you have to make it up from scratch... and can't overlap their stuff. So if you create people with octopus heads that have psychic powers and eat brains, you're going to be causing yourself a problem.

Mel said: Hello! Roll20 Production Coordinator here: Short answer: A - You cannot reuse another creators Marketplace content to construct a module for profit without their express permission. B - Many popular D&D creatures (including Beholders) are property of WOTC and cannot be used in an independent module for resale. Long answer: All 5e content that does not require a license to use is listed under the SRD (which you can find in our  Compendium or the  5ESRD website ) We do check modules for content that may be licensed, including art, monsters and copy before allowing them on the Marketplace. This information is all outlined in 3.4 - 3.5 and 3.8 in the  Marketplace EULA , if you'd like to research further. Hope that helps clarify! P.S. Outside of my role at Roll20, I have been a freelance artist for years. A reasonable fee for custom color art starts at $50 an image. I know there are artists who charge less, but in my opinion, artists should be making a living wage for their work :) It may be worth your time to look at licensing another artists work (ie: paying them a flat fee to use images they've already created.) So Mel, what you are saying is that if I use content than I can find in the Compendium or 5ESRD website it requires no license to use in a module of my creation for sale.  If I find a beholder is in the 5ESRD, it is free game to use, but I am also permitted to make any creature I want in the D&D rule system as long as I do not use WotC artwork or resources to do it if it does not appear in the 5ESRD.  If I have purchased content outside of the SRD or Compendium of Roll20 on the market place, I will need expressed permission from the content creator to use such items unless the license for sale already grants that permission. Have I got this correctly? I've read the EULA and it reads like laywer nonsense.  I'm an engineer, lawyeresse is confusing as as hell to me, I just want to create but make sure I am not stepping on any toes when I do it.

Anything on the SRD is published under the Open Gaming License, which you should state in any work you make that features it. It's a good measure to credit any source used, even if its "free"! (For example, here's the legalese on the 5E SRD website -&nbsp; <a href="http://www.5esrd.com/legal-information/" rel="nofollow">http://www.5esrd.com/legal-information/</a> ) If you wanted to see if a Beholder was okay to use, you'd go to the B section of monsters. It's not there, so it's not free to use. You could however use a Blink Dog - <a href="http://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/m" rel="nofollow">http://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/m</a>... and any of the text there as it's published under the Open Gaming License. There is nothing stopping you from creating your own creatures, naming them whatever you like and using the format of creatures in 5E to add them to a module. For example, a new Elf variant, call it a Stone Elf, commission or license an image that fits the bill, and so on. As long as you aren't using any trademarked or otherwise protected words (beholder, drow, etc), the world is your oyster :) As far as I am aware, there are currently no content packs on the Marketplace that allow for any use outside of Personal Use. Edited to add: I'm really glad you're asking questions! We love having more creators on the Marketplace and are here to help.

Some very good information in here that clarify some things i was also wondering about. Concerning the inclusion of famous monsters that are not included in the SRD, as far as i know it is really only the names and the descriptive text that comes with the books they were released in right? So for example i could include a monster with the same statblock as a beholder, and just name it "Many Eyed Horror" or something other original to me, and commission my own artwork for it? I don't think its possible to really copyright the whole idea of an eyestalked monster in its appearance right?

No, you can't use the same stat block, unless it's provided in the SRD.

B Simon Smith said: No, you can't use the same stat block, unless it's provided in the SRD. I don't think its possible to copyright game mechanics under US Law though or am i wrong in that regard? As long as i don't include or rewrite the actions that have descriptive text and dont use any copyrighted icons/graphics (which would not be the case when creating them as part of a roll20 module) i should be in the clear in my opinion. Could i get clarification on that from roll20 Staff?

Concepts and ideas aren't always able to be copy-written, but the text for the stat-block sure as hell can. If you plan to sell your own content, I would highly suggest not trying to use any perceived loopholes or workarounds with respect to copyright. Even if the law might have some weird caveat, the good fellas at Roll20 are definitely going to be even stricter with regards to protecting the copyrights of the people they work with. You're only going to cause yourself a lot of headache if you go down that route. To put it simply, and to reiterate what others have said before, just stick to the SRD and truly custom-made monsters.

Could you use 5E creatures in a module, but without stats, just reference the page in the Monster Manual (or whatever official supplement))? &nbsp;Ex. Room A contains an Aboleth (see 5th Edition Monster Manual, pg 13.)

Patrick Von Raven said: Could you use 5E creatures in a module, but without stats, just reference the page in the Monster Manual (or whatever official supplement))? &nbsp;Ex. Room A contains an Aboleth (see 5th Edition Monster Manual, pg 13.) Even if you could (which you probably can't), I would not be too satisfied with purchasing a Roll20 module and discovering it has a lot of page references for it's monsters.

dahZee said: Concepts and ideas aren't always able to be copy-written, but the text for the stat-block sure as hell can. If you plan to sell your own content, I would highly suggest not trying to use any perceived loopholes or workarounds with respect to copyright. Even if the law might have some weird caveat, the good fellas at Roll20 are definitely going to be even stricter with regards to protecting the copyrights of the people they work with. You're only going to cause yourself a lot of headache if you go down that route. To put it simply, and to reiterate what others have said before, just stick to the SRD and truly custom-made monsters. I mean i am just extremely confused what "truly custom made" would have to mean. There is only so much wiggle room when for example including a "Bite" ability, or a "Multiattack" feature. To keep them compatible with 5e systems they would have to just be straight up the same, and would also appear as such without descriptive text on a roll20 character sheet. Do i just have to change all the stats around a little bit to constituate "truly custom made"? This is all so blurry that it inhibits my creativity just thinking about what monsters i want to include.

I actually wouldn't worry about stat-blocks as part of the copyright identity of things. The things wotc is worried about is protecting identity, they don't want you to use stuff like Beholders and Mindflayers because they are attached to their core product which they want to maintain quality control and property of. Using artwork/concepts is stealing the work gone into growing the recognition and popularity of a thing. It'd be easier to sell a module titled, "The Caverns of Drizzt" than "The Caverns of Bob" because you are working off the backs of others.&nbsp; If you think of it that way, you can better navigate what you can do. You are trying to avoid making it recognizable as someone else's work and advancing your own ideas. If you decide that certain aspects of other people's works would help advance your own (ie, you can only draw stick-figures and you want to use someone's portraits) you'd pay them a certain amount of money towards the idea that their inclusion will better your own product and generate that many more sales.&nbsp; In answer to your particular asks about things like "Bite" and "Multiattack", I think those are perfectly acceptable, the broad system of D&D itself is open license and it includes numerous monsters using those same constructions.&nbsp;

zerosius said: dahZee said: Concepts and ideas aren't always able to be copy-written, but the text for the stat-block sure as hell can. If you plan to sell your own content, I would highly suggest not trying to use any perceived loopholes or workarounds with respect to copyright. Even if the law might have some weird caveat, the good fellas at Roll20 are definitely going to be even stricter with regards to protecting the copyrights of the people they work with. You're only going to cause yourself a lot of headache if you go down that route. To put it simply, and to reiterate what others have said before, just stick to the SRD and truly custom-made monsters. I mean i am just extremely confused what "truly custom made" would have to mean. There is only so much wiggle room when for example including a "Bite" ability, or a "Multiattack" feature. To keep them compatible with 5e systems they would have to just be straight up the same, and would also appear as such without descriptive text on a roll20 character sheet. Do i just have to change all the stats around a little bit to constituate "truly custom made"? This is all so blurry that it inhibits my creativity just thinking about what monsters i want to include. 1) If someone can look at it and say "Oh that's an Aboleth" then you're probably in hot water. 2) If someone goes, it reminds me of an Aboleth but it's not the same at all, then you're probably fine. Using chunks of rules is likely fine, as long as you're falling into #2 above rather than #1. Taking your Many-Eye Horror. It's probably going to be fine so long as people look at your Many-Eye Horror and don't immediately say "Oh, it's just a Beholder with the name changed". Cosmetic changes will always make you fall foul of copyright.

Hi folks, &nbsp;sorry for the delay! I'm at the team with Gen Con so replies may be show until Monday.&nbsp; Halfling Gypsy's take is exactly where I would fall personally.

I think the stuff about the SRD and OGL is reasonably clear. I'm collaborating with a good friend on a '5e compatible' module that I am looking to publish on Roll20, as part 1 of a (hopefully) much larger campaign, that can also be run as a one-shot. The one part we're not clear on is art. While I am looking into retaining an artist for some specific art that is required (mostly character art, tokens, etc.) the maps are where I'm running into some issues. I have built some using GIMP, all hand drawn, but have some small questions. Specifically, Google Image search has a mode helping find art that has specific licensing, for my interest that is ' free for commercial use and modification ' - is the use of such art prohibited? Ill be doing my homework and ensuring that all art included with the module is either directly made by myself, owned through commission of an artist, or that the image in question actually is free for commercial use and modification (or requires attribution but is otherwise available for reuse in commercial content). 1) Provided I have verified the license the image(s) have been released under, is the use of such images ok? Should I have a copy of the license for each image I include before submitting to roll20 for approval? 2) Should I be including a handout or similar with the attribution for images that are free for commercial re-use but require attribution to the original artist? 3) Do I need to include a handout with the OGL legal text and include it in the module? 4) The token art included under 'Free Assets' - I'd like to contact the artists to confirm if they allow the use of their tokens in a commercial module (for example, the excellent stuff under Devin Token Pack) I cant find the name of the artist(s) though. Is it best to use all custom tokens then? 5) A kind-of bonus question - I noticed all modules have a minimum price. Does this mean its not allowed to create a module that is free for others to download (like Vault of the Master)? Also, if I wanted to publish the tokens we make ourselves as part of the project for free, is that allowed? Appreciate any information that can be provided, sorry for all the questions . Quite excited about the possibilities Roll20 offers here, not so much for profit (I dont have unrealistic expectations) as to get some slight remuneration for time invested and help enrich the community.

My turn to help answer questions! So machine: 1) Yes, if you use something where the license grants you commercial use and modification, you can use it for that purpose. Should you have a copy of the license? I would. I would keep it in your personal files with the module in case you get questions or claims from others stating you violated copyright. Always cover your butt as an artist. 2) If you notice in other modules, other people who&nbsp;use work from the SRD are required to put in a specific statement about copyright, which they usually do in a notes section about the module. This would also be a great place to give attribution to any artist that requests it as part of their license. 3) I answered this already, but yes, module creators will include it in their module overview notes or something similar. Branching off a bit, even people making PDF adventures utilizing the SRD also include a section where they list the specific language WOTC requires. 4) Free Assets listed under the Roll20 VTT are for personal use only. If you can't find an artist attached to the work, feel free to reach out to Roll20, they do a great job of acting as liaison between artists and Roll20. 5) Roll20 notes that they believe offering free content devalues other artists work, thus why we have minimum pricing guidelines. If you'd like to offer free tokens to Roll20 for others to use (like what's already offered), I would contact Roll20 directly. I don't know what their specific policy is on this. In general though, no, you can't offer free modules or tokens on the marketplace.&nbsp;

Machine Ator said: I think the stuff about the SRD and OGL is reasonably clear. I'm collaborating with a good friend on a '5e compatible' module that I am looking to publish on Roll20, as part 1 of a (hopefully) much larger campaign, that can also be run as a one-shot. The one part we're not clear on is art. While I am looking into retaining an artist for some specific art that is required (mostly character art, tokens, etc.) the maps are where I'm running into some issues. I have built some using GIMP, all hand drawn, but have some small questions. Specifically, Google Image search has a mode helping find art that has specific licensing, for my interest that is ' free for commercial use and modification ' - is the use of such art prohibited? Ill be doing my homework and ensuring that all art included with the module is either directly made by myself, owned through commission of an artist, or that the image in question actually is free for commercial use and modification (or requires attribution but is otherwise available for reuse in commercial content). 1) Provided I have verified the license the image(s) have been released under, is the use of such images ok? Should I have a copy of the license for each image I include before submitting to roll20 for approval? 2) Should I be including a handout or similar with the attribution for images that are free for commercial re-use but require attribution to the original artist? 3) Do I need to include a handout with the OGL legal text and include it in the module? 4) The token art included under 'Free Assets' - I'd like to contact the artists to confirm if they allow the use of their tokens in a commercial module (for example, the excellent stuff under Devin Token Pack) I cant find the name of the artist(s) though. Is it best to use all custom tokens then? 5) A kind-of bonus question - I noticed all modules have a minimum price. Does this mean its not allowed to create a module that is free for others to download (like Vault of the Master)? Also, if I wanted to publish the tokens we make ourselves as part of the project for free, is that allowed? Appreciate any information that can be provided, sorry for all the questions . Quite excited about the possibilities Roll20 offers here, not so much for profit (I dont have unrealistic expectations) as to get some slight remuneration for time invested and help enrich the community. If you use OGL you need to specifically include that License. I find it easiest just to do it once and copy by Transmogrifier into other products. Then have a separate credits/copyright notecard.

As a potential Marketplace Creator i'm following this thread very closely, and finding it very informative. Thanks everyone!

I was considering being a marketplace creator until I hit the wall.

If you're looking for maps, there are many of us that also do commission work.

^ B Simon Smith said: If you're looking for maps, there are many of us that also do commission work. ^+1

Zeshio said: 5) Roll20 notes that they believe offering free content devalues other artists work, thus why we have minimum pricing guidelines. If you'd like to offer free tokens to Roll20 for others to use (like what's already offered), I would contact Roll20 directly. I don't know what their specific policy is on this. In general though, no, you can't offer free modules or tokens on the marketplace.&nbsp; Speaking as a freelancer, thank you very much for this policy. This is very hard for some folks to understand, and it applies to so many other jobs other than artist, though that's the one that seems to get devalued the easiest, especially with Google Image searches, Pinterest, fanart and other "free" sources. Good on Roll20.

Machine Ator said: Specifically, Google Image search has a mode helping find art that has specific licensing, for my interest that is ' free for commercial use and modification ' - is the use of such art prohibited? Ill be doing my homework and ensuring that all art included with the module is either directly made by myself, owned through commission of an artist, or that the image in question actually is free for commercial use and modification (or requires attribution but is otherwise available for reuse in commercial content). I know you've got the understanding based on your later comments, but for others: The Google filter is just a starting point. Google does not police its use, it just reports what other people have indicated when uploading. Just Google "Batman" with labeled for reuse turned on. The first two hits I get are the bat symbol, which would be death to any commercial product that tried to slap it on a cover. Always backtrack until you find the verified owner. If you can't verify, don't use it. It's safe. It's fair. :)

Thanks everyone for the replies so far. :)

B Simon Smith said: If you're looking for maps, there are many of us that also do commission work. Ditto here. Not a problem doing maps for battles or worlds or towns...