OSR OSRIC Players Guide latest update available.

Nikosandros said:

Is this "extracted" from OSRIC 2.2?

Click to expand...

Nikosandros said:

Is this "extracted" from OSRIC 2.2?

Click to expand...

So, there's an issue with the Seattle Hill Player Guide that got raised on our Discord yesterday. It stems back to Stuart telling people that an imprint copy of the OSRIC rules can be done without prior permission. That's not actually the case. I don't think either Stuart or I have an objection to people doing an imprint version, but if it's done without a license it creates a couple of legal risks. The OSRIC license allows people to refer to the trademark, but not to use it outright (as in a title) without separate permission. It's actually not possible to faithfully reproduce the OSRIC rules without an independent license, because one very important part is actually Product Identity.
The first legal issue is the trademark; we have always been very cautious to make sure that there aren't any variant versions of OSRIC out there, and the control point is the trademark. Any imprint needs to say that it's created under license; it can't just be called OSRIC.
The second issue is that anyone using only Open Game Content without a separate agreement can't include one of the significant legal protections in the document (because it's Product Identity). That's the Variable XP rule, which no-one uses -- but which makes all of the XP tables different from the originals. Granted, they aren't duplicates of AD&D in the first place, but that variable XP rule makes the whole XP system procedurally different, which is an added protection.
I still have to talk to Seattle Hill Games; I'm going to chat with an actual IP lawyer to make sure we're fixing the problem correctly before we start discussing it. It may even be that the IP lawyer doesn't see a problem.
BOTTOM LINE:
1) I understand that Seattle Hill was acting based on Stuart's interpretation of the license. But there are some things I need to do in order to protect the OSRIC trademark and solve the problem that we now -- technically -- have a version of OSRIC out there that doesn't include the Variable XP protection.
2) The OSRIC license does not authorize calling a reproduction of the rules "OSRIC." That's a protected trademark. You MUST get a license from me and Stuart before reproducing the OSRIC rules and calling it OSRIC.
Matt

Click to expand...