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| Ask Misty Archive - Games & Gamers Writing | Games and Gamers | Birds & Animals | Books in Progress | Music | Books & Movies Arts & Crafts | Conventions and Fandom | Valdemar | Companions | Miscellany 2002 Q: This answer is speaks to a number of questions that have come in on the subject of copyright. Mostly reasonable questions from well intentioned people who don't want to take liberties, but don't really understand the copyright situation. Given that intellectual property rights is a subject onto itself and the lawyers who practice in this field get the big bucks, it is understandable that Misty's loyal readers might be a bit confused on the subject. Here's another attempt to shed some light on the subject. Firebird A: Thought you could use another short missive from me on the subject.Copyright, fair use, and complications far beyond the ken of mortal man.... Ah, the Internet! What a wonderful tool it can be! And oh, the innumerablecans'o'worms it's opened up for those of us who make our living entertainingpeople. Let's journey back in time to a point BI (Before Internet), when all that awordsmith had to worry about was Stuff On Paper. Mind you, even then, there were problems. People who literally printedthousands and hundreds of thousands of copies of pirated editions of books,without the author's permission, contracts, or payment, sometimes editing tosuit themselves, sometimes printing entire bogus books under the author'sname. That's still a problem in third-world countries where Internet accessis severely restricted---for instance, at this veru moment, a bogus HarryPotter book is being sold in China! This sort of thing cost authorsmoney---and sometimes, reputations. Charles Dickens, for instance, oncereckoned that if it he'd been paid for all the pirated editions of his workthat were sold in the US (yes, US publishers were some of the worst aboutthis), he'd have been able to make a good living without having to resort tothe long and grueling lecture tours through which he supported himself andhis family (and which probably shortened his life). Tolkien's reputation asa fantacist was nearly undermined by an abbreviated pirate edition of Lordof the Rings, also in the US. But in the days of BI, for the most part, fan "use" of an author's work wasnot a lot to fret over. Fact is, it's expensive and tedious to print outand distribute derivative fiction. A fanfic novel had to cost as much ormore than a mass-market hardback, and it was printed on clumsy letter-sizepaper and bound (if at all) in report-covers. There was the mailing to dealwith, or getting to conventions to sell it at your dealers' table. It wasalso a lot easier to make sure that things of---an "adult" nature, such as"slash" fiction---didn't get in the hands of 14-year-olds. As for games, well---you could tailor whatever you wanted out of whateverworlds you cared to for paper RPGs for yourself or your friends, butprinting modules meant you ran into the same problems as fanfiction.Computer games? Didn't exist, or at least, not in any form that adaptedwell to gaming. So authors generally (with a few exceptions) generally gave fans the allclear to do what they wanted to. It wouldn't hurt their sales, theirreputations, or cause any real legal ramifications. The first fly in the ointment directly in our field happened to MarionZimmer Bradley, after the wild success of MISTS OF AVALON, when a (former)fan threatened to sue her for her adaptation of an idea the fan had come upwith for a Lew Alton Darkover novel. The situation rapidly involved lawyersand got expensive, and in the end, no one won (except the lawyers) since MZBelected to scuttle the novel altogether, and the fan got nothing but a badmetaphorical black eye. At that point, agents and authors began looking atthe concept of fanfiction with a more critical eye. Some agents elected totry and eliminate it altogether; most cautioned authors against givingpermission for it. This, by the way, is why I do not, and will not, readany fiction sent to me unsolicited, nor any "story ideas." Ah but now, 2002 AI...oh, how different things are. Authors of fanfic no longer have those pesky printing and distributionproblems---just write and post, and make sure you list your stuff with thesearch engines! Coding games may not be a breeze, but it's a whole loteasier and within six months or less you can have a MUD, MUSH, or online RPGgoing, and as big an audience as size. bandwidth, and interest permit. OK, it's not very likely that fanfiction is going to cut into an author'ssales, but now the opportunity for a lawsuit is expanded far beyond what itever was in MZB's case---how can a writer prove she DIDN'T happen across thestory online??? And as for the new opportunities to ruin a reputation---upstream in the "AskMisty" section, you may find a question I just fielded from a youngster,asking if it was true that I had written a book with a bestiality scene init! There was enough detail in the question to make me think that SOMEONEout there had written "that book" and had posted it online! There arealready a lot of things being attributed directly to my authorship beingposted online that I had nothing to do with--- There is no control over fanfiction with adult themes being restricted toage-appropriate readers. If Motley Crue can be sued by the parents of asuicidal teenager over something that was alleged to be in their songs---notthe lyrics, but supposedly "masked" or "secret" messages!---it doesn't takea leap of imagination to see that parents of a youngster who find"adult-themed" Valdemar fanfic on his or her computer could decide, not tosue the author (who might be anonymous) but sue me instead (especially ifsome idiot decided to put MY name on it instead of his/her own). Yes, thecase would be dismissed, but it would still cost time (fewer books for you)and money (belt-tightening for me). The same holds true, only more so, for online RPGs, MUSHs, MUDs....I haven'tyet heard of a single one of these things where people didn't start using itfor adult purposes---and the problem is that short of getting the siteblacklisted on Parental Control software, there's no kind of policing goingon---the game creators I've seen don't have the time or the inclination.I'm not sure how many of my readers are under 18 (sorry, folks, but that'sthe legal-definition cutoff, not mine), but there's a lot of them. And oh,brother, would a Valdemar-themed place be a prime cruising-ground for apedophile! Who would be sued, if something went horribly wrong? Who wouldthe lawyers look for, who has money? Better believe it would be us. Moretime, more money, flying out the door, never to return. I know none of this occurs to any of you when you want to do something tolet you live in my creation a little longer. I know the real fans wouldnever, ever do anything to hurt us. But these are things that a creator hasto think about these days when making decisions about what she or he hascreated, because there are greedy people out there, with no thoughts otherthan to profit, profit, profit, whatever it takes. As Larry has said,"Greed kills cool things." All we're trying to do is to protect ourselvesand our work so it doesn't get killed by the greed of others. 2002 Q: My question concerns (yet again) MUSHes/MUCKs/MOOs. I understand they may not be opened on the net to the public, like one can't publish a gaming setfor table-top RPGs. But, since you are free to play such a thing in theprivacy of your own home, would an invitation-only MUSH violate your policies? A: The whole subject is confusing to say the least. Misty's work is what is called a intellectual property. Something that is created by her mind and that has value to other people. Copyrights and trademarks protect her ideas and characters so that she can sell them and make a living. Putting anything up on line is considered by the law to be publishing.So, if large pieces of Misty's work are incorporated into a game, fan fiction, or any other form, and then put up online, this is considered publishing. Copyright protects the stories and characters Misty creates. Trademark protects Misty's characters, worlds, and original creations. Like Heralds, Companions and terms like The Kingdom of Valdemar. Part of copyright and trademark law is the concept of defend it or lose it. So if a game, or fanfic gets published on line, and it can be shown that Misty gave permission, or had knowledge of the action and did nottake steps to stop the infringement, she has not defended her intellectual property. The long term consequences of this could be that the entirebook could become public domain and Misty could lose her ability to make a living from the writing. Then she'd have to go back to supporting herself by database programming, and you'd get no more lovely books to read. So the major objection is not fan activity, but fan publishing. If the work is not published, no copyright infringement has taken place. No threat to Misty's ability to make a living has take place, and there would be no reason for anyone to get upset. Hope this helps to sort things out. Teri Lee Q: I'm writing thanks to a discussion over on the ENWorld message boards regarding a Valdemar RPG. I thought I'd express my support for such a project. And, at the same time, present a proposal. Proposal: Allow the establishment of an official Valdemar RPG site. A place to present information for Valdemar campaigns etc. This could also be used to gauge the demand for a published Valdemar RPG book, whether full fledged game, setting, or a set of guidelines for a setting. Think of it as a variation on the Baen Free Library. Such a site would, I'm sure, give you some idea of possible demand, and help sell the idea to potential publishers. From the posts over at ENWorld I'm sure you'll find people ready and willing to maintain such a site. Thanks for your time and I hope your projects are going well. A: This is NOTHING like an RPG version of the Baen Free Library. This is anattempt to defraud an author or authors of income from ancillary rights. The Baen Free Library consists of e-versions of books which have been inpaperback form for more than two years, and which may or may not still be onthe shelf in bookstores (although, of course, these books can bespecial-ordered). The purpose of this is the book-equivalent of freesamples. What you propose is to steal my intellectual property, use it to create aform of my intellectual property which has NEVER been in any published form,and destroy any possibility of selling the rights to this intellectualproperty for gaming purposes in the future. No thank you. I absolutely forbid you to do anything of the sort, and I amforwarding this to my agent so he can ensure that you do not do so. 2002 Q: Hey, I'd just like you to know that there is an RPG game maker called AGS, it's free, and makes VGA style point and click games. It's easy to use, and it's already being used to revamp some of Sierra's old games (Kings Quest 1 and Quest for Glory 2). I was just currious if you'd allow a fan game to be made using this platform? It's supposed to be pretty simple...I'm sure if Larry wasn't doing anything he'd have fun playing with it...from what I understand he's a big RPG fan...:D A: Depends on what they mean by a "fan game." If Russ found an RPG online he'd have a litter of lawyers. Q: I'm writing thanks to a discussion over on the ENWorld message boards regarding a Valdemar RPG. I thought I'd express my support for such a project. And, at the same time, present a proposal. Proposal: Allow the establishment of an official Valdemar RPG site. A place to present information for Valdemar campaigns etc. This could also be used to gauge the demand for a published Valdemar RPG book, whether full fledged game, setting, or a set of guidelines for a setting. Think of it as a variation on the Baen Free Library. Such a site would, I'm sure, give you some idea of possible demand, and help sell the idea to potential publishers. From the posts over at ENWorld I'm sure you'll find people ready and willing to maintain such a site. Thanks for your time and I hope your projects are going well. A: This is NOTHING like an RPG version of the Baen Free Library. This is anattempt to defraud an author or authors of income from ancillary rights. The Baen Free Library consists of e-versions of books which have been inpaperback form for more than two years, and which may or may not still be onthe shelf in bookstores (although, of course, these books can bespecial-ordered). The purpose of this is the book-equivalent of freesamples. What you propose is to steal my intellectual property, use it to create aform of my intellectual property which has NEVER been in any published form,and destroy any possibility of selling the rights to this intellectualproperty for gaming purposes in the future. No thank you. I absolutely forbid you to do anything of the sort, and I amforwarding this to my agent so he can ensure that you do not do so.
Q: I don't know whether you could stick this in Ask Misty or not, which is why I'm sending it like this. Misty, I know we'd have to contact your agent about buying RP rights/licenses. What I need before I do that, if you can give it to me, is an estimate of how much you think your agent might charge. And one other thing - where did the Highflight website go? It's no longer at its old address - please help me out. Thanks! A: To answer the last question first: The Highflight Website has been allowed to lapse; we wanted a new Webpage under an address that was easier to find. I've registered the URLsof mercedeslackey.com (for me) and gryphonking.com (for Larry) and weare in the process of getting entirely new Web pages put together by aprofessional. Mark's efforts were appreciated, but they've been ratherout of date for some time, and with him going on to other things, itseemed like a good time to revamp our entire Web presence. I really don't know what our agent would charge for options and/orlicenses for RP games (or any other property) based on our books. I canonly say that I know it wouldn't be a "token" payment; he would insiston a number that showed that you were serious. The best thing to do isto contact him (Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen in New York City)and ask. Q: I seem to recall seeing a mention in the Changeling: the Dreaming main book that suggested that one could use Changeling in other themes--including Valdemar. I know you're generally okay with people running private tabletop-games based on Velgarth, but how do you feel about people playing things like Changeling there? And, just as idle curiosity, if one /did/ pursue licensing, and pay for it and everything, would one then be allowed to run a MUSH/MOO/Online RPG based on the work? Not like I can afford it, or know any MUSHers who can, but I'd originally heard that it was impossible, period... but your previously answered questions make it seem like just a rights issue. Yes, I know it's quite a bit of money--again, I'm just curious. Oh, and is it true that Larry MU*s? All right, so that's three questions. So sue me! Anyway, thank you very much for your time! A: --You can play private RPGs to your heart's content; it's all fine as longas you don't publish anything. I have no idea what Changeling is, butif you aren't publishing anything and just having a private (non online)game, have fun.Presumably if one paid licensing for it, my agent would agree to aMUSH/MUD/MUCK, but then you would probably have to take on the job ofmaking sure no one started up unlicensed/unauthorized ones.As for question three...that would be telling! Q: Are the names of characters in your books trademarked? I am asking this because I'm getting involved in creating an online game. Our policy is going to be to discourage using names from books at all. However, I am also going to design the ability to block various names; for example, we don't want a player using the same name as a staff member. An obvious extention of this is to block trademarked names. Since the legalese in your books doesn't specifically say that the character names ARE trademarked, I thought I'd ask. A: The contents of the books are copyrighted, not trademarked. Q: It is understood by me that you mightn't have published materials online, IE if I were to have a roleplaying chat and we published the storyline (Exempt from names of characters in specific, though including Valdemar, Karse, Heralds, Bards, etc.) without a license. By licensing do you mean a disclaimer or written permission from you, or something else? A: A license to publish (online or offline) would have to be obtained frommy agency, Scovil Chichak Galen. It would involve a licensing fee and Idon't think it would be a trivial amount. Our agent takes theprotection of our intellectual property very seriously; he has to, sincehe gets a significant portion of his own income from it. Q: A couple of months ago I asked your permission to run a D&D style game in Valgarth. You graciously answered that I could, for which I am very grateful. Now, as I am finishing the setup for the game, I find that the copies of the maps I have for Valgarth are incomplete at best (ie, not much south of Rethwellen, Nothing between the Empire of the East and Iftel, {if there is anything}, and pardon me if I spell this wrong, nothing between the Heighlei and Jkatha.) Do you have an over all map of the world? If so, how may I obtain a copy. On a different topic, is there an inclusive book of the songs of Valgarth? If so, again how may I obtain such a book. If not, can I request that you think of that as a "short/easy" (yes I know that no literary endevor is easy) project? Another question, are we ever going to see more of Jennifer Talldeer? I do hope so. I understand what I have read on your page about Diana Trigarde not paying off in terms of market value, but I was hoping for either or both of those two wonderful characters to show up again. And finally, I'd like to read more about what happened with Lord Orthalen and Raold. That war and earlier in the time line the stories of Vanyel that got him the titles that he held (ie demon stalker et al). Just curious about all that. A: --A plethora of questions!We don't have a "complete" map; our mapmaking has rather lagged behindthe books. Music books are in Firebird's hands; I don't believe that they've donesongbooks for all of the tapes yet, much less a complete compilation.I haven't got anything planned for Jenny Talldeer; I've gotten behind onfilling the contracts, and I need to take care of the ones I alreadyhave with Tor before I look at doing anything else. The book I am working on now is about Lavan Firestorm, who is abouthalfway between Vanyel's time and Talia's. The one after that will be adirect prequel to Talia.
Q: Are there any current plans to ever make a series based paper Roleplaying game or 25mm Miniatures of any of your worlds? A: I know we've covered this before, but here is the short form. We havenot been approached by any RPG companies, and we are not planning toproduce a game ourselves. Q: Some friends & I want to create role playing game set in Valdemar, and use characters from the books. Is this ok? 4/14/99 A: Here are the official guidelines on GAMING! We cannot permit ANY use of our characters or settings in online gaming;it doesn't matter if it's non-profit. The point here is that electronicrights (that includes online use) are very new; we don't know what weneed to protect and what we don't in order to keep the market-value ofthose rights. And yes, I know, Robert Jordan and others allow it---myagent personally believes that is very foolish, and he will not allowany electronic use without licensing. No MUCKS, MUDS, MUSHES, or onlineRPGs. Paper-games. IF you are just running a game among your friends, enjoyyourself! If, however, you are planning to PUBLISH anything, be it anRPG, a game module, an article for a gaming magazine, or self-publishinga set of rules to sell---you're in trouble. That's copyrightinfringement, and it's not allowed. So have fun at home, with ourblessing, but don't take it out the door! Misty 4/14/99 Q: I have a question for Misty, if she'll answer. Actually, it's more of asuggestion. I went through the Ask Misty page and discovered at the bottom a question about an RPG set in Valdemar. Well, there is a LOT more support out there for a Valdemar RPG. I, for one, would buy a copy if it ever came out. Would you consider writing an RPG? I would LOVE to role-play a Tayledras scout. No one knows Valdemar (and beyond) better than Misty herself, so I thought it would be great if she wrote the game(or at least the source material - the actual rules could be written by someone else, if she didn't want to). If your lawyers or financial advisors or whatever are set against it, thinking it would be a bad investment, tell them about the MERP RPG(the RPG based on Tolkien'swork), or Elfquest. Both are based on written works, and are stillrather popular. A: Okay, here is the scoop on the possibility of a commercial ValdemarRPG. We have absolutely no objection to having a commercial RPG, but sofar no one has been willing to pay the money it would take to licensethe property for an RPG. It's that simple. If the gaming publicdisplays overwhelming support to a game company for such a game, perhapsone might consider licensing Valdemar. Licensing rights are a valuablecommodity, and are essentially in the hands of my agent; he's not goingto give them away. However, I must point out that in terms of sheernumbers, the Lord Of The Rings trilogy has sold over 10 MILLION copies,making it one of the all-time best sellers; we haven't even made it tothe New York Times best-seller list even once. And I absolutely do not intend to write, publish, and distribute onemyself. Why? Simple; it would take a year or more just to write it,which would mean a year in which I would write no books, and get noincome, and there would be three less books by us out---probably anentire year without new books on the shelves. Then it would TAKE moneywe do not have to publish it. Then we would have to somehow convincestores to stock it. Then we would have to ship it, deal with theaccounting, the returns, etc, etc, etc. And all of these other thingswould take time we would have to take away from writing books, becausewe cannot afford to hire someone else to do it for us. Q: Have either Larry or Jody considered doing artwork for any of the White Wolf RPG's or for Magic: The Gathering card game? A: Jody Lee's prices are far more than either an RPG company or a card gamewould be willing to pay. She's right up there with Michael Whelan sofar as fees are concerned. Larry did do work many years ago for various RPGs and RPG magazines, butright now his plate is pretty full doing our own work. | |||||||||