Fan Site Policy

[BASHMAN]

I had seen some threads dealing with this issue, so I thought I'd address it here. Here is what I am thinking of as my guideline for Fansites:

Basic Action Games welcomes our fans to create fan sites, wikis, and support material etc for their use. As long as you aren't reprinting large swaths of text or art from the book, we are not going to send you C&D letters, threaten lawsuits, etc. I didn't get into this business to make fans of my product live in fear of petty reprisals on my part.

Likewise, all content on your fansites, wikis, etc, is your own responsibility. Basic Action Games bears no responsibility for what you choose to put on your website, and is not officially affiliated with fan sites in any way. Some language to this effect, stating that the site is not officially affiliated with Basic Action Games should appear on the website, wiki, etc.

In the spirit of keeping things unofficial, I request that you refrain from using Basic Action Games official trade dress, logo, interior artwork, etc. In the case of the latter, Basic Action Games is using that artwork under license - so I cannot give anybody permission to re-use it, as I am not the original license holder.

That said, if you guys want to create some sort of "Fansite Logo" that should be fine.

Does this sound fair to people?

[Tribunus]

Chello!

Sounds bueno to me. I'm not an artist by any means, but I like the idea of a fan-created logo. It reminds me of the Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, etc logos that TSR came up with for fans to use in the mid 1990s.

Tony

[TommyBrownell]

I was expecting something scary...that's all perfectly clear and fair.

WHEW.

(I had held off of posting Savage Worlds fan material because their fan policy, frankly, worried me until I had a Pinnacle staff member explain it to me like I was stupid...which, you know, I may BE...)

[kevperrine]

In the spirit of keeping things unofficial, I request that you refrain from using Basic Action Games official trade dress, logo, interior artwork, etc. In the case of the latter, Basic Action Games is using that artwork under license - so I cannot give anybody permission to re-use it, as I am not the original license holder.

That said, if you guys want to create some sort of "Fansite Logo" that should be fine.

Does this sound fair to people?

Sounds great sir.

A couple questions though.

1. I understand not using Trade-Dress and illustrations from BASH! and BAG products. However, as for the BAG & BASH! logos. Do you NOT want us to use those images via the "play with" and "for use with" logos that you've posted under the "Third Party Publishing Policy" forum thread here: http://bashtalk.org/modules.php?name=Fo ... topic&t=42

2. On the wiki I am working on, I posted up the BAG logo, made a "Facebook" BASH! logo, and reposted the 3rd Party Publishing logo bits. What of those should I remove or change?


Thanks for all your aid and your good will. I know myself and many others appreciate it greatly.
I'm completely open to making anything I create as a fan "right", please just let me know.


PS...
I'd also love to talk in the future about official work, if you like my fan work. hehehe

thanks again
-kev-
kevperrine@yahoo.com
Seattle, WA

[BASHMAN]

Sounds great sir.

A couple questions though.

1. I understand not using Trade-Dress and illustrations from BASH! and BAG products. However, as for the BAG & BASH! logos. Do you NOT want us to use those images via the "play with" and "for use with" logos that you've posted under the "Third Party Publishing Policy" forum thread here: http://bashtalk.org/modules.php?name=Fo ... topic&t=42

Well, the thing is, the Third Party Publishing policy specifically states that I need to approve of anything published under those logos. Since the whole point of the fan sites is that it is unofficial material and doesn't have my specific approval, using the trade dress would send the wrong message. Now, if you make your own using the original stuff as a baseline (say have it say for example "Unofficial" Basic Action Super Heroes Ultimate Edition Fansite" then that would be different, as it would be clearer that the material isn't officially affiliated with Basic Action Games or myself.

2. On the wiki I am working on, I posted up the BAG logo, made a "Facebook" BASH! logo, and reposted the 3rd Party Publishing logo bits. What of those should I remove or change?

The Bag Logo would need to be clear that it isn't affiliated with the material produced by your site. For instance, if you used it for a link back to the "Official" BASH! webpages, that's fine. But you cannot have it on the header or footer of each page.

Thanks for all your aid and your good will. I know myself and many others appreciate it greatly.
I'm completely open to making anything I create as a fan "right", please just let me know.

So long as it is your own words (or the words of another fan) contributing it freely for fan use. It can't be parts of BASH! books or even 3rd party BASH! publishers' books unless they are used with specific permission of the publisher. Likewise, they cannot be sold, online or otherwise, (even with a sale price of "Free") unless you go through the 3rd Party Publisher process, which isn't as loose as the Fansite policy. That said, I'm pretty reasonable about 3rd Party publishers, so if anybody has an idea, let me know.

PS...
I'd also love to talk in the future about official work, if you like my fan work. hehehe

I'd love to talk to you as well, I know you do maps (Megapolis YEAR 2 could use a nice one) and I'd like to see samples of what you can do. [/b]