B.J. Zanzibar's world of Darkness Palladium style

[Tags]

World of Darkness fans may remember this, there is/was a website, B.J. Zanzibar's world of Darkness, it hosted fan created articles for the different White Wolf games, obviously the quality varied but you could find some real gems in there.

Now I know there are a few sites that host fan creations for Palladium games, thus far... meh. Question is, would a site similar to B.J. Zanzibar's be viable, or would there be legal ramifications? Personally I have never posted anything I have written for use in Palladium games online, so I wouldn't know. I have heard stories however.

There is alot to consider of course, but the main question is, could it be done.

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. Well, I've never played White Wolf and don't know the site in question, but I think what you're discussing is kind of an unofficial/fan driven online Rifter (at least in concept, because you couldn't actually use the name "Rifter" without legal issues). If I understand the basic concept, then this is what I can tell you ...


1: Palladium Book's Internet Policy: http://www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php ... ssion-info

In short, you have to include Copyright and Trademark symbols for legal purposes. This shows gives credit to Palladium, as well as to help give Palladium piece of mind that if someone takes something from your site (such as the term Glitter Boy, for instance), that said person can't claim: "Oh, we didn't know someone already had a Trademark on it." Basically it helps cover you and them.

Also, there's kind of a similar term to Rifter submissions. That term is, to be blunt, that Palladium can steal your work without giving you credit or payment. Now, with that said, Palladium has no intention of doing so. This term is more or less to protect them. This is so if post something about X, Y, and Z, and they publish something about A, B, and z (yes, I used a lower case on purpose), you can't sue them for stealing your work. I always forget the proper term ... um ... parallel development? If they wanted to publish your work, they'd contact you. Note: I do believe there had been some issues/concerns about this regarding the Powers Unlimited books (or at least one of them). I don't know the details or accuracy of said claims. I haven't seen the evidence. If you are concerned, I'd recommend investigating the matter yourself. Don't let rumor alone scare you, but know that it's there. Personally, I'm not concerned to investigate further, but your mileage may vary.

2: Once upon a time, Palladium did make an attempt at an online Rifter. I believe it didn't get very far, but the site is still up: http://the-rifter.com/category/uncategorized/

I'm not sure if this didn't get very far because Palladium didn't pursue it enough, the concept just didn't generate enough interest, or other. But you can look it over and see if there's ideas you might like in setup (or even anything you might want to avoid, if you think it contributed to the lack of progress on this project). I think the concept of a rating system could be interesting, as it might help people new to the site find those gems instead of hunting.

3: Websites, in general, are okay, as long as you follow the rules. I have a personal Palladium fan website (found in my signature) that I've had up and running (in one form or another) for just under 15 years now, and never had a problem. However, if you do make a fan site, I recommend trying to follow the same rules as these forums. That means no profanity, no nudity or porn (yes, this is important), no conversions, etc. Basically, nothing that will raise red flags for Palladium that makes them say: "Hey, we might need to act before we get in trouble for this!" Note: I know there are sites with conversions and such, but no I don't know which ones (I remain very willfully ignorant on the matter). So simply having them doesn't mean you'll get in trouble, but having it does increase your chances of running into problems as well.

4: Palladium is infamous for sending C&D letters to fan sites. I've never experienced this personally. I know others who have fan sites and never run into any problems as well. I suspect at least some of this was blown out of proportion, but there is at least some truth in it. I wasn't really around during that time, but from second (third, etc.) hand stories, most of these incidents came from people breaking the rules (or other problems), as well as at least a few erroneous letters (I know one guy who said he received one, then found out YEARS later that it was an accident and there was nothing wrong with his site, of course it was too late by then).


Hopefully some of that helps. If there are any further questions, I'd be happy to provide any other information I can on the matter. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

[Tags]

+nods+ Well I recall an incident, of course the group was posting whole Palladium rules...

All in all, it's alot to think about... I suppose it would be an online rifter in essence. I had a simple fan site at one time, though now I'm not sure Verizon offers web hosting anymore. And to be honest, my web building skills have atrophied. Could be an interesting project though.