Core Book Changes - copyright, collaborators, and licenses, oh my!

Hello DIE versus DIE players! 

This is Sean, writer for DvD, and like I noted in my last update, I want to talk about changes that I’m contemplating between this Play Test and the upcoming Core Rulebook. I’ve been struggling with how to approach these dev logs, so I think I’m going to tackle it starting with page 1 and going straight through the book. If anyone has any questions or wants me to skip ahead for any particular section/set of rules, sound off in the comments. 

So I really am starting from the very very beginning and go with the cover and credits. The Core book is going to be totally re-written by me, and Mel will be doing all the art for it this time around. Ennie award winning artist Hodag remains the best, and not just because they did art for us, so you should check out their games!

https://hodagrpg.itch.io/

https://www.instagram.com/hodagrpg/

https://nofoesnotraps.wordpress.com/ 

We’re just trying to keep the art and writing in-house for the Core book, because I don't feel super comfortable collaborating when the budget to hire right now is nil.

The license that I typed up will remain mostly unchanged. I’m switching the contact email to info@meldar16.com. The license was an idea because of the whole OGL kerfuffle with D&D.

https://gizmodo.com/dungeons-dragons-ogl-announcement-wizards-of-the-coast-1849981365

After all that, and not being a lawyer myself, I checked out what kind of licenses all the other games I owned would have. The OGL was a no-go at the time, because of the then-relevant issues. Creative Commons was touted as an excellent possibility, but after checking out the site, I was overwhelmed by giant blocks of legalese, and none of them seemed to be exactly what I wanted. **Cue an actual rules lawyer in the comments telling me exactly which CC license would fit my needs.**

The license that I ended up typing up was cribbed from the licenses for Troika! and Mörk Borg. They have very similar licenses and you can check those out at these links.

Page 2 of the Troika book here:

https://www.troikarpg.com/resources

Mörk Borg here:

https://morkborg.com/license/ 

So my intention with what I did is that you can't use Mel’s art, you can't just copy/paste the text itself, but you can reference back and credit us to then make whatever you want. I wouldn't even be mad if you just paraphrased the whole book, just add your own material as a twist on it. I’d only be bummed if you did a 1:1 clone, not if you springboard off those ideas for something else neat. 

So sorry if you read all this so far expecting talk about actual rule changes. I think this sets the tone for what Mel and I want to accomplish though. I promise my next update skips the Table of Contents and I actually discuss rule changes. For now, just know that I would love to have other people spin off their own creations based on DvD. As someone who grew up with the philosophy of “if it ain't cheap then it ain't punk,” DIE versus DIE’s Core rulebook will remain available digitally as pay what you want, and print copies won't break the bank either.

If you have any thoughts on this, or any lawyers want to tell me what a dumb-dumb I am, leave a comment!

Love you! Bye!

Seandar16