LOTR Campaign

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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Hisquiter
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LOTR Campaign

Post by Hisquiter »

A new campaign I have finished two scenarios and created 5 new units all Hobbits(Frodo Sam Merry Pippin and Mrs.Maggot) but i need to know if i can continue this project because the history are't in Wesnoth and the name of the game is Battle for Wesnoth...
Yogibear
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Post by Yogibear »

First of all: If you do it yourself, you can do whatever you like :) .

Second: If you have a campaign and you want to publish it on the campaign server, i don't see a problem in that. We have campaigns like "Under the burning suns" that are very different from the first ones like "Heir to the Throne". It is solved by putting thousands of years between them. We have new factions evolving fast. So why not have Hobbits?

Of course my opinion is only one upon many and most likely not the one to decide what goes to the campaign server :wink: .

Another aspect might be legal issues. I am not familiar with that but there may be restrictions in using graphics and story elements of LOTR.

Anybody knows more about that?
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Tomsik
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Post by Tomsik »

I dont think you can put this on campaign server, everything you want to put on the campaign server must be GPL'ed and LOTR is not.
lwa
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Post by lwa »

Yogi Bear wrote:Another aspect might be legal issues. I am not familiar with that but there may be restrictions in using graphics and story elements of LOTR.

Anybody knows more about that?
According the french laws (and http://www.wesnoth.org is hosted in France), Tolkien writtings will fall in the public domain in 2043, 70 years after his death. I don't think you can port Tolien's stories in a game without the approval of the current copyright holders.

You can however do it for private use only.
Mkgego
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Post by Mkgego »

Copyright sux sometimes...
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freim
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Post by freim »

Mkgego wrote:Copyright sux sometimes...
No it doesn't, copyright provides necessary protection for peoples creative works. What does such however are things like software patents.
Disto
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Post by Disto »

Just change the names of the charecters, so they are recognisable but not the real things. Like Frodo could -> be Freda or Forda, or something better which your imagination thinks of, i think Nicolas was planning something like this.
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scott
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Post by scott »

You're talking about trademarks I think. I don't know if the LOTR characters are trademarked or not. I don't think copyright prevents you from writing original stuff using the characters from the Lord of the Rings series; it prevents you from copying and distributing the text of the actual books. A trademark would prevent you from using those characters in your own thing, and there's a possibility it prevents you only from commercial uses. But, I don't know for sure.
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freim
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Post by freim »

scott wrote:You're talking about trademarks I think. I don't know if the LOTR characters are trademarked or not. I don't think copyright prevents you from writing original stuff using the characters from the Lord of the Rings series; it prevents you from copying and distributing the text of the actual books. A trademark would prevent you from using those characters in your own thing, and there's a possibility it prevents you only from commercial uses. But, I don't know for sure.
If it's possible to have it trademarked, it is with Lord of the rings....

This is muddy waters, and even parodies should be avoided imo (on the campaign server).

Wesnoth has its own universe which a lot of people has contributed to. Use this instead of taking what others have various rights to.
unsung
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Post by unsung »

If you want to be sure, find whoever owns the rights to it and ask them, seeing as it's an open source and non-profit thing oyu would be doing, they MIGHT say yes. otherwise they would say: "if you sell us your soul, yes."
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freim
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Post by freim »

unsung wrote:If you want to be sure, find whoever owns the rights to it and ask them, seeing as it's an open source and non-profit thing oyu would be doing, they MIGHT say yes. otherwise they would say: "if you sell us your soul, yes."
If the campaign is uploaded to the campaign server that means it has to be GPL. GPL software can be sold for profitt, meaning there is no chance they will allow this.
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Post by scott »

We represent The Saul Zaentz Company d.b.a. Tolkien Enterpises ("SZC") with respect to intellectual property matters. SZC owns the exclusive worldwide right to create, produce, license, publish, sell, and offer for sale derivative works including without limitation role-playing games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy known as The Lord of the Rings and his novel The Hobbit (the "Tolkien Works"). SZC's former licensee Iron Crown Enterprises previously published numerous materials derived from the Tolkien Works known as the Middle Earth Role Playing Game system ( the "ICE Materials"). SZC owns all the copy rights to the ICE Materials through assignment.
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bruno
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Post by bruno »

frame wrote:
Mkgego wrote:Copyright sux sometimes...
No it doesn't, copyright provides necessary protection for peoples creative works. What does such however are things like software patents.
Copyright is broken too, just not completely, as patents are.
In the US, at least, it is likely that copyrights will become permanent for the vast majority of works as a side effect of copyrights becoming permanent for works produced by the motion picture and music industries, who own a number of politicians.
Also related to this is that the movie and music industries want copyright law enforced by all hardware which will break fair use (though not all countries have that) and cost people a lot of money. Rather than sponser development of special hardware with their own money and only releasing their works on that hardware, the movie and music industries are trying to get laws passed that will outlaw anything but their special hardware and which, conveniately they won't have to pay for (other than a tiny amount for the pet politicians), but will cost consumers a lot of money while not being as useful (even for what would now be considered legal uses).
freim
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Post by freim »

Well, thats a different problem: Ruthless corporations trying to exploit and change laws to their benefit and to the detriment for the consumers through corrupt politicians.

That doesn't mean that the original idea of a time limited copyright is so bad in itself.
Oreb
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Post by Oreb »

Nope, not possible, nahhhhh, don't like it at all
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