Writing D&D Novels
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:27 am
I was DMing a 4E campaign for several months with a group of experienced gamers. We were running the Thunderspire Mountain module, based the party out of the town Winter Haven. Due to the utter lack of specifics for the presented world, I decided to go forward with creating my own storyline, continent map, calendar and moon system, and backgrounds for major NPCs the players came across.
I've been writing a novel based on a Wizard (sage) they came across, presented as Valthrun the Precient in Winterhaven, mostly this work is just a story supplement for my players, who are all avid DnD players and read DnD novels. The book begins with the players meeting this character (who they only interacted with once in the first session) and then presents his perspective of the events of the game (many Godly things are occurring in the world and the players have no answers. The book serves as a means for me to give them clues as to whats happening, in a fun way, and will bring this NPC and others to life when the campaign starts back up)
I'd like to publish my work someday, with the exception of a few NPCs and story hooks, I created the entire world and NPCs from scratch... So I have a few questions about some legal things in regards to D&D material.
Firstly, the entire Nentir Vale, and the storyline presented in the Module I ran the players through (H2) are probably copyrighted. Does this mean I couldn't use Locations, Events, and character names for anything in these materials?
-Does this mean I should go through and rename everything in the world, rework the Nentir Vale and subsequent NPCs with non-copyrighted names
Secondly, if I have to rename everything because of Copyrighting, does that mean that the general plot of that campaign is also on "lockdown"? The specific actions the players took follow the basics presented in that module, if I renamed everything but kept the events happening the same, would this still infringe on someone's copyrights? For instance if the players still travel to an underground Labyrinth carved by long-forgotten Minotaurs called "Jibob-name-is-cool" to save some slaves from a town of "Super-hamlet" would that still infringe on WotC Intellectual Property
-I am not apposed to renaming everything, even rewriting the beginning of the main plot for that small section of the story arc for the purposes of a sellable novel. I'm just not sure if I have to or not, and would prefer to stick as close to what originally happened as possible (as it would make me have to do the work twice, because I won't be renaming these things in my campaign, only in the novel)
Any comments or suggestions are welcome in this regard, even if you don't know much about trademarks/copyrights. Just trying to get some ideas, it will be atleast a year before I finish the first draft of the the first book.
EDIT 1-
I took some initiative and search WotC content for information on writing Fan Fiction. Here are some very excellent links I found for anyone else considering this:
-Great small article with lots of links to awesome information, describes a good reason why your game (my game) may not make for an exciting novel
Why Your D&D Game Doesn’t Make a Great Novel | MLV Writes
-WotC Information about creating fan-sites (a look into their trademarks and copyrights and approved materials)
Fan Site Kit
-Superb write-up describing the differences between fan fiction, media tie-in, and shared world novels with regards to D&D
Monica Valentinelli | Flames Rising Horror & Dark Fantasy Webzine
-This one answered my questions, more at the bottom of this post:
Turn your Dungeons and Dragons campaign into a novel - Pens and Swords - Talking shop with fantasy fiction author Kameron M. Franklin
-Answer all your questions about writing and submitting DnD novels on WotC Novels section:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Novels
Excellent explanation of the Open Gaming License (d20) from a WotC employee, however doesn't technically fit the context of my question
Dungeons & Dragons - The Business of RPGs - Just What Is the Open Gaming License?
------------
So, to answer my two questions for myself:
ONE: I will need to change the names and locations of all people and places in my game in order to not be using D&D Intellectual Property
TWO: I will most likely need to change the events, outcomes, and locations of this particular part of the adventure to be unique.
MISC: Developing a unique world will extend more than just creating places and people, I will need to develop unique cultures for the areas in my world, and not rely on any sort of knowledge that the reader might have about how races interact etc.
Any unique items, monsters, and spells will need to be created separately from D&D Trademarks (for instance I can have a Black Dragon, or a Hydra, but I cannot have an Orcus or Yeenoghu)
RESULT: Since my campaign uses D&D standards, any content I create would be considered Fan Fiction and not going to be publishable (short of an act of the WotC gods). In order to create a publishable novelization I will need to entirely re-write the story using different characters, names, places, and gods, so I will be doing the work twice.
Not so bad, but nice to know my limitations before I get too deep in.
EDIT 2-
-Guidelines for writers submitting to WotC
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Novel Writer's Guidelines)
I just got done browsing information on their site. They are NOT accepting novels or short stories for publication. They are, however, accepting writing samples (30 pages or 10,000 words roughly) from writers for future consideration on shared world novel projects. You are required to ship in a hard-copy of the work, and it does not need to be D&D-oriented work. You don't need it to be sent by an agent, and don't need to be a published writer to get accepted.
I've been writing a novel based on a Wizard (sage) they came across, presented as Valthrun the Precient in Winterhaven, mostly this work is just a story supplement for my players, who are all avid DnD players and read DnD novels. The book begins with the players meeting this character (who they only interacted with once in the first session) and then presents his perspective of the events of the game (many Godly things are occurring in the world and the players have no answers. The book serves as a means for me to give them clues as to whats happening, in a fun way, and will bring this NPC and others to life when the campaign starts back up)
I'd like to publish my work someday, with the exception of a few NPCs and story hooks, I created the entire world and NPCs from scratch... So I have a few questions about some legal things in regards to D&D material.
Firstly, the entire Nentir Vale, and the storyline presented in the Module I ran the players through (H2) are probably copyrighted. Does this mean I couldn't use Locations, Events, and character names for anything in these materials?
-Does this mean I should go through and rename everything in the world, rework the Nentir Vale and subsequent NPCs with non-copyrighted names
Secondly, if I have to rename everything because of Copyrighting, does that mean that the general plot of that campaign is also on "lockdown"? The specific actions the players took follow the basics presented in that module, if I renamed everything but kept the events happening the same, would this still infringe on someone's copyrights? For instance if the players still travel to an underground Labyrinth carved by long-forgotten Minotaurs called "Jibob-name-is-cool" to save some slaves from a town of "Super-hamlet" would that still infringe on WotC Intellectual Property
-I am not apposed to renaming everything, even rewriting the beginning of the main plot for that small section of the story arc for the purposes of a sellable novel. I'm just not sure if I have to or not, and would prefer to stick as close to what originally happened as possible (as it would make me have to do the work twice, because I won't be renaming these things in my campaign, only in the novel)
Any comments or suggestions are welcome in this regard, even if you don't know much about trademarks/copyrights. Just trying to get some ideas, it will be atleast a year before I finish the first draft of the the first book.
EDIT 1-
I took some initiative and search WotC content for information on writing Fan Fiction. Here are some very excellent links I found for anyone else considering this:
-Great small article with lots of links to awesome information, describes a good reason why your game (my game) may not make for an exciting novel
Why Your D&D Game Doesn’t Make a Great Novel | MLV Writes
-WotC Information about creating fan-sites (a look into their trademarks and copyrights and approved materials)
Fan Site Kit
-Superb write-up describing the differences between fan fiction, media tie-in, and shared world novels with regards to D&D
Monica Valentinelli | Flames Rising Horror & Dark Fantasy Webzine
-This one answered my questions, more at the bottom of this post:
Turn your Dungeons and Dragons campaign into a novel - Pens and Swords - Talking shop with fantasy fiction author Kameron M. Franklin
-Answer all your questions about writing and submitting DnD novels on WotC Novels section:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Novels
Excellent explanation of the Open Gaming License (d20) from a WotC employee, however doesn't technically fit the context of my question
Dungeons & Dragons - The Business of RPGs - Just What Is the Open Gaming License?
------------
So, to answer my two questions for myself:
ONE: I will need to change the names and locations of all people and places in my game in order to not be using D&D Intellectual Property
TWO: I will most likely need to change the events, outcomes, and locations of this particular part of the adventure to be unique.
MISC: Developing a unique world will extend more than just creating places and people, I will need to develop unique cultures for the areas in my world, and not rely on any sort of knowledge that the reader might have about how races interact etc.
Any unique items, monsters, and spells will need to be created separately from D&D Trademarks (for instance I can have a Black Dragon, or a Hydra, but I cannot have an Orcus or Yeenoghu)
RESULT: Since my campaign uses D&D standards, any content I create would be considered Fan Fiction and not going to be publishable (short of an act of the WotC gods). In order to create a publishable novelization I will need to entirely re-write the story using different characters, names, places, and gods, so I will be doing the work twice.
Not so bad, but nice to know my limitations before I get too deep in.
EDIT 2-
-Guidelines for writers submitting to WotC
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Novel Writer's Guidelines)
I just got done browsing information on their site. They are NOT accepting novels or short stories for publication. They are, however, accepting writing samples (30 pages or 10,000 words roughly) from writers for future consideration on shared world novel projects. You are required to ship in a hard-copy of the work, and it does not need to be D&D-oriented work. You don't need it to be sent by an agent, and don't need to be a published writer to get accepted.
