Ixax
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri 17 Feb 2023, 17:45

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Fri 17 Feb 2023, 18:51

OWNERSHIP OF YOUR GAME. You own all rights in any Game you make under this agreement. Free League may not copy or use your Game without your permission. But you acknowledge that Free League may independently create something similar to your Game and that it is not prohibited from doing so unless it knowingly and intentionally copied your original work.
This language allows Free League to create something similar to your Game even when Free League is reckless… even when Free League should have known better. Consider the following language to replace the last sentence in that provision:

“But you acknowledge that Free League may create something similar to your Game when it does so independently. For the purposes of this license, independently creating a work similar to your Game means that Free League did not knowingly, intentionally, recklessly, or negligently copy elements of your Game not already available to Free League as part of the YZE SRD."

Given the breadth of the indemnity provision set out in paragraph 9 and the breadth of the licensee’s waiver against Free League set out in paragraph 10, this prohibition on reckless or negligent copying seems mild.
LOGO. You may, but are not required to, place the Year
Zero Engine logo (the “Logo”) on any Game you create
using this license. If you choose to apply the Logo, you
must use the official version made available here and
follow any other guidelines Free League provides for use
of the Logo. Free League reserves the right to require that
you stop using the Logo on a going forward basis at its
sole discretion.
The terms governing the use of the Logo should be specified in this license which grants the licensee the right to use the Logo. The revocation of this right to use the Logo should occur with notice to the licensee. (“Free League reserves the right to revoke your right to use the Logo on a going forward basis following 180 days notice of the revocation to the licensee.”)
MISCELLANEOUS. This is the entire agreement of the
parties relating to the subject matter hereof and you agree
that you have not relied on any terms or representations
other than those expressly stated herein. Free League rec-
ommends that you review this agreement with your own
lawyer and you acknowledge that you have had an oppor-
tunity to do so. Free League may update this agreement at
its sole discretion, but you will continue to have the right
to use the YZE SRD under the terms of the version that
was in effect at the time you created your game. No joint
venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship
exists between you and Free League as a result of this
agreement. Free League’s failure to exercise any right or
provision in this agreement shall not constitute a waiver
unless expressly acknowledged and agreed to by Free
League in writing.


As has previously been mentioned, the language in this provision concerning modifications of the license by Free League is faulty as it lacks clarity about the impact that revisions of the license may have. As the license is irrevocable (paragraph 1), new versions of the license have no impact on products produced under older versions of the license. For clarity, consider the following language to replace the sentence concerning Free League's ability to update the license:

"Free League may publish new versions of this license at Free League’s sole discretion. You may use any published version of this license to create your work based on the YZE SRD."

This allows the licensee to select the license that works for them. Any requirement that new versions of the license invalidate older versions of the license mean the license is not irrevocable.
 
ChrisTN
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri 18 Feb 2022, 19:26

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Sun 19 Feb 2023, 12:16

Dear all,

I like the openness to discuss the new YZE Free Tabletop License draft very much and I would like to provide my personal opinion here to add to the discussion.

A. Summary:
Overall, there are many provisions in the draft of the new YZE Free Tabletop License which I find legally problematic because they are out of proportion. I suggest to replace it completely with a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-4.0) or (better) just the “human-readable summary“ of that license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ or something similar concise.

B. Details:
I am concerned about the negative effect the license as drafted could have on the attitude of the customers towards the licensor. In my opinion, most of the fans just apply such licenses by using the SRD and placing the license with their documents without knowing the implications. But they act in good faith. Because they believe in the good deal between fans and publishers, which should be behind offering an SRD under such a license to the fans:
  • The publisher provides to the fans the permission (= license) to copy and paste from the SRD. This helps the fans to use their creativity for their favourite rpg and produce modules and games.
  • In exchange for that, the fans produce modules and games for the rpg (it directs their creativity to this rpg and away from other possibly), which helps the publisher to strengthen the relationship to the fans, gain more market visibility and share, and the activity shows potential new customers that the rpg is active, the fans are willing to buy more from the publisher and will probably bring more customers to the publisher by suggesting their fellow players to play the rpg of the publisher.
This already is a sufficiently balanced exchange. There is no need for further protection of the licensor, in my opinion. The risk of any third party claims against the licensor because of something the licensee did seems very low. If the licensee violates the rights of the licensor, this should be resolved on the basis of the law existing outside the license. I cannot see a justification to strengthen the legal position of the publisher (licensor) just because of the grant of the license. But if there are such disproportional “protections” in the license, the publisher might lose the goodwill of the fans when they learn about the “protections” written into the license and see attempts of the publishers to execute them.

I. My opinions on the license draft at this moment
The license draft strengthens the legal position of the licensor to the detriment of the licensees disproportionally.

Section 1. License: not ok
The last sentence seems too harsh. There is no need for automatic termination. Especially if it did not happen intentionally or if it is doubtful whether there was a breach. Automatic termination leaves a (former) licensee with the risk of infringing copyright by having copied from the SRD, making already produced but not sold units of (formerly licensed) YZE-games illegal.

Section 2. Exclusions: ok

Section 3. Ownership of the YZE SRD: not ok
The first sentence could mean firstly, that licensees agree that all rights in the SRD (copyright and possibly patents) are owned by Free League, even if that was (theoretically) not true. Secondly, the licensees actually waive (= give up) their rights to contest any of those (alleged) rights. So even if it was obvious or doubtful whether Free League infringed on the rights of the licensees, the license would hereby cut off the way to independent courts.

Section 4. Ownership of your game: not ok

While section 4 in my opinion is mostly only unnecessary, I do not like the last sentence. It states something which (in respect of copyright law) is self-understanding, but – and this is my point – lacks reciprocity to the licensees. Moreover, section 3 could deprive licensees of this natural right of independent creation.

Section 5. Logo: ok

Section 6. Notice: ok

Section 7. Restrictions: not ok
What means “imply” in this context? In my opinion, section 7 is not necessary, because any such issue could be resolved by the law anyhow. It is not too problematic for me, so deleting “or imply” could be sufficient for this to be ok for me.

Section 8. Representations: not ok
The representation is useless, in my opinion (legally, of course as a threat to the unknowing it could work). The rest, the non-infringement of third party rights is none of the licensor’s business (and how are the licensees to know for sure?). Unless a court of last instance has ruled, nobody can be sure, not even publishers of roleplaying games, that their products do not infringe other persons rights… And the same goes for compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations in every jurisdictions in which the works are distributed.

Section 9. Indemnity: not ok
An indemnity can be an extremely severe type of liability, depending on how it is understood. The language in section 9 implies, that this indemnity has to be understood in the classical, harsh way: even if the “demands” of the third parties are unsubstantiated, unproven and (as a court would rule if it would go to court) unjustified, still the licensees are to keep the licensor free of the usual and everyone’s risk of being subjected to unjustified claims. There is no monetary limitation of the liability of the licensees here. The last sentence is limited to copyrights of third parties, but leaves out any other rights. This appears unfair.

Section 10. Disclaimer: ok (disregarding possible invalidity by law)
Good lawyers would recommend this to protect their client. But I would consider deleting this, as the risks seem low.

Section 11. Miscellaneous: not ok
The recommendation to review this with a lawyer is unrealistic. I assume, that no fan will consult a lawyer about this, but will just start creating (unknowingly about the full implications) on the basis of the license.
The sentence “Free League may update this agreement at its sole discretion, but you will continue to have the right to use the YZE SRD under the terms of the version that was in effect at the time you created your game.” sounds ok at first glance, but it is not in my opinion. This would give Free League the opportunity to change the license and possibly cut off future YZE business of persons who have invested considerably into this.

II. Conclusion
I would like to see this draft of the YZE Free Tabletop License dropped (all sections, even those I marked as “ok”). My preference would be to instead to see a license for the YZE SRD offered, which is either a Creative Commons license or (better) a reduced version of a Creative Commons License. It should be the CC-BY-4.0, but more or less only in its “human readable form” as on this page: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (yes, used as a substitute for the https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode).

The advantage would be that a Creative Commons license is beyond doubts of its fairness (arguably). I think that the “legalcode version” in this case does not provide anything necessary over the reduced “human readable summary”. While Creative Commons do not suggest to use the “human-readable summary” instead of the “legalcode version”, I do so.

I like Free League and the Free League games very much and hope that my thoughts are useful.

Kind regards

ChrisTN
 
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lupex
Posts: 861
Joined: Sun 08 Oct 2017, 13:16

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Mon 20 Feb 2023, 17:53

I think it would be really helpful if Free League included provision to add a note or logo to state that 3rd party products are compatible with specific Year Zero Engine products if a product is made specifically for that purpose, similar to what is included for Dragonbane. I know that creators can make 3rd party compatible products through the workshop but this is restrictive, gives away rights to the products created and is also limited to PDFs through DTRPG. I would think that creators would be in favour of having the option of adding a logo that explicitly states “Compatible with Twilight: 2000” or “Compatible with Mutant: Year Zero“ etc if they are not creating a completely new game.
YZE Bestiary - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/320924/The-Servants-of-Memory

My Blog - https://is-it-a-monster.blogspot.com/

Instant Session - https://perchance.org/fl-session-generator

Monsters - https://perchance.org/fl-monster-generator
 
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Arkaivos
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon 20 Feb 2023, 22:30

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Mon 20 Feb 2023, 22:40

In my opinion, this new license seems way more restrictive than the previous OGL 1.0A.
Are products that started development with the old OGL (That was a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license), forced to change to this new license? That would be bad.
I don't see the point of excluding videogames from this new license. A simple CC-BY 4.0 seems more appropriate for the users and 3rd party creators.
 
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ExileInParadise
Posts: 247
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Location: Texas
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Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Tue 21 Feb 2023, 19:38

Forced to change to the new license? No.

Changing to a new license anyway to avoid any future "deauthorization attempts"? Definitely.

Free League are not the only ones looking at their own "safe harbors" instead of relying on one that was fine for 22 years, but then started to be torn down in secret 4 months ago.

The OGL certainly was convenient and made a good global common "standard license text" that people could understand and adopt.

And that was the way for 22 years - and in 4 months that trust was burned to the ground.

Many folks are walking away from OGL for good just to avoid any future surprises from that angle - even though most legal opinion seems to be that OGL couldn't be "deauthorized" unilaterally anyway.

Why risk your creation and your business?

Yes, this creates the "license proliferation" problems seen in open-source software ... but we've coped with that so I am sure we'll cope with the license proliferation in tabletop too.
We live, as we dream -- alone. ~ Joseph Conrad
 
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Tomas
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Joined: Fri 08 Apr 2011, 11:31

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Sat 25 Feb 2023, 18:50

In my opinion, this new license seems way more restrictive than the previous OGL 1.0A.
Are products that started development with the old OGL (That was a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license), forced to change to this new license? That would be bad.
I don't see the point of excluding videogames from this new license. A simple CC-BY 4.0 seems more appropriate for the users and 3rd party creators.
Hello,

We certainly don't intend for our FTL to be more restrictive than the old OGL 1.0. What makes you see it that way?
Fria Ligan
 
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Tomas
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Topic Author
Posts: 4896
Joined: Fri 08 Apr 2011, 11:31

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Sat 25 Feb 2023, 18:52

I think it would be really helpful if Free League included provision to add a note or logo to state that 3rd party products are compatible with specific Year Zero Engine products if a product is made specifically for that purpose, similar to what is included for Dragonbane. I know that creators can make 3rd party compatible products through the workshop but this is restrictive, gives away rights to the products created and is also limited to PDFs through DTRPG. I would think that creators would be in favour of having the option of adding a logo that explicitly states “Compatible with Twilight: 2000” or “Compatible with Mutant: Year Zero“ etc if they are not creating a completely new game.
Fair point, but that is not what the Year Zero Engine FTL is for - it is for creating new games based on the Year Zero Engine. To make community content modules for existing official Free League titles, the Free League Workshop is still there, unchanged.
Fria Ligan
 
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lupex
Posts: 861
Joined: Sun 08 Oct 2017, 13:16

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Mon 27 Feb 2023, 10:24

I think it would be really helpful if Free League included provision to add a note or logo to state that 3rd party products are compatible with specific Year Zero Engine products if a product is made specifically for that purpose, similar to what is included for Dragonbane. I know that creators can make 3rd party compatible products through the workshop but this is restrictive, gives away rights to the products created and is also limited to PDFs through DTRPG. I would think that creators would be in favour of having the option of adding a logo that explicitly states “Compatible with Twilight: 2000” or “Compatible with Mutant: Year Zero“ etc if they are not creating a completely new game.
Fair point, but that is not what the Year Zero Engine FTL is for - it is for creating new games based on the Year Zero Engine. To make community content modules for existing official Free League titles, the Free League Workshop is still there, unchanged.
Unfortunately the workshop is too restrictive, limits what a creator can do with their own content, has a high royalty fee and prevents printed versions of the creations. It would be great if Free League could either incorporate the option to produce specific YZE game modules in the FTL, or create separate licenses that mirror the new license for Dragonbane and allow the creation of modules compatible with current YZE game lines.
YZE Bestiary - https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/320924/The-Servants-of-Memory

My Blog - https://is-it-a-monster.blogspot.com/

Instant Session - https://perchance.org/fl-session-generator

Monsters - https://perchance.org/fl-monster-generator
 
ChrisTN
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri 18 Feb 2022, 19:26

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Wed 29 Mar 2023, 09:09

Good to see that section "9. INDEMNITY" is not included in the Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License (version 1.0) of today, March 28, 2023.
 
Star Anvil Studios
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri 17 Feb 2023, 07:05

Re: Feedback Thread - The Year Zero Engine Free Tabletop License

Wed 05 Apr 2023, 04:31

I still have two questions that are not expressly and clearly outlined in the SRD, and it would make it much simpler if it was spelled out in the SRD.
1- Can I use the rules from other games, like MYZ or Alien, if I remove all IP references? I understand its not the goal of Frea League to rewrite every rule for us and include it in the SRD. But can I say use Mutation Points? That term itself is generic enough. I mean what else what I call mutations and be clear without doing backflips? What about talents? Those arent included, can I use Talents so long as I rewrite the IP specific language?

2- You mention VTT is included but it doesnt say things like an online character builder. Or a tool that lets me choose and or add specific rules that I have cleaned up of IP specific language. This woudl be really sueful but its not expressly covered or worded in a way that makes it feel safe to build.

The SRD as it stands is very stripped down and makes it feel like we have to invent a lot of new stuff vs using existing rules sans the IP, which would be preferred. I tried to explain this and ask on the Facebook page for Free League and got a round about answer that circled back to the SRD is what we can use word for word. WHich I perfectlty understand that. but can I use other rules minus IP was never answered.

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