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March 6, 2009

Paizo Releases Pathfinder Compatability License and Community Use Policy


Just a few days after Paizo had rejected the newly revised GSL from Wizards. Now, they have come up with their own Pathfinder Compatability License and Community Use Policy. This is the first time there has been a license that exist within the OGL license framework in which the Pathfinder RPG is under.
"We are fully behind the OGL that Wizards of the Coast created for the 3.5 version of the world's most popular roleplaying game," said Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens. "The Pathfinder Compatibility License is our way of giving back to a publishing community that has already given so much to the open gaming movement."

In case the whole jingo lingo this whole week is slipping you by, what Paizo did is they have released two sets of policies, one meant for commercial publishers and the other for non-commercial users.

Publishers will be able to use and refer to the rules or specified content of the upcoming Pathfinder Roleplaying Game to produce material that are compatible with the game under certain conditions through the Pathfinder Compatability License (which I'm not going to go in further to avoid any misinterpretations)

For non-commercial users, the Community Use Policy lays down what is permissible to be used to generate fan content as long as they accept the requirements and register their work to a Community Use Registry (which also requires a Paizo account). In addition, once they are registered and comply to the guidelines, they can make use of a Community Use Package which provides a wide range of Pathfinder images (symbols, iconic characters, logos and the world map of Golarion).
"We have a very enthusiastic community," says Victor Wertz, Paizo's Technical Director. "With this policy, Paizo is making it easier to create original content based on our products, and we're making it easier for them to find other community-created content."

According to the Pathfinder Compatibility Registry, it has been confirmed that Sean K Reynolds Games and Necromancer Games have adopted the Pathfinder Compatibility License.

Check out other coverages and discussions at ENWorld, RPGnet, RPG Blog II and Geek Related.

4 comments:

Zachary Houghton said...

I'm curious what other companies will sign on. I hear Adamant may do just that.

Questing GM said...

Hey Zach,

I'm just as curious as well. I think this could potentially split the publishers into the OGL proponents and the 'Follow Wizards to the end of the world' types.

Zachary Houghton said...

Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I haven’t seen a huge migration to the GSL yet. But I guess you can say the same thing for Pathfinder. For the GSL, I’ve seen Necromancer in, Fat Dragon in, Goodman in, and maybe a couple of smaller entities in as well. Green Ronin and Paizo (obviously) are out. No word yet on Adamant Entertainment, but I believe they had some plans for Pathfinder. Necromancer, Louis J. Porter, and Sean K. Reynolds (not unsurprisingly, since he is also a developer for PFRPG) are going to do at least some stuff for Pathfinder. But, hey, both were just released.

What I think will be interesting will be how many publishers decide to support both vs. those who favor one exclusively over the other. We should work on organizing a list of companies next week. As for me, my wife could go into labor any minute, so I will have to hold off. ;)

Questing GM said...

Hey Zach,

I'm already working on it. The Paizo registry is perfect for this. I've already posted something on ENWorld but it doesn't seem to be getting the good hits yet.

The question though is when we should reveal our findings. How long would it take for publishers to decide if they want in or not? A week? A month? Six months?

Congrats on the upcoming gamer!

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