Avernum -related story and a couple of questions

[Zaego]

Greetings to everyone.

 

I'm a long-time fan of Avernum and Geneforge but only recently I've managed to force myself to register unto the forums, as I confess myself to be rather slow to warm up to new ideas and my general shyness hasn't exactly helped much. Anyway, onward to the important question that burns within my mind.

 

Ever since I played the "Avernum 2 - Demo" for the first time, I knew I had found the best gaming series ever to have seen the light of day. From that moment onward, I've mingled with Spiderweb's games as often as possible, with Jeff's games helping me through some very, very dark times. Over time I grew so fond of these worlds that I started to find inspiration to create content of my own within the boundaries of the Ermarian world. Scenarios, none of which I have finished so far; pictures, which I have uploaded to a specific artsite; and finally a story that I am having a great time with writing and creating. At first this story just started as a means to pass time and do something to help myself not to actually go crazy, but more and more it started to feel like "something". I gave myself a slap on the cheek, sent the first drafts to a close friend and received a critical, if very much approving response.

 

Now I have come to the point where I am considering to start writing the story in a serious manner - and thus I'd like to ask the good people of these forums, how does submitting user-created content (such as a fan-fiction) comport with copyrights to Spiderweb Software and the forum rules? Is it legal to upload a fan-fiction or does it need to be approved by Jeff Vogel and/or someone else? And perhaps even more importantly, would people want to read something like a fan-fiction in these forums or is there a more suitable location for it? (The way how I see it would be that it'd be logical to upload fan-fiction to this site as it is the single greatest concentration of Spiderweb Software's fans on the web.)

 

With respectful regards,

- Z.

[Tyranicus]

Other people have written Avernum fan fiction before. It should be fine.

[adc.]

I don't think you need some copyright stuff for fan fiction, when I make one (usually about anime, which is nothing different), I just type in on top of the page written in bold: Disclaimer: I do not own *Spiderweb Software* or any of its *characters*, *Spiderweb software* rightfully belongs to *Jeff Vogel*

 

Im kinda contented with that, but if anyone actually have a proper disclaimer template thing, I'm gonna need it.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forums.

[homer]

I'm not a law expert but I remember reading in a few places that legal disclaimers like that are completely pointless.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IDoNotOwn

[keira]

As long as you don't intend to make profit off of your works or otherwise defraud Jeff, it will be fine.

 

Fanfictions is generally considered to fall under fair use in the US, although the exact reasoning as to why is unclear. iirc it can easily enough qualify as satire, which is covered under fair use. The written word has a lot of legal leniency, especially in the US, where SW is based.

Edited October 10, 2014 by sylae
oianal

[Zaego]

I appreciate all of the replies so far. And fear not Sylae, I would never even dream of trying to make profit off of Jeff's work - his (and the company's) games have acted as an inspiration and as a place to escape to from the harshness of the reality for me. The intention would be purely and simply to lengthen and widen the world of Ermarian he has created.

 

One question remains to be clarified, however. (Well, a couple). Seeing as how people have written Avernum related fan-fiction before, have they submitted their story to these forums, and if so, where specifically? Simply to the general section of the forums or the section that handles Avernum?

[Lilith]

I know at least one person wrote a Geneforge fanfic and posted it in the Geneforge forum. I think the game-specific forums are probably the most logical place for fanfic of specific games, although just about anything that's not against the forum rules can also go in General.

[adc.]

Yes you can put it in the Avernum section, imo, they aren't simply limited to game-specific. but much more of anything-related-to-this-game ex: chessrook's Let's play or even a bunch of script edit for god-tier items etc.

 

I know at least one person wrote a Geneforge fanfic and posted it in the Geneforge forum. I think the game-specific forums are probably the most logical place for fanfic of specific games, although just about anything that's not against the forum rules can also go in General.

 

That reminds me...

 

What was the title of Upon Mars' post? I'm kinda curious.

[keira]

short story

[Zaego]

All righty, sounds fair enough - I appreciate the helpful responses, thankyou everyone. ^^