Policies

General Policies

Code of Conduct

Expected behaviour of editors and users on the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki can be found in the Code of Conduct.

Copyright

Policies regarding use of copyrighted material, and infringement of intellectual property, can be found at Copyright.

Manual of Style

Please see the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki's Manual of Style and Writing Guidelines.

• This wiki uses the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition as its basis for use in cases of grammar, punctuation, citation, word use, etc.
• This wiki also follows the D&D House Style Guide (updated January 2019) for specific use of mechanics, formatting, term usage, numbers in game terms, etc.

This wiki should never be able to be used as a replacement for purchasing the actual books of any edition. This includes both mechanics and lore.

Files and External Links

Files

Any file from WotC's www.wizards.com should not be shared directly via link, but instead the link should direct to the relevant page on Wizards' site from where it can be downloaded. This is a Fan Site Policy (see below).

This is true of any site. Do not directly link (hotlink) to a file, image, document, etc. Link to the creator's page which contains the content.

External links

These should be used minimally (except in citations) and should link to official and/or trusted sources. They may be necessary when wanting to direct to information that cannot be shared fully on the wiki due to licensing, but then the linked site must also be licensed to share it (such as linking to a WotC-owned site or affiliated/endorsed sites that have the right to publish the full information).

Links to fellow fan sites

Sites such as forums, blogs and other wikis and archives, should be linked to only sparingly; most often in the "External Links" section. Fan sites may not be used as citation to official content. Citation to these sites are acceptable when cited in a section such as ==Reception== or other non-canonical content.

No illegal file sharing.

• No links to pirated PDFs or content, or links to sites which link to or encourage piracy. (E.g.—Scribd, DocPlayer, AnyFlip, the Pirate Bay, and similar.) They will be removed immediately. This wiki does not encourage piracy in any form.
• Archive.org (the Wayback Machine) links to User uploads or User Collections of official sourcebooks or magazines are not legal. They will be removed immediately. The content is copyrighted IP not owned by those Users, and is most often owned by WotC or Paizo.
• Information which is primarily only useful to locate or access illegally shared files shall not be included. e.g.—codes for individual Living Greyhawk™ adventures which were never publicly available. Use only the title of the work.

Images

All images must comply with the Great Library of Greyhawk's Image use policy.

Images should NOT be uploaded if they are not covered by the Fan Content Policy, Creative Commons, Public Domain, Fair Use, or given express permission for their use on this wiki by their creator.

Size and resolution

Generally, no image to be placed in an infobox should be above 300px in width nor 150 dpi. 250px is preferred for most images. If the original image was smaller than that, it can be used at 250px, as long as it is without losing quality, or becoming blurry or unviewable. This is to protect the value of the original image and follow established Fair Use doctrines.

All content must be cited.

ALL content. If you cannot say where it's from, don't put it on the wiki.

• Images should be cited the same as written content—material source of the image and artist should be given on the images page in its description, and in captions on any page it's used. If possible the artist's own website or details should be linked from the image's own page. If multiple sources use the image, all should be given on the image's own page and the one most relevant to the page the image is being used for should be cited in the caption.
• Whenever possible, images should be left unedited from the original. If cropping is necessary, it should be done to only include the subject of the article it is to be used in. Whenever possible, an image should never be cropped to remove the artist's signature. Such edits should be noted in the image's description on its page, and "cropped image" included in its caption description.
• If an artist is unknown, an 'Unknown Artist' template should be added to the image's page to tag it for further investigation. If possible, try noting down any possible artists credited by the source material (sometimes listed at the front or back page). 

WotC policies

WotC has many policies in place to try and legally allow fan created sites such as this wiki, and we should endeavour to remain within these boundaries, first and foremost.

Fan Content and Fan Site Policies

• These policies are not publishing licenses. They are statements by the IP Holder about how they will permit use of their copyright IP within the limits of Fair Use. They are guidelines to avoid  copyright infringement and to protect and support the game, its writers, and artists. They are neither laws nor licenses, but are guidelines used to help define Fair Use, and to prevent "DMCA" and "Cease and Desist" notices.

Both policies are used and are applicable to contemporary fan content, to Greyhawk Online, and to the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki.

• The Great Library of Greyhawk does its best to publish while following WotC's policies. These policies are followed on the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki with every effort.

Policies on Wizards.com

The "Fan Content Policy" (2017) is based on the earlier "Fan Site Policy" (2009, updated 2015).
Full text of, and Discussion pages for these policies can be found on this wiki at Fan Content Policy and Fan Site Policy.

Note the distinction between a "site" (a website) and "content" (such as PDFs, art, and books, but also material on a website).

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. © Wizards of the Coast.

The Great Library of Greyhawk wiki is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

This wiki is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This wiki may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, only as permitted under Wizards' Fan Site Policy or by Fair Use. This wiki is intended for academic purposes relating to the material discussed.

For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards' trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

Creative Commons (CC), OGL, GSL, SRD

Open Game License, Game System License, and System Reference Documents

These actual publishing licenses relate to the gamesystem mechanics one is permitted to Display, Distribute, Reproduce, or Publish.

As mentioned above, this is primarily a Lore wiki. As such, the use of mechanics is at a minimum, and therefore these licenses are very rarely, if ever, applicable to the wiki. When they are used, the specific source they come from should be cited, such as each edition's SRD: third edition, fourth edition, and fifth ediiton. and a bibliography entry should be used, such as placing {{SRD}} in the Bibliography to give proper attribution.

Use of Copyrighted Material

Care should be taken to make sure content on this wiki falls within Greyhawk Online's Rules about Copyright Use and WotC's own rules on publicly shared content, as described further below. The two most salient points from the copyright rules are: "Your use of the material likely likely qualifies as a fair use or similar exception" and "The material you want to use is licensed under a Creative Commons or other open license that permits free reuse."

Material that falls only under "having permission of the copyright owner" should be avoided where possible, as such permissions can be hard to prove and can become complicated when the work has multiple owners. Materials that have been "Created by yourself" should also be avoided as this wiki intends to primarily refer to official materials rather than fan-created works. These materials can be included or linked if discussion has been held about it first.

U.S. Copyright Office: Literary Works: Games

USCO: Literary Works
This is where legal jargon can be found related to rules expression in the game.

"A registration for a game covers all of the copyrightable elements that appear in the work.... However, copyright does not protect the idea for a game, the name or title of a game, or the procedure, process, or method of operation for playing a game. ... Copyright protects only the particular expression that appears in the literary or artistic elements that the work may contain."
— See 17 U.S.C. § 102(b); 37 C.F.R. § 202.1." (714: Games, Chapter 700, pg 17, 2017)

As this quote makes clear, copyright does not apply to many of the elements discussed— however, Trademarks and Patents can apply to many of them. E.g.—"Dungeons & Dragons" and the Ampersand logo aren't protected by this copyright law, but rather are protected by Trademark and Wordmark laws. Even though most core rules are Creative Commons, attribution must still be given (as with {{SRD}} ).

The most essential part is that the Great Library of Greyhawk wiki could include game mechanics, for example, without violating Fair Use or copyright.

Applicability to this wiki

However, what this means for this wiki is that we can share basic concepts related to the game, including earlier editions not covered by CC, OGL, GSL, or SRD. However, to protect the value of the game and its resources, this wiki discourages sharing of full rules, and instead uses examples and mechanics only when strictly relevant and necessary. All other rules should be shared minimally enough that the content is still true to the game and of valuable content to the wiki, without devaluing the original content. See also: Rules and mechanics above.

Please note—the above quotation alone does not explain or cover the full complexities of WotC and related companies' copyright over Dungeons & Dragons™ and the Greyhawk™ campaign setting and its related content. It cannot and should not be used to republish content verbatim from any source not covered by the OGL, GSL or Public Domain or Creative Commons. It's only purpose here is to help explain and define fair use of certain terms and content.