Policies

General Policies

Written Content

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.

This wiki follows the Chicago Manual of Style

Please see the Writing Guidelines and Manual of Style the for this wiki.

All content must be cited

ALL content must be cited. If you can't say or don't know where it's from, don't put it on the wiki.

All work must be original

No AI work

To be respectful of rights of the creators (authors, artists, and others), all work submitted to this wiki must be the original work of a person or persons, without the use of AI.

No Plagiarism

This does not apply to brief, contextual quotes from individual persons (authors, artists, editors, etc). Nor to concise and succinct quoted text from sourcebooks. As with all other content, quotations must be cited individually.

• Articles must be written with significant differences to the language used in the source material while still conveying the content in a neutral, encyclopedic tone.
• Changing a few synonyms or sentence/word order does not avoid plagiarism.
• Descriptions and Lore cannot be wholesale transcribed word for word from any copyrighted text.
• Such content must always be summarized in a way that doesn't devalue the original source. If possible, this summary should include information from other sources, in such a way that it expands on the knowledge in a meaningful way.

Rules and Mechanics

(Such as creature statistics, class features and so on)

Mechanics should only be included in limited fashion or when necessary. (Such as in the parameters of an Infobox template, e.g.-class levels).

• Names of abilities, feats and so on can be included but explained only as much as necessary to give context. Mechanics of them are seldom necessary.

• If a feat is mentioned, the description might be given (or quoted), but the mechanical "Benefits" aren't necessary for context.

For example, if an NPC was known to have the "Tavern Brawler" feat, it might just say "Accustomed to rough-and-tumble fighting using whatever weapons happen to be at hand" without mechnics.

• Material commonly called "crunch" is not often needed for context. When it is used, it should be used sparingly and written in such a way that it remains useful knowledge without relying on rule mechanics to define it. 

• While "able to cast sleep" is acceptable, information on casting time, targets, HD of targets, actual spell description, and similar rules elements are not strictly related to the topic of the page, and do not need to be included.

• Do not include dice rolls. If information is dependent on dice roll (such as weight and height), the average or upper and lower limits may be given, without mention of the exact dice used. 

For example, if an NPC has a magical item, it is acceptable to write "+2 longsword of sharpness", and include short descriptions of any other unique abilities. It doesn't need "2d8+13 damage".

• Unnamed, generic, or otherwise non-descript magic items do not get their own pages.

For example, wand of fireballs, staff of the magi, scroll of strength, +5 holy avenger, or elven chainmail, etc.

• Do include pages like Fragarach, Hand of Vecna, Kuroth's Quill, Sword of Dunstan or other items, especially artifacts or "named" items which have lore specific to Greyhawk™.

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 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 (such as linking to a WotC owned cite or affiliated/endorsed cites 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. Citation to these sites when cited as a source are acceptable.

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

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 250px in width nor 150 dpi. 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 can't 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 creditted by the source material (sometimes listed at the front or back page). 

Corporate Policies

Legalities

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" and "content" (such as PDFs).

Creative Commons (CC), OGL, GSL, SRD

Open Game License, Game System License, and System Reference Document

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 very rarely, if ever, are applicable to the wiki.

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 Fair Use. This wiki is intended for academic or educational purposes regarding the material discussed.

For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. 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).

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 important points from Fandom's rules are: "Your use of the material will be likely to qualify 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 refer to official materials only rather than fan created works. These materials can be included or linked if admin permission has been granted 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.

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.