Westwild
License
Westwild is free to play, download, read and enjoy. To make money with it, request a license. It is free and source-available, not open source.
| Part | License | Free for | Needs a license for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code (launcher, builders, decks) | PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 | Personal, hobby, educational and other noncommercial use; modifying and sharing for free | Any commercial use |
| Rules text | Westwild Rules Play-and-Use License (text) | Reading, playing, running free games, streaming your own play | Republishing, adapting or remixing it, fan material built on it, selling or monetizing it |
| Setting, lore, the Gazette, characters | All rights reserved, plus the Fan Content Policy | Playing at the table; reading; writing and selling your own unofficial, non-canon stories set in the world | Changing the world, claiming it, republishing the lore text, modules, adaptations: ask |
| Art | Not licensed; artists keep their rights | Seeing it in place | Reusing it: ask the artist or owner |
What stays free
Home games. Online games with friends. Streaming or recording your own play. Fixing bugs in the code and sending improvements. Republishing the rules or the world, and adaptations, need permission: Westwild is a living world and it stays the same for everyone.
What needs a license ("commercial use")
Selling the game, a copy, a derivative, or a module or adventure built on it. Running it as a paid hosted service. Building a paid product on the code. Printing it for sale. Using it to make an app or a game you charge for.
Paid game-running
Running a paid game session is a small-scale commercial use. Ask, and a free small-scale license is granted on request, so there is a record and no trouble.
How to ask
Email support@wordblocklabs.com with what you plan to make and how you will charge for it. Terms are agreed case by case in writing.
Credit
"Westwild by Anthony 'Othello' Merriweather. Pixel map by Michelle (mich-spich.carrd.co). Proofread with Grammarly. Rules written and playtested in Foundry VTT with online dice rollers."
*This page is a plain-English summary. The full license texts (PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 and the Westwild Rules Play-and-Use License) are included in the download, and if this summary and those texts ever differ, the full texts control. This is not legal advice.*
Fan Content Policy
Westwild's setting, lore, characters and the Gazette are copyright Anthony "Othello" Merriweather, all rights reserved. This policy is a standing permission on top of that. It does not make the lore open source or Creative Commons.
You may, free, and you may sell it
Write your own original stories, web novels and serials set in the world of Westwild, and publish, distribute and sell them.
Free, no fee, no royalty, no permission needed. The author takes no cut of what you earn and will not ask for one. The price is credit (condition 1). More people publishing in the world is welcome.
On these conditions
- Credit is required. Include: "Set in the world of Westwild by Anthony 'Othello' Merriweather. This work is unofficial fan content and is not canon."
- Not canon. Your story is your own version of the world in text form, and is never part of the official Westwild canon. Only the author's own works are canon.
- No ownership of the world. You own your original words, plot and your own new characters. You do not own Westwild, its places, factions, characters, history or rules, and you may not register or claim them.
- Do not change the world. Do not contradict, retcon or rewrite the established lore and present that as how Westwild is. Stories happen inside the world as it is written.
- No wholesale copying. Do not republish or paste the lore documents, rules text, maps or art. Refer to them and write your own text.
- No endorsement. Do not suggest the author wrote, approved or endorses your work. Do not use the Westwild name as your product's title brand.
- The author may withdraw this permission for future works with written notice. Works already published under it stay allowed.
What this does not cover (ask first)
Games, game modules or adventures, apps, merchandise, audio or video adaptations, or anything using the rules text or code commercially. Email support@wordblocklabs.com.
Also
- Audio and video adaptations of fan stories, and AI-written fan stories, are not covered. Ask first.
- Game modules and adventures are not covered. Ask first.
Written by the author's assistant, not a lawyer. Because it permits selling, have a lawyer read it before it goes up.
This page is a plain-English summary. The full license texts (PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 and the Westwild Rules Play-and-Use License) are included in the download, and if this summary and those texts ever differ, the full texts control. This is not legal advice.