I am honestly wondering about this. I have been seriously considering writing a horror story for publication, but the problem is that this story is the same as one I had in mind several years ago and made a roleplay site for. Since then, the idea has expanded, but the site has died (because everyone went on holiday and it could no longer be sustained ) and I'm actually wondering whether I could use the plot from this site in the story. Don't think that they'll be exactly the same: they won't. The beginning may be similar to how the characters start off on the site, but after that, it's planned to be very different. The overall structure is the same though, and that's what worries me. (We never actually finished the roleplay though, so if I were to write it up, I would say only about 10-15% of the book has been roleplayed through.) If not, what help would deleting/password protecting the site be? Thanks for replying, if you do
first of all, you wrote 'we never actually finished the roleplay'... so if you were not the sole writer/copyright owner of the material, you cannot use it without the permission of your co-writer/s... as i understand it from what you say here, the problem doesn't really lie with the story/setting/characters having been published on your own website, but with who owns the material... if you are the only writer and sole owner of the website, then you can do whatever you want with the material... including adapting it into a story or novel... but if anyone else helped you write it, then you need to consult a literary attorney, not members of a writing site... i don't see the existence of or public access to the site being an issue, unless it belongs to someone other than you...
I have a question very similar to this as well (and I hope I'm not highjacking the thread by asking it). A few years ago, I adapted one of my incomplete projects into a roleplaying game and posted it on a site for everyone to enjoy. I posted information on the setting (it takes place in a floating city) the history of the setting and bios for some of the major people in the city (like the mayor and important leaders, etc). After that, players (members of the site) were free to do as they please in the setting and lots of stories blossomed from it. I basically set it up as a fictional city where player-created characters could go about having their own personal adventures and such. Now, many years later, I'm working on the novel again, but I keep wondering if a publisher will understand the situation, or if they'll just pass me up in favor of something with less "IP baggage." Players really enjoyed the roleplaying game, so clearly there's a lot of appeal in the underlying concept, but I wonder if a publisher will accept it. Mind you, I'm only using my information and characters in the novelization; I haven't borrowed any of the other players' characters or storylines or contributions, for obvious reasons. Also, just like HotFireLegend said, the novel differs greatly from the RP version; it only shares a setting and some key characters, but the timeline/history has been altered significantly. What should I do?
I wrote the original story and such, and am not planning to use any of the other roleplayer's characters. They only roleplayed through a very linear plot I had set out. Is that fine, then? Anonymouse: Very similar question indeed!
