Stupid questions from a N00b...

[Captain Arcus]

While I am not new to gaming, I am new to A) the OSR, B) BFRPG and the online/ publishing/PDF world.

I have been DMing in my own Homebrew world for a couple decades now and have fallen in love with the Basic Fantasy system and its supplements. We gave up on trying to keep up with the latest/best/newest edition thing because of the rules bloat and the endemic "rules optimizing" that seemed to be taking over the Pathfinder system we had been using. No offense to anyone that enjoys that sort of thing. It just wasn't for us.

I'd love to submit a few things:

-I have a Campaign Setting City (Krakenport), roughly based on Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar.

-I have a couple of 'modules' that I consistently use for 1-3 level PCs as starter adventures

The problem is, I am just not familiar with publishing online (I'm in Law Enforcement for my day job) I downloaded Apache OpenOffice. Is this the same OpenOffice you guys use?

What does it mean to edit an existing download, since there is no template?

I'm sorry if these are stupid questions.

[SmootRK]

OpenOffice is pretty much the same thing that we recommend (LibreOffice).

[-1warrior]

It's awesome that you are interested in submitting stuff. Welcome to the community.

[lars_alexander]

Welcome, Captain Arcus!

You can use any of the existing modules as a 'template'. Simply download the .odt file, and delete the content, then insert your own. Make sure to edit the OGL information so it applies to your work.

There's some more information by Solomoriah in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=403

When you upload your work for pre-viewing, and playtesting you'll reveive feedback on layout, and formatting, too.

Take care!

[Captain Arcus]

Thank you everyone! I hope to have something to submit soon.

[Captain Arcus]

Looking at the BF Field Guide, can I use creatures in my submissions that appear to be unique to BF (but are also similar to old TSR/WoTC without violating copyrights)? Like the Thulids?

[SmootRK]

Looking at the BF Field Guide, can I use creatures in my submissions that appear to be unique to BF (but are also similar to old TSR/WoTC without violating copyrights)? Like the Thulids?

Many such "similar" creatures are there precisely so that one can create with roughly congruous offerings. I would take the time to make sure all references are modified to the BFRPG creature in question so as to avoid that issue of copyright. Substantial efforts were made during the creation of those creatures (and specifically how they are named) precisely to avoid any copyright issues, well at least most of the more questionable ones. There are some that WotC "claims" but are actually taken from historical/legendary roots (drow for instance, though it seems this particular claim of ownership has been removed) or from authors where WotC really could not make such a claim (for instance Githyanki comes from a literary source, but certainly have been expanded greatly by Wotc enough that their particular offerings are theirs, just not really the name).

Copyright is a prickly thing. You never really know how far one can go until one is presented with a challenge (by lawyers). My best advice is to write without utilizing those elements that might be "iffy". Better to be safe, and this allows you to be truly unique at the same time.