Does anyone know if it breeches any copyright laws if I've written a series of short stories based in Norrath? I realise that technically writing these stories does not breech any laws but if I were to share or even publish them would I be on shaky ground as far as the law is concerned? Although I would prefer not too I could replace the names of towns, cities, locations and organisations, taken directly from EQ and EQ2 with completely self created versions but since the world I'm writing in gives so many nods to Norrathian lore and traditions it would be a task I would prefer to avoid if at all possible. The names of all characters in my stories are completely made up and are not based on any NPCs or player characters and the plots of the stories themselves are also totally of my own creation. I am not certain at this point if I am writing these tales purely for my own enjoyment, if I will only share them with friends or if I might distribute them more widely. Obviously, if I share them in any way I would clearly state that the stories are based in a fictitious world created by SOE, give credit where due etc etc. I don't expect that many people viewing these boards will have much experience of copyright law but if one of the mods happens to read this thread perhaps you could point a member of the SOE Legal Team in it's direction so they can either give it a once over or contact me should they want to discuss it in more detail. Incidentally, these stories are not childish fairy tales, there are scenes of a sexual nature, mild nudity, consumption of alcohol and mild violence etc. So far there are no scenes of extreme violence or of a perverse sexual nature, strictly falling somewhere between a PG-13 and R rating depending on how offensive you find a pipe stuffed with fragrant narcotic leaves or a quick fumble behind Fish's Alehouse.
Publishing would probably be a no no. But sharing them online shouldn't be an issue. In fact they have a forum on these boards for such http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...w.m?forum_id=92 But if you write a story with you're own characters and places, all it would be is a story that got its inspiration from Everquest and it should be fine then. For example, look at all the published books where authors got their inspiration from Tolkien's universe. Almost all of fantasy has done this.
It only enters the realm of copyright issues when/if you try to make money off them or to pretend that Norrath is your creation. Otherwise, it's just fanfiction and people write fanfiction every day
