Keith the Thief wrote:BTW, what is "First Edition Advanced Game"?

Do you mean 1E AD&D?

Yes.  All of the retro-clones and simulacrum use similar terminology for their respective version of D&D.

bbarsh wrote:
Still available at pacesettergames.com

Can't call anything AD&D so we use the next closest thing.

That makes sense, but you're not even allowed to say that a module is compatible with 1E AD&D?

bbarsh wrote:
sequels to B1 In Search of the Unkown and the A-series are currently in production. It is a minefield, but worth the effort.

Now that you can sign me up for now...  

The answer lies in your post. Writing a book about AD&D or TSR is fine. Writing a module using their trademarked game system is not. It may sound like a thin line, but in the publishing business it is a super highway of law.

Here is another way to look at. You have a great idea for a car. So you design your car but you have no way to get a powertrain for it. So you copy the best GM powertrain and build your car. On the outside, you car looks nothing like any GM on the road, but its guts are 100% GM. Guess who is gonna get sued off the planet?

Or lets say you want to make an expansion of Monopoly. Go ahead and try it without permission from Monopoly. You are lawyer-bait.

Your post was not argumentative in the least. People inside the publishing world get confused about copyright and trademarks all the time.

Keith the Thief wrote:
Interesting but puzzling.  

I could publish a book about Scrabble or Monopoly without
infringing on those copyrights, right?  
Why is publishing modules any  different?

And I'm not being argumentative (it's hard to convey tone of voice in a post).
I'm just curious.

Thanks