Wongery:What to do with the Wongery
The reason that we put all the Wongery material online is because we want people to use and enjoy it. Although there are licensing terms in place to protect some of our interests, we've tried to make it as easy as possible to use the Wongery's material in most any way you'd want to. To help you out with some guidance and ideas, the Grandmaster Wongers have put together this guide giving you suggestions for what you can do with the Wongery.
Personal use
Although the Wongery is specifically designed and licensed to allow the publication of derivative works, you don't have to publish anything to get some use and enjoyment out of it. You may find entertainment just in browsing through the Wongery, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. You may find the Wongery a source of inspiration that sparks ideas of your own even if you don't use any of the specific details listed here; there's nothing wrong with that either. The Wongery can also provide useful material for home role-playing campaigns and other personal uses. (For role-playing games, you may find the statistics in the workshop useful.)
However, you are not limited to personal use of Wongery materials; the Wongery's content is also licensed to allow use of its materials in published products, according to certain guidelines.
Republication
The licensing terms of the Wongery do not forbid direct republication of its content, either in total or as selected excerpts, with or without alteration, as long as due credit is given. This includes (but is not limited to) direct copying of its material in a wiki of your own. Aside from directly mirroring the entire Wongery, other possibilities include:
- An expurgated version of the Wongery intended for children of a certain age group, omitting the material you think unsuitable for them.
- A copy of the Wongery translated into another language.
- A Wiki mirroring the Wongery pages about some particular world for use in your own role-playing campaign set in that world, representing only the information that the player characters would know (and perhaps with some alterations to represent changes in your version of the world, or matters about which the player characters are misinformed).
- A parody site mocking the Wongery by duplicating its content with some alterations for the sake of humor. (Hey, we're not saying we'd want you to do this, but technically according to the Wongery's licensing terms you could.)
All of these derivative wikis are completely permitted under the Wongery's licenses, provided that the other wiki is released under the same licenses. (Actually, technically you could get away legally with putting the derivative wiki under any one of the Wongery's three licensing options; you wouldn't have to use all three. But while the Grandmasters can't require you to release such a derivative wiki under the full licenses used by the Wongery, we would certainly encourage you to do so.)
The same licensing terms also allow anyone to publish any material from the Wongery mainspace in other formats, including as a printed book. Again, the book would have to be released under one of the same licenses as the Wongery itself (the Static License may be the best choice here).
Derivative Works
While the Wongery can be a source of interest and amusement just on its own ground, it is also intended as a resource that others can draw from to create their own works if they intend, including works that are published either for free or commercially. Books, games, and artwork based on Wongery materials are all permitted (and encouraged!), as long as the Wongery's licensing terms are followed.
The Wongery's content is released under several different licenses, to allow users to choose which license they feel best suits their needs. For game materials involving Open Game Content from other publishers, the Open Game License is recommended. For other materials containing only text and still images, the Static License allows you to do what you want with it with a minimum of other requirements (basically only that the Wongery must be credited). For any other materials, the Creative Commons License can be used. Ultimately, the only restriction under the licenses, other than that of properly crediting the Wongery, is that anyone publishing a product using Wongery materials that involves moving images (such as movies or most computer games) must freely share their own product. Even this restriction can be worked around, however; anyone wanting to commercially publish such a product and not willing to share their work freely need only contact the Grandmaster Wongers and work out a custom deal to allow them to do so.
Writing
Under the Static License (or the Creative Commons License, if you prefer, and don't mind your work being freely copyable and distributable), written works can be freely made and published set in any Wongery world, or otherwise using Wongery material. This includes novels, short stories, or comic books. (It's worth noting, however, that if someone later wants to create a derivative work based on your writing, of a kind not covered by the license—say, for instance, someone wants to adapt your book into a movie—they'd need our permission to do so, since that would be indirectly a derivative work of the Wongery... unless all references to Wongery material are excised from it. That shouldn't be a problem, though; we're very unlikely to withhold permission (though we may ask for a cut of any profits).)
Tabletop games
The Wongery's materials may be freely used under any of its licenses for role playing games, card games (collectable or otherwise), board games, and any other kind of tabletop game that you'd like. The release under the Open Gaming License makes it particularly easy to publish RPG supplements for systems that are also released under that license (such as FUDGE, Pathfinder, or OSRIC), but under the Static License or (if you don't mind your material being freely shareable) the Creative Commons License, you're also free to publish RPG books including Wongery material using your own game system, or any other game system you have or can acquire the rights to. (And, of course, you can just use Wongery material for your home campaign in any system you want without publishing anything.)
The Wongery workshop includes statistics for some Wongery material according to several game systems. (Where possible, this material is released under the OGL; for systems for which that's not possible, it's released under the appropriate guidelines for free web content.) Of course, you don't have to use those; if you don't like the way we've statted out some monster or character and would prefer to do it your own way, there's nothing preventing you from doing that.
Computer games
The Wongery material can be used in computer games as easily as in tabletop games. Computer role-playing games, adventure games (either graphic or text), real-time strategy games, or platformers, among many other genres, could easily be conceived of set in Wongery worlds or otherwise using Wongery material. Of course, except in the case of text adventures (which, since they don't include moving images, could be released under the Static License), the only one of the three standard Wongery licenses that would apply is the Creative Commons License. However, releasing a game under the Creative Commons License means that others are free to copy and redistribute your game at will. If you're just making a game for your own amusement and have no plans to redistribute it, that may be okay, but if you want to release your game commercially or for some other reason don't want to use the Creative Commons License, you'll need to work out a custom licensing term. That's no problem; just contact the Grandmaster Wongers, and we'll work something out.
The Wongery workshop includes sprites, models, and other resources in various sizes and formats that you may find of use in creating a computer game involving certain Wongery content. All of these materials can be freely used for your games under Creative Commons license. You're by no means required to use this material if you create such a game, of course; you're perfectly free to create all your own graphics and other resources to represent Wongery monsters and other contents, and not use anything from the workshop. Still, it's there if you want to use it.
Art
If something in the Wongery inspires you to make a painting or digital artwork—go for it! Again, the Wongery must be credited, but you can make any (non-animated) artwork you'd like under either the Creative Commons License (if you don't mind its being freely copyable and redistributable) or the Static License (if you do). Of course, even if you do release your artwork under the Creative Commons License, allowing others to copy and redistribute your artwork, you still have the original, and can do with it whatever you want, including sell it—nothing in the license says you have to give away your original art for free!
Animated art can also be produced, of course, but because it includes moving images the Static License no longer applies. You can still release it under the Creative Commons License, though... or, if for some reason that bothers you, you can contact the Grandmaster Wongers for custom licensing terms.
Movies
The Grandmaster Wongers are probably being optimistic with this one, but hey, if anyone wants to make a movie based in a Wongery setting or otherwise incorporating Wongery material, that's certainly permissible under the Wongery's licenses. As with (most) computer games, however, either the movie would have to be made freely available under the basic Creative Commons license, or you'd have to contact the Grandmaster Wongers to work out custom licensing terms. The Grandmasters would certainly be willing to work with you to come up with acceptable licensing terms... we'd love to see this happen!
Noncanonical use
Obviously, you're not stuck with using the Wongery content exactly as presented. Feel free to change anything you want about it for your personal use; you're not bound by the canon. In fact, you can of course simply lift single elements and use them out of context. If you like a particular monster or character but don't feel like using the world it's in, there's no reason you can't just use that monster or character in a world of your own invention, or even transplanted into a different world you didn't invent. You like one of the metarchs of Gallerra, but don't want to run a superhero campaign in which the villains run the world? No problem; feel free to just copy the villain into your own (or some other) world.
Conversely, you can put other elements into Wongery worlds if you want to. Running a fantasy RPG campaign, and like a Wongery world, but don't feel like discarding all the game's classic monsters? Then don't; just because there canonically are no elves, dwarves, and dragons in Vlastach (for example) doesn't mean you can't put them there in your game. Whether you're writing, gaming, or putting the settings to other use, you can use as little or as much of the Wongery settings as you like.
Custom worlds
If you like the worlds of the Wongery, and you want a world custom-designed for some project of your own, the Grandmaster Wongers are available for hire. (Master Wongers may also be available for hire, but that's up to them... they're not officially affiliated with Wongery LLC.) We're willing to design (or help design) a world for your own game, story, or other project. The standard Wongery licenses don't apply in this case—any worlds designed as work for hire are, of course, the property of the employer, will not be detailed (or even mentioned) on the Wongery site, and are not released under the same licenses as the Wongery, or any licenses at all—unless the employer wants them to be.