Content Guidelines for the Genesys Foundry

 

Hi there! Welcome to the content guidelines for the Genesys Foundry. Here you’ll find lots of information about using the Foundry, and hopefully this helps answer your questions.

Game Rules

As you might imagine, the only rules you reference are the ones in the Genesys Core Rulebook and the supplements we’ve published.

Your content must be compatible with the Genesys Core Rulebook and its supplements as published by Fantasy Flight Games. You aren’t allowed to copy large sections of any of those books. Small rules entries and item profiles (especially for presenting NPC profiles) are permissible, but you should refer readers to the appropriate book and page number for rules instead of copying them. As a guideline, if it’s already printed elsewhere, you shouldn’t need reprint it in your work.

Settings

If you’re using our settings, you can only use the Terrinoth setting (from Realms of Terrinoth), the Android setting (from Shadow of the Beanstalk), the Keyforge setting (from Secrets of the Crucible), and the Twilight Imperium setting (from Embers of the Imperium). Note that creations for the Android setting cannot mention Netrunner; that is a separate Intellectual Property.

Other settings may be allowed in the future, so watch this space.

You can also make your work usable in any setting, such as Game Master advice on narrative dice results or ways to structure encounters into full adventures.

If you want to make up your own setting, that’s great! Follow the maxim, though: Create, Don’t Copy. This means you can’t use other intellectual properties (IP) from movies, books, TV, and so on. Don’t just file off the serial numbers either—it must be a new creation that doesn’t belong to anyone else.

Properties that are in public domain are just that, and you’re free to use them should you wish.

Media

Your creations should be RPG products or useful for RPG games and products within the guidelines for settings detailed above. Collections of art to be used in RPG games is fine, as is fiction so long as it’s part of the RPG product like short vignettes and not the focal point. No software or apps are permitted, however. Files suitable for use with virtual tabletop software are allowed and should follow any applicable guidelines from that program as well as the ones we have here.

Art

You can freely use the art from our art collections we’ve made available in your works, but you must use Android art only in Android settings, Terrinoth art only in Terrinoth settings, and KeyForge art only in KeyForge settings. Art in the general collection can be used in other settings you create or for products that are for use in any setting.

Here are the collections:

Android

KeyForge

Terrinoth

Fantasy General

Sci-Fi General

You can’t use any other art from our publications or website. Additionally, the items in our art collections cannot be used in any products other than ones created for the Foundry and cannot be altered except to resize or crop them to best fit your layout. Using transparency settings such as Multiply in your graphic design program is fine, however.

If you use any of this art in your creations, please credit it as “the Genesys Foundry Art Collection.”

Other art options:

• Public Domain Art. Great to use—but make sure it’s truly public domain first!
• Stock Art. Usage of stock art depends on the license associated with that stock art. Most of the stock art sold under the "Publisher Resources" category on DriveThruRPG includes a license that would allow it to be used in your Foundry titles.
• Commissioned Art. Usage of art that you’ve personally commissioned depends upon your terms with the artist of the work. You must have the rights or license to use the art in your product. The artwork does not become the property of OneBookShelf or by Fantasy Flight Games; you simply must have rights to use it in your commercial work.
• Creative Commons. This depends on the type of Creative Commons license. Some allow commercial use, others do not; it’s up to you to ensure your usage is permissible.

AI Content Policy

EDGE Studio follows DriveThru Marketplace Guidelines in regards to AI-Generated Writing, Editing, and Art.

Update March 24th, 2023: The following policy applies to DriveThru Marketplaces, including Community Content Programs and Supported Marketplaces. DriveThruRPG defines “AI-Generated art” as images created through the use of artificial intelligence algorithms and techniques trained on pre-existing data sets. (Examples: Midjourney, Artbreeder).

• At this time, DriveThru Marketplaces require partners to set their own AI-generated artwork policies on Game, Rulebook and Adventure products. Any products that utilize AI-generated artwork must be tagged as such.
• At this time, DriveThru Marketplaces do not accept standalone artwork products that utilize AI-generated art.

Titles that do not comply are subject to removal from the marketplace. Repeat offenders may have their publishing permissions revoked. A full statement of intent regarding our policy update can be found here.

Update July 19th, 2023: While we value innovation, starting on July 31st 2023, Roll20 and DriveThru Marketplaces will not accept commercial content primarily written by AI language generators. We acknowledge enforcement challenges, and trust in the goodwill of our partners to offer customers unique works based primarily on human creativity.

Logos and Trade Dress

The Genesys Foundry logo must appear on the cover of your work. It cannot be altered and must be discernible and legible at normal full-screen viewing size (so at least 1.75” by .83”). It doesn’t need to be larger or be the primary logo or title on the cover, though. We have several cover templates that include the logo at the correct size to make it easier to use, but you’re free to place it separately to make it better fit with your own cover design esthetic. The logo (along with other graphic design elements) are included in the graphic design templates. 

You may not use the Fantasy Flight Games logo, or logos affiliated with the Genesys Core Rulebook or other Fantasy Flight Games titles. Essentially, the only logos you should use are the Genesys Foundry logo and any logos of your own creation.

Templates

We’ve provided Genesys graphic design support materials you can use in your work if desired:

Templates

These templates and their contents can only be used in works created for the Genesys Foundry.

Legal

The following text must appear within your product, wherever the work otherwise lists legal and copyright information:

This product was created under license. Genesys and its logo, and Genesys Foundry and its logo, are trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Fantasy Flight Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games. www.FantasyFlightGames.com.

This work contains material that is copyright Fantasy Flight Games and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Genesys Foundry.

All other original material in this work is copyright [year] by [your legal name or company name] and published under the Community Content Agreement for Genesys Foundry. 

In the Product Description field when setting up the title on DriveThruRPG, you must include:

Genesys Core Rulebook and either Genesys Dice or the Genesys Dice App are required to use this product.

Pricing and Payment

You can offer your creations at a set price, “Pay What You Want,” or free of charge ($0). You can check the site for sales data, plus ratings, and reviews of your offerings. You are free (and encouraged!) to promote your creations via social media and other outlets where roleplaying game fans gather.

Based on historic data from DriveThruRPG sales for pdfs, the most successful set price points are $1.00, $2.00, $2.95, $3.95, $4.99, $7.95, $10.00, $14.95, and $19.99. You should also compare your price to existing or similar products to get a sense for what the market is used to.

Once you’ve activated your title for sale, you’ll start seeing royalties accumulating equal to 50% of the sale price per item sold. You can withdraw this money via PayPal by going to the My Money section of the Account page. Note that the My Money section of your Account page will not display until you have a balance accrued.

There is a $2 fee to cover the cost of each withdrawal, but you will pay no other fees to receive your money. Royalties on a sale are available for you to withdraw 60 days after the sale.

To prevent certain types of fraud, we must hold back the amount of royalties you earned in the past 60 days from being eligible for withdrawal. The amount eligible for withdrawal at any time is your total account earnings balance less the amount earned in the past 60 days. You may use your earnings as site credit to pay for orders on site; this will lower your earnings balance and the amount eligible for withdrawal.

Other

A few more notes to follow:

Neither your products nor any promotional material, including blog/social media posts or press releases, may contain racist, homophobic, discriminatory, or other repugnant views; overt political agendas or views; depictions or descriptions of criminal violence against children; rape or other acts of criminal perversion; or other obscene material. We reserve the right to remove any materials that we determine do not conform to our guidelines for this program.

 Illegal and infringing content is not allowed. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your products don’t violate laws, or copyright, trademark, privacy, or other rights.

Neither your products nor any advertising, promotions, press releases, or other documents affiliated with the product may contain any claim that you or the product has been sanctioned or approved by Fantasy Flight Games, or is affiliated with Fantasy Flight Games in any way, other than to acknowledge that the work is produced and distributed as part of the Genesys Foundry.