Blood on the Clocktower - Legal & Terms of Use

summary

This document is a collection of legal notifications, terms of use, and frequently asked questions relating to Blood on the Clocktower.

It covers the terms of and permitted use of:

1. The Script Tool
2. Original Visual Assets
3. Translations
4. Digital & Online
5. Filming & Streaming
6. Suggesting Characters, Rules, and Ideas
7. Home Brew Roles and Rules

The primary purpose of this document is to let you know that whilst we encourage creativity around the game, any materials or events you create must be non-commercial, must not impact our own ability to commercialise our products or intellectual property, and must not give the impression that they are sponsored, officially licensed, or in any way affiliated with The Pandemonium Institute, Blood on the Clocktower, or Steven Medway.

1. The Script Tool

The Script Tool is provided so that players of Blood on the Clocktower can get the most out of the functionally limitless number of role combinations that are possible, allowing you to craft a custom BOTC experience as simply and as easily as possible.

All specific compositions and combinations of roles (‘scripts’) remain the property of Steven Medway and The Pandemonium Institute. Composing a script does not give any proprietary rights over that combination of roles, nor a requirement to be credited as the designer of that script. If you are credited as the script’s composer or designer, it does not indicate ownership of the script.

The Script Tool allows players to name the scripts composed in order to allow them to keep track of the scripts they create, more easily share scripts with other fans of the game, and to provide fun flavour or a clue as to how a script should be played or approached. Whilst we encourage players to choose names that are fun and/or interesting, The Pandemonium Institute is not responsible for script names chosen by players using the script tool. Applying a name to a combination of roles does not denote this as an official title for this script or combination of roles.

2. Original Visual Assets

These terms refer to any and all original logos, art, patterns, branding, art, or images from the commercially released ‘purple’ versions of Blood on the Clocktower, both digitally and physically, that are unique to Blood on the Clocktower.

The Pandemonium Institute approves the use of the original visual assets for Blood on the Clocktower for your own personal use, fan art, or other creative personal projects. You are also permitted to use these assets to promote a gathering of people to play Blood on the Clocktower together. You are not permitted to commercialise, monetise, or distribute the original visual assets for Blood on the Clocktower, or to incorporate them into any digital tool or app, online or otherwise.

Except in the cases previously described, and outside of considerations for ‘fair use’ (such as for commentary, satire, or journalism), The Pandemonium Institute does not approve of the use of any original art & design for Blood on the Clocktower, either physically or digitally. The Pandemonium Institute reserves the right to approve exceptions on a case-by-case basis, and reserves the right to determine what is an appropriate use of the art, visuals, or trademarks of Blood on the Clocktower.

If you have something in mind but you’re in doubt about whether it would be permitted, please email us at storyteller@bloodontheclocktower.com and we’ll let you know. We’re committed to building communities and letting fans share their experiences. However as the game’s popularity grows we must ensure that we can thwart those who would act with nefarious intent; protect ourselves from often well-meaning but otherwise significant copyright breaches that could affect our ability to do business; and protect the good name of Blood on the Clocktower and The Pandemonium Institute, such that these things remain symbols of good quality & high standards in gaming when fans encounter them out in the wild. With this in mind, we’re committed to assessing potential instances of a copyright breach on a case-by-case basis.

3. Translations

Many fans have made homemade translations of various aspects of Blood on the Clocktower into languages other than English, in order to introduce the game to their non-English-speaking friends.

The Pandemonium Institute retains the rights to translations of the materials of Blood on the Clocktower into other languages. You are permitted to make a translation of Blood on the Clocktower into another language for your own personal use. You are not permitted to sell, monetise, or otherwise use this translation for commercial use, or for anything other than personal use.

4. Digital & Online

The Pandemonium Institute retains the rights to any apps, bots, electronic, online, or otherwise digital tools that incorporate any of the intellectual property pertaining to Blood on the Clocktower.

You are permitted to create electronic tools for your own personal use, however you are not permitted to share or distribute any such tools - including but not limited to making it available on any public websites or distributing it commercially.

You do not have permission to include any characters, rules, images, or anything else from Blood on the Clocktower in any publicly available digital versions of Blood on the Clocktower, or any associated tools, without the approval of The Pandemonium Institute.

5. Filming & Streaming

If you’re interested in filming or streaming your own games of Blood on the Clocktower (or you are already doing so), these are the acceptable use terms for filming & streaming:

While we encourage you to create video content related to Blood on the Clocktower, and have created this guide to help you in those efforts, we currently do not officially endorse, sponsor, or approve of any such video content or any of the third party software applications listed in this guide. Further, while you own the rights to your own video content, that content is always subject to the limitations we set forth below and our ownership over the game content itself.

Accordingly, by playing and filming your Blood on the Clocktower games, you acknowledge and agree to the following:

Ownership of the Game
We are the owner of all rights in the Blood on the Clocktower game, including all intellectual property rights and moral rights. You agree that you will not take any action inconsistent with this ownership (like claiming that the game is your own, using the game’s name as a trademark or brand name for yourself, or registering a domain name with the game’s name in it). We reserve the right to enforce any of our rights in the game and revoke our limited license for you to use the game in connection with your videos.

With respect to any derivative works of our game, you further agree that you may not create, publish, or distribute such works except as authorised by us in writing.

Limitations on Your Use
Given that we have an interest in how Blood on the Clocktower is used, we may limit the ways in which you use our game. Any use of Blood on the Clocktower that we consider unacceptable, will be treated as an infringement of our copyright and trademark rights in the game.

In particular, while filming, streaming, or otherwise making your video of playing Blood on the Clocktower publicly available, you agree that you will not and will not assist any other person under any circumstance to:

● Take any action or upload, post, transmit, promote, or distribute any illegal content or content that violates any third-party rights.

● Engage in, take any action associated with, or participate in any immoral or illegal behaviour.

● Harass, stalk, threaten, embarrass, spam, or do anything else to another user of the game or viewer that is unwanted. This includes repeatedly sending unwanted messages or making personal attacks or statements about race, sexual orientation, religion, heritage, or any other personal characteristic.

● Take any action or make any statement that gives the impression that your content is officially sponsored by or associated with us, including the use of the Blood on the Clocktower or The Pandemonium Institute trademarks.

● Take any action or upload, post, transmit, distribute, or communicate anyone’s personal information without their express consent.

Again, we will treat any attempt to do any of the foregoing as a violation of our intellectual property rights in and to the game, and at all times, we reserve the right to enforce our rights as necessary.

6. Suggesting Characters, Rules, and Ideas

It’s not uncommon for players of Blood on the Clocktower to have their own ideas about a role that would be fun to include in the game. Many of the roles that made it into the final edition were spawned from suggestions made years ago by the game’s very first play-testers.

If you would like to submit a suggestion for a role to be included in a future edition or expansion, you must first read and agree to the Creative, Copyright, & Design Terms. These terms are reproduced below:

This is an agreement between you and Steven Medway & The Pandemonium Institute (“I”, “me”, “my”, “we”, our”, “us”, or “TPI”).

Many players who are enthusiastic about Blood On The Clocktower have asked us if it is okay to create their own characters, alter existing characters, or create their own houserules for their own copy of the game (“Houserules”).

I’m thrilled to have lots of people creating and altering and doing their own thing. Do what you want; have fun; and feel free to share your ideas and run games with your own characters, if you agree to each of the following:

• No charging money or otherwise profiting from your Houserules;
• No portraying your Houserules as an official Blood On The Clocktower or TPI character, rule, alteration, or otherwise affiliated with or endorsed by TPI;
• No portraying yourself as the copyright holder, intellectual property owner, or other legal owner of that Houserule in such a way that financial reimbursement or design credit is owed to you.

Blood On The Clocktower has been a massive undertaking, taking many years, lots of people, and lots of ideas. I’ve created an enormous amount of material for the game, and not all of it works. Some of it is unfinished. Some of it sounds brilliant but doesn’t work at all. Some of it is finished and simply waiting to be given art and a facelift before being revealed in a future expansion or rulebook update. I really love to hear about people’s ideas and suggestions (particularly character ideas), but please keep in mind that after such a lengthy development time, many of these ideas, or very similar ideas, are things that I likely already considered or have thought of already but have not yet revealed. Ideas need time to come to fruition. Just because you gave us an idea, and then something very similar to that idea appears in a later version of our work, does not mean that the idea originated from you.

We are under no obligation to look at or listen to your ideas, and you are owed no acknowledgement for them, even if something similar, identical, or derivative is revealed or published at a later date. You are owed no compensation of any sort for your ideas, even if something similar, identical, or derivative is later published, even if your idea is acknowledged in public or in private as a source for inspiration, and even if you have tested and refined your ideas at a cost of time or effort to you. You acknowledge that I and The Pandemonium Institute cannot receive any submission in confidence and thus, the information contained in any submission you make to us is non-confidential. While I really do love that so many people are creating and play-testing their own characters and homebrew rules, it is possible, and often highly likely, that something similar is already in the works, or already completed in my design documents and in use in my private play-testing games.

The purpose of this agreement is to clear the air, and to make sure that your expectations are realistic in terms of the legalities of creating characters and rules for Blood On The Clocktower. I want to respect your wishes to get creative, and I ask that you respect my wishes in return. If you do contact me with ideas and suggestions, I would appreciate that you acknowledge this document and agree to the terms. This is to ensure that there are no hurt feelings or misunderstandings. If you do not agree to the terms of this document, then please do not send us any ideas or Houserules because we will not be able to read them or consider them.

As a way of saying thank you when a truly unique idea arises, I like to give a shout-out to the person who first suggested it, even if that initial suggestion just contained a kernel of what it would become. Currently, these thank-yous are recorded in the first page of the rulebook. Doing this is voluntary on my part, and does not constitute an admission of ownership, or that compensation is owed. Many ideas take a considerable amount of time to refine, reword, add flavour to, and to rework so that it fits into the greater whole. That work is based on the rules, themes, and design of Blood On The Clocktower already, and is usually extensive and done by myself or in collaboration with a TPI team member.

If you contact us via text or email, please start your message with the following sentence to show that you understand that we are in agreement:

“Hi Steven. I agree to the terms outlined in the Creativity, Copyright, & Design Terms V1.1…”

If you contact us in person, then please immediately follow it up with an email, text, or social media DM explicitly telling us that you agree to the terms outlined in this Agreement. We thank you for your patience and understanding of this requirement

Given the popularity of Blood On The Clocktower, we may unfortunately be too busy to brainstorm with you, so please accept our apologies if we do not reply, or reply but are unable to engage in conversation with you.

Steven Medway,

The Pandemonium Institute

Tips on Suggestions

Before sending us your suggestion, please consider what the character or rule would add to the game or to the player experience. Some of the questions that we like to ask about new characters include:

● Is it fun to play? Is it fun to play against? Does it keep the game fun for the evil players along with everyone else?

● Is the role powerful or consequential in some way?

● Is it unique? How much overlap does it have with existing roles?

● If it’s a Good Team role, is it bluffable by the Evil Team? Does it have sufficient plausible reasons to not want to be executed?

● Is the role easy to understand? Can the role’s ability reasonably fit onto a character token? (This is no more than about 130 characters.)

● Does this role give players on the Good Team reasons to lie?

We aim to read everything we receive (with the exception that we do not read character, rule, or idea suggestions unless the person submitting has agreed to the aforementioned creative copyright agreement), however we cannot guarantee that we will respond with in-depth feedback to these suggestions. Please also keep in mind that after thousands of games and many years of design & play-testing, most characters suggested by this point contain elements of characters that have previously been suggested or that share characteristics with characters that we already have planned for future editions & expansions.

7. Home Brew Roles & Rules

Some people, after playing Blood on the Clocktower, decide that they want to play with their own homebrew roles, rules, and ideas incorporated into the framework that the game offers. We think this is grand and we don’t want to discourage this instinct.

If you are creating home brew roles or rules based on Blood on the Clocktower, we ask that you make it obvious to any participants, viewers, and anyone else involved that homebrew roles/rules are being used, and that they are not the established roles, rules, or artwork for Blood on the Clocktower.