Are you an aspiring writer, and want to distribute something new for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG? Are you a Gamemaster looking for new adventures, campaign ideas and other helpful supplements? Perhaps you’re a player looking for something new to spark character ideas after a previous ones’ glorious death? Is your gaming group looking for new approaches to adapt the ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG game around the table? Looks like you’ve found the right place, bub.
The Grim & Perilous Library’s community content program is where you can find and create self-published material for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG. Creators can offer their work through our community content program to other fans free of charge, offered as pay-what-you-want or even sell it for profit!
There are a number of questions we’ve been asked about our community content program. Here’s how we differ from other programs:
WHAT CONTENT CAN I USE IN THE GRIM & PERILOUS LIBRARY?
All of it! You can use all of the published content from ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG and other official products published by Grim & Perilous Studios, LLC. This includes rules, art packs released in the Grim & Perilous Library, races, religions, monsters, professions, weapons, writing, campaign seeds and more!
Absolutely nothing is off the table.
The Grim & Perilous Library is a community resource. This means that you’re also welcome to expand on and to adapt work that other authors have created here. As an example, you can write part two of an adventure you enjoyed, use another author’s villains, or repurpose community-created mechanics. If someone’s work inspired you, and you’d like to build on their characters, stories, or settings, please do credit their original work. It helps the entire community grow (thanks Disciples of the Demon Lord for inspiration for this bit BTW)!
WHAT’S MY CUT OF THE PROFIT?
We give you 60% of the profit. We care about our creators and that’s why they get the biggest cut! The rest is split out between OneBookShelf (the parent company of DriveThruRPG and its sister sites) and the makers of ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG.
HOW SHOULD I PRICE OUT MY CREATION?
It’s entirely up to you! With the Grim & Perilous Library, you can set whatever price you like for your creation. As an example, ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG’s 680 page PDF is $9.99, whereas our digital cards, Gamemaster screens, character sheets and other supplements are generally priced from $1.99 to $4.99.
I MADE SOME STUFF, NOW HELP ME SELL IT!
Congratulations, and welcome to the cult. Tag your product from the Grim & Perilous Library on Twitter and on Facebook. We’ll spotlight the ones we like through our social media channels, home website and demon-summoning circles. Be sure to also hashtag your community release on social media with #GrimAndPerilous and #ZweihanderRPG so we don’t miss it!
CAN I USE OTHER ARTWORK?
Yes! While you can hire artists or purchase a license for alternative art assets, there’s also plenty of repositories of artwork and photographs that are free to use online – many of which are in the public domain. Be mindful about checking the use rights, as not all the photos in these directories will be for commercial use. Please consult an attorney if you have any questions about using public domain artwork or others’ artwork and photographs.
CAN I USE YOUR ARTWORK ELSEWHERE FOR-PROFIT?
No. Our art packs are licensed for distribution and use in community content submitted in the program only. The art is not licensed to be distributed elsewhere, or used for any other purpose. This also means you cannot use our artwork for other community content programs (such as the DM Guild) or hosted elsewhere outside of the Grim & Perilous Library. Other examples are included here.
CAN MY WORK BE MADE FOR PRINT ON DEMAND AT DTRPG?
It sure can! Please see our print-on-demand requirements at this Google Doc. You can also hop onto our Discord and ask: https://discord.gg/5KVHyEh
CAN I TRANSLATE OTHER WORKS ON THE GRIM & PERILOUS LIBRARY INTO MY NATIVE TONGUE?
Yes indeed, providing you distribute it through the Grim & Perilous Library community content program. And if you have a completed manuscript and want to bring it to print, reach out to us. Let’s make it official!
CAN I SHARE/PUBLISH YOUR WORK, COMBINED WITH MY WORK, ELSEWHERE?
By engaging in the Grim & Perilous Library community content program, you can only distribute, resell or profit from ZWEIHANDER IP by selling your RPG content exclusively through community content programs at DriveThruRPG. You cannot resell the content you’ve created for the Grim & Perilous Library via brick and mortar distribution, online digital channels, social media outreach, Patreon-style platforms, through a not-for-profit organization, as an individual or on crowdfunding platforms.
If you have any questions, reach out to us.
IF I DID A SETTING BOOK FOR AN ORIGINAL IP, AND THEN WANTED TO DO A CONVERSION OF IT FOR ANOTHER RPG SYSTEM AND SELL IT, WOULD I WHOLLY OWN IT AND BE ABLE TO MAKE MONEY WITH IT?
It’s your IP to do with what you want. Simply strip out the ZWEIHANDER IP and let us know once this happens on our Discord (so we can cheer you on)!
CAN I DO PRINT-ON-DEMAND WITH MY CREATIONS ON THE GRIM & PERILOUS LIBRARY?
Yes, you can. But we have a unique set of house style guidelines and other requirements for your work to be considered for a print-on-demand product. Reach out to Daniel D. Fox on our Discord to learn more: https://discord.gg/5KVHyEh
CAN I MAKE DERIVATIVES OF YOUR WORK ELSEWHERE?
Maybe. Reach out to us direct first, so we can talk about it.
WILL YOU OFFICIALLY PUBLISH MY WORK FOR ME?
Maybe. If you want to follow this path, you must have a completed manuscript written. We do not accept submissions of ideas alone. Show us what you’re thinking by sending over your manuscript, and be prepared to pitch your submission. We can even set up an NDA if necessary. Reach out to us, and let’s see what is possible.
IS THERE ANY PROHIBITED CONTENT?
Not necessarily. However, we wrote a mature RPG that explores dark and ‘realistic’ themes. We reserve the right to pull any material from the program we find troublesome (examples include child abuse and rape). If you’re unsure if your work may be potentially objectionable, reach out to us.
CAN I USE ZWEIHÄNDER TO MAKE WFRP STUFF?
Not without Games Workshop’s permission first. But let’s be honest here – ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG is way more than a simple OSR retroclone. Let’s see what sort of awesomeness you can make using it! We cannot accept conversions of other intellectual properties. Be inspired by such things, but don’t create legal problems.
BUT I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION THAT’S NOT COVERED ABOVE!
Check out this article on community content programs at DriveThruRPG. If that doesn’t answer your question, reach out to us – we’ll figure it out together.
WHAT PROGRAMS SHOULD I USE TO CREATE MY PDF?
We provide Word, InDesign and OpenOffice templates for your use. However, may find these other resources helpful direct from OneBookShelf:
CREATE – If you want to lay out your Digital PDF from scratch…
- TUTORIALS – Tutorials for new publishers, to help you use Adobe Acrobat software to make better downloadable PDFs.
- QUICK SPECS (PDF) – To get you started.
- QUICK CHECK LIST (PDF) – To be sure you don’t miss anything.
- EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL – FROM INDESIGN (PDF) – To show you how to prepare your InDesign file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.
- EPUB & MOBI EXPORT TUTORIAL – FROM MICROSOFT WORD (PDF) – To show you how to prepare your Microsoft Word file for export to the ePub format, and how to use Calibre to convert your ePub file to the Mobi format.
PREP – You’ve already created your PDF and just need to see if it is all set to upload.
- QUICK SPECS (PDF) – To get you started.
- QUICK CHECK LIST (PDF) – To be sure you don’t miss anything.
ENHANCE – You’ve already created your PDF and want to add enhancements.
- VIDEO TUTORIALS – To enhance your PDF.
UPLOAD – Will show you where and how to upload your files for digital download.
HOW DO I PROPERLY ATTRIBUTE ZWEIHANDER IN MY WORK?
Our Word and InDesign templates already have the attributions present. You must also include the “powered by ZWEIHÄNDER” logo on the bottom right-hand side of the front cover. It must be discernible and legible at normal full-screen viewing size, but does not need to be large and should not be the primary logo or title on the cover.
In addition, you must include our boilerplate language within the first three (3) pages of your book, in at least 8-point font in all advertisements and other marketing materials:
(a) ZWEIHÄNDER Logo © (download here) – updated as of 4/5/2019
(b) This game product is powered by ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG ™, a trademark of Grim & Perilous Studios LLC, in the USA and other countries. Used with permission. Original text content of ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. ZWEIHÄNDER Logo, content and original artwork are copyright © 2009–2018, Grim & Perilous Studios, LLC unless otherwise specified.
In the Product Description field when setting up the title on DriveThruRPG, you must include: Requires ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG from Grim & Perilous Studios.