Limited Edition Thud Game Sets

is it illegal to get your own sets made up?

My first set consisted of bottle tops and coins (surely no ones going to argue with that), but as Im currently in India Ive just commisioned some stone masons who are makeing an absolutely gorgeous solid stone set for me out of a load of drawings ive given them. Or is that kind of 'limited edition' too limited?

I've got one of the Origional Hand painted sets. Personally I find them nicer that the 'game box' sets. each peice is different, they are lovely to look at.

I would love there to be other limited sets. although not to many as I'll have no space left to display them .

I have some questions though...
how many would they be limited to?
how long would they be available for?
If they are numbered can you pick the number you want?

As for recomendations...
The peices should not be bigger than the hand painted ones as the board is quite big for that set as it is.
I like the idea of each peice being different... induvidual.
Has there been any thoughts of a smaller set... a travel set... not one of thoes magnetice things but a set that would be easier to transport..

I would appricate it if Crowner's question above could be answered... Is it illegal to get your own sets made up. or indeed make your own?

It is definitely not illegal to have your own sets made up, nor to make your own, so long as you don't sell them. That's true whether it's a cardboard board and bottlecaps and corks, or a marble board with fancy inlays.

Of course, then deciding that you didn't want the board after all, and trying to get rid of it on Ebay, "would result in the attentions of serious men with menacing briefcases and very thin watches."

Otherwise, for personal use, knock yourselves out. Heck, if it's a great board done cheap, let us know, we might want to commission you to make more!

I've been biting my tongue over this one, but I can't hold myself any longer.
In my experience in the kiting world, the gentleman's agreement goes something like this:

The same is, to some extent, happening in the Linux community: you can build Unix from scratch, and freely distribute it. SCO tends to disagree, but they are, well, SCO .

So, using your imagination and skills to build your own Thud! set should not face any legal problems. But commisioning a set is making other people copy a game and commercialy gaining from it. Or is it?

Commissioning is a grey area, yes.

I do know that many commissioned artists (eg on furbid where they sell art commissions) refuse to use copyrighted chracters in their commissions for this reason.

If the commissioned artisan went and got himself commissioned by many clients, to make many identical boards, he could be in a very dodgy position.

But where an artisan is commissioned to create something as a one-off "work for hire" to a unique design, then I *think* it's as if the client had done it themselves, and the artisan was just a tool.

But then, I'm no lawyer, so you /might/, if you are an artisan yourself, want to consult one before accepting any commissions for copyrighted works.

Heh. Interesting point there. I never considered that although commisioning someone to build it does not assist ME financially, it does assist the person I gave the commision to. Hmmm.

Well the beauty of grey is that it is neither black nor white. And considering said stone masons have an average salary of about

My experience of this matter knowing Terry, Bernard and Trevor. Their attitude can be pretty much summed up by the simple maxim 'Don't take the p*ss'. Terry's general policy on all forms of derivative fan artwork/creation/merchandise has been documented before now. So long as it doesn't damage the good names of Discworld or those associated with it, so long as it is not someone else profiting from the hard work of Terry or the associated established craftspeople, in short if it isn't a commercial venture, Terry has no desire to get involved. It's hugely not worth his time or energy.
As an example - One set for you would be fine. Twenty sets for sale on eBay with text such as 'Limited Edition Thud Set' might attract the ire of Terry, Bernard, Trevor and associated lawyers (although Colin Smythe tends to deal with all forms of unauthorised mechandise problems these days.) More than that being sold would almost guarantee legal attention. PLEASE NOTE Numbers here indicate a general scale, rather than a hard and fast guide. Don't under any circumstances take this as a suggetion that so long as you keep it small it's OK to sell unauthorised Discworld products. However, one offs for personal use are almost always fine.

If you want my 10p worth of ideas: I'd really, really, like a better board to go with my Polished Tusk Set. The one it came with was, to put it mildly, amateuristic. Painted plywood with roughly stamped squares, and not even a finish on it.
The squares, and therefore the board, should be just that tiny bit bigger (at initial setup, Trolls are hunched up like a bunch of cowards), and it should have a gloss finish.
Please?

I wouldn't mind some nice Boards to play on too, the peices are only half of it.