The Oerth Journal is perhaps the oldest e-zine dedicated to publishing creative and quality works for the World of Greyhawk. As an institution of the online Greyhawk community, the Oerth Journal is a prestigious site of publication for authors who desire a close editing relationship.
Philosophy
The Oerth Journal is a collaborative project of people who care about the Greyhawk setting. All staff are volunteers and always interested in receiving submissions from people desiring to contribute their time and talent. Authors and visual artists are encouraged to consider the Oerth Journal as a way to share one's ideas and talents with other people who enjoy exploring and detailing the World of Greyhawk. In addition to publishing high quality articles of interest to fans of the Greyhawk setting, our goal is to help authors improve their craft of writing.
Articles
If you have an article to submit, or would merely like to discuss an idea for an article, please send e-mail to the current editor-in-chief, Marc Tizoc Gonzalez, at oj@canonfire.com. Please allow two weeks for a response. After the editors review a submission, then the editor-in-chief will inform you of the decision. Accepted submissions typically undergo several rounds of editing and revision.
We prefer to receive complete submissions as email attachments in (doc) format and use functions of Microsoft Word to edit articles. If you do not use (doc) format, we also accept (txt) or (rtf) formats. Articles should cite contributing sources and utilize standard conventions to distinguish copywritten and trademarked materials. Editors are happy to help with this task.
People who submit articles represent themselves to be the original authors of the submissions, or in the case of interviews, represent themselves already to have received permission to publish from the interview subject. Authors are held to the simple standard of not misrepresenting their
authorship of submitted material. If we determine that someone is not the actual author of submitted material, then the material will not be published and the editor-in-chief will announce the finding throughout the online forums that feature Greyhawk.
Fiction
Previous to the second volume, the Oerth Journal did not publish pure fan fiction, i.e. stories by themselves. With issue 12 (volume II, number 1), the Oerth Journal began to publish stand alone stories, and the current editor-in-chief remains interested in publishing works that use narrative forms to describe characters, things, places, and events of the World of Greyhawk. Ideally, these stories will be supplemented by more traditional role playing game information, such as character summaries, magic item or place descriptions, or other game statistics. If an author wants help with game rules, editors are available to help. (Also, game rules need not be limited to D&D. The Oerth Journal accepts articles that utilize other game systems.)
Illustrations
Interested artists should email queries to Marc Tizoc Gonzalez oj@canonfire.com, and please cc: our art director, Ron Carey rcarey2@earthlink.net. The Oerth Journal is very interested in presenting evocative images that complement articles. Imagery is a powerful and exciting means to explore further the World of Greyhawk.
Regular Columns
At its end, the first volume of the Oerth Journal utilized six regular departments. In issue 13 (volume II, number 2), Of Oerth and Altar returned. The Oerth Journal remains interested in reviving old columns and eventually in starting new ones.
Old departments included Dyvers, City of Aventure, which detailed guilds, individuals, locations,
and organizations of the City of Sails; With Boccob's Blessing, an in-depth look at a magic item or artifact unique to the World of Greyhawk; Gateway to Adventure, with World of Greyhawk-based adventures; The Good Oerth, featured detailed exploration of "off the map" areas of Oerik and beyond; Denizens of the Flanaess, detailed unique monster NPCs of the Flanaess, and Of Oerth and Altar, which examined Greyhawk's myriad deities.
Planned new columns include Alternate Oerths, which combines interviews with longtime Greyhawk DMs and
descriptions of characters and events that distinguish their campaigns; and Zagyg's Crucible, which introduces product reviews, conducted by authors conversant with the World of Greyhawk. Besides reviewing products, such articles suggest how products may be integrated into the Greyhawk setting.
Ethics
From its beginning, the Oerth Journal has been a nonprofit fanzine produced entirely by volunteers and
published in various digital formats. The use of trademarked or copywritten material by individual authors
and the Oerth Journal itself should not be construed as a challenge to the proprietary rights of any company or individual. As the stewards of a seven year old institution of the online community of Greyhawk fans,
the editorial staff of the Oerth Journal takes seriously its responsibility to serve the community while also abiding by the rule of law.
Since the Oerth Journal was founded, various and disparate company policies and interpretations of law have
been promoted. Rather than to argue if the Oerth Journal publishes derivative works, the Oerth Journal is
premised on the idea that role playing games are designed to elicit fans' detailing of stock characters - to create myriad and diverse instances of fan fiction. While the Oerth Journal staff are highly interested in learning more about how the internet affects copyright, rather than pursue legal avenues, the Oerth Journal attempts to operate in the realm of ethics. We welcome correspondence from individuals and representatives of companies and encourage everyone to promote the spirit of international copyright laws - to protect creator's rights to control their works while also stimulating the creativity and happiness of other people.
Another license?
Although the Oerth Journal has yet to retain any legal advice, the maturation of the internet suggests that the Oerth Journal too must adopt standards of legal disclaimer. While we currently lack the expertise to
draw up legal contracts, people who submit works for publication in the Oerth Journal must understand their
copyrights, and they should also understand that submission indicates the desire to establish a license with the Oerth Journal for the Journal to publish the article or artwork.
While in the past, the publishing agreements may have been informal and not detailed, presently the Oerth Journal staff are drafting a de facto license based on what past authors seem to have granted.
In the past, authors granted the Oerth Journal the right to publish the work internationally in English in various digital formats. Works were distributed via the internet as part of a single issue of the Journal.
Note that the Oerth Journal never required authors to grant exclusive rights to an article. Also, the Oerth Journal has not necessarily received first rights to publication although during the volume one years, the Oerth Journal had a policy not to publish works that had been otherwise presented online in the past year. Similarly, after a work was published in the Oerth Journal, authors retained the right to present that work in other mediums, formats, or publications, e.g. on their own website, on a Greyhawk related website, submitted to Dragon Magazine, etc. Finally the licenses seem to have been granted to the Oerth Journal as an organization and not to any individual editor.
Marc Tizoc Gonzalez
Editor-in-Chief
The Oerth Journal
June 14, 2002
Copyright © by Canonfire! All Right Reserved.
