Mosaic and Gesso Examples

[rainbowmods]

Mosaics and Gessos allow the use of a media source, but since this isn't a fanfiction community that use is limited. Furthermore, there's a long tradition of turning one's role-playing game into stories, and many tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) draw from a variety of sources (see 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' famous Appendix N, as well as the inspiration page in many sourcebooks)

Here are some examples of what is and is not acceptable for crossovers (Mosaic) and borrowings (Gesso). If the piece is an alternate universe (AU) to your canon, the limits are a little looser. For examples, I'm going to use Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) and the Gothic horror campaign The Curse of Strahd, Star Wars, Star Trek: The Original Series. It's safe to assume that examples for crossovers can be extrapolated for borrowings and vice-versa.

Neither a crossover or a borrowing:

• Characters watch a tv show and discuss it


• Characters wear costumes that are obviously that of a media character, whether or not the character is named


• Minor character is obviously a media property character or named after a media property character. (In a short scene, Bob gets bandaged up by Dr. Leonard McCoy). This is just a cameo and doesn't need to be marked


• Your character is a character you've played in a campaign but the story doesn't use major elements of the ttrpg, or they're genericized


• A map from a published adventure is used as a blueprint for something else (you use Strahd's castle as a castle in your story, but it's specifically not Strahd's or in Barovia)


• A historical figure or famous object shows up (unless your story is set in a world with a completely different history)
  
  1. your characters find the Holy Grail or meet Jane Goodall


• Your story uses the same generic setting type (fantasy, wuxia, cyberpunk, etc) as the ttrpg but it doesn't have any of the ttrpg's specific elements for it (in DnD things like spellslots and spell categories, specific spells like Cure Wounds or Detect Magic, chromatic dragons, Waterdeep or other locations, etc)

Crossovers:

In all cases, these would involve characters created for another story interacting with things from a media source, or aspects of a media source coming into your story

Does not have to be an AU

• A minor character from a media property is dropped into your story (Christine Chapel from Star Trek the Original Series is Bob's doctor)
  
  1. Bob sees her every chapter but she doesn't influence the plot
  
  
  2. Bob and Christine get romantically involved
  
  
  3. Bob sees her once and it sets off a major event. She otherwise doesn't show up

May or may not need to be an AU, depending on how long it lasts and how much influence it has on the story:

• Your characters go on Jeopardy or Antiques Roadshow, etc


• Bob and Alice got transported to Coruscant but Jedi, Sith, and recognizable characters never come up or only slightly mentioned

Must be an AU

• Your characters acting out the plot of a media property (Bob replaces Luke Skywalker and Alex replaces Leia in the Star Wars: A New Hope) (borderline if allowed at all)


• Your (created for the setting or not) characters go through a published ttrpg adventure


• Your original characters act out a video game


• Your characters interacting with the plot of a media property (Bob in San Francisco while the plot of a Star Trek movie is happening in the background)


• Your characters have been transported to the world of a media source and are doing their own thing away from the main story.
  
  1. Bob is apparently a Jedi and argues with the known characters on the Jedi Council
  
  
  2. Bob is a Jedi but none of the story involves characters we know


• Bob and Alice team up with your favorite movie superheroes for an original adventure


• Bob and Alice fight Darth Vader in an original adventure

Borrowings:

This involves characters that were created originally for this setting and they might not have any stories out of it.

Your choice whether to call it a borrowing:

• A major character from a media property is used as inspiration for characters, but the story is completely different. (Luke in New York is based on Luke Skywalker. He grew up on a farm in Arizona with his aunt and uncle. He works in a coffee shop and solves mysteries)


• Characters are obviously inspired by a media property character, but their name, life, etc are substantially different. (What TVtropes calls either an Expy or Captain Ersatz)


• Main or minor character is a media property species but has nothing to do with the media story or any of its characters and are called something else
  
  1. Bob is an Rodian - Star Wars species with green skin and bug eyes- in a modern New York filled with non-Star Wars non-humans and humans, but is called a Dorian
  
  
  2. Alice is a DnD style elf


• You're using the setting as inspiration but writing about things far in the past, future, or otherwise away from the canon events, expanding things to the extent that very little of the original canon is mentioned

Does not have to be an AU

• Your story is set in Waterdeep (a major DnD city), but no characters that are well known from related video games, actual plays, novels, etc show up.


• Minor non-player characters (NPCs) show up as companions or minor characters, for example your characters have their fortune read by Madame Eva (minor would be anyone besides Strahd and possibly von Richten, the monster hunter)


• Significant objects, weapons, or concepts are part of the plot (characters use a tarokka deck or a sunsword or are part of the Emerald Enclave, a druid organization)


• Significant weapons, objects, places, organizations, or concepts are mentioned


• You're rewriting a fairy tale or using one as inspiration but all the characters are ones you've created (make sure you're aware of your influences. Rewriting Snow White is fine, but using the Disney version is fanfic)


• You're using mythology as inspiration but rewriting it for another setting, time period, or type of character (make sure you're aware of your influences. The Norse god Thor is okay, Marvel's Thor is fanfic)


• You're using a public domain or open-source setting, but no published characters show up (Bob and Alex visit Neverland, but neither Peter Pan nor Captain Hook are around)


• You mention the entities from the Cthulhu Mythos or they are part of the mythology or act as adversaries (they're in the public domain and are widely used)


• Your character's back story has a lot of involvement with published characters, organizations, etc, but it doesn't show up as much in current events
  
  1. Bob trained with the Jedi but doesn't do any Jedi stuff or talk about the Force
  
  
  2. Alice went to Star Fleet Academy, but is a colonist


• Your characters are doing their thing in a corner of a media property
  
  1. Bob and Alice live on Tattooine decades before anything we know about
  
  
  2. Bob and Alice live on Tattooine during events depicted but far away from Mos Eisley, Jabba, or anything else we know about. Jawas and Tuskens might be mentioned or show up briefly.
  
  
  3. Your story is mythology from a desert planet. Jedi, the Sarlaac pit, Tusken warriors, Jawas, and other Star Wars concepts aren't mentioned. Other creatures, like the giant riding lizards, might show up.
  
  
  4. Bob and Alice are random characters in the background of Coruscant with their own story going on. Jedi and Sith never come up or are only slightly mentioned.

AU Only

• Your characters in the main part of the setting of a media property
  
  1. Bob is a Jedi and argues with the known characters on the Jedi Council
  
  
  2. Alice works in Strahd's castle or in Vallaki


• Your characters going through the events of a published ttrpg adventure


• Your characters interact with a major set piece of a campaign (your characters take go through the Death House or things happen in Strahd's castle)


• Your character is one of Strahd's brides or was recently turned into a vampire by Strahd


• Your characters fight or interact with Strahd, but it's not the same as the published campaign

In short, trademarked names or words (Jedi, Sith, Waterdeep, Klingons, Vulcan, etc), should have little influence on the current plot or be an AU. But if just changing the names would make it not commonly recognized, it's okay.