Add a Fan Fiction Forum

D&D players are creative, and enjoy making worlds as well as sharing stories about their adventures. DND Beyond should offer a forum for such stories. There should tags to indicate what campaign setting the story takes place in, with Homebrew being an option. 

Would anyone else be interested in such a forum?

What would you like such a forum to offer?

Here is the closest thing to what you are looking for: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/story-lore

I don't expect legal would be on board with that. Too many headaches around the possibility of some fanfiction writer posting something that coincidentally bears a superficial similarity to an ongoing project. 

I see NO ways this could be abused.

NO WAYS AT ALL.

Besides being a window into a lot of players' minds regarding why they do & say what they do & say....people can & will cross the lines while trying to rules lawyer their way into how NSFW & revenge fiction, among other things, aren't breaking the rules of the site.

FanFiction is a direct copyright violation.

Wotc gives away the core rules and you can make homebrew versions of that and publish it.

But the worlds and campaigns in dnd are all pretty much proprietary, copyright, all rights reserved. The right to copy, derive, and distribute are all protected by copyright.  fan fiction is a derivative. Presenting that derivative in an online forum is a distribution of that work. Both violate copyright protections.

Quote from Tana___ >>

Here is the closest thing to what you are looking for: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/story-lore

 
Folks post about their in- game stories in General all the time as well. Typically not in prose, as fanfiction might be, but it is a common place to “share stories” as noted in the OP. 

I expect Adohand’s Kitchen might be open to a similar thread given the wide range of topics covered there, several of which are already fan fiction (as a note, copyright law and fanfiction is much more complex than the layperson’s post above might suggest). Though the nature of that forum, which skews both very young and very into “spam as legitimate content” might be off putting if someone wanted more in depth storytelling and discussion.  

"which are already fan fiction (as a note, copyright law and fanfiction is much more complex than the layperson’s post above might suggest)."

It is exactly that simple. The only thing preventing enforcement of copyright law against fanfiction is that since it is based on civil rather than criminal law, the copyright holder usually has to sue to force fanfiction be taken down and sue for damages.  Sometimes the copyright holders dont want to do that.

However even authors who allow fanfiction to be created and distributed generally want it done in an area where the author wont see it. Because if the author sees any fanfiction, and later the author creates a work that resembles the fanfiction, the fan who created the fanfiction could sue the author. Which would really suck for the author.

Imagine someone writes fanfiction about Strahd and a year later wotc creates new content about strahd that looks a little familiar to the fanfiction. The fan could sue to prevent thr new content from being published.

Quote from SunIsGettingRealLow96589 >>

"which are already fan fiction (as a note, copyright law and fanfiction is much more complex than the layperson’s post above might suggest)."

It is exactly that simple. 

. . .

The reason I put my point in a parenthetical was because the D&D Beyond forums are really not a place to discuss legal issues.  But if you are going to push this matter, I will say this - as an attorney who has actually done some intellectual property work, it is abundantly clear you do not know what you are talking about.  Ignoring fair use exemptions that add complexity far beyond the “it is that simple” you suggest.  Categorically stating copyright is civil, though anyone who has ever seen the FBI warning at the beginning of a film should know there can also be criminal copyright violations.  Ignoring the fact that the terms of use on this very site give Wizards protections against copyright claims by site users.

One of the reasons Wizards might not want a fanfiction forum would be the legal issues potentially involved.  But that fear is not going to be born of “this is a cut and dry issue,” but rather “copyright is so complicated, and the penalties can be so severe, we do not want our moderation team having to wade into that quagmire any time there is a question.”

I don't think forums are the place for fan fiction—a forum is a place for discussion, not posting lengths of prose. If you want to share fan fiction, use a dedicated fan fiction site like AO3 or Wattpad. Those sites are designed for not only sharing long-form prose, but also tagging and categorising it in a way that makes discovering content you want to read while avoiding content you don't much easier.

I like the idea of having a place where users can share their story ideas and their fanfiction writings. I just don't think the DnDBeyond Forums are the place for that. I'm not even sure DnDBeyond is the place for that, for three reasons.

1. The copyright issue has already been addressed. Everything we type here becomes the property of the Hasbro corporation. So you're not "sharing your fanfic", you're donating your product to a corporation for free.

2. I really have no idea how computers work, but I think data is stored on servers, and servers cost money. Having thousands of people suddenly uploading their novels onto those servers will represent an increased cost for the host. Costs generally get passed down to users.

3. There is no way to verify the age of anyone accessing DnDBeyond. So that could potentially put the host in a very indelicate situation, legally. I trust you know what I'm referring to. 

There are plenty of other platforms that already provide the kind of service you seem to be requesting. I know of several Discord servers, for example, that are absolutely wonderful for sharing story ideas, and worldbuilding, and connecting with others with similar interests. I recommend looking in that direction. You're sure to find what you want there.

(And on an unrelated note: if anyone from Hasbro is reading this, are you guys taking the Mr. Potato Head statue with you when you move from Pawtucket to Boston? If not, is it for sale? Or maybe a public auction? I want it!)