Fan Creation Usage Policy

Some of you have asked us if it's acceptable to create and sell merchandise based upon the characters and worlds of our games. We see a large amount of fan creations, and our general guidance applies to all of them:

We reserve the right to issue takedown notices for anything that we feel infringes on our intellectual property.

We are flattered and impressed by your creations inspired by our games. We also want you to have the best experiences possible when exploring your creativity. Previously we had a strict No Commercialization policy, but we wanted to update our rules to be a bit more flexible while still protecting our intellectual property.

If you are interested in creating and selling fan merchandise, here are a few guidelines we are asking you to follow:

• Making and selling limited, hand-made fan merchandise inspired by our games is generally fine, and does not require getting express written permission from us. However, you are not permitted to mass-produce or mass-distribute items unless you have our express written permission. We’ve only extended this permission to a select few trusted partners over the years. (For example, Fangamer and Mythic Games.)

• You must make clear that your items are unofficial, and not related to or authorized by Red Hook Studios. Specifically, do not use the "Red Hook Studios," "Darkest Dungeon," or "Darkest Dungeon II" trademarks and logos. Do not use official art or assets from our games as those are copyright protected.

• Do not make items that are significantly similar to official items offered by Red Hook Studios or any of Red Hook Studios' authorized licensees.

• You can only sell items directly to consumers. Do not sell them on large stores such as Redbubble, Displate, Society6, or Amazon. Additionally, selling them through crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, would also not be allowed.

• Do not associate Red Hook Studios or Darkest Dungeon with content that runs counter to the spirit of our games. This would include content that is offensive, inappropriate, or otherwise in poor taste. Judgement of this content is at our discretion.

• We reserve the right to ask you to remove works at any time at our sole discretion. We likewise reserve the right to update this policy at any time and for any reason.

We appreciate your compliance with this policy. If you have further questions, please consider the following examples to help illustrate our policy in practice:

• Example 1: Jenn is selling a Darkest Dungeon inspired Shrieker plush on her Etsy page. She has made 15 sets in total. Is this permitted by our policy?

  YES! Jenn is selling a limited quantity of hand-made items inspired by our games. Via Etsy, she is responsible for her relationship with her customers and is personally shipping out her items.

• Example 2: Yousuf has created a well-loved image of the Plague Doctor from Darkest Dungeon and decided to silk-screen it on a T-shirt, ordering a quantity of 60 to sell locally or at cons. Is this permitted by our policy?

  YES! Yousuf is making a small run of shirts based on their original design, and plans to sell them directly to customers. Yousuf must make sure to indicate that these are NOT official products.

• Example 3: Wes has garnered a good-sized social media following for their digital artwork, and their latest piece is one of their most popular, depicting The Runaway from Darkest Dungeon II. Wes has announced a limited run of 100 prints to be sold at their Artist Alley booth at Anime Expo. Is this permitted by our policy?

  YES! Wes is directly selling a limited quantity of prints of a piece they created.

• Example 4: Kevin loves Darkest Dungeon Emoticons available on Steam, and thinks they would be perfect as enamel pins, and a lot of his customers agree. Knowing demand is high, he has ordered a batch of 750, based on several of the game's most popular characters. Is this permitted by our policy?

  NO. Kevin is using artwork from the game as the basis for his merchandise. Furthermore, he has ordered a substantially large run of these items, i.e. is mass-producing the items. This violates our policy.

Thank you for taking your time to read this policy. Your support of our games means the world to us.

In closing, please understand that our small team generally is not available to evaluate or approve ideas for fan merchandise, or answer specific questions about fan merchandise, which is part of the reason we created this policy. We hope this policy enables many creators to keep making the kinds of inspiring handmade items we've been seeing for years.

We would like to extend our special thanks to Amir Rao and Supergiant Games for allowing us to adapt their policy for our use.

On Mod Creation

If you create and distribute a mod for Darkest Dungeon, we ask that you include the following language or its equivalent:

<mod name> is not an official Red Hook Studios product or product modification, and Red Hook Studios Inc. is not responsible in any way for changes or damages that may result from using the mod. Furthermore, “Darkest Dungeon” and the Darkest Dungeon logo are trademarks of Red Hook Studios Inc. All content in the game is Copyright Red Hook Studios Inc. All rights reserved.

If your mod confuses potential consumers in a way that may cause them to believe that the mod is an official Red Hook product, then we would be forced to ask you to take it down or otherwise eliminate the confusion.

Finally, you may not commercially monetize your mod in any way, as that would impinge upon Red Hook’s intellectual property rights. You are allowed to ask for donations and support (including Patreon) that does not directly paywall any mod content.

--RED HOOK STUDIOS