Welcome

This page contains the Image Upload/Approval Policy for all pictures submitted to the RPG Geek.

Goals

To have an image policy which follows the spirit of our Guiding Principles

General Rules

• Make sure you Own your image (scanned, etc). Do Not use images from another site without direct written permission.
• Any pre-publication images must submitted with the appropriate copyright permission notes. That means direct written permission which is to be included in the caption.
• Do not upload any image with a watermark - even with permission we don't want them. Images taken from other sites are not to be used unless you get direct written permission (permission is included in the caption - see below).
• Only upload an image once - you can always link the image in across multiple items but there is never a reason to upload the same image more than once. Do not, however, link images from a personal gallery to an item.
• Captions are mandatory for images. Something as simple as "Front Cover" or "Sample Page" will do, but it is always better to put something descriptive such as "Front Cover of Special Edition" or "Rare Alternate Cover Art by E. Flibwitz", etc. If you got permission to use the image from the publisher, the permission must be in the caption set off in parentheses... for example: "Front Cover of PDF (used by permission of Steve Jackson Games)".
• Images must be in normal RGB format. CMYK isn't universally supported by all browsers yet and will be blocked by the upload system.
• Animated images are not allowed.
• For PDF products that you own, you are allowed to take a screenshot so long as the resulting screenshot is properly cropped and must adhere to our resolution rules depending on the type of image being submitted (cover, logo, etc). Some people rotate the screens to get the maximum size of the product on their screens. If you need help on taking screenshots of PDFs, post in our forums in the "How-To" section.
• For PDF screenshots you are allowed to blur out your name in the corner (often added as a watermark for legal PDFs you purchase).
• If you use a screenshot of a PDF you own, please state so in either the caption or the geekmod notes.
• If your image is declined, seek out the reason and correct the problem. Do not try to upload again in the hopes it will get through geekmod.
• Since not all rules can be covered adequately, we reserve the right to judge any image to not be in the best interest of the RPG Geek and remove it. This would be a very rare situation and we hope it never happens.
• You are not allowed to link images from a personal gallery to a database entry.

Representative Images
At different database levels (RPG, RPG Item, RPG Version, etc) we are looking for very specific images to cover that corner of the database. The following table lists what we are looking for at each level:

• At the Family Level, we are looking for a logo to cover the entire family of games which is usually the logo of the most recognizable game in the family (i.e. for Dungeons & Dragons this might be the D&D 3.x logo).
• At the RPG level, we are looking for a logo for that specific RPG.
• At the RPG Item level, we are looking for a front cover scan or a PDF screen-grab.
• At the RPG Version level, we are looking for the specific cover scan or PDF screen-grab that depicts that version.

Image Upgrade Guidelines

For many older RPG materials, often the best we can do initially is populate a "well loved" copy of the book. These tend to be worn or torn in spots. For older (out of print) materials this is fine to have as an initial scan in our database. For even older rare/obscure material, it may be that a heavily worn copy is all that is available and so that scan will be particularly useful and probably long-lived. However, when a better image comes along, we want to make an effort to get the better scanned image into our database (all within our image guidelines above) and get it set as the representative image.

Note that a larger (i.e. higher resolution) scan is not to be considered better than another scan - so long as the uploader followed our image guideline rules. Any images that don't meet our image guidelines that somehow managed to get through our geekmod process can, of course, be replaced.

In an effort to give some guidance on what we consider a better quality image, please look at the following four images (click to expand them to full size).

Heavily Worn	Moderately Worn	In Shrink	Clean to Mildly Worn

We would like to see replacements in this order. That is, a Heavily Worn copy (with lots of scuffing, rub marks and possible tears) replaced with any of the following: Moderately Worn, In Shrink and Clean (or Mildly Worn). Please note that we prefer Clean to Mildly Worn to something In Shrink - as the shrink tends to cast a glare, change the color tones on the scan and often the price tag obscures part of the cover. If you upload a better scan and it is accepted and set as the representative image for an item or version, please submit a correction to have the older image (i.e. less desirable scan) moved out of the game gallery to avoid confusion.

For the one Overall Box Set Contents picture, we ask that you can see the entire covers of all book/booklets but make sure the maps are properly obscured. Look at these three pictures. The first is acceptable, but not ideal. The second picture is the same components from the box set but arranged much better. The third image is another ideal shot of box contents (this time for Dungeons & Dragons).

Not Ideal	Ideal	Also Ideal

If you have an ideal pic to replace a non-ideal pic feel free to upload and explain in your geekmod note why you think your shot is better. If it passes Geekmod, you can submit a correction for the item to have the less ideal picture moved out of the main game gallery (to avoid confusion and similar images).

Policy for RPG Item and Periodical Issue

Policy for RPGs

Policy for Periodicals

Policy for RPG Genre

Policy for RPG System, Setting, Series, Family or Podcast

Policy for Publisher

Policy for Designers, Artists and Producers

Policy for Item Properties

Policy for RPG Versions