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I am going to begin making a completely freeware game. I would like to base it off a book i read (Shade's Children by Garth Nix), but a) would it be legal to base the game off the book and use character names, monster names and appearances, etc? and b) would I be able to put Shade's Children in the title?

also, would it be legal to put copywrited music in it?

remember, i am going to make absolutely no money off this at all.

Yes, and no.

If you keep it Freeware you should be able to do it.
Why not try contacting the author of the book? If you
can get his/her permission to do a the game then you
most likly won't run into any problems.

Using copywrited music might (Mostly likly will) get you in
trouble.

Indeed, contact the author or the publishers, most will not have any objection as it basically constitutes free advertising for their book.

In random order:

1) Copywrited music - Without permission, no, it isn't legal. Whether or not you get in trouble is a different matter, but regardless of whether or not it is freeware, it is illegal. "Intellectual property", in the eyes of the law, has become almost the exact same as normal "property" - I may fully disagree with it and think that's crap, but that is the state of the law at present.

2) Base the game off the book - sure, no problem. It just depends to what extent you really mean "base" and not "turn the book into a game". Still, unless you go exceptionally overboard, I highly doubt it could cause any problems

3) Oh, similar to the above - the words of the book are still copywrited, so you cannot legally just copy significantly large amounts of conversations and such and use it in the game.

4) Names and appearances...oof. First it is important to note that you can pretty well be sued by anyone for any reason whatsoever, at least in america now adays, it is just a question of "will you". So it is usually useful to ask "will I piss someone off with this enough for them to sue me" than whether or not it is legal

There is a kind of alternate-viewpoint novel called "The Wind Done Gone" that is basically "Gone With The Wind" from, I think, a black slaves perspective...and they got sued by the controllers of Gone With The Wind, but that was almost entirely because it visciously attacked the basis, setting, and character of Gone With The Wind (even if the attacks were perfectly valid in every logical and moral context). If you aren't going to turn it into an all-out attack on the book, then on that point you can "not worry about it".

Now, with that said, you in all likelyhood can use many of the names and settings and appearances and such, etc - but doing so completely can be more problematic, because then you are tredding close to just translating the book into being a game - which is less unlikely to piss someone off.

5) Using the title, more than nearly any other possible action (barring actually copying the book into the game itself), would be likely to piss someone off enough to sue, and just in general get you in trouble. It may be helpful to recall that, for instance Jerassic Park was a BOOK - the movie studios had to BUY the rights to turn it into a movie. If someone had decided to make a movie called Jerassic Park based on the movie without permission, this would obviously piss plenty of people off, even if it was a little indie film most people would never even hear of.

So, don't use the books title, or particularly similar variants, in your game's title. You can mention how it was INSPIRED by the book (free legal advice: Do Not Use The Words "Based On [someone/something you don't have written permission from]", Ever!), and similar and such and such, but that is about as far as you should probably go. So you can say "[title of game] was inspired by [title of book], and is similar to it in many ways", and variants thereof, and that should be just fine.

Note: On the last bit about "based on", I am probably going overboard in "legal protection mode" - just don't say "based on" in the main, high-profile, "official" places (like in the ReadMe, on the description of the game where it is downloaded, etc), and for normal situations, like just in passing discussion on the board and such, it is likely needlessly anal to worry about saying "based on".

It isn't like you are writing a game that bashes Scientology or any...thing...*receives Cease and Desist Letter From Church of Scientology before even completing post*...damn, those guys are quick!

You would be suprised how many people can be talked around in to letting you use copyrighted media.

Copyright is there to protect the original author, and what-ever the respective laws for copyright are in whatever country you are in there is one constant... If you are nice to people and don't try to screw them then they are generally pretty cool in return...

I've gotten away with tons before, and from some high profile people. Normally I am nearly finished when I try and get permission to use something, as it saves any embarassement on projects that end up not really going anywhere.

In the past i've secured bands and muscicians who had recording contracts for free, i've gotten graphics and models, and i'm even toying with the idea of approaching rock legends Queen for a project i'm working on - I can but ask afterall...

Yes sometimes people say no, I remember a most laughable exchange with the main guy from Day of Defeat, Das Jurgen I think his name was. I asked him if I could use his infantry models in a little game I was working on, considering his was a free project and not officially copyrighted you would be suprised at just how nasty the responce was... That game is still sitting on my hard disk - unreleaseable at the time and too dated to put out now with new models... Oh well. Win some, loose some.

Try writing to the publishers etc about your intentions. They may like your ideas or say no.
Or make a "good" demo. Then...contact the publishers and request a sponsership. They can only say no.

ok, the game will not be based on the book, it will be based on the setting of the book... the main character is created completely by the player, and the game does not follow any of the main characters from the book... its sort of an extention of the book in terms of the storyline, i am intertwining the original with a plot of my own...