I'm trying to understand but is it possible that your last point is making the Copyright board useless?
In order to publish something, the person need the approval of all the contributers included in that part. If one of them says no, or does not answer, he can't publish that part. So if someone want to publish a map that is part of the world map, he needs the approval of : me, you, Dearcyrus, Thurlor and possibly others.
But it get more complicated if you take into account that the map is just one part of it. Names, places, descriptions are all linked together and could include several authors. Even if it's just the maps, their names and ideas are on that map, you also need their approval. Your point makes it almost impossible to publish anything unless we are the author at 100% (something rare considering it's a collaborative project and people are encouraged to work together). I don't know if this is what you want but that is how I understand it. Legally it allows commercial purposes but not in practice (or it's just really difficult).
Back to the Board: only people related to the part to be published are supposed to give their opinion. Meaning that the Board will change completely depending on the vote.
To simplify things we could ask are collective rights more important than individual rights or is it the opposite ? It's a general question of law to which I don't have an answer.
I must say that when I think about a commercial project I see something like a campaign setting, like : Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, Eberron, Dragonlance... (the specific RPG system might not be important)
That is why I'm worried that it could be difficult since we would need everything. If we have something specific in mind, like a campaign setting, we could ask for the right to publish beforehand. We could maybe, but for just one specific thing. The other publishing projects would need to seek approval like mentioned earlier.
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