--- "Ryan S. Dancey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[snip]
> WotC feels that if and when a tabletop RPG case is
> ever brought to trial,
> the court may be convinced to apply the concepts of
> character copyright,
> plus the concepts of copyright as they are being
> applied to software to
> carve out a huge protected class of work.
Obviously this would apply to things Mordenkainen,
Bigby, Drizzt, Elminster, et al. Is that where it
ends, or are you saying that it applies to Fireball,
Cure Light Wounds, Slay Living, and Flame Strike?
> This last bit from the Copyright office's circular
> that I highlighted is
> real the "door" through which this legal theory is
> going to walk. Just like
> the software companies managed to convince the
> courts to take a very big
> leap from the code itself to a copyrighted work, the
> game publishers will
> seek to convince the court to find that hobby TRPG
> products are also
> deserving of similar treatment due to their complex
> nature and the creative
> expressions they embody.
So you're saying that only the dice rolls and such are
the 'game rules' and that everything else like
classes, spells, and feats are so complex and creative
that the thing about game rules not being protected
doesn't apply to them? I'm just trying to understand
what's going on here so that I don't screw up, so
please forgive me for asking so darn many questions.
> All of this just compounds the "grey area" problem
> the OGL seeks to address.
> Because of this unstable state, a competent attorney
> will be forced to
> provide very cautious guidance to her clients,
> resulting in a >more<
> restrictive interpretation of copyright law as it
> applies to RPGs than will
> probably be warranted in the long run. In my
> opinion, this uncertainty is
> the hidden motive force behind the fragmentation of
> the RPG system market.
Quick question for you, Ryan. I was in a game store
earlier this week and picked up a copy of the Knights
of the Dinner Table on a recommendation from a friend
who's been reading it for years. I saw an ad for a
game called Hackmaster in there, and darned if the
sample monster in there didn't look just like
something from First Edition or Second Edition. Did
they buy the old game system from you, or did they
clean room one of the above to make a new thing
they're calling Hackmaster? Or something else
entirely? My friend the KODT fan told me they've been
throwing around the word Hackmaster for years and only
now actually produced a real game for it. What is
going on there?
Neal
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