RE: [Ogf-l] Scarred Lands

[Mike Draper]

Title: RE: [Ogf-l] Scarred Lands

Nah you're perfectly coherent, I'm just being silly.

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of William Olander
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 1:39 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: RE: [Ogf-l] Scarred Lands

Oh no, have I been babbling incoherently? I've been looking over some of my more recent e-mails and wondering what I was thinking. I hope this came out meaning what I had intended.

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Draper [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 4:49 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Ogf-l] Scarred Lands

All your base are belong to us.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of William Olander
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 1:23 PM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: RE: [Ogf-l] Scarred Lands

I'm not seeing the down side of this at all.
Here I am imagining myself as a Character.

Bill
5th Level Computer Programmer
Int: 15 Wis: 17 Cha: 13
Feats: Create Database, Build Computer
Skills: C +5, C++ +3, Java +3

[insert some more characters]

The names of the various characters are all PI, everything else is open.
[Insert OGL here]

Now, given this example Bill is a fairly common name and I wouldn't expect it to be trademarkable. However, if used in conjunction with those stats, feats, and skills it defines a character that I have created myself. I don't want 'Bill' showing up in other works randomly. I worked very hard on him and don't want to loose control of what he does.

Now someone creates a new 'Bill' who is an accountant. I don't have a problem with that and can't do anything about it. He's a different 'Bill'.

Also, if someone takes those stats that I made open and creates 'Bob' the programmer. I don't have a problem with that either since Bob is another programmer.

This is similar to something I picked out of the DR FAQ: "Many Dominion Gamers told us they wanted to use DR as the basis for their dominions, but didn't want to be forced to grant open-source-style rights over them." It's a different mechanic, but it is the same logic.

-Bill (Non-Trademarked)

|-----Original Message-----
|From: Kal Lin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
|
|Going with your example, suppose the producers of Cats PI'd
|every character name.  To suggest people can't use the PI'd name
|Demeter (greek mythology) in conjunction with the OGC stat
|block for Demeter is:
|1) allowed under the OGL
|2) hindering the reuse of a stat block derived from the SRD
|3) in my opinion not in the spirit of open gaming
|