> [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Now, my question is, how > copyrighted and/or closed are the methods in the PHB?
Very. IF you use them you leave the OGL safe harbor. But that isn't as bad as it might seem. All you have to do is find what you need in the OGC that Wizards has released. Virtually everything you need for character creation is already there. I've gone through it at least twice, and I have what I believe is a workable and legal set of character creation rules. The are being released as 100% OGC through the Open Roleplaying System project that Mike Cortez is heading up. > I've seen multiple games where stats are determined by using 3d6. > Further, the level > progression used for determining how much more XP is needed to level (next > level = current level * 1000XP) is a mathematical function, and can math > functions be copyrighted? This is much tougher to answer. The formula itself is fair game, but the fact that the WotC game designers chose that particular formula is a more difficult question. This is different than some natural law or fundamental principle, in that opinions were expressed that this formula was best suited to their game. I have been working on a set of rules for character advancement as well, again for the ORPS project. In those rules I reprinted the XP formula exactly. My theory is that it is too basic and simple to deserve protection, but it is just a theory. The XP chart in the DMG is an entirely different situation. It is clearly a hand-tweaked table expressing the judgment of the designers, and I believe it deserves near-complete protection. Instead of copying it, I reverse-engineered my own table based on the XP chart, using MY judgment to balance the game (using an n-encounters-per-level formula and an exponential function to scale between CR and party level). When I was finished I checked my chart against the DMG, and it is +/- 5% in nearly every area. My players haven't been able to tell the difference. -Brad _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
