<< I find the entire workings of 'Power Points' to be derivative of
the game mechanics provided through the SRD. Interesting and nice, but without the rest of the
mechanics, nothing is really there.
>>
Alec -- what aspect of costing a super power is per se derivative of the SRD.
Their power costing methodology seems to have been created from wholecloth. It really doesn't look anything like stuff in the SRD to me. Honestly, the only similarity I really see at all is a list of items and the fact that they cost points per rank. Buying ranks of powers is hardly unique to the d20 system.
You're the guy with the law degree and not me, but fundamentally the costing methodology doesn't seem particularly derivative at all. In fact, given that d20 is fundamentally class based and M&M totally rejects the concept of character classes further underscores that a pure point costing mechanic is per se derivative of d20.
Now, I might concur that the power levels chart has 20 levels on it like a d20 character building chart, but that's about the only similarity I see. Even there, I'm not sure that the power levels in M&M really correspond 1:1 to fantasy d20 characters of a similar character level.
Can you share your thinking on this?
<<However anyone using the OGL and trying to figure out
what to do based on the examples of others best
understand that if your exemplars aren't doing it
right, that doesn't provide you with an excuse.
>>
Oh, I agree. But I also tend to think the OGL is fantastically more unclear about some things than you do. But we can probably leave it at that. Apparently the folks at Green Ronin agree with me on that point (that some parts of the OGL have multiple potential readings).
Then again, you read the OGL very conservatively, and so you'd rarely, if ever, be subject to getting taken to court to test your reading of the document. And alternate readings of the document, whether or not they are correct, may be more likely to raise a dispute and end up in court.
Lee Valentine
IANAL
YMMV
