haargald said:Regarding whether Mongoose made their system close enough to previous RQ systems and also whether or not it should be considered a BRP variant: It is my understanding that Chaosium plans to roll out new BRP fantasy material in the near future, if Mongoose didn't change things up enough, wouldn't they be at risk of legal action?
No, becuase, and this has been pointed out to the RQ fans on the site by Mongooeses, a company doesn't actually own an RPG system. THey can own the name, creatres, setiing, and certain game reslted terms but not the game.
Technically, you could take a copy of ANY rpg and as long as you changed the name and didn't include any of the speciific stuff mentioned abouve, use it nearly word for word as a game.
From a legal standpoint, Mongoose could have slapped the RQ moniker on the AD&D rules and be within the law. It would probably tick off the majority of RQ fans, lead to hate mail, death threats and whatnot, but it would be within the law.