New SRD-based rules system...GORE...by Goblinoid Games

[Goblinoid Games]

Ok... What is stopping me from taking say MRQ, rewording it, altering the layout, changing spell names, etc then releasing it as my own game with my own OGL?

MRQ, Gore, Runequest, are all takes on the BRP... the OGL just seems crazy, what exactly is it protecting or allowing?

Keep in mind this is all just IMO.

Nothing much is stopping you if you really wanted to do this, especially since Mongoose released a big portion of their text as OGC. But the point is this, the OGL gives publishers the option of using material that has been made OGC. It also explicitly grants publishers the right to create derivitive works of OGC. So it protects by creating a legal avenue for derivitive OGC work, and creates a network of text that can be shared. It also allows publishers to specifically exclude some text from OGC. This material is called Product Identity, and has the usual protections outside of the OGL.

Now if I understand correctly, MRQ itself is not produced under the OGL. They took text from MRQ and designated it OGC.

 

[Quire]

All makes sense, Daniel.

What intrigues me from a legal standpoint is: you've effectively taken Mongoose's OGC and shifted it back towards BRP. GORE is still different _enough_, but I wonder what Chaosium think of all this?

Which also raises the qestion of what IP can actually be protected in terms of RPGs. You can't copyright using percentile dice to resolve tasks, or rolling 3D6 for STR. Or even having a stat called STR.

- Q

 

[Quire]

BTW, when I open the GORE pdf I get a DLL error in Acrobat. It doesn't seem to be happening with any other PDFs, so I was wondering if anyone else was getting that.

What software was used to author the PDF?

- Q

 

[Exubae]

Aside my confusion with OGL's its still a tidy concise pdf you've got there... nice one... but Gore is a bit close to Chaosium's BRP though.

 

[Magistus]

Yeah, sorry didn't mean to derail your thread.

 

[Goblinoid Games]

BTW, when I open the GORE pdf I get a DLL error in Acrobat. It doesn't seem to be happening with any other PDFs, so I was wondering if anyone else was getting that.

What software was used to author the PDF?

- Q

I've heard this from some other people, so I need to try to find out what is going on. It was converted to PDF with the full version 7.0 from a Microsoft publisher file.

 

[Goblinoid Games]

but I wonder what Chaosium think of all this?

I'm not sure if they know, and when they do know I don't know if they will care or not.

The bottom line is that GORE will not take any money away from them, and it is certainly not meant to. It is a means for publishers to create material with a solid, familiar game system.

 

[HyrumOWC]

but I wonder what Chaosium think of all this?

I'm not sure if they know, and when they do know I don't know if they will care or not.

The bottom line is that GORE will not take any money away from them, and it is certainly not meant to. It is a means for publishers to create material with a solid, familiar game system.

Yeah, but they can still get nasty about it if they want to. You don't need to be making money for them to sue you. (If they choose to.)

Ultimately it comes down to whether or not they care enough to start sending you nasty-grams.

Hyrum.

 

[atgxtg]

I suspect Chasoium wouldn't go after the GORE system for a few reasons*

1) Ittakes money to sue someone. Chaosuim, like most RPG companies, doen't have the funds to pursue something like this. Especially when they really coudln't expect to recoup thier court costs from the defendant (can't get blood from a stone, and most RPG companies don't have lots of money).

2) The resistiance chart is essentially the same as the add the difference between the stats to the success chance concept. Just put on a table.

3) THe Mongoose OLG does make the situation a little more sticky. There is always the chance that the court could say that Chasoum doesn't own BRP, and that the system is owned by Mongoose.

4) Going after what are obviously fans of the system in a case like this. In the end going after the fans is like shooting oneself in the foot. Best case scenario is that those fans no longer use (or buy) your products. In most cases the company ends up looking rather pretty and just arrgravates other fans, who in turn stop buying products. Besides, something like the tends to generate more sales for the intial company anyway.

 

[weasel_fierce]

Similar cases in computer gaming have established that a game mechanic cannot be patented. Only the specific expression.

If you want to rewrite the MRQ rulebook and sell it as your own, you can, OGL or not.
What the OGL allows is for you to use specific rules terms, as well as specific wordings, rather than start from scratch

 

[gamesmeister]

Similar cases in computer gaming have established that a game mechanic cannot be patented. Only the specific expression.

If you want to rewrite the MRQ rulebook and sell it as your own, you can, OGL or not.
What the OGL allows is for you to use specific rules terms, as well as specific wordings, rather than start from scratch

Plus of course with the OGL you can use the RQ logo and name on your product, thus very likely significantly increasing your potential customer base.

 

[iamtim]

Plus of course with the OGL you can use the RQ logo and name on your product

That's not 100% correct... there's an additional license for the RQ logo, just as there is for the d20 logo. If you use only the OGL, you do NOT get to use the RQ logo; only if you accept the terms of the RQ logo license as well as the OGL can you use the RQ logo.

 

[gamesmeister]

Plus of course with the OGL you can use the RQ logo and name on your product

That's not 100% correct... there's an additional license for the RQ logo, just as there is for the d20 logo. If you use only the OGL, you do NOT get to use the RQ logo; only if you accept the terms of the RQ logo license as well as the OGL can you use the RQ logo.

Ok thanks, my bad.

 

[Banned Beetle]

This stuff looks REALLY good. Thanks for the free pdf!

Trif.

 

[soltakss]

1. GORE clearly isn't based on BRP or older versions of RQ, it is based on MRQ/RQM, so Chasoium couldn't complain about GORE.

2. I thought the whole point of the OGL was to make the system open and available to others. So, somebody using OGLRQ could write RQ-compatible material or a new game that uses the core rules and not bother about stepping on people's toes. Using another comnay's OGL means that you could use their OGL content in your own game without a problem. So, someone could use some of the ideas from RQ in their D20-or-whatever game because it is all OGL.

3. Trying to stir things up between Chaosium and other game companies is pretty silly. RQ is out, it is better than before, it isn't going away and it's going to spread to a number of systems. If Chaosium want to compete with RQ then they have to do the same with DBRP, which is different enough to RQM and RQ2/3 to be treated as a separate game. If they wanted to, Chaosium could make their material OGL as well, allowing other companies to use it as the base of other games. Will they do this?

So, the more games that produce vaguely compatible material the better. So what if the rules are a bit different or if the new games have properties that are similar to other games? The more the merrier, as far as I am concerned.

 

[Goblinoid Games]

This stuff looks REALLY good. Thanks for the free pdf!

Trif.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

 

[algauble]

No problem Rurik

Yes, you'll find that the spells get most of their names from the WotC SRD, but their effects have been modified, some more radical than others. You won't find resurrection, or Fire ball, etc, mostly lower magic.

I have been wondering about integrating some D&D magic into RQ. Goblinoid Games, did you use any kind of rules for the spell modifications, or was it more of a case by case process? Hmm, how well would these spells work with RQ sorcery manipulation skills?

This looks like an interesting example of what Mongoose's Runequest OGL allows - hopefully we'll see more along these lines.

Kudos!

 

[Goblinoid Games]

Mostly, the spells are converted to be in GORE terms. This means, of course, that range or other effects cannot be based on class level, since GORE has no classes or levels. For the most part, these spells are adjusted to be a lower power level. I guess the short answer is that no, no concrete system of conversion was used, it was mostly just a judgement call on a case-by-case basis.

Since characters in GORE do not have exactly the same "epic" or "superhero" potential of D&D, this has to be accounted for in spell effects.

 

[Goblinoid Games]

Now, the first product using GORE...

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=20969

 

[Magistus]

Love the Scenario BTW.

Have a question of the Zombies It says that any character that has been bitten by a zombie will become infected, etc... Though the only sill is the Unarmed skill does the bite attack fall under that skill?