Where is Perrin?
- Thread starter Golden Wheel Dancer
- Start date
homerjsinnott
Mongoose
Rurik said:mthomason said:atgxtg said:
Yeah! We could all join forces and go troll the living crap out of the d20 boards
We can unite against a single enemy!
Onwards, onwards! To victory!!!!
I like this. We really should organize a raid on some other board when things get slow around here.
Sounds very Orlanthi.
Count me in. Tell me where and when!!!
[shakes spear in fist]
Count me in.
Golden Wheel Dancer
Mongoose
OK..........when does the invasion begin?
:twisted:
:twisted:
Golden Wheel Dancer
Mongoose
well.....he tells us to keep rolling low but in MRQ we have to roll high, low and in between and half it on occassions......
Golden Wheel Dancer
Mongoose
atxgheruofyhoeufhyewkj/ said
Hey! who madce that fangs system up?? Oh man am I drunk and makinf spelling mistakes now
Hey! who madce that fangs system up?? Oh man am I drunk and makinf spelling mistakes now
Golden Wheel Dancer
Mongoose
Oi!!! YOU LOT!!! I'm back.
Steve Perrin wrote a few entries in a thread over at RPG.NET. It seems that Mongoose may be doing the right thing
.....good on 'em.
There is a cheque and copy of the book in the post to him. Also, he wrote to them with a suggestion about being credited in the next edition of RQ (along with the other original creators).....Be nice to see his name in there.
Steve Perrin wrote a few entries in a thread over at RPG.NET. It seems that Mongoose may be doing the right thing
.....good on 'em.There is a cheque and copy of the book in the post to him. Also, he wrote to them with a suggestion about being credited in the next edition of RQ (along with the other original creators).....Be nice to see his name in there.
Golden Wheel Dancer said:Oi!!! YOU LOT!!! I'm back.
Steve Perrin wrote a few entries in a thread over at RPG.NET. It seems that Mongoose may be doing the right thing
There is a cheque and copy of the book in the post to him. Also, he wrote to them with a suggestion about being credited in the next edition of RQ (along with the other original creators).....Be nice to see his name in there.
Yeah, I read that too. I think everyone pretty much agrees that Steve, Ray, and the rest deserve a mention in the credits somewhere. I think it was probably some sort of legal issue that prevented it, since technically Mongoose isn;t lisceing the game out from Steve or Chaosium, but Issaries.
Michael Hopcroft
Mongoose
All I can is that the fact I won't be ab;le to attend DunDraCon this year is an advantage as well as a disadvantage: a disadvantage in that it is my absolute favorite non-GenCon RPG convention, the advantage being I will not be getting into an argument with Mr. Perrin over the idea of RuneQuest being under the OGL.
I think Mr. Perrin objects less to the content of MRQ than to his not getting any of the money RuneQuest-based OGL products will generate. Sort of like the playwright being told about the wonderful production a high school did of one of his shows and then asking "Where's my check then?"
I think Mr. Perrin objects less to the content of MRQ than to his not getting any of the money RuneQuest-based OGL products will generate. Sort of like the playwright being told about the wonderful production a high school did of one of his shows and then asking "Where's my check then?"
Michael Hopcroft said:
If I worte a game, I sure wouldn't be happy with just anyone using my work to base their own products and making money off of it. Even if you discount the money, there are all the bad products that can drag your work down with them.
OGL generally means a lot of medicore and crappy products.
atgxtg said:
But bear in mind, even without the OGL licence someone can legally use the rules you wrote for their own product, and not pay you a penny let alone acknowledge you as the author. Legally all Mongoose have really done is bought the rights to use Glorantha, and the RuneQuest name - I doubt they have bought the rights to the RuneQuest system because legally no such rights exist. (It is possible they have bought the rights to the original copyrighted text however, but only they or the original copyright owners can answer that).
According to the word of the law, anyone here can go pick up the RQ II rulebook (just using this one as an example, pick any RPG book you want), remove all trademark references (including the name) and anything that would make your work a derivative work (so basically any words including spell names and creatures that the authors of RQ II invented), rewrite it in their own words (note that tables, however, are copyrightable) and publish it. According to the word of the law you are okay to do that.
Of course, legal matters tend to settled by who has the most money for a lawyer and not the law itself nowadays, so good luck defending yourself in court against Hasbro when you rip off D&D 3.5 without using the OGL
All a copy of the OGL really does is encourage people to use your rules, not give them permission (they don't need it due to the rules themselves not being copyrightable) and the ability to copy text verbatim, in order to harvest support for your core book. The OGL also forces those publishers that choose to use it to place the all-important acknowledgement text of your choice in section 15 - truth be told, the OGL is as restrictive as it is enabling as by using it you are voluntarily binding yourself to it while by simply rewriting someone elses rules you can get away with a little more.
The important bit at the moment is the logo licence, which is seperate to the OGL - this means the third party publishers get to indicate compatibility without being sued over trademark infringement. Thats what really gets the ball rolling - there's no point me writing a RQ OGL supplement if people can't see on the cover which game it is for. After a while once gamers understand what the heck RuneQuest rules are, the logo becomes far less important - I predict that within 18 months we'll see the first standalone game based upon RuneQuest rules without the logo on the cover and the only mention being in the OGL section 15 at the back.
Yeah, Matt, I know. I didn't say that I'd legally have a leg to stand on, just that I wouldn't be happy with it. At least there is some solace in knowling that the other products can't use your Game name to link to your work.
If the first RQ product that someone sees is 'RipoffQuest: A patethetic attempt to write an RPG supplement by FlybyNight Games, for use with the RuneQuest RPG" then that person will probably judge RQ based upon wht he sees in the OGL supplement.
IMO I think it is stupid that a RPG system can't be protected by copywrite. Sure there are only so many ways to write an RPG. So what? Computer only use 1s and 0s and there are a limited number of ways to manuiplate those 1s and 0s, yet software, images and sound can all be protected under copyright.
If the first RQ product that someone sees is 'RipoffQuest: A patethetic attempt to write an RPG supplement by FlybyNight Games, for use with the RuneQuest RPG" then that person will probably judge RQ based upon wht he sees in the OGL supplement.
IMO I think it is stupid that a RPG system can't be protected by copywrite. Sure there are only so many ways to write an RPG. So what? Computer only use 1s and 0s and there are a limited number of ways to manuiplate those 1s and 0s, yet software, images and sound can all be protected under copyright.
atgxtg said:
Quite right - it _is_ stupid
A company goes through all the trouble of paying someone to design a game system for them, only to end up with something anyone else in the world can rip off if they want. Still, theres all kinds of silly laws around - in the UK I'd actually get arrested if I assaulted someone who breaks into my home and probably end up with a worse sentence than them to boot Really the most you can do at the moment is put the OGL on to protect your work - if you OGL it at least you can hold people to using section 15
Strange really, that the "open" licence actually gives your work a tiny degree more protection (on a somewhat voluntary level) than not having it. Despite not getting paid for it, I'd be quite chuffed to see something of mine reused through the OGL and my name in someone else's section 15. It's something that can be of great use to unknown writers. Obviously hard cash can be of even greater use, but you take what you can get I suppose And yeah, I know you know all about the legal stuff - it was more for the benefit of any observers that didn't - I guess I just love educating people
atgxtg said:
Software, images, and sound are the equivalent of an RPG book, which is copyrightable. It's only the mechanics that can't have a copyright because a copyright doesn't cover that type of IP. OTOH, if they're truelly innovative, someone can certainly patent them, which is the protection that mechanics would fall under.
