[DF] Holy water seems to have no purpose

[Stone Dog]

The OGL only covers the material in the SRD, not the AD&D material, and only SRD material used in a certain way. It is useless from a GURPS point of view.

But the general inspiration of AD&D supplement types is sound, even if "sampling" from the books themselves isn't.

GURPS already has a solid grasp on survival rules, but a GURPS Outdoors supplement (besides being hilariously named) might be very handy to people wishing more realism in their survival epics.

Tomes of Magic are already well represented in Magic and Thaumatology, but since the first has a spotty reputation refinishing it might be worth a shot. Plus a Grimoire of additional colleges, books, paths and other such options would be welcome.

A Rogues Gallery of villains, nefarious organizations and NPCs would do nicely for DF. Even naming it "Boss Fights" might not be so terrible.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Actually, wholly legal due to the OGL, though not something on which you want SJG to waste resources.

READ the OGL. It's not a blanket "do what you will" license. You can ONLY use it to make OGL games (GURPS is not and will never be distributed under the Open Game License). Also, the Beholder, the Mind Flayer, the Drow, and the other distinctive monsters B-Dog is agitating for are NOT part of the open game content. They're explicitly excluded from OGL licensing, meaning you can't even make OGL game supplements using them.

Why? Because those are monsters that TSR invented*. When WotC bought TSR, they bought those rights. And then after then, Hasburo bought the rights when they bought WotC. These are monsters that they can argue about in court without immediately being laughed at and dismissed (unlike vampires, dragons, orcs, goblins, centaurs, etc).

Ripping them off would invite a lawsuit if Hasburo ever noticed you doing it. And even if SJG and the rest of the RPG industry are small potatos compared to Hasburo, SJG are still one of the biggest "also rans" and would hit the radar at Hasburo pretty quickly if they tried to knock off those races too closely.

Small fry can get away with referring to them with cute names, especially in OGL or D20 supplements that would result in the player going back to the original books from WotC to look up stats. Stealing them for an entirely different game system owned and printed by one of the few vaguely credible compeditors? Who's also producing viable card games and boardgames which compete directly with WotC and Hasburo's main lines of business?

There'd be a lawsuit so fast I could hear the lawyers shrieking with glee from up here in Canada.

* or at least built up enough original material around them that the familiar versions are new unique products. They can't claim "dark elves" as original, because the Norse would have a thing or two to say about that, but the matriarchal, spider obsessed "drow" are. Mind Flayers were sourced from a few different places that most geeks can recognize, but the final D&D product (a race of telepathic brain eating slavers that reproduce via parasitic tadpoles) is unique.
The claims may or may not stand up in court - I don't think they've ever been tested. But they're at least sound enough that it would get to court, instead of being laughed at.

[b-dog]

So how close is ok for ripping off ideas but not going to court? I think that if GURPS could make something close enough to AD&D monsters then I could just plug in GURPS monter stats into my AD&D adventures.

[sir_pudding]

Pathfinder gets around this somewhat though, with monsters that are close to product identity without being legally dubious. That said, b-dog, Pathfinder is a perfectly good game, and much closer to D&D, maybe you'd rather be playing that instead?

[knarf]

Originally Posted by b-dog

So how close is ok for ripping off ideas but not going to court? I think that if GURPS could make something close enough to AD&D monsters then I could just plug in GURPS monter stats into my AD&D adventures.

If there's enough interest and a writer who can do it, I'm sure a bestiary supplement (DF or otherwise) could be easily done. Til then, we'll just have to convert them one by one, and maybe post them up here for others to enjoy.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by knarf

If there's enough interest and a writer who can do it, I'm sure a bestiary supplement (DF or otherwise) could be easily done. Til then, we'll just have to convert them one by one, and maybe post them up here for others to enjoy.

Yes if some writer would make a book with the ripped off AD&D monsters that would be great. But there are many magic items from the Dungeon Masters Guide and Unearth Arcana that can be ripped off too.

[Stone Dog]

Originally Posted by b-dog

So how close is ok for ripping off ideas but not going to court?

How much could somebody steal from you and then sell before you got upset about it?

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Pathfinder gets around this somewhat though, with monsters that are close to product identity without being legally dubious. That said, b-dog, Pathfinder is a perfectly good game, and much closer to D&D, maybe you'd rather be playing that instead?

I've already spent a lot of money on GURPS so I am not sure about spending more money on another system yet. I have the BRP Classic Fantasy game and that is almost the same as AD&D but there is only one book for it now.

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

How much could somebody steal from you and then sell before you got upset about it?

I work as a chemist and we reverse engineer all of the time. Plus, D&D should be happy that GURPS has stats for their monsters so that people like me will be more likely to buy D&Ds adventures and suppliments.

[Lonewulf]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

How much could somebody steal from you and then sell before you got upset about it?

The Mind Flayer is a thin, lithe, small version of Cthulhu. Consider:

--Tentacles on face.
--Otherwise humanoid body.
--Can drive you insane through telepathic abilities.


A lot of fiction is like that, and D&D especially. They rip off stuff from mythology and other stories, rename it, change some minor features, then make them stupid or Truly Evil so adventurers can go around killing them. ;)

Not that that's bad. A lot of of fiction is about being inspired and putting a new idea on it. If they weren't, there would be a LOT less fiction in the world.