Anything RPG copyright?
Community Forums/General Help/Anything RPG copyright?
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| Are any classes, races, magic, abilities, etc. actually restricted for others to use in games? This is just for a reference, for now. |
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| I understand that Tolkien's estate have a trademark on hobbits. I guess halflings would be an acceptable substitute for hobbits. |
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| I would start by asking myself, "Have I seen this class, race, ability, etc. in a book, a movie, or another game?" That should already give you a pretty clear idea of what is and is not under copyright. There are exceptions, of course, in which something may still not be copyrighted and the reason it hasn't appeared elsewhere is that it was taken from a more obscure source. As for specific examples, you probably couldn't make a game featuring spells called fonic hymns or an ability called Overlord's Wrath (from Tales of the Abyss and Disgaea, respectively), but, in the case of abilities and spells, a name change and an alteration of the graphics associated with them would probably make them sufficiently different. So many games feature similar spells and abilities already that no one would know the difference. Stay away from anything that is too central to another game's (or book's, or movie's) plot, though, as those things are more likely to be noticeable. Races get trickier. The above question should answer what can and cannot be used in most cases, but there are some cases that are not quite so clear cut. I would stick to those which you either come up with yourself or can be found in mythology or older texts whose copyright has expired (elves and dwarves being the classic, albeit slightly worn, examples). |
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| :) That one's a given. EDIT: And I mean at Gabriel's post. |
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| But I've seen the same kind of classes (name and look) and races (name and look) in multiple games. Well, I mean "human" can't be copyrighted, and is used in MANY RPGs. |
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| Look for old forklore and legends, take your inspiration from them, not current media. This way copyright isn't an issue. |
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| Then chances are good they aren't copyrighted. If the source of the original race or class is not obvious, it may be worth investigating, if not for any other reason than to have a better understanding of what you're dealing with (which is always helpful when coming up with plot, characters, backstory, etc.). Also, those races are probably inspired by mythology or older stories that have accompanying artwork and descriptions, and many of the classes that repeat themselves (such as fighter/warrior or wizard/mage) are not exactly original concepts. |
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| I don't know of any classic D&D Races/Classes that are copyrighted or trademarked. |
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| Are any classes, races, magic, abilities, etc. actually restricted for others to use in games? Generally no. Systems however (GURPS, D20, Traveller, etc.) are generally off-limits.Classes on the other hand are fair game. The Warrior/Mage/Thief is simply a fantasy version of Rock/Paper/Scissors. As far as races go, that's more or less the same deal. In a high fantasy setting, you might be able to get away with having a wookie race, if they in no manner resembled Chewbacca. Generally tho' I'd proably do my own thing, just to be on the safe side. Besides Tolkienesque high fantasy is boring. Do what Perturbatio suggests. Dwarves, Elves and Giants are pretty safe, because they're plagiarized from Norse Mythology anyway, and thus predates Tolkien and similar high fantasy authors by about a millennium. I'm also pretty sure you can't have a "Chaos" race without running into problems with Games Workshop. For reference, Cyanide got sued by Games Workshop for Chaos League, because Games Workshop thought it was too similar to Blood Bowl (which it was, fair enough, but so was Brutal Sports Football). |
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| D20 is free to use as you please as I understand it; it's the campaign settings that you need to license (Forgotten Realms etc). EDIT : Turns out that's changed. |
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| Thanks everyone for your help! ... But, if anyone has anything else to add, add it. :) |
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| If you are just refering to the names the simple answer is yes. The more complicated answer is finding out which are and which are not. Races from folk lore are fine, as stated above, and classes that are simply descriptive, warrior, wizard, etc. are also ok to use. Here is a partial list of Intellectual Property owned by Wizards of the Coast. The following items are designated Product Identity, as defined in Section 1(e) of the Open Game License Version 1.0a, and are subject to the conditions set forth in Section 7 of the OGL, and are not Open Content: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master, Monster Manual, d20 System, Wizards of the Coast, d20 (when used as a trademark), Forgotten Realms, Faerûn, proper names (including those used in the names of spells or items), places, Red Wizard of Thay, the City of Union, Heroic Domains of Ysgard, Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, Windswept Depths of Pandemonium, Infinite Layers of the Abyss, Tarterian Depths of Carceri, Gray Waste of Hades, Bleak Eternity of Gehenna, Nine Hells of Baator, Infernal Battlefield of Acheron, Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, Twin Paradises of Bytopia, Blessed Fields of Elysium, Wilderness of the Beastlands, Olympian Glades of Arborea, Concordant Domain of the Outlands, Sigil, Lady of Pain, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, beholder, gauth, carrion crawler, tanar’ri, baatezu, displacer beast, githyanki, githzerai, mind flayer, illithid, umber hulk, yuan-ti. If you are being more rules specific then you can't use any rules in your computer games, not even the open D20 rules. |
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| It's very much down to the context and cactual resemblences. Though 'generic' "races" or "classes" which are named based on pre-existing mythologies (whether or not they reflect that mythology accurately) or actual professions and socio/cultural/economic labels, i.e. "Elf, Witch, Paladin, Dwarf, Troll, Peasant" then there's a very good likelihood that the name will not breach any copyright. Same as using "Sword", "Elysium", "Pandemonium", "Spellbook", "Wand Of Fire", "Strength" or "Hit Points" separately. These are all too common and generic. However, if you then define further, and effectively mimic in detail existing copyrighted material BEYOND THE ATTRIBUTION OF HISTORY/MYTHOLOGY/COMMON BELIEF (i.e. include details which were 'invented' specifically by the copyright holder/licensor) then there's a risk that you could cross a line. As far as rules go, just requiring that a success/failure is related to the combination of a "dice roll" with modifiers that may be applicable according to "stats/abilities/skills/spells" or "items/equipment bonuses(bonii?)" Is not by itself copyrighted, however the exact methods employed and the particular application of the rules can be brought under IP. So basically, so long as you are not (intending to or otherwise) copy / use the same existing rules or the Races/Classes including specifics only attributable to an existing copyright holder, then you should be ok. |
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| If you are being more rules specific then you can't use any rules in your computer games, not even the open D20 rules. You cannot copyright the ruleset to a game.http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html |
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| . . . Applies solely to the US and any international format where the US law is deemed particular to the license. Whilst Copyright legislation may not protect the ideas and implications of the written word, trademark policies, Intellectual Property rights and patents can cover the bulk of original, creative material which is not completely protected within copyright law. So, for example. the D20 ruleset exists as IP and is patented to WotC. You can use it, but must either declare its unoriginality (and potentially risk requiring a license), or exclude it from any publishing. The advantage is, the rulesset does not require to be described as written for a computer game, and where the code mimics the mechanics of a rules system, it is work dne in coding it that is done by yourself. The code is therefore original, and the final published material which does not describe the rulesset or refer to D20 in any way, can therefore also be considered original. |
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| . . . Applies solely to the US And members of the Berne Convention, which is virtually every country you would ever do business with and is regularly upheld by member countries of the UN. Whilst Copyright legislation may not protect the ideas and implications of the written word, trademark policies, Intellectual Property rights and patents can cover the bulk of original, creative material which is not completely protected within copyright law. IP rights are generally defined as: copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets. Each has specific rules, provisions and exclusions of what can be protected. So, for example. the D20 ruleset exists as IP and is patented to WotC. The D20 system is not patented. WotC holds 15 patents and none of them relate to D20. |
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