At 11:32 PM 9/27/00 EDT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>In a message dated 9/27/00 9:49:26 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>>Where did > that < idea come from?
>
>It was running around last week while you were gone...several people here
>decided that the definition of "Open Game Content" (describing it as game
>rules, etc) automatically made all rules OGC...which was weird as it isn't
>common for something in the definition section of a contract to have the
>ability to do anything but define...:D
>>
>>The only new material that anyone is required to make Open Game Content
>>is material derived from other Open Game Content (an "enhancement over the
>>prior art").
>>
>Which I interpret as basically when I go and make an expanded "Turn Undead"
>table built upon the original, that would automatically become open. If I
>develop a "Make a Star Go Nova" table, based on nothing more than the idea
of
>making it work in d20, its *not* automatically open. Did I get that right?
I don't think so. The OGL applies to a document. Anything in the document
is either Open Gaming Content, or Product Identity. Game rules *cannot* be
Product Identity, so they MUST be Open Gaming Content.
At least, that's my interpretation.
Of course, since (repeat after me) "game-rules-cannot-be-copyrighted",
there's really not much you can do to keep me from copying your Make A Star
Go Nova table, slapping the OGL on it, and opening it that way.
Hm.
For that matter I could (if I wanted to, and I don't want to) take *any*
game system (Say, World Of Dimness), rewrite the rules in my own words, and
release "Lizards D10 Dice Pool System, Suitable For Modern Dark Fantasy Or
Other Games" under the OGL. Then anyone wishing to use those rules could
just use my version verbatim, no need to rewrite yet AGAIN. Heh. You could
open any game system this way, if you were willing to put in the effort...
Or am I missing something? (Aside from the fact that, other than for a
small number of games, the value is in the PI, *not* the rules, so the
effort would be rather moot -- and I'd rather come up with nifty D20 stuff
than rewrite every game system under the sun 'in my own words')
