From: "Lizard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> But what does 'derivative' mean, in this context?
It means "an enhancement over the prior art". In other words, if I
contributed a rule, and you made another rule that used my rule, or that
used my rule as the basis of a larger rule, you would be creating an
"enhancement" and thus it would need to be Open Game Content as well.
There are clearly some very basic concepts (roll a die, add two numbers
together, compare one value to another, make a declaration, consult a table,
etc.) that simply cannot be made OGC because they are so generic and obvious
as to be beyond consideration as anything other than public domain concepts.
They're not rules, they're just obvious basic instructions.
"roll a d20 and compare the result to a target number" is not ever going to
be OGC. It's just too basic a concept to be a rule.
"To make a melee attack, roll a d20, apply Size, Strength, Magic, and other
relevant bonuses or penalties. Compare the result to the target's AC. If
the attack roll is equal to or larger than the target's AC, the attack is
successful." is a rule, could be made OCG, and if you enhanced it, you'd
have to make your enhancements OGC as well.
If I was asked for a definition between a concept and a rule, I'd say that a
rule has to actually have to tell you how to do something specific. "roll a
d20 and compare to a target number" is an instruction - it doesn't tell you
what you're doing, what happens if you're successful, or even how to tell if
the "comparison" was favorable or unfavorable. The second example tells you
that a) you're making a melee attack, b) there are adjustments to the die
roll, c) there is a specific value derived from some other source to compare
against, and d) how to determine if the comparison was successful or not.
Another example of an "ehancement over the prior art" would be if I wrote
the rules to calculate AC values, and you wrote the attack rule. By
including the results of my rule (AC values), your rule would be an
"enhancement" of my rule and would need to be OGC. In this fashion, OGC can
propagate through a rules system through the inclusion of results; kind of
like how functions link in computer software to create webs of interlocking
code.
Another example of an "ehancement over the prior art" would be an OGC
description of how to calculate and present a stat block in a specific,
defined manner. Any stat blocks you present using that description
(especially if the data you populate the state block with is the result of
applying other rules) becomes OGC.
Ryan
