Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 electrokitty Jun 26, 2008 23:36:41	You know how it is: you have an idea for house rules that eventually turn into a separate system that you decide is good enough to publish, maybe make a few bucks on rpgnow.com, that sort of thing. Well (obviusly) that's what happened to me. Now I'm looking into the possibility and, naturally, worrying about the consequences. So here's the deal. A buddy and I have come up with a decent new game idea that we decided to base on the rules found in Star Wars Saga Edition. Why that? Well, frankly, we like the elegance of the rules; it's a great successor to d20 Modern. So we want to keep important concepts like the three defenses and the condition track, but we've stripped out everything Star Wars related in favor of our new setting and custom rules. So, given those basic rule adaptations and a complete removal of the Star Wars intellectual property, what would be the way to procede? Should I work it as a d20 modern OGL game with custom modifications? Should I approach Wizards for authorization? Should I give up entirely? Or can I outright say "hey, we got these base rules from Saga Edition" and reproduce the feats and talents I want, as long as none of the setting is included? Thoughts, comments, or even subject matter expert contact information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
#2 thinkhard Jun 27, 2008 14:10:43	do your own research. Look up the licensing for saga. Is there an OGL of any kind? etc.
#3 cinanev Jun 27, 2008 23:52:30	Just release as a d20 OGL. Starwars is largely just d20 Future with some adjustments. You should be able to release content in the same way. Though I would make sure that ZERO percent of your work is transcribed from SAGA. The concepts are fine as anyone could have come up with them, but don't copy the text.
#4 electrokitty Jun 28, 2008 13:16:23	do your own research. Look up the licensing for saga. Is there an OGL of any kind? etc. I have; zero content from Saga is OGL. What I'm asking is about the new rule concepts introduced in the work; i.e. the three defenses and the condition track. If I'm particularly careful, can those concepts be translated to a new work safely? They are game rules, after all, and although the text is copyrightable, the rules themselves are not, at least that's what I've been led to believe. Naturally, lawyers will be involved if we ever actually do publish, but I wanted to get a good feel for it before actually embarking down that road.
#5 electrokitty Jun 28, 2008 13:25:30	Just release as a d20 OGL. Starwars is largely just d20 Future with some adjustments. You should be able to release content in the same way. Though I would make sure that ZERO percent of your work is transcribed from SAGA. The concepts are fine as anyone could have come up with them, but don't copy the text. That's what I was thinking: release as a d20 modern OGL, using text from the SRD as much as possible. And you're right... most of Saga is d20 Future--the really sticky part is the new stuff. I really like the three defenses. I really like the condition track. Wait a second... is there prior art? Suddenly I get the feeling that there's an OGL d20 game out there that uses three defenses. Was it True20? Suddenly I wish I had bought more third-party d20 games. Looks like it may be time for a trip out of town to a game store.