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King of Old School

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Everything posted by King of Old School

  1. I think (hope!) River of Heaven will do a pretty good job of bringing SF into the BRP fold. KoOS
  2. Awesomesauce. My softcover copy is on the verge of blowing its glue binding, so if it's signature-bound I'm all over that! KoOS
  3. Jason, How's the binding? That's really the only remaining question that will determine whether or not I pick up a copy. Thanks, KoOS
  4. Yes on the former, no on the latter. I think you'll find that most people consider descriptive text to fall under copyright unless opened to fair use through some instrument such as the OGL. Descriptions would fall under the "specific expression of an idea" concept that is protected under copyright. KoOS
  5. It's anything that falls under the default description of OGC that isn't declared as Product Identity. The onus is on the publisher to make the declaration upfront. FTR, I don't dispute that the OGL as written is full of vagaries and legal loopholes. I guess in the end, my point is that using the OGL and the BRP license together is probably a bad idea. KoOS
  6. It's not just magic, and it's not just the names; it also includes the descriptive or explanatory text for any kind of special ability, effect or equipment. The only part you can't close is the underlying mechanical structure. You can say that a given special ability causes 3d6 of damage or paralyzes the target for 5 turns or whatever, but you will have to rename the ability and rewrite the descriptive text entirely... and at that point, you're more or less in the same boat as you would be without the OGL. KoOS
  7. Actually, the key part is "to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity." All that is necessary is to claim that your specific expression of a given mechanic is Product Identity. So long as the mechanic is something original (i.e. not derived from the SRD or another OGC source), it's now closed. One example would be "Power Points" in Mutants & Masterminds, which are explicitly declared as PI in both the front of the book and in the OGL at the back. You can write your own definition of a Power Points mechanic (including one that was very much like PP in BRP), but using the M&M mechanic as written in an OGL product is verboten and, depending on how closely the rest of your product hewed to M&M, would very possibly get you in hot water with Green Ronin. There are other examples, but M&M is the easiest to use because GR is polite enough to make their PI declaration explicit (unlike, say, Monte Cook...). KoOS
  8. It is true that game mechanics can be closed under the OGL, as any number of D20 publishers have demonstrated in print (Monte Cook is particularly bad for issuing what is referred to as "OGL crippleware"). One method for this is simply to declare certain specific mechanical terms as Product Identity, such that replacing the terms amounts to rewriting the mechanics (which, of course, you can do with any non-OGL mechanics). That said, the OGL and the Chaosium BRP license are, as written, incompatible. It's always possible that Chaosium could waive their objections in specific cases, but I doubt it. KoOS
  9. The math doesn't add up. Suggestion: Since the armor bonus is applied every 10 levels, apply the movement penalty for every 10 levels as well; so, a character using Density Control 20 would have her combat movement reduced from 10 units/round to 6 units/round. KoOS
  10. I am enamoured with the new BRP corebook, and curious to see what everyone is doing with theirs. My own current projects: * Urban fantasy, inspired by Iron Kingdoms, New Crobuzon, Cadwallon and WFRP. * Modern occult espionage, basically taking the best (IMO) parts from Nephilim, Kult, Unknown Armies and Delta Green. KoOS
  11. Hi PK Games, My problem is that I'd love to see AT-43 as an RPG, but I don't play wargames and thus the only materials I have for the setting are various promo (i.e. free) bits I've picked up here and there. Not enough to do a proper conversion of anything, really (esp. since I agree that the Cold War-esque stuff is the real meat of a potential RPG, not the battles). But rest assured that there's at least one other BRP player out there who's as interested in a conversion as you are! KoOS
  12. If you have a university nearby, either they'll have their own press or the library should be able to point you in the right direction. KoOS
  13. I liked BRP so much, I took my softcover to my local bindery and had it rebound as a (plain black) hardback. Now it lays flat nicely, and it's a lot more durable. Plus, it just looks sweet! KoOS
  14. Wow! I am incredibly happy with the BRP corebook. It's clean, well thought out, flexible, easy to expand or modify... in short, it's infinitely useful for actually running and playing the game. I can do an awful lot with it. It certainly has whetted my appetite for putting together a BRP game... or two... Utmost praise to messrs Durall and Johnson for producing such an inspiring work! KoOS
  15. Hi all, I thought I'd be polite and post an introduction here. I'm a long time fan of Call of Cthulhu but am very eagerly looking forward to the new BRP corebook so that I can check out all the neat system variations from RQ that I've always been curious to see. KoOS
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