Have you ever ripped off an idea & passed it off as your own?

[Sunseeker]

Sure. But I try to avoid direct copy-pasta. In the previous example, a quirky dragon companion who randomly buddies up with one of the party members can be fun, and though I might steal ideas as to how it will act, what it will say, how it might look from Mushu, I would never go so far as to clone him.

I like creating NPCs, even if they're not so original in concept or theme, I try to at least make them unique.

 

[kitsune9]

Since I've been writing my entire campaign that I'm currently running, I'll come across ideas and concepts from other places and put them in my games.

For example in my last campaign, I created a ranger hireling who had the ability to smell the evil that people did and used that ability to track them. That ranger was based on a ranger type character called Hurin in the Wheel of Time series. He was a relatively minor character, but I really liked him and created the NPC for the group.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Finding out some scenario that I found interesting was just a ripoff of a Disney cartoon was just a let down to my memory of the game. I was disappointed to find out just how unoriginal the DM actually was being. He couldn't even change the characters name? I'm not 12 years old, I don't want to help you play out a Xena episode. But if your adventure was inspired by a Xena episode, then let's game! That's all I'm saying.

I understand what you are saying - however, was it normal for this DM to discuss his or her inspirations with you? Or, did they keep things close to the vest so you, the players, would be surprised by the NPC? Maybe if the DM said the quirky dragon was Mushu from Mulan, the DM feared somebody might have rented/borrowed/bought the movie to find out any secrets? Are you still in contact with this person? If so, did they admit to stealing Mushu? Did the DM steal anything else - did the campaign involve stopping a horde of rampaging Huns? Was there an NPC female disguised as a male?

 

[bradfhancock]

I try to be as creative as possible but my current campaign is reeking of Greek mythology

 

[UnknownAtThisTime]

Finding out some scenario that I found interesting was just a ripoff of a Disney cartoon was just a let down to my memory of the game.

I think this distills it then. Different strokes for different folks - which is fine indeed.

I don't think finding out a scenario that I enjoyed was a "ripoff" would retro-actively make me enjoy -or even appreciate it- it less.

(I still maintain that any DM calling a wyrmling sidekick "Mushu" was not hiding anything. )

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I don't recall every copying something directly from another source without adapting it to the game, but of course I get inspiration all over the place. If anyone asks, I'll happily tell them the influences--at least as far as I know them myself. About the closest I ever game to a direct steal was rerunning a starter adventure that a cousin developed to show me how to play/GM, for another set of beginning players. Basically, I treated his adventure like a bought module. I don't recall if the players knew that or not, but i would certainly have told them had they asked in any way.

A big part of the fun for me is what I develop myself, to the point where I'm seldom all the enarmored on running even well done purchased modules--too much trouble to adapt. What I will do is take some inspiration, twist it in some way, but then have it look the same as the source material on the surface. There's a good reason for this:

I've got a group of about half social gamers and half experienced, "geekier" types that get these references. The more experienced types will sometimes interpret things from references, to try to get an advantage in the scenario. (Which is strange, since they aren't normally the type to use player knowledge that the characters wouldn't have, but there you go ... everyone has quirks.) When I put one of these "direct inspirations" into the game, it's to freak these guys out or give them a red herring. This keeps them honest, without affecting the social gamers whatsoever.

 

[Oryan77]

was it normal for this DM to discuss his or her inspirations with you?

I don't expect a DM to tell me every time he incorporates a character, artifact, etc etc from one source and uses it in his game. That's not what I'm suggesting. I'd prefer that he not even incorporate that content in the first place. Being inspired and using something similar is completely different than ripping something off and using that exact thing.

When I made the comment about being upfront about stealing content, I'm referring to when a DM wants to recreate an entire scenario. If you can't change things enough to make it more your own, then I will be disappointed if I realize I'm helping you recreate a scenario from a tv show. But if I was told, "I want to run an adventure that is pretty much the exact episode from Xena." then I would be more understanding (but probably still disappointed).

If I'm playing a FR campaign and I meet Drizzt, that's fine since Drizzt is part of the setting. But I don't want to play in a Dark Sun game and then meet Peter Pan because the DM thinks it's funny. And I don't want to play a Star Wars game and have a merchant give a crew member a Tribble from Star Trek that eats up our food and multiplies enough that the ship is infested with them until they start dying off from poisoned food stock. But if you called them Reptilaks and they were armadillo looking creatures that multiplied when exposed to a humans scent & loved eating electricity; that's less obvious of it being a ripoff even though I may still figure it out. At least I wouldn't feel so much like I'm recreating a scene from Star Trek for you.

I'll say it again since people seem to be ignoring a key point in my rant; I don't care if he uses a concept as inspiration for his own scenario, just don't use the exact same content. Change the names, tweak a little bit of something so it isn't noticeably an exact ripoff. That's all.

(I still maintain that any DM calling a wyrmling sidekick "Mushu" was not hiding anything. )

Oh, that could be the case. Like you said, just because I wasn't familiar with the character or movie doesn't mean he was trying to deceive me. My gripe isn't whether or not he was being deceiving. It makes it no more or less lame to me either way. I just thought it was cheesy that he in fact used the actual character in his game & it didn't seem as interesting of an experience anymore.

 

[David Howery]

many years ago, in a letter to Dragon, I said something along the lines of 'all good DMs are borrowers'... God knows I certainly did it... everything from comic books to fantasy movies/books to real life battles (Rorke's Drift!), and even a couple of John Wayne movies.

But claiming they were totally my own ideas? nah... if anyone asked, I fessed up as to where I got them...

 

[fanboy2000]

When I made the comment about being upfront about stealing content, I'm referring to when a DM wants to recreate an entire scenario. If you can't change things enough to make it more your own, then I will be disappointed if I realize I'm helping you recreate a scenario from a tv show. But if I was told, "I want to run an adventure that is pretty much the exact episode from Xena." then I would be more understanding (but probably still disappointed).

Unless you left something out, the other DM didn't recreate an entire scenario. He created an NPC based on character from a movie. You weren't playing a chinese woman dressing as man to save your aging father from being drafted. It sounds to me like your Tiefling Rogue was in the exact opposite circumstance (and temperament) of Mulan, actually.

Think about it, you were in the campaign for a month did you ever find out why Mushu picked you? Because if you didn't, who's to say that a satisfying reason wouldn't have become known to you? Maybe one that isn't lifted from the movie?

 

[Hussar]

To be fair, in my last SF campaign that I ran, I ganked all sorts of short stories for inspiration for scenarios. Starshipsofa and Escape Pod both served as major points of inspiration. I built a scenario from "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster that was pretty much word for word from the story.

But, it's a HELL of a good story and with a title like that, how could I not use it.

But, I didn't try to pass it off as my own. I put up a bibliography in my campaign wiki to let people know some great stories.