Different philosophies concerning Rules Heavy and Rule Light RPGs.

[chuckdee]

Yes, I agree. Steal isn't the best word choice! I should have said learn or inspire.

Oh I don't think its just you. We say steal in common parlance- I never really thought about the other connotations and how they might be conflated until this conversation.

 

[chuckdee]

Rolemaster looks like a 4 until you start play, where you realize only CGen is Rules Medium Heavy, and actual play is 2.

Thank you for this. I try to tell people that, and it seems to go over heads all the time. CGen, and to an extent leveling are the only player facing things that are intensive. And we even made it simpler by not training in advance.

 

[aramis erak]

Designers steal ideas? Openly? Umm where do I begin? I mean to some degree it falls in a legal "recipe copyright" zone...That I understand, and as someone who has copyright in multiple countries, I can say that openly admitting to stealing other peoples IP is an unwise move.

In the US, it's blackletter law (that is, explicit in the text of the law) that the rules of a game cannot be copyright protected. It is also blackletter that the explicit wording is only protected if it can be paraphrased, tho' that's a very rough summary of a MUCH longer passage.

So, mentioning one's sources is not taboo here. It's often beneficial to sales.

 

[gban007]

Feels to me if can't use prior work as inspiration, then presumably a new moral rpg would not have:

Classes
Levels
6 attributes
A percentile roll under type system
A d20 resolution system
A 2d20 or 2d6 resolution system
Advantage/ disadvantage
Feats
Metacurrencies

And a whole list more.

And I certainly think there are games coming out like that (the new Discworld rpg comesnto mind) but I feel a lot may be taking for granted in this idea of not using other systems for inspiration of what would be left to use.