No Harry Potter RPG?

[Ranger REG]

Maybe SKR would like to say, but can´t, that if you look up plagiarist in the dictionary, it says "see J. K. Rowling"

Do you have concrete proof she plagiarized?

 

[Ranger REG]

D20 would be a turn-off. It's more suited to keen and/or experienced gamers. I need something which is fairly easy to GM, doesn't require the players to juggle loads of statistics, and could carry the HP world of wizards and muggles.

Any suggestions?

Not necessarily, d20 or at the least the SRD for an OGL-based game, can still be used. You just need to remove the known magic system for something different, one that allows wizards to wield a no. 2 wand as a focus.

 

[painandgreed]

Do you have concrete proof she plagiarized?

Look up the Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman. That is usually the evidence given as it is a story about a dark haired British 12 year old boy with Glasses that is schooled in magic, has a pet owl, and fought a magical creature that nearly killed them. However differenced between the two pretty much end with physical similarity. Neil has said tha there is a long tradtion of spectacled British boys learning magic and doesn't care so long as it is getting kids reading.

There's also N.K. Stouffer who wrote books in the 80's using the word "muggle" and had a character called "Larry Potter". However, the meaning of the word and differences between the characters are pretty big. Stouffer is sueing.

 

[Ranger REG]

Look up the Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman. That is usually the evidence given as it is a story about a dark haired British 12 year old boy with Glasses that is schooled in magic and fougth a magical creature that nearly killed them. However differenced between the two pretty much end with physical similarity. Neil has said tha there is a long tradtion of spectacled British boys learning magic and doesn't care so long as it is getting kids reading.

Well, did Mr. Gaiman sued Ms. Rowling? If so, did he win or was it settled?

If not, why didn't he sue? Were there enough [concrete] evidence, like witness hearing or seeing Ms. Rowling using Mr. Gaiman's work for her own?

 

[painandgreed]

Well, did Mr. Gaiman sued Ms. Rowling? Did he win or was it settled?

Read the part you quoted and you shall have your answer.

 

[Ranger REG]

Read the part you quoted and you shall have your answer.

But is that enough for a [civil] court to be convinced that his work is plagiarized and therefore she violated copyright law?

I mean, one could argue for the Artemis Fowl books.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

There's also N.K. Stouffer who wrote books in the 80's using the word "muggle" and had a character called "Larry Potter". However, the meaning of the word and differences between the characters are pretty big. Stouffer is sueing.

Past tense. Stouffer sued and lost. Rowling handling this case was part of the long delay for Order of the Phoenix.

That is usually the evidence given as it is a story about a dark haired British 12 year old boy with Glasses that is schooled in magic and fougth a magical creature that nearly killed them.

Using the idea of a adolescent boy being schooled in magic and fighting a magical creature is hardly plagiarism. In fact, I'd be very surprised if Gaiman was the first fellow to write a book based on such a premise. By this standard, Shakespeare is a consummate plagiarist -- indeed, there is not a single one of Shakespeare's plots that is original.

 

[Justin Bacon]

There's also N.K. Stouffer who wrote books in the 80's using the word "muggle" and had a character called "Larry Potter". However, the meaning of the word and differences between the characters are pretty big. Stouffer is sueing.

Stouffer lost her case three years ago. It was not only thrown out of court, but she was fined $30,000 for falsifying evidence and ordered to pay part of Rowling's defense costs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2268024.stm

Justin Alexander Bacon
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Justin Bacon]

there is not a single one of Shakespeare's plots that is original.

Urban legend gone bad.

Discounting the history plays (which "lift" their plots from history), the vast majority of Shakespeare's plots are original. Even in cases where he's adapting a popular story of the time to the stage, he's almost always got several original sub-plots running concurrently. The number of plays (such as Romeo & Juliet) where he's actually adapting a pre-existing story makes up a minor portion of his corpus.

This particular urban legend almost certainly arose as a result of the legion of graduate students who go pouring through every document contemporary to Shakespeare looking for the slightest similarity to a Shakespeare plot, and then writing their thesis papers on how Shakespeare "must" have been influenced.

It's particularly fun, from a certain POV, to study the scholarly debates over which real-world shipwreck Shakespeare "must" have been influenced by for THE TEMPEST, resulting in different conclusions in exactly when the play was written in Shakespeare's career.

Justin Alexander Bacon
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Urban legend gone bad.

Discounting the history plays (which "lift" their plots from history), the vast majority of Shakespeare's plots are original.

Mind telling that to both my college Shakespeare professors?