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Message: <blockquote data-quote="psiconauta_retro" data-source="post: 6891040" data-attributes="member: 6691489">I recently started dreaming with making my own rpg. I would do it only for love to the game and for my own satisfaction, and I would like that the final product has professional quality.  Thinking about what I need it seems the most basic are the setting/ambiance (Fluff) and the mechanics (Crunch). I like the mechanics of several games and I would like to use them, but I don’t know if I am free to so use them (obviously I want to avoid any legal problems or to upset companies that I admire and support). The mechanics of each rpg system are copyrighted and therefore if I use any part of them a license is needed? How strict is the criteria? I mean, “roll a 20, add modifiers and compare against a target number” is the basic roll for the d20 system and its alike, so if I use that mechanic I am already infringing their property?    I have read a little about WotC´s OGL and I understand it would allow me to use and modify their Open Game Content (OGC), but how about if I want to include a mechanics similar to WW´s pool of d10s? I don’t see that WW has an OGL so I am not free to use that mechanic freely? There are many game systems and each one seems clearly identified along with its Products Identity (PI), so all of their mechanics are protected by their copyright? If I don’t want to use any license do I need to come up with completely original mechanics? Having sooo many games already out there is it really required to come up with something completely original (I just found out that Dread´s system uses a set of Jenga blocks instead of dice rolls, so anything is possible…)?</blockquote>

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