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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8926178" data-attributes="member: 58172">Out of curiosity, lets look at things in the 5.1 SRD.For example, picking at random, here is the Gnome.Lets look to see what is copyrightable. The actual text itself is, but not the content that it describes.The SRD removed the content that was copyrightable, as can be found in the Players Handbook. There was specific narrative descriptions relating to descriptions about personality and its place in the default setting, the Forgotten Realms. But this protectable content is absent in the SRD.Gnomes share certain traits in common. That is almost a nonstatement, a tautology.Gnomes are Intelligent. There are game rules to measure Intelligence. Not copyrightable. Nobody can own the word "intelligence", just like nobody can own the letter "a". If a game is measuring intelligence, then that is what it is doing, and many games need to do this. The precise mechanics to measure it is the "system" that is explicitly noncopyrightable.Heh. Personally, I think "ability scores" is a dumb name anyway. "Abilities" is way too vague. I call these stats "aptitudes" and neither is "aptitudes" copyrightable. It just is what the rules refer to.Note, D&D uses both "scores" and "modifiers". This is strictly redundant, and is a vestige from when rolling 3d6 was a thing. Today, just say "Intelligence 4" (bonus), rather than "Intelligence 18" (score) that equals "+4 Intelligence" (bonus).Note the phrasing "d6, d20, d100", etcetera is noncopyrightable. It is words that gaming culture generally uses. One cannot own a culture. For example, the Eclipse Phase gaming system uses a percentile system, with the CC only and without the OGL, and uses the terms like "1d10" to roll one ten-sided die.Not all gnomes are intelligent, but there are enough gnomes and similar earth sprites from reallife folkbeliefs, where clever trickster is a public domain trait.Gnomes are anthropomorphic. Noncopyrightable.Gnomes can travel from place to place according folkbeliefs, but tend to settle into a specific place.The same gnome is around for multiple human generations.That is the popculture version of a Gnome. Basically Good and loving cows and horses, and other animals.Are Gnomes scholars? They are clever. They like mills and machines. They are curious.Doublecheck but part of the concept Gnomish intelligence.Tricksters like leprechauns. Minstrels who like and play music. Wanderers.All of this is from reallife folkbeliefsLeaning into the gnomes who inhabit human mines.Noncopyrightable.Noncopyrightable. There are examples of these sizes and smaller.Some gnomes live under a house, in the ground, where it is dark. They can still sense what is going on. Still "see in the dark".Doublecheck. "Saving throws" is probably ok, as is a "save", rolling dice to be "saved" from danger. I look twice at being specifically resistant to mental magic. But if they are mental tricksters thus good at recognizing and avoiding mental tricks, that makes inherent sense.Is the "Common" language copyrightable? Note, "the common language" is noncopyrightable. Neither can the "International Language" be copyrightable.The Norse dwarves are one of the inventors the runic alphabet, so dwarves do have their own script, as per public domain.Thats it. Thats all there is to a 5.1 SRD "Gnome".It is noncopyrightable.Generally, never copy-paste verbatim. Think of your own personal version of a "Gnome", and write it in your own words.Then, you can use the game rules − the gaming engine − to quantify this concept of a Gnome.Describe the rules in your own words too.Most of the SRD is like this. It is void of copyrightable narrative details. Any narrative creations (like Gnomes are scholars? like settling down at the age of 40? like being specifically resistant to mind magic?) are either doubtfully protectable or trivially avoidable.The SRD descriptions of game rules are minimalist, to be as simple and clear and as direct as possible. The stuff that would be protectable in the same way that a "Chronicles of Riddick" novel or movie is, have already been removed.</blockquote>

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