Starcraft and d20 Future

[lonesoldier]

You know, we should so write a Starcraft supplement (-addon, whatever...) I would be willing to help out.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

SC d20 would be freaking awesome. I've often thought about doing it in the past (and have even done a couple half hearted incomplete attempts about converting parts of the SC universe).

 

[Roudi]

Writing a Starcraft supplement would be fun, but you could never sell it without first purchasing the rights to the license. If you didn't do that, you could release the supplement for free, but even that would be a tenuous breaking of copyright laws.

I'll keep providing stat concepts where I can & choose, but someone should really look into licensing Starcraft before going gung-ho on a full supplement.

 

[lonesoldier]

Unless there is already a commerical liscened copy out there why would they sue us? I would of course put it out from free. I know a guy who made Warhammer 40K d20 and Games Workshop is still in witch-hunt mode. I doubt they would be petty enough to sue us without asking us to take it down first.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1.

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2.

the nature of the copyrighted work;
3.

amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

I'm looking at #4, we will not be making any money, we will be spending our time on this. Starcraft is an old game, and we are just fans. Plus, we might even attract some D&D people to the darkside of the zerg rush.

 

[genshou]

Unless there is already a commerical liscened copy out there why would they sue us? I would of course put it out from free. I know a guy who made Warhammer 40K d20 and Games Workshop is still in witch-hunt mode. I doubt they would be petty enough to sue us without asking us to take it down first.



I'm looking at #4, we will not be making any money, we will be spending our time on this. Starcraft is an old game, and we are just fans. Plus, we might even attract some D&D people to the darkside of the zerg rush.

For best results, be sure to include all the proper copyright information about the original Starcraft in each file pertaining to the game supplement which will ever be released to the public. It would also be polite to chat with Blizzard PR about it before uploading anything.

I'll pledge my support to this idea; I've been largely unimpressed with the Alternity conversion and was forced to use a non-professional d6 Starcraft RPG I found once. Making a d20 Future version would be excellent. If you need help with anything that doesn't involve drawing pictures, let me know!

 

[Kesh]

Unless there is already a commerical liscened copy out there why would they sue us?

Because any company that fails to protect their intellectual property can potentially lose their copyright. And since we have no idea if Blizzard is considering ever putting out a Starcraft RPG again in the future, we don't know if we're about to tread toes. Even if they aren't, I'm sure they don't want future sales ruined by a free product already spread all over the 'net.

In short, it's not worth it.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm looking at #4, we will not be making any money, we will be spending our time on this. Starcraft is an old game, and we are just fans. Plus, we might even attract some D&D people to the darkside of the zerg rush.

I know your intention is well-meaning, but one should remember this is someone else's copyright AND trademarks. Don't assume you're doing Blizzard a favor without asking them first.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

They're working on one here: http://clanncw.8.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=7

However, right now some background info is still being compiled at wikipedia's StarCraft universe entry.

 

[Roudi]

Looks like that crew is using a mix of generic d20, d20 Modern, and BESM. Hmm.

We already have the tools to do most of Starcraft with d20 Future. I'd like to stick with that as much as possible.

On a side note, I really don't think new clases are needed for Starcraft. The standard d20 Modern and d20 Future classes ought to work just fine. The only class that might need to be added is The Templar, but even that can be modeled by either the Telepath or the Battlemind.

Protoss, however, will require a racial writeup.

For the most part, what distinguishes Starcraft units from each other is gear, not characteristics. The difference, therefore, between a Goliath walker and a standard Terran Marine are not so much what class each one is, but what they are equipped with. I don't see any Starcraft units requiring new classes, only new gear.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I'll have the Protoss writeup this afternoon. I've decided that I'll be using the following books: d20 Modern, d20 Future, Expanded Psionics Handbook.

Psionics play an important part in the Starcraft universe and I think I'll need that book to do it some justice. I haven't considered the balance implications of this, but I think it should be ok. I may do something along the lines of Star Wars d20, and have a Force Sensitive feat equivalent for Psions.

Edit: As for classes, right now I have plans to create Ghost, Zealot, High Templar, and Dark Templar advanced classes. Most of the d20 classes cover all the Terran needs, but as I said before Psionics are important and I think their advancement needs to be represented in the form of an advanced class, if not prestige class.