The SRD and Monsters Not in it?

[Thotas]

Likewise, apparently they can't lay claim to the githyanki because they're inspired (albeit very indirectly) by George R. R. Martin. He mentioned and vaguely described a race by that name in a book he wrote, though none actually appeared in the story.

 

[pawsplay]

and I have NO idea why displacers and carion crawlers are on that list.

I have a guess on the displacer beast. WotC probably don't feel it's there's to give away, since IIARC it was ripped from an Andre Norton story.

The carrion crawler is probably iconic and popular enough to be worth $. For instance, it would be a rad action figure.

 

[Ranger REG]

I have a guess on the displacer beast. WotC probably don't feel it's there's to give away, since IIARC it was ripped from an Andre Norton story.

Isn't that like saying OSRIC is a rip-off of old-school roleplaying rules?

I would love for Andre Norton to take what you feel in his legal right to sue WotC based on the questionable evidence and see what the court rules ... if only to set down legal precedents.

 

[pawsplay]

Isn't that like saying OSRIC is a rip-off of old-school roleplaying rules?

I would love for Andre Norton to take what you feel in his legal right to sue WotC based on the questionable evidence and see what the court rules ... if only to set down legal precedents.

Actually, I misspoke. Wikipedia says it's from Voyage of the Space Beagle by van Vogt. Anyway, the point is, it's not a largely original creation, but it's not something from the public domain, either.

 

[Matafuego]

I hate that PI thing.
I love Kuo-Toas and Mindflayers.
Specially Kuo-Toas....
The thing I hate the most about it is that other companies can't expand upon them... and WoTC isn't doing anything!
Ok, Lords of Madness was great, we had some Beholder and Mind Flayer loving, but I believe that if WoTC isn't letting anyone else touch Giths and Kuo-toas and Umber Hulks (?) at least they should do something with them...

 

[JPL]

I hate that PI thing.
I love Kuo-Toas and Mindflayers.
Specially Kuo-Toas....
The thing I hate the most about it is that other companies can't expand upon them... and WoTC isn't doing anything!
Ok, Lords of Madness was great, we had some Beholder and Mind Flayer loving, but I believe that if WoTC isn't letting anyone else touch Giths and Kuo-toas and Umber Hulks (?) at least they should do something with them...

Giths had a nice minigame / supplement in the pages of Dungeon a couple of years back.

There were some guys on this board a few months ago with a brilliant plan to defiantly use all of the non-SRD critters in a supplement. While I am not an IP lawyer, I predicted that they would fold like a lawn chair once they got the first cease-and-desist notice. Wonder what ever happened with that....

 

[starwed]

2) You could not do this under the Open Gaming License without likely getting a cease and desist from WotC.

On what grounds? You wouldn't be able to say that they're replacements for them, because that would be indicating compatability with someone elses product identity, but if it's legal to publish them at all it should also be legal under the OGL.

 

[Klaus]

Fiery Dragon has a race of half-snake/half-men villains, the illujanka (inspired by the illujan of mythology). And also a race of color-coded extraplanar frog-men called the Ogdoad (inspired by the chaos gods of ancient Egypt, whose forms were frogs and snakes... they were later replaced by the Ennead).

 

[Henry]

On what grounds? You wouldn't be able to say that they're replacements for them, because that would be indicating compatability with someone elses product identity, but if it's legal to publish them at all it should also be legal under the OGL.

Again, Non-Lawyered opinion. I could be wrong. However, the OGL is a license of "safe harbor" for publishing under WotC's base ruleset, which avoids the whole sticky wicket about "copyrighting rules" by sidestepping them entirely. However, to publish the Jabberfloozy, which has an orb-shaped body, one central eye which shoots anti-magic rays, and ten other eyes evenly distributed that shoot other magical powers, even under the OGL, would be enough to raise WotC's lawyerly hackles if they were made aware of it.

On the other hand, a Jabberfloozy that was one central eye, but who had non anti-magic, and two long whiplike appendages with mouths on the ends, which latched into victims and did some kind of touch-attack magical effects, MIGHT, stress MIGHT, be sufficiently different.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I would love for Andre Norton to take what you feel in his legal right to sue WotC based on the questionable evidence and see what the court rules ... if only to set down legal precedents.

Andre Norton was a pen name of a woman author, who was often cited as one of scifi's great authors. She recently died.

Actually, I misspoke. Wikipedia says it's from Voyage of the Space Beagle by van Vogt.

Yep. Good story, a classic from the Golden Age of scifi. Van Vogt died about 5 or 6 years ago, so it'd be up to his estate to jump on any copyright violations.