When should a monster be allowed to dissapear?

[Sigurd]

I was rooting through the internet and found a reference to a couple of monsters including the Urd. The urd looked reasonable enough. It was admirably converted from MC2 to third ed by Boz and the Creature Catalogue. Its a minor monster that is sort of like a goblin\kobold\critter with wings.

I started dreaming of possible uses for the beastie and what to do with stories that might involve ..... then it hit me..


The Urd was a reasonable monster but it wasn't so wonderful that an original monster might not function in its place. I could think of a few other similar niche home brew monsters I had seen that would work thematically and plot wise as well... Why was I using someone elses copywrited material when there were perfectly good alternatives that would be free or easier to license?


It got me thinking. People are really hip to convert old monsters but the product is not freed into a regular publishing license when finished ie D20, OGL, LGPL, GPLDoc etc....

Has anyone considered that republishing something you yourself will have no control over is sort of a thankless task? That a critter converted is captive to copywrite but a beastie all new is fresh to the world?


Any comment?

Has anyone had reason to remake a story or work to change elements that were burdened by copywrite?

 

[Shade]

We get plenty of thanks for our conversions, so I definitely don't feel it's a thankless task.

I can't speak for everyone, but I convert the old creatures because I like them, and I'd like to see the history of D&D preserved. I'm not too concerned if anything I help convert can go on to be used in any publications. As long as folks have fun with them in their home games, that's good enough for me.

I actually have a pet peeve when WotC releases a "new" monster which is essentially fills a classic monster's niche and doesn't really offer anything better. Why not just bring back the original? For the old-schoolers, it's a nice touch of nostalgia, and newer folks won't know the difference between an all-new creature and one that's been updated from past editions, nor should they care, if the monster fits the intended niche.

Unless a monster is truly horrible, I don't think it ever needs to disappear. Even the worst ones could probably be salvaged into something worthwhile if someone is willing to take the time.

 

[Echohawk]

Even the worst ones could probably be salvaged into something worthwhile if someone is willing to take the time.

Heh heh. In that case, I challenge you to salvage the "Dungeon Master" from White Dwarf #24.

The entry starts like this: "The dungeon-master is a nasty-looking humanoid with beady eyes and a pointy head who hates all forms of life - particularly characters who rise in level." Later, the description continues: "His worst tendency is his insistence on rolling some magical dice twice for wandering monsters each time a player as much as blows his nose. [...] If physically attacked, he will consult his matrices and do his best to confuse his attackers with irrelevancies, such as the fact that Newton's 3rd Law precludes the use of a two-handed weapon within any 10' radius." And so forth for most of the entry.

IIRC, this creature was voted as the worst creature appearing in White Dwarf by the readers. And there was a lot of competition for that position. Truly, I think there are very occasional creatures from D&D lore that are best forgotten .

 

[Shade]

IIRC, this creature was voted as the worst creature appearing in White Dwarf by the readers. And there was a lot of competition for that position. Truly, I think there are very occasional creatures from D&D lore that are best forgotten .

Egads! Yeah, I'll give you that one.

And as we found earlier, it's hard to make a case for the stwinger.

 

[BOZ]

We get plenty of thanks for our conversions, so I definitely don't feel it's a thankless task.

I can't speak for everyone, but I convert the old creatures because I like them, and I'd like to see the history of D&D preserved. I'm not too concerned if anything I help convert can go on to be used in any publications. As long as folks have fun with them in their home games, that's good enough for me.

I actually have a pet peeve when WotC releases a "new" monster which is essentially fills a classic monster's niche and doesn't really offer anything better. Why not just bring back the original? For the old-schoolers, it's a nice touch of nostalgia, and newer folks won't know the difference between an all-new creature and one that's been updated from past editions, nor should they care, if the monster fits the intended niche.

Unless a monster is truly horrible, I don't think it ever needs to disappear. Even the worst ones could probably be salvaged into something worthwhile if someone is willing to take the time.

took the words out of my mouth. hey, give me my words back!

 

[Sigurd]

I'm glad you guys feel appreciated. Truthfully, I enjoy the monsters for their own sake as well.

It just seems that given how great an Idea can be the burden of using a classic monster can cast a copyright shadow over a nice project to share.

While Boz is in the house, I want to thank him for the Urd. Obviously it isn't exactly what I'm going for but I'm glad it was there.


Sigurd