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<blockquote data-quote="Cergorach" data-source="post: 7773145" data-attributes="member: 725">If your really worried about the 2/3rd 'rule' being copyrighted, you can pretty much get the same effect stating that &quot;around 70% of the population is male Orc&quot;.As for the specific STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA spread, that might result in some issues, but some very old RPGs have taken almost 60% of their core stats from D&amp;D:RUNEQUEST:Strength (STR)Constitution (CON) Size (SIZ)Intelligence (INT)Power (POW)Dexterity (DEX) Appearance (APP) After decades of inaction from TSR/WotC I suspect it's a very save bet that those aren't copyrighted.An additional wrench is thrown in the whole copyright 'debate' with Open Source licenses like the OGL, where your not only bound by the copyright law, but also the license rules of the OGL. Thus things available through copyright law might now be restricted due to license rules, on the flip side you have uncontested access to things that are covered and restricted by copright law or are a bit 'grey'.Also, let's not kid ourselves, the influence of money... If a company like WotC/Hasbro, Disney, or *shudders* Harmony Gold throws lawyers at you, most indies can pretty much fold their business. Although not universally true (look at 'recent' Games Workshop litigation, where they got slapped around on many of their claims), money does make the world go round and disappointingly, not creative ideas...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cergorach, post: 7773145, member: 725"] If your really worried about the 2/3rd 'rule' being copyrighted, you can pretty much get the same effect stating that "around 70% of the population is male Orc". As for the specific STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA spread, that might result in some issues, but some very old RPGs have taken almost 60% of their core stats from D&D: [B]RUNEQUEST:[/B] Strength (STR) Constitution (CON) Size (SIZ) Intelligence (INT) Power (POW) Dexterity (DEX) Appearance (APP) After decades of inaction from TSR/WotC I suspect it's a very save bet that those aren't copyrighted. An additional wrench is thrown in the whole copyright 'debate' with Open Source licenses like the OGL, where your not only bound by the copyright law, but also the license rules of the OGL. Thus things available through copyright law might now be restricted due to license rules, on the flip side you have uncontested access to things that are covered and restricted by copright law or are a bit 'grey'. Also, let's not kid ourselves, the influence of money... If a company like WotC/Hasbro, Disney, or *shudders* Harmony Gold throws lawyers at you, most indies can pretty much fold their business. Although not universally true (look at 'recent' Games Workshop litigation, where they got slapped around on many of their claims), money does make the world go round and disappointingly, not creative ideas... [/QUOTE]

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