When I got home this morning, I didn't expect to be plugging the Bat in the Attic Blog written by our very own Ester. I am though. His entry A Tale of Two OGLs is a quick read with some very meaty possibilities springing from it. If you have an interest in the industry side of the hobby, this is a very good read.

I guess that explains why GORE (Goblinoid Games's horror d100 based RPG) disappeared

Chaosium actually did something earlier, back when WOTC licensed CoC for the d20 version, they released the sanity rules as open content in the 3e version of Unearthed Arcana. Chaosium did not like that.

Quote from: jeff37923;1094461When I got home this morning, I didn't expect to be plugging the Bat in the Attic Blog written by our very own Ester. I am though. His entry A Tale of Two OGLs is a quick read with some very meaty possibilities springing from it. If you have an interest in the industry side of the hobby, this is a very good read.

That a first for me in ten years, a forum thread about one of my blog posts.

Appreciate the shout out  and the compliments.

Quote from: JeremyR;1094484I guess that explains why GORE (Goblinoid Games's horror d100 based RPG) disappeared

Chaosium actually did something earlier, back when WOTC licensed CoC for the d20 version, they released the sanity rules as open content in the 3e version of Unearthed Arcana. Chaosium did not like that.

Still available https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/28521/GORE?it=1

 A recap to explain my next point

There were two SRD and a rulebook with all the text declared as as open content released by

• The Mongoose System Runequest System Reference Document.
• The D100 II System reference document.
• Legends RPG

The first SRD, the Mongoose System Runequest System Document has an issue in that it uses a trademarked name Runequest in its title and throughout its text. The second one references the Runequest System Reference Document in its section 15. My opinion that this screws with the open content of both as the OGL explicitly states that you can't use a trademark or product identity without a separate agreement in section 7.  It is a grey area, but if an author wants to go without attorneys being involved it has to be crystal clear. And the Mongoose Runequest System Reference Document and the D100 II SRD fails the crystal clear test.

This screws with Gore, and Openquest. Both references the Mongoose Runequest System Reference Document. A solution is for both authors to release both RPGs again but use the open text of the Legends RPG. Which has no references to Runequest.

Quote from: estar;1094488That a first for me in ten years, a forum thread about one of my blog posts.

Appreciate the shout out  and the compliments.

That blog post is being discussed among the Cepheus Engine contributors quite a bit.


EDIT: Quite has an 'e' on the end of it......I need coffee......

Thanks for the heads up.

A follow up post on the details of the various Runequest SRDs that I missed the first time around.
https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-d100-ogl-carol.html

Quote from: estar;1094498Thanks for the heads up.

A follow up post on the details of the various Runequest SRDs that I missed the first time around.
https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-d100-ogl-carol.html

Thanks! I passed it along.

Quote from: jeff37923;1094496That blog post is being discussed among the Cepheus Engine contributors quite a bit.

Do you have a link? I didn't see it on the TravellerRPG forum.

Quote from: JeremyR;1094484I guess that explains why GORE (Goblinoid Games's horror d100 based RPG) disappeared

GORE hasn't gone away, it's just that no one ever did much with it. It's full of illustrations of Lovecraft's monsters (and some created by other authors) but IIRC there aren't any names/stats for them.
Thing is, for my purposes, name-dropping the Mythos creatures, Chaosium owned or not, is extraneous to how I usually use CoC anyway. Products like Silent Legions and Stealing Cthulhu are a lot more useful than some codified hierarchy according to whoever.
So really, I shouldn't even care... anything I might write up wouldn't mention them anyway. But still... I'd like to see an OpenCthulhu.

Silent Legions is excellent. Deserves a better cover, but the content is top notch.

Thank you Estar for the post! Very informative with great detail.

However, there is NOTHING that makes Call of Ctulhu unique separate from the public domain HPL IP.

Anyone could create a D100 CoC clone and Chaosium can suck a chode in the party zone.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1094525Anyone could create a D100 CoC clone and Chaosium can suck a chode in the party zone.

Likely, but the problem isn't just about using IP of Cthulhu and the 1920s it also about trade dress. The courts care about whether one company's product can be confused with another company's product. There was a argument being made about the first retro-clones that while Wizards may not get them for using the content of the D20 SRD, they may be able to sue on the basis of trade dress.

This is an area where one should see advice of an IP attorney. If you make an RPG that uses D100, use the 1920s as your setting, use the public domain Cthulhu mythos. Then you need make sure that your products can't be confused with those put out by Chaosium. An IP attorney can advise on that.

If you notices many of the non-Chaosium use of the mythos changes up one or more of the elements that go into Call of Cthulhu.

I agree on trade dress, like those OSR authors who mimic the old TSR modules. I assume WotC owns the TSR trade dress, even if they never use it.

However, there's not much Chaosium does visually that's unique. They don't own the 1920s or tentacled monsters.

Of course, the Not-CoC authors need to stick to HPL's original descriptions of monsters, not the Chaosium owned art or the later Mythos authors.

But the explosion of Lovecraftia in media means that Chaosium can't argue much, except regarding their original creations.

EDIT: However, I disagree about anyone hiring attorneys. RPG stuff makes too little money to make the ROI worth more than peace of mind.

Would hate to see Chaosium go after Design Mechanism or D101 Games.

Quote from: Mankcam;1094565Would hate to see Chaosium go after Design Mechanism or D101 Games.

Would there be a reason for Chaosium to go after these guys?

Quote from: BrokenCounsel;1094654Would there be a reason for Chaosium to go after these guys?

Their products reference the Mongoose RQ "OGLd" SRD.