Re: (TFT) Associatin of Fantasy Trippers

["Steven K. Mariner" <marinersk@earthlink.net>]

Dear Rogers,

 > From: Rogers Cadenhead <rogers@cadenhead.org>
 > Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 14:18:37 -0500
 >      [...]
 > > I am interested in backing this up. The money is there for
 > > the present owners to take, the longer they wait, the
 > > greater it will become. We in the meantime could still be
 > > cautious and timid, but at least we could go forward.
 >
 > I don't post on this list, but I check it out from time to
 > time on the Web to see if anyone has pried TFT rights away
 > from Howard Thompson.
 >
 > Your plan strikes me as a really good way to get sued.

I concur.  The problem lies not in compensation, but in the author's
right to control his works.  Money is a secondary issue in that aspect
of the law.

It might, however, leave room for reduction of damages since it might
leave room to debate that the author cannot claim losses.  Pretty thin
ice argument, though.  Need a lawyer who can keep a straight face, to
be sure.

 > It's a shame that TFT can't be officially revived. However, I
 > think the best response is to do what Microtactix is doing --
 > publish new works that are in the spirit of the old
 > Metagaming without being derived from its products in any
 > way.

What it comes down to, tried and tested, is that if you rewrite the
game in a completely different way but which causes the game to be
played identically, it's not infringement of copyright.  Unethical,
perhaps, but not illegal.

I seem to recall the phrase "look and feel" was involved in the
criteria.  Therefore, it if doesn't look like the original, it can't
be a copy.

Might get sticky with the tables and the names of the weapons, though.
I thought about doing this myself, but I'd rather just strike it rich,
buy the rights from Howard and republish the game.

Unfortunately, I need to do it in that order.  :-)  And the money
isn't exactly pouring in over here just yet.

 > If the members of this mailing list locked away their
 > Metagaming products and wrote a new RPG from scratch that
 > embodies the kind of rules you like, it would probably be a
 > great de facto successor to TFT. I'd love to see a game like
 > that, because I haven't been able to get my hands on TFT due
 > to collectors buying it up whenever one shows up on EBay.

I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry.  :-)

 > I'm
 > curious to find out why the game continues to have fans 20
 > years after it ceased publication.

Part of it is the simplicity of the system, how it so effectively
renders realism with simplistic rules.

Part of it is probably the fact that it's hard to get.

Part of it is probably nostalgia, which is no doubt exacerbated by the
previous "hard to get" factor.

All of these are why I snaked my copy at $125.00.

And to think it was once a six dollar game.

Maybe that rewrite would be best...hmm, tempting.

_______________
Steven K. Mariner
marinersk@earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~marinersk/
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