Re: (TFT) Open Source TFT

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 05:21:28 -0500
"Ty Beard" <tybeard@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Howdy all. As some of you guys know, I'm an attorney *and* a TFT loon -- a
> dangerous combination to be sure. I also love miniature wargaming, plastic
> model building and the Dallas Cowboys, so there's really no hope. Anyhow,
> enough about my mental illnesses.
> 
> I've been thinking about how to bring TFT back to the gaming world. 

Really?  I hadn't know of this interest!  </sarcasm>

> However, I am becoming increasingly convinced that we could re-write TFT and
> not infringe anyone's copyright. 
>
> 3. We would have to re-write the entire rules set. That means that every
> single sentence would need to be re-stated. Of course, since most of us
> scanned the original text long ago, that would not be as difficult as it
> sounds. Obviously, the more folks we have, the faster it would go.

I've been dealing with open source software for a long time, and have
followed copyright threads on software, music and gaming forums for 
ages.

One huge caveat I'll throw out here is that it's generally not enough to
just go through and change things line by line based on the original,
since you've still derived your work from a copyrighted source.

That is, you can't take a line
  "Roll three six-sided dice and add them up"
and change it to be
  "Take the total from rolling three six-sided dice"
and have that really be considered a new work if you're doing it sequentially
for every line in the original.

Other than that, good luck, and count me in!!

-- 
======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
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