Re: (TFT) Re: TFT copyrights

[jh@metheny.brainiac.com (Joe Hartley)]

<amorris5@concentric.net> wrote:
> Again, it was money.  I don't think Thompson was particularly attached to 
> TFT as a system.  He just thought it was a valuable money-maker, and 
> therefore wanted solid compensation to make it worth his while to sell.  
> No one else (Steve in particular) thought the amount he wanted was worth 
> the value of the game.

If a thing is worth what it will bring, then Howard seems pretty off-base
with this.  Holding onto these rights has brought him exactly squat over
the past 15 years.  If he'd sold if for $50K (I have no idea what SJ's
real offer was), then he'd have had $50K in his pocket.  He apparently
though it was worth $250K, and has had $0 in his pocket from TFT.

Howard was right in that it could have been valuable - I mean, look how
well SJG has done with GURPS - but now I think it would be more of a novelty,
since I think the market will never produce another AD&D or GURPS.

In the end, who lost?  Howard lost big-time, and the gamers who liked TFT
(that's us!) ended up on a dead-end street.

Which raises a question...  How far does a copyright extend?  If I were
to come up with a new adventure, whether it be as elaborate as Forest-Lords
or GrailQuest, or as simple as one of those mini-adventures published in
Interplay, what would be the copyright infringement if I distributed it?

If the game says that you run into a wizard of ST10, DX10, IQ12 that casts
a Rope spell at you, is that infringement?


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        Joe Hartley - jh@brainiac.com - brainiac services, inc
 PO Box 5069 : Greene, RI : 02827 - vox 401.539.9050 : fax 401.539.2070
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