D&D Mechanics: To Use, or Not to Use

[Zombie Cylon]

I was wondering if anyone knows:

Are there any legal restrictions on incorporating (into a new system) the simple D&D mechanic of rolling 3d6 for six attributes and rolling a D20 for combat and skill outcomes against a target number. I guess in short (and all OGL BS aside), I just want to know if WotC owns the rights to how a D20 is used in any RPG, and how the attributes look and smell.

I know it may sound counterproductive to building a new system, but I would like to know my boundaries concerning a large IP like WotC, and if they pulled a Gene Simmons and started trademarking everything.

[Zombie Cylon]

EDIT: As an FYI, I did read Ron's post about IP and legal advice. I am just seeking other people experiences and insight on this topic.

[David C]

"d20" is trademarked. Game mechanics require a patent. Also, asking for legal advice is asking people to put their necks out, because of all the BS that goes on in IP courts.  That's why people aren't really supposed to talk about it. The whole bloody thing is worse than the tyranny of King George the 3rd, but what can you do?

Go make the most unique game you can, that's the best way you can protect yourself.

[Vulpinoid]

Also remember that Palladium has used a similar system for years (some might even say decades). Roll 3d6 for attributes, roll a d20 for combat.

Plenty of older games also use the 3d6 attribute base, it was pretty much the default for attributes in many games for a long time.

So the basic premise isn't purely a D&D thing.

V

[greyorm]

David ironically provides an excellent example of why you shouldn't ask for legal advice on internet forums: the "d20 System" is what is trademarked. The signifier for a die-size as in "d20" is not trademarked, nor does anyone have any sort of legal or patented control over the use of a twenty-sided die within a game.

But let me ask you a question and you can think about it: how many RPGs use roll 3d6 for attributes named STR, DEX, etc? And have you roll a d20 against a target number? What do you think that means in regards to your question or concerns?

Ultimately, if you're really super worried about what you are doing you should talk to a patent lawyer with significant knowledge of the RPG field.

[Eero Tuovinen]

The simple and direct answer to the question is that game mechanics cannot be copyrighted (copyright protects specific expressions of ideas, not the ideas themselves) nor trademarked (trademark laws protect specific, well, trademarks that are used to help people distinguish between brands of product). A game mechanic can in theory be protected by a patent, and some apparently have been; we often hear of how WotC has a patent on tapping a card in a CCG or some such, for example. Patents are, however, expensive and laborious to write up and register, so there are not many of them in this field. Any mechanical innovations in common use would also be impossible to patent, as patents need to be new inventions.

The examples you cite: using 3d6 for abilities and rolling a d20 for skill checks or whatever, both of those are rather uncontroversial. As Raven hints, many games use similar mechanics with impunity. This is true for most other individual game mechanics; it takes some doing and willful plagiarism to manage to copy enough game mechanics from another game to get either inappropriate or illegal. This is in contrast to misuse of trademarks (calling your game "D&D Lite" or whatever) or copyrighted text (copying text directly from another work), both of which are much easier than flouting another person's IP just by stealing his game mechanics.

In practice: while I recommend considering whether you really want to create a game that works just like an already existing game mechanically, there is very little danger of you managing to flout anybody's moral or legal rights by doing so. For now, concentrate on getting your game into a playtestable shape and come back to your legal worries when you have something concrete enough to show to other people.