Hi.  I'm a n00b to these boards here, but someone suggested that I might be able to cull some ideas from here

So, I've got this Steampunk-Wildwest world that's been a big hit with my players, and I'd be really interested in polishing it up into a real game that I could put into a sourcebook and distribute.

There's a huge 'but' in here, though.  Unforuntaly, the game is based on a heavily modified Storyteller system, 'Mage' in particular.  I know White Wolf is notorious for not sharing their IP well, and even if they were, I doubt I could afford it yet.

V-G-S!!!

So, what this means is that I'm going to have to build a system from the ground up, or bend a system such as the d20 to my needs.  Both seem like arduous tasks. 

Anyone got suggestions for building or adapting a lisencable system that a.) Has the flexiblity that Mage offers and b.) Won't get me into serious legal trouble when/if I try and distribute it.  (Not nessessarily for profit)

Some more info on the project...

Essentially what I did is set up this tri-gun-like world, though it's a little more steampunkish.  I had the players design characters according to the mage ruleset and such, and they came up with some very interesting characters...  For instance, we had one character come up with a mad engineer, and another came up with a shamanistic, martial arts wielding judge (think Jedi.)

I'm really in love with the open endeness that the Mage systems provide for, and I really hate limiting abilities to classes and such.  One of the big difficulties that people have with mage though is Paradigm, and people have trouble with it metaphysically, which I think turns them off to the game.

So what I was thinking about doing was introducing a class system, which determines 'paradigm'...  For instance, you have an Engineer class, and the way they accomplish things is through science.  You have an Arbitor class (the judges), who accomplish things through martial arts prowess and mind-over-body techniques.  Have a shaman class who acomplish things through shamanistic ritual,  a gunslinger class who accomplishes his feats through amazing displays of gunslinging and poker-faces, etc.    In this regard, the class doesn't really dictate what abilities you have, but rather how you execute them, and you really wouldn't take ranks in one class or another.    Think of it as more of a guide line for an outlook on a world than a set of abilities. 

On top of that, throw in a system that mimics the sphere system to some degree...    Divide the way the world works into different aspects, and ranks in the 'aspect' would determine how much control they had over it.  I guess the big question here is, how much can I get away with here without infringing on intellectual property or copyright or trademark here....  Can I just call them Aspects instead of Spheres or Arcani, or do I have to totally re-invent the wheel here? 

The other big thing I wanted to do was come up with a quicker way to resolve combat and such.  IMHO, that's always been a shortcoming of white wolf, and if I'm going to go through the trouble of a homebrew, I might as well come up with something that suits my own needs.  In particular, I like the quick pace that mutants and masterminds moves at.

Unfortunatly, I'm an accountant, and I'm better at following rules that I am making up new ones.  I suppose if I wanted things to move faster I should switch things over to some kind of difficulty check system instead of a system where you sit around counting successes.    Maybe I should even come up with a system where you use a deck of playing cards instead?  Heck... I'm not even sure where to start.

I believe you should go to this thread, it answers most of your questions. From what I got there (I personally have no idea about copyright/trademark/patent laws), you should be ok as long as you don't copy entire chunks of text (you can end up with the same practical rules, as long as you put it in your own words).

Hi there,

What you need to do is learn more about copyright and publishing laws. You're not going to get any useful information simply by asking for opinions on an internet site ... you need to go places that can really help you.

Try Google or Wikipedia to find the real, official sites which actually list what the laws are. Get someone who understands that stuff to read it with you. But don't post on discussion sites saying, "Gee, what do you think?", because although some people will give you good and legitimate answers, others will chime in with wild and speculative opinions and gossip, and you won't be able to tell which is which.

Based on your account so far, regarding the game itself, you might do very well to check out some other beginner-designer friendly sites. I suggest checking out the links in the sticky posts at the tops of each Forge forum - see the first thread in this forum, for example.

Best, Ron