Robertson Games

Kenzer & Company have released the Kingdoms of Kalamar fantasy campaign setting as a 501-page PDF. The book references Wizard of the Coast’s 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons classes, races, monsters, and includes expanded background details, and more than 50 new game mechanics compatible with the 4th Edition D&D rules.

What is very interesting about this publication is that Kenzer & Co have opted not to use the Game System License that Wizards of the Coast has offered to 3rd party publishers to display the official D&D logo and associated text to indicate compatibility with their game. Instead they are simply displaying the text “for use with Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons®” on the cover of the book.

Nominative Use, also known as “trademark fair use” allows the use of a trademark as a reference to describe the product (eg. “All Parason Flexor and Gillette Sensor handles are compatible with this blade”) or to compare it to their own product (Pepsi and Coke).

David Kenzer, the president of Kenzer & Company, is also a lawyer specializing in Trademark and IP law. When asked whether referencing the 4th edition rules without signing up for the Game System License he had this comment:

“that is not copyright infringement.

copyright infringement is basing your work on someone else’s creative expression. Rules are not creative expression. Also, it is not “based” on their rules. It happens to “work with” their rules.

SHould every programmer that writes a program that works with a computer have to pay the owner of the OS it runs on? I think not. I could be wrong, but fortunately, the US and International copyright laws agree with me.

A world where one could not reference others’ materials in their product would be a dark and sad place.”

Indeed that echoes what the U.S. Copyright Office has to say about games and copyright.

“The idea for a game is not protected by copyright. The same is true of the name or title given to the game and of the method or methods for playing it.

Copyright protects only the particular manner of an author’s expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, or trademark material involved in the development, merchandising, or playing of a game. Once a game has been made public, nothing in the copyright law prevents others from developing another game based on similar principles.

Some material prepared in connection with a game may be subject to copyright if it contains a sufficient amount of literary or pictorial expression. For example, the text matter describing the rules of the game, or the pictorial matter appearing on the gameboard or container, may be registrable.”

It will be interesting to see whether other companies who had planned on producing supporting material for Dungeons & Dragons, but were put off by the strictness of the Game System License, decide to follow Kenzer & Company’s lead.

I’ve been reading through (and formatting) the material in the Traveller Developer’s Pack released by Mongoose Publishing. It’s really good stuff, and I think it’s fantastic that they’ve made this available to 3rd party publishers.

In the spirit of making fun scifi game material available for free, here’s a Star Hex Map for you to download and use in your games. I think it would be handy for Traveller, Battletech, Star Frontiers or other space themed games.

Sad news - George Carlin has passed away.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs, dirty words and the demise of humanity, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday. He was 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material developed over 50 years, the bald, bearded Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television.” A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

This week I join Adam and Paul, the hosts of The Habitual Insomniac podcast, to talk about Webcomics, Indie Video, Sci-Fi, Games, and Stolen Cars.  I had a lot of fun chatting with Adam and Paul, and hope you’ll find it somewhat entertaining and/or informative as well.

Adam is a podcasting veteran and former host of the ‘Fear the Boot’ podcast.  We recorded this episode using Skype with me here in Ontario, and Adam and Paul down in St. Louis.  I wasn’t sure how the sound quality would be, but hearing the finished episode I think it’s the best quality sound I’ve heard from a Skype recorded interview.  Excellent post production work Adam!

Speaking of Fantasy illustrations — here’s something a friend drew for us.  Gobliny good stuff!

Illustration by Blake Stevenson

I heard the sad news earlier today: Gary Gygax the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, and father of modern role-playing, had passed away at the age of 69.

I never got the opportunity to meet Gary in person, but was fortunate enough to chat with him a bit online. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and enjoyed hearing from the many fans of his work.

Thanks for the countless hours of fun and imagination you gave us all Gary.