How does content creation inspired by other companies work?

#1

I, like other people similarly afflicted with the two conditions of both “Aging” and “Palladium RIFTS Owner”, have a ton of books I don’t use any more. I love the world, but hate the system. I’m working on a conversion (sorta) for use at my table using ICRPG for the rule set, and Rifts as the setting. Then I thought, I wonder if others would like this, because it’s cool. Then I thought, I know Hank is ok with folks doing their own thang, but Sembedia historically isn’t. When writing this setting inspired by RIFTS, but not using ANY of the system, do I allude to it’s purpose, or do I come at it from a different angle?

Any help and feedback is appreciated.

#2

Might want to check this out: RIFTS the ICRPG World Primer Updated 03.24.2020

Also, conversion for home use would be different from conversions for publishing, and if publishing, the IP is copywritten. If you’re going with “inspired by” and not using the names of things, I think you’re probably OK, but I’m not a lawyer.

#3

Thanks for the info. I should have known there was already a conversion. I’ve been flirting around with writing something for self publishing for a bit now, I was just inspired by a buddy asking me about Rifts and got inspired by the setting. I have a piece of a different homebrewed world world sketched out for a different project, but as I was writing about this this evening, I got to thinking about how easy it would be to worldbuild something inspired by Rifts that was similar. Even if it’s pretty damn close, it’s still not exact. I mean, even RIFTS uses canned tropes and mythologies. It’s the concept I love, not the specifics.

I think what I am going to do is write something up, and play it with my group for a bit, testing things out. Probably a few one-shots to test the little things, and lean on my players a bit for worldbuilding.

I really appreciate your reply. Thank you.

#4

Loved playing RIFTS as a kid. Please share what you come up with!

#5

Will do for sure. So far, the main things I’ve tackled relate to “core concepts” that make RIFTS so unique as a game, specifically the MDC system and D-Bees.

For MDC, I am going to playtest having MDC things such as supernatural creatures or Power Armor to Use CHUNKS in place of hearts. For now, player characters or monsters won’t have tags associated with their CHUNKS like they are for vehicles. How damage works for CHUNKS will be relatively unchanged, since it’s a pretty cool and established mechanic already, so CHUNK Damage (CD) weapons will do double regular damage, and regular weapons only do one CD per successful hit, and 2 on a Nat 20.

As for D-Bees, I’m working on 20 (or so) tags that can describe a creature. Between how a player allocated Stat points and assigns 2 tags, that will describe their character’s Bioform. So, Hulking and Furry Pelt would each give slight bonuses to the character (specifics I haven’t worked out yet), while describing the Bioform, if a player was wanting to recreate a Wookie, for example.

I am also working on a Reskin of dimensional Rifts and Ley lines (both Renamed so Lawyers won’t get involved).

I really like this community, so I will for sure be sharing things as I grind them out. The more these things get in front of player’s faces, the better the end result will be.

Thanks for your interest!

#6

The bare truth is, that games, rules and stories are nearly impossible to protect by law. The only thing that a game company can really do is pulling you into law suits, which might be too strenuous and scary for you. In the end however you would always win. The sole purpose of OGL is only to be protected officially by explicit consent of publishers.

However, as long as you do not copy text word by word, no copyright can hold you back. I am a digital game developer and have seen some of our apps cloned. We had no chance fighting the clones on the basis of abstract game mechanics. You can’t protect a recipe for fun, just the wording. So, if I did a complete free form version of Lord of the Rings using my own words but sticking to the same storyline, no one could stop me even publishing it. All names and especially trademarked titles have to be changed of course, as these are covered by brand laws.

To sum up, it is more a question of ethics, communication and trust. But for reviving an otherwise lost game, I am quite sure there is a way.