Looks like somebody's doing a BRP supplement

[peterb]

Originally Posted by soltakss

However, Chaosium lost the rights to RQ when they sold it to Avalon Hill. They got the rights to the RQ system, but not Glorantha, when Avalon Hill stopped publishing for a number of years (as I understand it) but Greg Stafford's Issaries gained the RQ Trademark and commissioned a new version of RuneQuest. Chaosium brought out BRP which is based on their own rules system.

Just some notes for the record(s)...

Chaosium never lost the copyright to RQ, they sold the trademark to Avalon Hill. And then they licensed the contents of the game (under an exclusive license one has to presume) to AH. Avalon Hill was bought up by Hasbro at the end of the 90's and was transferred to Harbro's fully owned subsidiary company WotC. Someone at Hasbros legal department failed to renew the trademark registration for Runequest, so the trademark lapsed and Issaries (Greg Stafford's company) nicked the trademark just under the nose of Chaosium.

So that's how Issaries and not Chaosium got the trademark Runequest. Since the rules of a game is not copyright protected and since Stafford had some part in writing the original Runequest rules, Mongoose was able to reproduce large parts of RQ II and III in MRQ, which is why the games are so similar.

/Peter

[vagabond]

Originally Posted by peterb

Just some notes for the record(s)...

Chaosium never lost the copyright to RQ, they sold the trademark to Avalon Hill. And then they licensed the contents of the game (under an exclusive license one has to presume) to AH. Avalon Hill was bought up by Hasbro at the end of the 90's and was transferred to Harbro's fully owned subsidiary company WotC. Someone at Hasbros legal department failed to renew the trademark registration for Runequest, so the trademark lapsed and Issaries (Greg Stafford's company) nicked the trademark just under the nose of Chaosium.

So that's how Issaries and not Chaosium got the trademark Runequest. Since the rules of a game is not copyright protected and since Stafford had some part in writing the original Runequest rules, Mongoose was able to reproduce large parts of RQ II and III in MRQ, which is why the games are so similar.

/Peter

Close, but not quite. AFAIK, Chaosium made no effort to get the RuneQuest
trademark. They were too busy with other things.

Mongoose was able to write MRQ for the sole reason that the rules of a
game cannot be copyrighted. Greg's background with RuneQuest and
BRP had no bearing on the situation.

-V

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by peterb

...Mongoose was able to reproduce large parts of RQ II and III in MRQ, which is why the games are so similar.

Really? I've only seen the MRQ SRD, but that differs significantly from good old RQ2/3.

[peterb]

Originally Posted by vagabond

Close, but not quite. AFAIK, Chaosium made no effort to get the RuneQuest trademark. They were too busy with other things.

Oh, they did, they did... they even tried to claim the Glorantha trademark...

Originally Posted by vagabond

Mongoose was able to write MRQ for the sole reason that the rules of a game cannot be copyrighted. Greg's background with RuneQuest and BRP had no bearing on the situation.

Well, Stafford made some comments on the Glorantha-L list that would lead you to think otherwise and if you study the copyright notice in the MRQ SRD:s OGL, the SRD is claimed to be based on "original material by Greg Stafford".

[RosenMcStern]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Really? I've only seen the MRQ SRD, but that differs significantly from good old RQ2/3.

Oh, there are many similarities. The RQ Companion is almost thorough copi... - erm, I mean, paraphrased from the RQ3 Gamemaster Book. It appears someone did not realize they could have made a RuneQuest Ships out of it.

In any case, I am pleased with the situation as is. I have seen the RQ Slayers PDF and the thought of the trademark being owedy by WotC makes me shiver (RuneQuest D20?).

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by RosenMcStern

Oh, there are many similarities.

Similarities, certainly. I was questioning peterb's assertion that:

Originally Posted by peterb

... Mongoose was able to reproduce large parts of RQ II and III in MRQ...

Originally Posted by RosenMcStern

The RQ Companion is almost thorough copi... - erm, I mean, paraphrased from the RQ3 Gamemaster Book. It appears someone did not realize they could have made a RuneQuest Ships out of it.

I don't know the (M?)RQ Companion, is it just Ship rules that are 'paraphrased'? I wouldn't call that 'large parts' - so is there anything else?

Originally Posted by RosenMcStern

In any case, I am pleased with the situation as is. I have seen the RQ Slayers PDF and the thought of the trademark being owedy by WotC makes me shiver (RuneQuest D20?).

Um, I must say I'd much have preferred Chaosium to keep RQ. But better Mongoose than Wizards, agreed!

[sladethesniper]

Originally Posted by Trifletraxor

The OGL is great. Especially as it allows people to use those parts of the system they like, and exchange the ones they don't with their own houserules. Having something similar for BRP would be great, but isn't going to happen. I'm curious to see the BRP license contract though (if I get a respons from Chaosium that is!)

SGL.

I agree with Trif. Getting Chaosium to "respond to stimulus" is like getting a senator to respond to a query during a non-election year.

Sheesh. Looks like MRQ for me

-STS

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by sladethesniper

Sheesh. Looks like MRQ for me

No compromise! Using a system you know to be inferior would take the edge off your enthusiasm for whatever you do, and risk failure. And maybe your conscience would prick you into converting later anyway. It'd be that way for me...

So stick with the best. I heartily recommend you persevere with BRP.

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by sladethesniper

I agree with Trif. Getting Chaosium to "respond to stimulus" is like getting a senator to respond to a query during a non-election year.

I've always found Dustin is pretty good at responding promptly, and he specifically posted to the BRP play test Yahoo group regarding license submissions - BUT he's also remote from the Chaosium offices in California, so I know his email recently has been erratic.

regards,

Nick Middleton

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by NickMiddleton

BUT he's also remote from the Chaosium offices in California, so I know his email recently has been erratic.

Dustin's email was affected by the Chaosium domain woes... I got an email from him Wednesday morning saying he'd only had email back for a couple of hours.

I'm not sure what the status of the website is, but I know that they're pretty busy trying to get the site up and running. Responses are going to be a bit slow(er).