They most certainly will come after you!

“They Sue Regularly” The Many Lawsuits Of TSR – Prime

"In 1992, Gary Gygax created another fantasy RPG called Dangerous Dimensions for GDW, the company that publishes Traveller. However, TSR was there again with a suit that would be laughed out of court today. They hadn’t yet learned the lessons Games Workshop would learn about copyright and mechanics–their initial complaint was that Dangerous Dimensions (which had since been changed to Dangerous Journeys: Mythus) was too derivative of AD&D.

A look at their complaint reveals… a lot of creative interpretation of the word “derivative.”

(2) The Heroic Persona Attractiveness rules in MYTHUS (pages 18, 102 and 391) are derived from the Comeliness rules in the AD&D UA (pages 6-7); TSR’s DRAGON Magazine, issue #67 (pages 61-62); and the WORLD OF GREYHAWK boxed set’s Glossography (pages 33-34).

(4) The concept of adjusting a character’s abilities corresponding to its age found in MYTHUS (pages 104-105) is derived from the similar concept in the AD&D 1st ed. DMG (page 13).

Here’s a couple of choice examples. Heaven forbid you have age adjust a character’s abilities. And as we all know, famously, AD&D invented Elves and Dwarves and was never sued by the Tolkien estate, not even once (they totally were):

(6) In MYTHUS (pages 94-95), the non-human player races, including gnomes, dwarves, alfar (elves) and alfen, are derived from similar non-human player races, including gnomes, dwarves, elves and halflings, in the AD&D DEITIES AND DEMIGODS book (pages 106-110); the AD&D 1st ed. PHB (pages 15-17); the AD&D UA (pages 8-12); and the AD&D LL (pages 91-95).

And the mentioning of Deities and Demigods is a particular overdose of irony, considering that particular book is full of figures derived from myths. Other popular things that TSR wanted to sue over include the idea of a character class or job or vocation:

(7) The MYTHUS concept of character vocations in MYTHUS (pages 13 and 70-71) is derived from the character class concept in the AD&D 1st ed. PHB (pages 18-33); the AD&D 1st ed. DMG (pages 16-21); and the AD&D UA (pages 12-25 and 74-75).

Or generating stats…

(8) In MYTHUS (page 67), the concept of and the method by which the game characters’ attributes are defined by randomly-generated numbers, and the players’ choices of vocations precede and alter such attribute generation, are derived from a similar concept and method in the AD&D 1st ed. DMG (pages 11-12) and the AD&D UA (page 74). Advertisement

The list goes on, taking issue with almost every single point of the game’s rules, painting with a broad enough brush that TSR could then theoretically sue any and all other RPG companies out there for “using dice to determine the outcome of an action.” Let me leave you with this:

“(36) The “First Aid” skill in MYTHUS (pages 28 and 165) is derived from the AD&D “Cure Light Wounds” spell in the AD&D 1st ed. PHB (page 43) and the AD&D OA (page 57).”