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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: JOHANNA BURWELL-KALES <burwell@******.EDU>
Subject: Re: Bughunters and T$R....
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 17:39:36 -0700
Um, following what stainless steel rat said yesterday, about
copyrights and anything, then take a look at TSR's bughunters game. In
the back, the aliens they have listed are exact copies of the aliens out
of the movie Aliens, as well as the critters, and some others. I could
see no credit given to the companies in that small little legal print
crap at the front of the book, saying " any similarities blah blah blah
". So what i want to know is that why can't the companies that originally
made the aliens and critters sue TSR forsimilarity infringment?
I am confused!
Message no. 2
From: "J.D. Falk" <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
Subject: Re: Bughunters and T$R....
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 23:16:55 -0400
On Sun, 31 Jul 1994, JOHANNA BURWELL-KALES wrote:

> Um, following what stainless steel rat said yesterday, about
> copyrights and anything, then take a look at TSR's bughunters game. In
> the back, the aliens they have listed are exact copies of the aliens out
> of the movie Aliens, as well as the critters, and some others. I could
> see no credit given to the companies in that small little legal print
> crap at the front of the book, saying " any similarities blah blah blah
> ". So what i want to know is that why can't the companies that originally
> made the aliens and critters sue TSR forsimilarity infringment?
> I am confused!

Unless I miss me mark here, Bughunters is from the old TSR, back
before Dungeons & Dragons was synonymous with role-playing (before you
flame me, think about it -- when talking to a non-role-player about
Shadowrun, don't you mention it as "a role-playing game, sorta like
Dungeons & Dragons?" I know I usually have to.) This is the old TSR
which came out with strange things like Gamma World, Boot Hill, and
others...things that nobody's even heard of recently.
But that message, full of legalese, from the guy on AOL? Clearly
that is the new T$R, fully deserving of the dollar sign.
I ain't saying they're all bad, or that I never enjoyed playing
**&*, or even that I wouldn't enjoy playing it again -- just that I don't
like their corporate image right now.
Message no. 3
From: Mercenary X <kdye@*****.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Bughunters and T$R....
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 21:26:00 -0700
No, Bughunters is an Amazing Engine world book. It came out way after AD&D.
Message no. 4
From: Hamish Laws <h_laws@**********.UTAS.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Bughunters and T$R....
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 17:47:19 +1000
JOHANNA BURWELL-KALES writes
> Um, following what stainless steel rat said yesterday, about
>copyrights and anything, then take a look at TSR's bughunters game. In
>the back, the aliens they have listed are exact copies of the aliens out
>of the movie Aliens, as well as the critters, and some others. I could
>see no credit given to the companies in that small little legal print
>crap at the front of the book, saying " any similarities blah blah blah
>". So what i want to know is that why can't the companies that originally
>made the aliens and critters sue TSR forsimilarity infringment?
> I am confused!

How about Halflings, and hobbits. Although in the current situation
I almost blush to admit it, I have the best of Dragon I & II which both
clearly say hobbits. I imagine the name was changed to avoid legal action,
but is changing the name enough to avoid copyright problems?
Especially considering that the first publications of D&D had
Hobbits, and halflings are identical. Also, if I recall the Lord Of The
Rings correctily Halflings is used as a name for hobbits or is a
translation of Holbyta or something similar.


*************************************************
There has to be an optimist around here somewhere
*************************************************

Hamish Laws

Further Reading

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Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!