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Thread: Trademarked Monsters
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2009-08-13, 06:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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Trademarked Monsters
Is there a list somewhere of the monsters that are trademarked by WotC? I only know of Beholders and Illithids. Also, is there some way that said monsters can be used in literature without getting sued? I like to write stories about my homebrewed setting (which uses them), but I don't want to get sued. Do I need to edit out my favorite Aberrations?
SpoilerDM: "Sunder the wall?! WT**** kind of tactics are these!?"
Me: The kind that armies have been using for millennia.
DM: They didn't do it with swords!
Me: Which makes us so much cooler.
Player: Where are the babau in relation to everyone else?
Me: They're right behind you. Vesil is covered in Loki's blood. That is their location in relation to you.
Player: I was just wondering about a fireball.
My Homebrew
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2009-08-13, 06:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Gith, both 'yanki and 'zerai.
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2009-08-13, 06:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
From d20SRD.org:
Originally Posted by FAQLast edited by RTGoodman; 2009-08-13 at 06:12 PM.
The Playgrounder Formerly Known as rtg0922
Homebrew:
• "Themes of Ansalon" - A 4E Dragonlance Supplement
• Homebrew Compendium
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2009-08-13, 06:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-08-13, 06:18 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
I would just rename them. The illithid was kind of stolen from Lovecraft anyways.
Pwn 4 teh pwn god! N00bs 4 teh n00b thr1!
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2009-08-13, 06:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Alrighty, thanks. I'm sure I could re-flavor them and it'd work. I'm considering changing some of their aspects for the campaign anyhow.
Last edited by Jergmo; 2009-08-13 at 06:22 PM.
SpoilerDM: "Sunder the wall?! WT**** kind of tactics are these!?"
Me: The kind that armies have been using for millennia.
DM: They didn't do it with swords!
Me: Which makes us so much cooler.
Player: Where are the babau in relation to everyone else?
Me: They're right behind you. Vesil is covered in Loki's blood. That is their location in relation to you.
Player: I was just wondering about a fireball.
My Homebrew
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2009-08-13, 06:22 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2007
Re: Trademarked Monsters
I know several non-D&D games that use Beholders-by-any-other-name, such as the Gazers from Ultima and the Floating Eyes from Nethack. Let's face it, there are several original things in D&D but their fantasy kitchen sink full of monsters isn't one of them.
Guide to the Magus, the Pathfinder Gish class.
"I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums. I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that." -- ChubbyRain
Crystal Shard Studios - Freeware games designed by Kurald and others!
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2009-08-13, 06:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-08-13, 06:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
I'm thinking of doing away with Elder Brains for Illithids, as they seem totally unnecessary other than serving the purpose of a BBEG which could easily be replaced. Possibly making it so that instead of morphing their victim's body, the head is just a kind of cocoon. Their icky tentacle-muck can form a sac or something. Apart from the name change, that should be enough, right? I'm not sure what all I'd need to do with Beholders.
Last edited by Jergmo; 2009-08-13 at 06:28 PM.
SpoilerDM: "Sunder the wall?! WT**** kind of tactics are these!?"
Me: The kind that armies have been using for millennia.
DM: They didn't do it with swords!
Me: Which makes us so much cooler.
Player: Where are the babau in relation to everyone else?
Me: They're right behind you. Vesil is covered in Loki's blood. That is their location in relation to you.
Player: I was just wondering about a fireball.
My Homebrew
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2009-08-13, 06:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
I'd add more tentacles. You never can have enough tentacles.
Pwn 4 teh pwn god! N00bs 4 teh n00b thr1!
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2009-08-13, 06:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
You know, it seems strange to me that their face-tentacles are so good at grappling. I would think they'd need larger ones to grab you, and besides, that would still leave your arms open. The Half-Farspawn template has tentacles that can be used for making slam attacks and grappling.
SpoilerDM: "Sunder the wall?! WT**** kind of tactics are these!?"
Me: The kind that armies have been using for millennia.
DM: They didn't do it with swords!
Me: Which makes us so much cooler.
Player: Where are the babau in relation to everyone else?
Me: They're right behind you. Vesil is covered in Loki's blood. That is their location in relation to you.
Player: I was just wondering about a fireball.
My Homebrew
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2009-08-13, 07:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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- UTC -6
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2009-08-13, 07:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Last edited by KillianHawkeye; 2009-08-13 at 07:52 PM.
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2009-08-13, 07:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
The book Epic (One of my faves) has Beholder under the smae name, with the same physical description.
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Spoiler
Also, if anyone has any sort of problem at all that they feel like talking about, my PM box is open.
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2009-08-13, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
All that I say applies only to myself. You author your own actions and choices. I cannot and will not be responsible for you, nor are you for me, regardless of situation or circumstance.
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2009-08-13, 08:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Considering Lovecraft first invented the concept of Cthulhu and Illithids sometime in the very very early 1900's, I really think he came first
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2009-08-13, 09:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
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2009-08-13, 10:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-08-13, 10:40 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Anything in a D&D book which isn't in the OGL/SRD is trademarked.
Mind you, there are a number of fantasy creatures which D&D monsters are based on - those are not copyrighted. Writing a story about a "Fleshraker Animal Companion with Pounce, Rake, and Improved Trip" would probably be a problem, but a story involving a Velociraptor would not be trademarked, as it is a real (extinct) animal.
And really, "Mindflayer-like monsters appear in FFIV" is a spoiler? That's just some vague information about random encounters. Now, saying that [SPOILERS] appears at [SPOILERS] and then does [SPOILERS] when [SPOILERS] [SPOILERS] in FFIV, now that would be worthy of a spoiler tag!
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2009-08-13, 11:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Note that Rich has never been sued or even been threatened of a suit, even with a beholder on the site. No one can copyright a name or an idea. WotC does not own the idea of a floating eye that shoot out magic beams from various eyes. No one can Own that idea. What WotC copyright own is that the text is the descriptive section of the books. ( I E the first eye shoots X, the second eye shoots Y, etc)They can't even copyright the graphs.
Copyright protects Original Fixed Expressions of ideas. Graphs are just numbers they are not considered original.
If it isn't original, fixed AND an expression of an idea, than it is not protected by copyright.
Remember copyright law is suppose to encourage the creation of new art and sciences, not supress it.
Even if you want to use a copyrighted section of WotC matieral, and even if it is for profit, it still can be legal under fair use.
Send me a message for more information, I have just spent the last 3 years studying copywrite law for a Master's Degree.
End note: the above response if for US law, other countries laws vary greatly.
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2009-08-13, 11:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
SpoilerQuite possibly, the best rebuttal I have ever witnessed.
Joker Bard - the DM's solution to the Batman Wizard.
Takahashi no Onisan - The scariest Samurai alive
Incarnum and YOU: a reference guide
Soulmelds, by class and slot: Another Incarnum reference
Multiclassing for Newbies: A reference guide for the rest of us
My homebrew world in progress: Falcora
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2009-08-14, 04:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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2009-08-14, 04:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Guide to the Magus, the Pathfinder Gish class.
"I would really like to see a game made by Obryn, Kurald Galain, and Knaight from these forums. I'm not joking one bit. I would buy the hell out of that." -- ChubbyRain
Crystal Shard Studios - Freeware games designed by Kurald and others!
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2009-08-14, 04:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
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2009-08-14, 07:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
What book did he create them in please?
Don’t date the sane ones, they’ll only make you crazy. Date the really insane ones but never let them know where you live or work.
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2009-08-14, 07:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Do you mean Stross and the githyanki? An issue of White Dwarf magazine, apparently. First actual sourcebook appearance was the 1ed Fiend Folio. He nicked the name from a George R R Martin novel.
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2009-08-14, 08:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
i was watching my roommate play the wii sequel to FF4 and what popped out?
a monster named "mind-flayer" complete with the huge wizard robe, with a popped collar. here's a picture of the bugger
i guess a palette swap from purpleish to yellow-orange is the only thing needed?
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2009-08-14, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Not sure if it has been said before but anyway:
If you don't plan to SELL the stories you write WoTC doesn't really care.
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2009-08-14, 10:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Mind Flayers have been in Final Fantasy since the first game. The purple version of them were called pseudo-something or something that began with a 'p.'
Big Trouble in Little China had a "beholder" in it.
Wizards has a trademark on the names + likeness, not the likeness by itself. You can create a floating mouth with an eye in the center and disintegrating ray shooting eye stalks but you can't call that same creature a beholder.Last edited by jmbrown; 2009-08-14 at 10:51 AM.
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2009-08-14, 11:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Trademarked Monsters
Sorry, there's a statute of limitations on this stuff!
Ugh, Vancian casting in a Final Fantasy game? Do not want.