Is there a world based off of the Terminator movies and comics? If not, how could I get permission to write one, and how do I go about doing that? I'm a huge Terminator fan, and I'd like to write a world based on The Terminator. How do I do that?
Terminator
(11 posts) (5 voices)-
Tadeusz
MemberParamount or whatever isn't going to give you approval I would think without demanding obscene amounts of money.
Commercially, you'd probably be able to make something similar but you couldn't call them Terminators, and you'd probably have to change some elements here and there to make it individual enough.
Eric
Sun Oct 28 2007 11:20 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberI was always told that copyright only applied if you either 1) made money off of the copyright, or 2) prevented the copyright owner from making money on it. As long as there was absolutely no money involved, it wouldn't be copyright infringement. So, just to run a player on this board in a Terminator world wouldn't be copyright, since there's no money involved anywhere.
I've also been told that once something is copyrighted, it cannot be used by anyone, except the copyright holder, without permission. If the second is the case, then letter of the law, you could sue a 6 year old child for playing "Barney" in his backyard. He would be using the copyrighted material without permission, after all. Maybe MJ will know.
Sun Oct 28 2007 1:26 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberThe first case I mentioned is why it is illegal to download MP3s, but not illegal to dress up as a band member for Halloween. Downloading a KISS song is preventing the copyright owner from making money, because you're not buying their album, but dressing up as Gene Simmons for Halloween is not preventing anyone from buying the album.
Something else I'll never understand. Why do you have to pay to buy a KISS t shirt at the concert? They are getting free advertising for you wearing the shirt. They should pay you to wear the damn thing!!!!!
Sun Oct 28 2007 2:00 pm # -
I can't publish a world based on a copyrighted character or scenario, because if I do it for money I'm using someone else's material for profit, and if I give it away free I am also using someone else's material for profit, because it promotes sales of my game.
The first situation applies to everyone on this board; the second to almost no one here.
There are also trademark rules, and these are different, but have some similarities.
One problem you face is the specific tolerance of the copyright/trademark holder. This is a problem from their end, as well. If they are lax with defending their rights, they can lose them--the material falls into public domain. Coca-cola lost the right to prevent other companies from using the name "cola" because they did not vigorously pursue those who did in the early years and the word entered the vocabulary as describing that flavor; they learned their lesson, and went after a number of major restaurants which served their own cola beverages when people asked for a "coke", making it very clear that if someone asks for a "coke" you either serve them Coca-cola, tell them what you have instead, or risk being sued. It is likely that the use of the word "Terminator" is trademarked in connection with entertainment applications as a killer robot, and if the holders of the trademark are being particularly vigilant they might insist you drop it.
I usually do not run worlds based on copyrighted products in a public forum. I do run them in private games. This distinction is because of the reasons stated above. I do not discourage others from creating and using such worlds, although because this is the Official Multiverser Forum I would prefer that you not use popular and recognizable copyrighted material directly in games here. (That is, no Star Trek, Star Wars, Conan, et cetera, on the forums.) Obscure stories are different, and I have used them and will use them, because, after all, plagiarism is about the only way any referee can keep up with all the worlds he needs for this game.
--M. J. Young
Mon Oct 29 2007 2:36 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberDamn, I really wanted to do that too. Write up a world based on The Terminator. The verser comes in right in the middle of the Future War, and is almost immediately overrun by killer robots. The verser would almost certainly have the means to identify the Terminators from other humans. (I don't think you could read the mind of a computer CPU, after all.) Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Mon Oct 29 2007 2:48 am # -
johnosevens
MemberIt's easy enough to change them enough not to trigger copyright, though. For a really easy and topical example of this, compare the original Terminator with Warhammer 40k's Necrons. Nobody is going to look at a Necron soldier and NOT immediately think "Terminator," (it even carries a phased-plasma rifle in the 40-gigawatt range) but it's not quite close /enough/...
Sun Nov 11 2007 6:19 am # -
Tadeusz
MemberOne guy I was visiting said "Repeat after me, Science Fiction writers do not steal from each other." And then he added. "If you say it a hundred times, maybe you will believe it."
Thing is, in my view, our current focus on originality is excessive. The ancient view of plagiarism was 'simply copying'. It was okay to copy as long as you improved the product.
Which is what we're doing with the Marcoe Variant on Gavin. Not that its better than the original Gavin, but having more choices is better.
Otherwise you force the author to reinvent the wheel which wastes a lot of time.
So, call them 'Killbots', and think how you would make them even cooler than they are now.
Eric
Tue Nov 13 2007 3:53 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberNah, I think I'm gonna scratch that idea. The site I was getting my information from has been shut down for a while. It was a fansite that broke down every single model Terminator, every weapon, vehicle, all of it. I would need that information to even begin to plagiarize it, so I'm not going to try. It would be cool though. Sending a verser into the Future War. Think of it. Psionics and magic vs phased plasma and metal endoskeletons. Oh well, back to the old drawing board.
Tue Nov 13 2007 4:48 pm #
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