Randomness XVIII: Ex-Vee-Triple-Eye

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

12 hours ago, Rob Dean said:

 

I mean, seriously, GW wasn’t even the first to use the term in the tactical miniatures arena.  This version is copyright 1977, and was later rolled into FGU’s Space Opera materials. (In retrospect 6 1977 dollars seems a little steep…)

 

While this is true, GW did try to copyright the term 'space marine' and the courts shut them down. That is why things have been renamed Adeptus Astartes, Astra Miltarum, Drukhari, etc., so that they can hold those as unique IP.

 

4 hours ago, ub3r_n3rd said:

Busy week for me at work. Today reinstalling win10 on 2 laptops, then getting them updated and on our domain. This afternoon updates on another laptop someone is bringing in and installing Adobe. After that troubleshooting microphone issues in our board room. 🤪

 

oh yeah, I’m in our IT area now. Have been for a year, guess I was absent from the forum longer than I thought lol

 

Gadzooks! What kind of dire straits is the business in if they have the barbarian doing IT?!?!!

Edited September 16, 2021 by Pezler the Polychromatic

[PaganMegan]

25 minutes ago, Pezler the Polychromatic said:

 

While this is true, GW did try to copyright the term 'space marine' and the courts shut them down. That is why things have been renamed Adeptus Astartes, Astra Miltarum, Drukhari, etc., so that they can hold those as unique IP.

Yeah, tje new names for elves, dwarves, and all the rest is silly with a sideorder of dumb.

 

Really, if it looks like an elf, walks like an elf, and quacks like an elf, people are going to use elf minis.

 

It's an elf.

 

25 minutes ago, Pezler the Polychromatic said:

 

Gadzooks! What kind of dire straits is the business in if they have the barbarian doing IT?!?!!

 

They're good at hacking.

[Green Eyed Monsty]

7 minutes ago, PaganMegan said:

Yeah, tje new names for elves, dwarves, and all the rest is silly with a sideorder of dumb.

 

Really, if it looks like an elf, walks like an elf, and quacks like an elf, people are going to use elf minis.

 

It's an elf.

 

 

They're good at hacking.

They're also really good at banging the magic rocks together.

{When I was going through Navy Electronics School the syllabus on Integrated Circuits {when pre-microprocessor circuits were the state of the art} was subtitled "Magic Rocks"}

GEM

[Serenity]

Reaper Live! #140 We giveaway a painted boat!  Start screen up at 5:56 PM.

 

https://www.twitch.tv/reaperminiatures

[haldir]

After a couple of weeks of no gaming on Weds night at the FLGS, last night was nice relief, getting back into a routine. I will admit, the night went by quickly. The Adventure League game didn't go due to one player called in sick at the last minute & they only had 3 to begin with, so we got the big table for the game. I'm using a DM resource for Danger at Dunwater I got off DM's Guild & they added a sahuagin encounter for the sea encounter, sorta of a foreshadowing of the war with them in a future installment. The players, the NPC Oceanus & a lucky guardsman/rower were able to make it to the shore before their keelboat went down after the attack. They walked the rest of the way to the lizardman cave & entered through the giant lizard cave. Battle ensued, afterwards lizardfolk guards came to investigate the noise & that prompted anther battle. We ended the night right there. It'll be interesting to see how the party takes this one as no one speaks Draconic & currently they have killed 3 lizardfolk.

[Chaoswolf]

5 hours ago, ub3r_n3rd said:

Busy week for me at work. Today reinstalling win10 on 2 laptops, then getting them updated and on our domain. This afternoon updates on another laptop someone is bringing in and installing Adobe. After that troubleshooting microphone issues in our board room. 🤪

 

oh yeah, I’m in our IT area now. Have been for a year, guess I was absent from the forum longer than I thought lol

Congratulations!

 

2 hours ago, PaganMegan said:

No, BD! No!

 

Hand grenades are an OUTSIDE toy, not an INSIDE toy!

 

Yes, very definitely an outside toy.

 

1 hour ago, Pezler the Polychromatic said:

 

Gadzooks! What kind of dire straits is the business in if they have the barbarian doing IT?!?!!

If you think about it, it's actually perfect. The first step in troubleshooting anything electronic is hit it with something heavy. (Swearing is optional, but I find that it helps immensely.)

[strawhat]

14 hours ago, Rob Dean said:

 This version is copyright 1977, and was later rolled into FGU’s Space Opera materials. (In retrospect 6 1977 dollars seems a little steep…)

 

About $28 adjusted for inflation now.

 

Those old boxes of Space Marines (RT1) that I bought for $20 would be about $50 now.  I'm not even sure that would get you a 10-man squad anymore.

 

 

[Corsair]

@ub3r_n3rd Welcome Back! You have been missed, @Glitterwolf may leave a puddle!

[Green Eyed Monsty]

4 minutes ago, strawhat said:

 

About $28 adjusted for inflation now.

 

Those old boxes of Space Marines (RT1) that I bought for $20 would be about $50 now.  I'm not even sure that would get you a 10-man squad anymore.

 

 

For comparison, the minimum statutory wage in 1977 was about $2.50 an hour.

On that basis, prices today are somewhat less than they were then.

GEM

[TheAuldGrump]

7 hours ago, kristof65 said:

I know, right? 

The guy was claiming that game mechanics are protected by copyright because his friend who tried to make his own version of 40k got a C&D letter from GW.  Now it's entirely possible that his friend was copying more than the game mechanics, and the C&D was a legit use of it, but given how heavy GW has been known to be with C&Ds, it's hard to say. 

 

I know first hand at how little it takes (took?) to get GW to send a letter. My old game company got hit with a letter from GW for some decals we did - someone told them we were doing space marine chapter decals. We were, but they were all for our own chapters, and every one had been drawn by us and did not copy any GW property. We sent them a copy of the decal sheets in our retail packaging, and that was the end of the matter. 

Back in the Nineties GW sent a letter to stores carrying their miniatures that they should not let those miniatures be used for non-GW games.

 

Rick laughed, crushed the missive up into a little ball, and threw it in the trash.

 

GW, then as now, is a little crazy.

 

The Auld Grump

[SparrowMarie]

/Finally/ got my tattoos today.

 

 

[WhiteWulfe]

14 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

You sure that just isn't typical Thursday boot smell? 

[TheAuldGrump]

9 hours ago, kristof65 said:

I know, right? 

The guy was claiming that game mechanics are protected by copyright because his friend who tried to make his own version of 40k got a C&D letter from GW.  Now it's entirely possible that his friend was copying more than the game mechanics, and the C&D was a legit use of it, but given how heavy GW has been known to be with C&Ds, it's hard to say. 

 

I know first hand at how little it takes (took?) to get GW to send a letter. My old game company got hit with a letter from GW for some decals we did - someone told them we were doing space marine chapter decals. We were, but they were all for our own chapters, and every one had been drawn by us and did not copy any GW property. We sent them a copy of the decal sheets in our retail packaging, and that was the end of the matter. 

Game mechanics aren't covered by either patent or copyright.

 

If you name the mechanic, you can trademark the name, but that is avoided by not using that name.

 

It is also why some games use proprietary dice - which can be trademarked and copyrighted. (Other times, they are a gimmick, or just a way to weight probability - Rumbleslam is an example off the latter.)

 

The Auld Grump

7 hours ago, kristof65 said:

I still can't figure out how WotC managed a patent on "tapping":
https://blawgit.com/2019/01/30/bard-game-patents-magic-the-gathering/

Fortunately, it's now expired. 

I can understand why the guy may have thought that mechanics can't be copyrighted.  I certainly thought that when I designed my first game, Checkered Flags.  When we talked about publishing it, one of our concerns was that I had used the same cornering card mechanic that FASA's Circus Imperium did. We approached FASA at a game con about licensing the mechanic and they kindly laughed at us as they looked through our cards and essentially said "Go for it, we have no control over the game mechanic and you didn't steal any of our copyrighted text."

It probably was never challenged - and I don't think WotC ever tried to defend it, in any case.

 

Sort of like that Alabama law that no one is allowed to use their back pocket to hold an ice cream cone* - it never got challenged or enforced, so was never removed.

 

The Auld Grump

 

* There was a real purpose to the law - that method was used to steal horses - who would follow the thief of their own volition - the horse wanted that ice cream cone.

Edited September 17, 2021 by TheAuldGrump

[TheAuldGrump]

  From the Borderlands Campaign thread in General Fantasy -

10 hours ago, PaganMegan said:

Damned right I did!

 

I think George started to get it last night, as both his wife and stepdaughter started acting crazy!

 

Being in a party with Mum is a BLAST! (Cue maniacal laughter, as the barn burns.)

 

Our themesong!  https://youtu.be/YzJknyMCjTE

 

She leaves out the detail that Wednesday wasn't game night - it was a family dinner, and suddenly Megan and her mum dropped into character, including their voices.

 

There are times Megan is so much like her mum.

 

The Auld Grump - they were talking about something that happened in their characters' past - and, yes, apparently they burned down somebody's barn as part of their characters' shared history.... Poor George had no idea what was going on. I've known them longer than he has.

[Pezler the Polychromatic]