Using CSLs To Add Damage

[Matt the Bruins]

How difficult is it to photocopy the page with the Damage Classes Quick-Reference Tables from the corebook and have that handy to look at when playing?

[Cantriped]

How difficult is it to photocopy the page with the Damage Classes Quick-Reference Tables from the corebook and have that handy to look at when playing?

Not very difficult; just prohibited by the copyright clause. So it doesn't make very good advice on the official forum for the product you are suggesting photocopying.

[IndianaJoe3]

IANAL, but copyright law does not apply to copies made for personal use.

[CptPatriot]

I have used CSL as damage fairly regularly in situations when I can tactically lose the levels to help take advantage of a prone foe.

[Tasha]

Not very difficult; just prohibited by the copyright clause. So it doesn't make very good advice on the official forum for the product you are suggesting photocopying.

 

Also you could just copy the table into your favorite spreadsheet and print. Voila, no copywrite problems.  The Benefit of doing it that way is that you can control sizing and formatting.

[Cantriped]

Also you could just copy the table into your favorite spreadsheet and print. Voila, no copywrite problems.  The Benefit of doing it that way is that you can control sizing and formatting.

 

"No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical..." unambiguously prohibits doing exactly that.

[Tasha]

Nearly impossible to enforce. Taken literally you couldn't even transmit the Character sheet to PCs or many other things. Copy/pasting passages out of the rulebook which happens constantly on these boards would be actionable. Also I don't think that copying a chart by hand into a spreadsheet would be an issue. I guess you COULD just download the GM's screen inserts available in Downloads.

I choose to believe that the Copyright notice in the front of the book really means don't pirate this book by any means. Including Scanning, photographing, etc.  You could go ask Steve or Jason, but I am pretty certain they would say that printing out that chart or making a doc that includes that chart is OK as long as you don't sell it. The latter MAY be relaxed if you license the System.

[Cantriped]

Enforcability was never my point, principle was.

The fact that copy-pasting passages from rules books is potentially actionable (but otherwise common practice) is one of the reasons why many companies provide Character Sheets as free-downloads and provide written permission for them to be printed somewhere on their webpages.

Regardless, we are quite far off topic now... So yeah, how about them CLSs?

[Ndreare]

In either case pretty much anything you do at home for yourself is covered under fair use.

 

You do not start breaking the law until you begin distributing the material.

 

As for cutting and pasting small portions of the rules, that can be done in limited extent for reviews and discussions. The law is vague about quantity but I imagine a few lines would be fair. However copying whole paragraphs, sections or even potions of pages as some have done is definitely out.

 

www.copyright.gov is a really good place to start if curious about details.

 

As an aside Steven S Long was a lawyer before transcending to full time writer so I am certain the good folks at Hero know when to stop us.

[Cantriped]

As an aside Steven S Long was a lawyer before transcending to full time writer so I am certain the good folks at Hero know when to stop us.

I did not know that, that is a cool bit of trivia right there!

Also, you (and a few others who've posted above) are correct regarding "Fair Use". Which is why I rarely quote more than a single sentence directly from the rules during rules discussions, and why I prefer to cite my sources (and their page numbers) whenever possible.

[Tasha]

In either case pretty much anything you do at home for yourself is covered under fair use.

 

You do not start breaking the law until you begin distributing the material.

 

As for cutting and pasting small portions of the rules, that can be done in limited extent for reviews and discussions. The law is vague about quantity but I imagine a few lines would be fair. However copying whole paragraphs, sections or even potions of pages as some have done is definitely out.

 

www.copyright.gov is a really good place to start if curious about details.

 

As an aside Steven S Long was a lawyer before transcending to full time writer so I am certain the good folks at Hero know when to stop us.

Can't have coherent discussions of the Rules without C&Ping paragraphs. I am certain that what we copy into these discussion are also covered under Fair Use. Just don't copy the whole writeup of a power out of 6e1 and you should be pretty safe.

[NuSoardGraphite]

I generally play heroic games and in those my players did it all the time. I encouraged it. I wanted the players to use all their options.

 

I also used the alternate method of adding damage of +1 body to killing attacks or +3 to Stun of Normal attacks. Not to exceed the maximum rollable on the dice. Thus, if a character was at their maximum damage class, then they could still add damage if they really wanted to.)