So...lately i try to make a board game,but after check and recheck,it seem that i,ve taken many elements for AH ...estimated 60%.well let's say if i sell my board game can i get a copyright infringement from FFG ?

Aesir,

While the pictures have no copyright, if you're using game mechanics as such, you may want to reach out to the folks at FFG for guidance. I'm developing a series of items which are horror-themed, vice AH-exclusive, to avoid such issues and I had taken the opportunity to clear those gates with FFG.

The Professor

so... mechanism is okay ?i mean the mechanism i take is like a..simplified of AH version

With regard to mechanism, that'll prove a greater hurdle to leap than images which have used by other companies (i.e. Chessex Dice when they created an indepently-created, customer-derived version of Arkham Dice or ones that have no copyright force in law, such as hearts, minds, and dollar signs). Admittedly, as a lover of AH, I want the complexity, the time commitment, the sweeping panaroma...if I wanted an easier time, I'd play Elder Sign, which coincidentally I like, as well. One of the things I did was canvass for interest, which has proven overwhelmingly positive. Our company will eventually build gaming aids for other Horror-themed games such as "A Touch of Evil" and "Last Night on Earth" ~ again depending oupon customer-driven interest and buyer participation. I can't say it enough...Market Research!

sorry to bug you but can you say more simplifying ?i'm not a native speaker

I apologize, especially as I work with non-native speakers of English every day.

In short, I suggest that you determine if anyone's interested in your idea before spending any amount of time and energy in developing a simpler version of Arkham Horror. If there's no interest, other than for yourself, then you can make the decision to pursue or not pursue this idea. If there's interest, than I would suggest having a conversation with the FFG representatives. Good luck!

Aesir108 said:

U.S. copyright law doesn't extend to the rules of a game.

Legal mumbo jumbo

very nice! thanks, my friend.

The Professor said:

I remembered that from an article on how Pathfinder could exist when WotC put the kibosh on the D&D OGL. I find it amusing how much useless information I have stored in my brain but I can't remember a damned thing I've been taught that might help me get a better job.

On the upside if anyone eats my brain they might do relatively well on Cash Cab or Jeopardy.

arkhamresident said:

AWWWW YEAHHH !!!!!!

It just occured to me - I hope someone at the US copyright office is a big games fan. The amount of freebie games they must accumulate, possibly including AH, must be enormous.

I also noticed this website is still copyright 2011. Does that mean all the content since January is public domain?

arkhamresident said:

I believe there are some extents to which there can be a problem... specific mechanisms cannot be copyrighted, but if ALL of the mechanisms of a game are copied, or enough of them, then it can be something actionable. It would be the same way that specific words or even phrases in a book cannot be copyrighted, but the whole book can be, and merely changing the names of the characters wouldn't be enough.

But in your case, you should be fine... as long as enough is changed to markedly change the end result into a substantially different game, then there's no issue. And you have a good example from the creator of Arkham Horror himself, where Richard Launius borrowed several ideas from Pandemic and adapted from there to create Defenders of the Realm. (And to an even greater extent, the creator of Pandemic borrowed from his own game to create Forbidden Island.)

FWIW, I've also been working on a game design idea that borrows some of the basic AH concepts and reimagines them into a simpler/shorter package.

I made an Elder Sign inspired game on Adobe Flash for my study. God, it's horrible. But it's something. And it was my first *serious* flash work.