| D&D | T&T | RQ | TFT | Traveller | Rolemaster |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength (STR) |
* (ST) |
* (STR) |
* (ST) |
* (STR) |
* (STR) |
| Dexterity (DEX) |
* (DEX) |
* (DEX) |
* (DX) |
* (DEX) |
Agility (AGI) |
| Intelligence (INT) |
* (IQ) |
* (INT) |
* (IQ) |
* (INT) |
Reasoning (REA) |
| Constitution (CON) |
* (CON) |
* (CON) |
n/a | Endurance (END) |
* (CON) |
| Charisma (CHA) |
* (CHR) |
Appearance (APP) |
** (talent) |
Social Standing |
Presence (PRE) |
| Wisdom (WIS) |
Luck (LK) |
Power (POW) |
n/a | Education (EDU) |
Memory (MEM) |
| -- | -- | Size (SIZ) |
-- | -- | Quickness, Intuition, Empathy, Self-Discipline |
I am unsure about some RuneQuest entries, because the names of Basic Role-Playing abilities change depending on the version. Some BRP systems use Charisma, just like D&D and T&T. I also forget whether Call of Cthulhu replaced INT with EDU or whether EDU was an additional ability; I don't have my CoC book handy to check.
I don't remember the ten ability score names from Rolemaster, but they were so divergent from the names in these five systems that I'm rejecting Rolemaster as an outlier. (Edit: Added RM stats, courtesy Guy Fullerton's comment below.)
The first five rows work pretty much the same across all five systems (not so sure about Traveller, because I only played briefly and never had the original books, but the concepts are obviously very similar to D&D's stats.) The sixth row is unique for each system, and only RuneQuest has the seventh ability.
The conclusion I draw from this is: since Tunnels & Trolls, RuneQuest, The Fantasy Trip, and Traveller did not have the benefit of the OGL and yet were not the target of a lawsuit (and since all but TFT exist in some form today,) the concepts behind the first five abilities are not intellectual property, and neither are their names.
Clearly, Wisdom is WotC's IP.
ReplyDeleteThis is a minor point, but I don't think T&T's Luck is intended to be the equivalent to D&D's Wisdom.
ReplyDelete70's RQ had CHA instead of APP.
ReplyDeleteCOC's EDU was an additional stat it didn't replace INT.
Games are oddballs in copyright land. You can copyright expressions and trademark titles and patent a process but a game rule can be copied as long as it can be expressed in different language.
@anarchist: Right. None of the abilities listed in the sixth row are equivalent to each other.
ReplyDelete@Jeff: It might be trickier than that. I'm sure I've seen other systems with Wisdom as an ability. I think it's that specific arrangement, the five abilities common across several systems plus a sixth named "Wisdom", that counts as specific to D&D.
I was just kidding anyway. I'm pretty sure Wisdom is in the SRD. ;)
ReplyDelete"This is a minor point, but I don't think T&T's Luck is intended to be the equivalent to D&D's Wisdom."
In Heroic Worlds St. Andre specifies consciously replacing the one with the other.
Rolemaster is Strength, Quickness, Presence, Intuition, Empathy, Constitution, Agility, Self Discipline, Memory, and Reasoning. (Phew!) So yeah, 10 stats makes it kind of weird. Though you can map them either singly or in groups to other systems' stats. Here's one possibility:
ReplyDeleteStrength (obvious)
Quickness + Agility = Dexterity
Presence = Charisma
Intuition + Empathy + Self Discipline = Wisdom
Constitution (obvious)
Memory + Reasoning = Intelligence
MERP is easy to map, given that it has six stats:
Strength
Agility
Constitution
Presence
Intelligence
Intuition