Copyright, RPGs, and Novelization

So, I know that many of you aren't experts on copyright law and liability, but I'd just like to hear a few opinions about my situation. I'm really looking for a way to stay true to the vision I have of the world I created, but also move things around so they not only work in novel form but also so nobody can sue me down the road.

So here's the story. From when I was 12 to about 16, I ran a message board roleplaying game. It went through a bunch of incarnations, and by the time I finally had to close it due to lack of time, we'd played out (to varying degrees of success), a total of about 8 different storylines.

There had been talk for a long time about turning the story of the RPG into a series of novels. At one point I even discussed collaboration with one of the players whose mother was a published author, but those fell through.

Many of the most important characters were actually mine, so I don't have a problem there. However, while I played a big role in designing most of the storylines, there was a lot of input from players. And occasionally one of their characters became either important to the action or important to one of my characters.

I started writing the first book, and while the basic premise remains the same, I've made some huge changes in the realm of subplots and even major plot events. For the moment I'm using original character names (with the intent to change them later), but I'm making these characters my own, and I sorta regard the originals as something like a template or archetype.

Thing is, if someone who played the game read the book, they'd probably be able to say "Ah, my character was in love with X, and she was timid and bullied by Y, who was a snotty stuck-up troublemaker who hated X and claimed she was his girl. These characters look familiar!"

So where is the copyright line? Is it wrong of me to take a situation created by a collaboration with other people and play it out like this? How much does it need to be changed in order to make it acceptable? Change the names of main characters? Change the name of the world?

The website doesn't exist anymore, and neither do any of the message boards we posted on. I suppose people might have posts they saved on their computers, but it's probably unlikely. I have the website pages in my files, but other than that, nothing really survives of the site. It was always clear that I owned the site and the world, but never anything that said I took ownership of storylines and characters. I mean, I was 12, and I never thought I'd want to write a series of novels set in that world.

And before anyone says it, I know that everyone says you should never try to turn your RPGs into novels. I just have a deep attachment to this world and the characters I played, and I have confidence I could pull it off plot- and quality-wise.

Marlys said:

Unless the people who played agreed otherwise at the time, they hold the copyright of anything they created. So, no, you can't just use their characters without permission. Changing their names isn't enough.

Is there any way you can get in touch with these folks? I'd think if things had been friendly, lots of people would be thrilled to say yes if you said you wanted to write a book using their characters, especially if you offer to thank them in the acknowledgments. Then get it in writing.

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I agree on the character thing, actually. The characters I've been writing into the novel mirror the originals mostly in the fact that they come from the same archetypes (main character's love interest, the villain, etc). And I'm beginning to identify ways I can change up the plot so the character relationships aren't exactly the same as the original.

I'm just wondering how much changing is enough in this situation. Obviously, in any other circumstance no one would notice these characters at all, since they're common archetypes. It would be easy for someone to claim, for instance, that their character had a relationship with my character Desperado (who is a main character in the book) in the original game, so it's obvious that the spunky mare he goes after in the novel must be her character in disguise. And I wouldn't be able to claim the mare wasn't based off the original.

Hmmmm.....I was going to say it would be completely impossible for me to contact the person who played that villain and love interest, but I just did a google and it seems she's been active on her DeviantArt recently-ish. I suppose I'll give that a try. All of the other people, though, are basically lost in the wind.

As far as storyline goes, how much is copyrightable? I was the one who compiled the narratives for each storyline we did, but I did receive plot input from other people.

Ugh, this is probably why I abandoned writing this series in the first place. Someone could just show up and be like, "I played on that site and you stole from me," and I don't think I'd be able to prove I hadn't, even if I did go out of my way to write different incarnations of the plotlines.

Very true, rainsmom. I've only plotted out the first book, and so far it has almost no resemblance to what really happened in the game. I suspect that when I try to make the others novel-worthy, similar changes will happen.
I definitely am fighting the "but that's what happened!" feeling. But I keep telling myself it'll turn out better if I fix things first.

I've actually forgotten most of the specifics of the original plots. I remember my own characters and the conflicts I initiated, but not more. And near the end I didn't post much at all, so I actually don't know most of the details of the storylines created purely by my players. But yeah . . . I think you have a good idea, Marlys. At this point I'm not sure how I can disentangle what detail someone else suggested and what was my own idea, so making up new stuff that maybe borrows a few broad themes would probably be safest.

I'm actually 100% certain that none of my players would ever sue me. In fact I think they'd be delighted to find I'd novelized the game. But of course unless I had explicit written permission, I'd have a fun time trying to convince a publisher of the fact. And I might be crazy, but I think the series could have modest potential along the lines of the Warriors series by Erin Hunter.

^^;;;;;; I feel like I've made a bit of an ass out of myself in this thread. I don't think I've been articulating my thoughts well, and frankly it makes me look a bit stupid.

Please understand that I'm not trying to take someone's ideas/characters and justify it by saying "well I owned the game so now I'm writing some novels." I wrote as a roleplayer long before I had any goal of publication, and I lived by the #1 rule of roleplaying ethics: thou shalt not steal other peoples' characters. It's the reason I was never comfortable with writing fanfiction.

Granted, I provided a bad example. I'll own up to the fact that I've definitely got the "but that's the way it happened" blinders on with the love story. I may be able to solve that by contacting the person who played the villain and the love interest. But even then my stupidity stems from sentimentality and a (perhaps) misguided wish not to betray the characters' love.

What I was trying to figure out was where to find the line between inspiration and copyright violation. At what point have things changed enough? If I change the character traits of the love interest, can I have the MC--love interest--villain love triangle again? Or is that off limits because there was a love triangle in the original?

Or, in a different situation, if there was a conflict between races at some point in the original, is that something I can never use? Even if all the details and characters surrounding the issue are completely different?

I think what I really need to do is some research. If I weren't a broke grad student, I'd consult a copyright attorney. Obviously you guys don't know what was in the game and what I've changed since, and this situation is a tangled web because it was a long time ago and I can't contact anyone anymore.

It would be a lot easier if the whole story were less unique, but unfortunately no matter how much I change things, it's going to be easy enough for any of my players to guess that they've found my game-world in novel form. Who else would be writing about a bunch of horses and mythical equines that find a magical island and set up their society there? Plus my own characters will be recognizable, and if, in the interest of liability, I have to change them so they're not, there actually wouldn't be any point in me writing the book anyway.