Worried a long-planned element of my universe will seem like a ripoff

I think you have no worries. First you only have to worry about fans of this game who read your book, and they will probably think it's cool (unless they think you 'changed' too much about them). If you get asked about it you can just tell them you thought of it first (keep your old manuscripts). Not that you have to worry about being sued, just to keep the record straight.

Usually if I ever find myself in a similar situation, drastic reimagining is necessary. For example, in my early planning for my WIP I had a blatant rip off of the Ark of the Covenant; the enemy were attacking the city, and they had a magical device that was going to cast the walls down, so they could rush in and kill everyone. I needed a plot device, so I stole one. Once I made the switch between just thinking about writing a story, and actually beginning to write it, I realized that had to be changed. Unfortunately, the seige was the centerpiece of my story; it triggers the transformations of several characters from being rather unheroic, to more heroic. So...well I'm not done yet, but instead of having the Ark object carried around the walls, to the accompaniment of horns and on the seventh day the walls come tumbling down, I imagined it as being a more subtle device; it causes small but sensable vibrations within the city, which causes the buildings to gradually crumble. This actually heightens tension, because the besieged characters will start seeing buildings fall down, and know that its only a matter of time before there's nothing between them and the enemy army. It also leaves the main characters with the same problem; get rid of the thing! (I hope this hasn't been done before, I'd hate to have to do it again, but I suppose I could)

In your situation:

You can always change the hair thing. The scars isn't a big deal, because if you lead a violent life, you'll probably have scars.

Do they necessarily have to be immortal? or even immortal in the same way? Maybe they could be immortal in the way of the Persian Immortals? (that is, if one of them dies, another takes his place) Maybe they just act as if they never die, or in fact believe that they live on in the ones who take their place? Reimagining things often makes them more interesting.

I dearly hope that your story has an epic norse quality to it. I just finished reading a big ol collection of Icelandic sagas. You guys are bad asses.

Speaking of mythology, you can often find exactly the character you need in those UNCOPYRIGHTED sources, and switch your name for them to match this mother of all open source programs.

Sarpedon said:

Usually if I ever find myself in a similar situation, drastic reimagining is necessary. For example, in my early planning for my WIP I had a blatant rip off of the Ark of the Covenant; the enemy were attacking the city, and they had a magical device that was going to cast the walls down, so they could rush in and kill everyone. I needed a plot device, so I stole one. Once I made the switch between just thinking about writing a story, and actually beginning to write it, I realized that had to be changed. Unfortunately, the seige was the centerpiece of my story; it triggers the transformations of several characters from being rather unheroic, to more heroic. So...well I'm not done yet, but instead of having the Ark object carried around the walls, to the accompaniment of horns and on the seventh day the walls come tumbling down, I imagined it as being a more subtle device; it causes small but sensable vibrations within the city, which causes the buildings to gradually crumble. This actually heightens tension, because the besieged characters will start seeing buildings fall down, and know that its only a matter of time before there's nothing between them and the enemy army. It also leaves the main characters with the same problem; get rid of the thing! (I hope this hasn't been done before, I'd hate to have to do it again, but I suppose I could)

In your situation:

You can always change the hair thing. The scars isn't a big deal, because if you lead a violent life, you'll probably have scars.

Do they necessarily have to be immortal? or even immortal in the same way? Maybe they could be immortal in the way of the Persian Immortals? (that is, if one of them dies, another takes his place) Maybe they just act as if they never die, or in fact believe that they live on in the ones who take their place? Reimagining things often makes them more interesting.

I dearly hope that your story has an epic norse quality to it. I just finished reading a big ol collection of Icelandic sagas. You guys are bad asses.

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I agree. Fix the hair and the rest will follow...and they could be gay on campaign like any honest Spartan and spend all their time singing and combing out their wonderful hair betwtix engagements. Saucy!

You could also look at the Ska in Jack Vance's Lyonesse series.

It's frustrating when things like that happen. I probably wouldn't worry about it too much though. I follow video games fairly well, and I think witcher has barely regsiterred on most gamers 'to play' radar. The context and way you use them could also be very different from the game, and that could be enough difference.

If it still looks like you stole them, just change how they look and have them fight each other in mortal combat where the winner takes his enemy's head and with it his/her power.

Oh wait... Forget that last part, just change how they look.

The first thing I thought of was Highlander, both movies & TV series, which Witcher likely ripped off, just added the white hair gimmick so they wouldn't get sued.

You should watch several seasons of Highlander: The Series DVDs to see how they developed their story line. Skip all the movies but the first one. It's the only good one of the lot. Skip the latest one entirely. It just plain sucked even if it did have Peter Wingfield in it.

They were called Immortals on Highlander, but it was a relative term. You're immortal when you just don't die. On them, whack off the head and you're gone. Pretty mortal, that.


Prevent bad sequels: whack off the monster's head, toss the body through a wood chipper.

Anything worth slaying is worth slaying ugly!

Higgins said:

I agree. Fix the hair and the rest will follow...and they could be gay on campaign like any honest Spartan and spend all their time singing and combing out their wonderful hair betwtix engagements. Saucy!

You could also look at the Ska in Jack Vance's Lyonesse series.

Click to expand...

I don't have too much to add other than that's hot. Gotta love Spartans.

But I agree about the hair issue as well. It's a neat concept, but I think they would be much more recognizable and identifiable with the white hair. I doubt they will even be compared to the race in "The Witchers" if you changed that aspect (I also follow games from time to time and haven't even heard of the title. Be grateful it's not on the high end of the register like a Final Fantasy game!). There have always been 'immortal' races in the history of fantasy, so I definitely wouldn't worry in that regard.

xD Ya know, when I was younger, I had these characters that looked just like these two in this popular anime...oh, that's it: Chrono Crusade, lol. I mean, like, freakishly similar. I mean, I was real young, my whole story copywrote everything from Zelda to Lord of The Rings. >__o But hey, ya know, like others here have said, I mean in my opinion, fans of your series would make cute lil' deviantart comparisons and we'd all have a laugh, lol, ya know? I don't think you'd be taken to court or anything like that, but like someone up here said, I do think it's a good idea to keep all the original stuff just in case. But hey, what can you do, great minds think alike, ne? ^__^

If you're really worried about similarity, what you could do is, once you've written some of it with your own spin on the characters and all, show it to someone who's familiar with the other series without saying anything and see if they spot it.

Every fantasy WIP I do, I worry that there's some similarity to Harry Potter, especially in my big series one since it's all to do with dark wizards and a big war and all, so I employed that trick and then after my friend had read it and critted it, I explained about my concerns and she told me it hadn't occurred to her. I think, once you get into your world building and start working on the characters to make them fit your story rather than someone else's world and plots, then they start to change anyway and become your own, even if they start out similar.

(and weirdly, this is the third post in a row where I've been on about Harry Potter. Must be in a mood this morning )

Especially in fantasy where you're making up your own history and sociology, I find that characters and even races have a tendency to change dramatically as you work into things. In the same fantasy I started off basing most of my countries on European equivalents from either the medieval era or early modern. One started off based on Venice and was obviously based on Venice, the other on Sienna, but now I don't think they're so recognisable (other than the presence of canals, maybe) because other ideas have peppered them.

It might be wise for you to read the book the video game was based on, to see if the similarities lie there as well.

Try my comparison to Harry Potter (spoiler warning--just skip my post if you haven't read the seventh book). I (semi)kill my heroine, only to have her come back to life. I've had it planned since probably about 2004 (but definitely by 2005). I pick up Deathly Hallows, and guess what happens? In a scene not unlike mine, the MC has a meaningful conversation with their mentor and decides to go back.

And it's a damn major plot point, too.

Ironically, the Witcher is based off a series of Polish books by some guy who's name I can't pronounce. And the only reason I haven't run out and read them immediately is because I can't speak French, Polish, Czeck, Russian, German or Bulgarian...which happens to be all the languges it's been translated (plus seven more that I can't find).

Which means this story was a rip off even before the Witcher the game came out. But don't worry, this sort of thing happens ALL the TIME!

Like, I once wrote a story about a split personality telekinetic that gets struck in the head and loses her memory and is then taken in by a kindly family that is unaware that the military is hunting her down. Then my freind was like, "Hey, watch this cool anime called Elfen Leid."

"Curses!" Said I. "They stole my idea...several years before I wrote it!"


EDIT: Also, if you haven't played the Witcher, you should immediately rush out and buy it. It's fantastic, purely from a story and world construction stand point...and it's danged fun to.

EDIT 2: Also Witchers aren't immortal. They're just mutants. They only live as long as most humans...well, a bit longer because of the super reflexes, strength and immunity to plague.

EDIT 3: Oh also, Geralt of Rivia is the only Witcher that has white hair. He's special.

EDIT 4: I really need to finish my posts before clicking 'save'.

EDIT 5: Heh, last thing, really...the Witchers are less mutants, more genetically engineered. Cuase it's an induced mutation, created through a combination of altered diet and magical potions they drink when they're eighteen. There are like three stages that are explained in detail in the books and game.