Rpg Design Game Master Copyright

I know Dungeon Master is the D&D term for the game master, and Storyteller is the White Wolf version.

There are lots of terms used by different systems.. my question is, are these terms copyrighted? And what about "Game Master", is that a copyrighted term by some game, or could I for example use it in a book?

If these terms are copyrighted, does anyone have suggestions or generic terms they've seen in other systems that are okay to use in place of "Game Master" (GM)?

I often use "Runner", as in "I'm running this game, therefore I am the Runner". My players seem to understand what I'm talking about.

Not Genseric Dace

I've seen Narrator used often. It's what I normally use.

"Referee" was used by a fair number of games in the 1980s. Everybody should understand that title.

And, as i recently pointed out in another thread, it is actually the term used in the original D&D set as well. DM is a later invention.

"Dungeon Master" is trademarked, according to WOTC (and TSR before them), so nobody else can use that term without getting nasty letters from WOTC's lawyers.

Additionally, "Dungeon Master" and "DM" just sound horribly wrong when used for anything other than Dungeons & Dragons.

"Game Master" is wide open for ypur use. (The incredibly bad Wikipedia entry for the term seems to say that Tunnels & Trolls was the first roleplaying game to use the term.)

Wikipedia can -- and is expected to -- be mercilessly edited by people more in the know. If you have better information, feel free to change it yourself.

"Referee" was used by a fair number of games in the 1980s. Everybody should understand that title.

We're not playing sports.

gloomhound

"Dungeon Master" is trademarked, according to WOTC (and TSR before them), so nobody else can use that term without getting nasty letters from WOTC's lawyers.

Ever read Tunnels and Trolls?

(Guess I should read all of the posts in a thread before I post)

Last edited: Oct 3, 2007

lol well Narrator is a good one, I hadn't heard that option before.

If Game Master isn't specifically trademarked, then that seems the most universally recognizable term to use.

Thanks

I came into gaming with Palladium and they used the term Game Master, so that's what I've always used.

I've never heard a title that I liked better than GM, but I still find that it doesn't encompass the role that a GM usually takes. Your only a master in the same way that an elected official is a master over his constituency. You have power, but you are oblidged to use it to serve your players by antagonizing their characters.

My handle is actually a tip of the hat to my role as a GM. I'm all the players know of their character's world. I'm their sensorium.