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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42735
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Plagiarism would be taking exact text from the various game manuals and representing it as your own. So don't do that.

But you probably weren't going to anyway, because you want to _tell a story_, not _publish a game log_. Think of your story as being _inspired by_ your game, but retell it as a _story_. When you tell a story you use the language of _description_, not _specification_ -- powerful fireballs and mighty blows with great-axes, not third-level spells doing 5d6 damage and axes that do 2d12 (+3 for strength 18) etc. (It's been years since I've played D&D; please forgive my made-up stats here.)

Mechanics get in the way of storytelling, and mechanics are the part most tied to a particular game system. Unless you're targeting the gaming market specifically, you probably want your fantasy story to not clearly identify the game system at all -- readers don't need to _care_ whether it was D&D or GURPS or RuneQuest or Fate or a product wholly of your own imagination. They want to read about your wizard calling lightning from the heavens, not about a seventh-level wizard casting a fourth-level spell and opponents making saving throws.

There is one thing to watch out for, but it's not about plagiarism or copyright -- beware of trademarks. If there is a named monster type or special artifact, check to see if the game publisher asserts a trademark on it. They can't trademark common things like trolls or healing potions, but they might have trademarked a specific monster or artifact invented for that game. Try checking another published source such as the the 3.5 edition System Reference Document; trademarked stuff is usually absent (or renamed) in such works. If you're still not sure, you might want to change the specific names _just in case_ the publishers decide they care. (A similar concern might have caused Gygax to change "hobbits" to "halflings" after the first edition.)

Original score: 37