Lots of people asking for updates on the alleged plagiarism of Murphy's Rules that INQUEST magazine made (first detailed in the Muskrat-L Newsletter for May 1999).

Murphy's Rules is a property fully owned by Steve Jackson Games. It is the only work I create that is owned by someone other than myself (but I love doing it, and I love working with Steve).

INQUEST ran the following correction in issue #52 of the magazine:

"Oops! We Goofed!":

"We failed to credit the source for the `Reality Check' sidebar in IQG #50. It was the John Kovalic-illustrated `Murphy's Rules' column from Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid magazine. Sorry guys."

Steve is of the opinion this doesn't go far enough, since it implies INQUEST had permission to take Murphy's Rules virtually word-for-word in the first place. So Steve sent off a VERY sharp letter. Should this be made public, I'll post it here.

Now, I like the INQUEST guys -- some of them I like a lot -- but have to leave all this in Steve's hands, since he owns the feature. I feel comfortable standing behind whatever moves he makes on this front.

I'll supply more info as things develop.