Is it possible to create our own heroes?

[Joskevermeulen]

Hi everyone,

I go right to the point:
I am a Heroesfan, but i don't like the way heroes has evolved. My grieves are too long to post here but concern (A.I. , replayability , amount / quality of content , ability to create new content)

I like programming but have no experience with 3d or Graphics design.
My question is, is it legal to make our own Heroes?

Are there any patents we could breach if we use a very similar skill system / magic system / town system / adventure map system.
Or is it just the brand might and magic and heroes we can't use.

Another problem is: What problems could arise when using very similar object / monster images / animations, town designs? Where is the line between legal / illegal. Lord of the rings also has orcs , dwarves , cities , ....

Heroes V creatures very much look like warhammer but they are still being used (or are the rights bought by ubisoft to use them?).

I've seen a post on the forum concerning a game called battlelord
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/bat ... id=6151075
that looks very similar to heroes but even prettier. Can they do that?
They've seem to have copied very similar gameplay elements.

[Sikon]

Of course it's legal, as long as you don't copy any original content (graphics, texts, etc.) and don't call it HOMM. Copyright protects content, not ideas.

[StMichael]

I would realy like to make my own hero but this thing is not posible "yet" !!!