Quote from: RPGPundit;728007Thankfully, Stafford owns the rights to Pendragon. He's done great things with it, too.

I'm excited about everyone of his new releases. I'm only disappointed that the current books are roughly directed towards the Uther era instead of the Arthurian era.

Quote from: Crabbyapples;731163I'm excited about everyone of his new releases. I'm only disappointed that the current books are roughly directed towards the Uther era instead of the Arthurian era.

Well yeah; the ideal is that they give an even spread of all the different ages (like the GPC book did).

RPGPundit

Anyone know who owns "The Fantasy Trip"?

Quote from: Piestrio;731667Anyone know who owns "The Fantasy Trip"?

The guy who owns Metagaming. Who dissapeared.

Quote from: Piestrio;731667Anyone know who owns "The Fantasy Trip"?

Howard Thompson never sold the rights.  I've seen a couple bootlegs so close as to make for copyright violations, but whether Thompson knows or cares, nothing's ever been done.

Quote from: RPGPundit;731035It was a criticism of people who feel they're too elite to read Dragon.

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Fail to see the difference between that and considering oneself elite for reading comicstrips from Dragon.

Quote from: RPGPundit;731035It was a criticism of people who I've imagined feel that they're too elite to read Dragon.

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There.  Fixed that for you, considering that it might not have occurred to you that people who didn't, in fact, play D&D could conceivably have little interest in reading D&D's house magazine.

Quote from: TristramEvans;731790Fail to see the difference between that and considering oneself elite for reading comicstrips from Dragon.

Heh ... got a point there.  Me, I've got a hard time figuring out why someone would take offense because someone else didn't read a magazine he liked, but the world's full of mysteries which surpass my understanding.

Quote from: Ravenswing;731872people who didn't, in fact, play D&D could conceivably have little interest in reading D&D's house magazine.

That was true for some time of Dragon's print run.

But there was a time when I found TSR (and Dragon) quite open towards other games. Not as open and useful as White Dwarf (at the same time), but still. Some of the articles were dealing with themes that were not limited to D&D. History, medieval life, religions, thieves guilds, commerce, or meta themes like problem players, DM skills, convention games, stuff like that.

Especially the review section was sometimes surprisingly honest. I liked that they grouped their reviews thematically ("post apocalypse games", "horror games"), mostly tied to the event of a TSR release in said genre. But often a competing product would be rated higher than the TSR offering.

But I agree that you would have to be a regular Dragon reader to notice that. If the mind was set on "Dragon = TSR" or "Dragon = AD&D" then you didn't bother giving Dragon a second look.

Quote from: Ravenswing;731693Howard Thompson never sold the rights.  I've seen a couple bootlegs so close as to make for copyright violations, but whether Thompson knows or cares, nothing's ever been done.

Thompson vanished around 84. Far as I know he hasnt returned since.

Whereas some people were apparently wishing that the guy who mismanaged GOO had not returned.

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;731900But I agree that you would have to be a regular Dragon reader to notice that. If the mind was set on "Dragon = TSR" or "Dragon = AD&D" then you didn't bother giving Dragon a second look.

And, after all, those other magazines I was already getting.  When by 1982 -- and from there on forward -- I was locked in to TFT and then GURPS, no need even for those save for the Space Gamer.

Quote from: Omega;731903Thompson vanished around 84. Far as I know he hasnt returned since.

1983.  Gamelords had a license to churn out TFT products, and we were happily at work on two more cities and the final two setting books for Land Beyond The Mountains, when Thompson pulled the plug.

Some folks tracked him down just a few years ago, but he's left RPGs far behind and has no interest in discussing business further.

Quote from: Ravenswing;731872There.  Fixed that for you, considering that it might not have occurred to you that people who didn't, in fact, play D&D could conceivably have little interest in reading D&D's house magazine.

Haven't you heard? Not liking Dragon is undemocratic.

QuoteHeh ... got a point there.  Me, I've got a hard time figuring out why someone would take offense because someone else didn't read a magazine he liked, but the world's full of mysteries which surpass my understanding.

Gamers are a strange bunch.

Quote from: TristramEvans;731790Fail to see the difference between that and considering oneself elite for reading comicstrips from Dragon.

There's nothing "elite" about that. Its considering one's self normal.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Ravenswing;732051And, after all, those other magazines I was already getting.  When by 1982 -- and from there on forward -- I was locked in to TFT and then GURPS, no need even for those save for the Space Gamer.

1983.  Gamelords had a license to churn out TFT products, and we were happily at work on two more cities and the final two setting books for Land Beyond The Mountains, when Thompson pulled the plug.

Some folks tracked him down just a few years ago, but he's left RPGs far behind and has no interest in discussing business further.

So, in a case like this, when the original copyright is more than 30 years old and the original holder didn't renew it and doesn't seem to want to use or defend the property, when does it become legal for someone else to do anything with it? In the US at least, there used to be a 28 year period to an original copyright.

Quote from: Alathon;725402If CCP is sitting on it, I imagine it's because nobody has been willing to meet their price (or made an offer?).  They had a bad-ish stretch a couple years back where they scaled back their WoD goals and let a lot of people go, when they let their vision get in the way of EVE being a spaceship game.  I don't know, but expect, that they would have gladly offloaded it then if they could have got money for it.

  From what I've heard, they're not exactly sitting on it by choice ... it's that MacKinnon left GoO's finances and contracts in such a tangled mess that no one is sure who can do anything with the material and under what conditions and obligations.

Quote from: Larsdangly;739021So, in a case like this, when the original copyright is more than 30 years old and the original holder didn't renew it and doesn't seem to want to use or defend the property, when does it become legal for someone else to do anything with it? In the US at least, there used to be a 28 year period to an original copyright.

If the work was written by an author and not a corporation, it's the author's life plus 70 years, giving his heirs exclusive rights for a few generations of his survivors.  

Corporations have rights for 120 years after creation or 95 years after first publication, whichever comes sooner.

So, for the most part, unless your a fan of a very old author, you're not gonna get to play with their stuff--your grandkids will probably get to though.