Chaosium is left with Cthulhu, setting-wise, and the Chaosium Role Playing System (or whatever they're calling what used to be referred to as Deluxe BRP) as a player in the generic system game. CRPS isn't a very auspicious acronym, so let us hope I'm mistaken on that; nevertheless it sounds very good in principle and it's generated a lot of enthusiasm among fans of BRP, many of whom rejected Mongoose's take on the system.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaHey, Mongoose hasn't exactly been asking politely for anything from Chaosium thus far.  Isn't there some difference of opinion who holds the rights to the Mythos anyway?

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Nonetheless, I suspect that if Mongoose went ahead and made such a game without the involvement of either Chaosium, or Arham House, we may well see action taken.

I'm going to go into wishful thinking mode here...

Naruto? I don't follow it, but I know about 30 people locally who'd play.
Heroes? Less grail, but so awesome.
Code Geass? Okay, now I'm just being stupid... but this is wishful thinking.

... Final Fantasy?

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke... Final Fantasy?

Interesting... but which one?

My vote would be for XII, but that's probably because I'm playing it at the moment.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaHey, Mongoose hasn't exactly been asking politely for anything from Chaosium thus far.  Isn't there some difference of opinion who holds the rights to the Mythos anyway?

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Robin Laws' Esoterrorists game is going to have a Cthulhu supplement, written by Kenneth Hite, later this year.  Though I don't know any of the details regarding the licensing and all that.

I'm probably being paranoid, but I can't help but think that all this "Holy Grail" speculation is a kind of ad hoc market research done by Mongoose to see what the fans really want.  They may well have asked "If you can have a licensed game of any setting you want, what would it be?"  Not that rampant speculation isn't fun though!

And for the record, the only Holy Grail in my book would be a Middle Earth setting.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaHey, Mongoose hasn't exactly been asking politely for anything from Chaosium thus far.

I'm no Mongoose apologist, but I don't think this is exactly fair.

The RuneQuest licence was acquired from Issaries - nothing to do with Chaosium.

Matt Sprange directly approached Chaosium and asked about the possibility of acquiring the Eternal Champion licence, to which the response was (apparently) "for $x, you can have it", whereupon the deal was thrashed out not just with Chaosium, but also with Moorcock via his agent.

It all seems rather civil, as far as I can make out.

As for the fabled 'holy grail', I've seen Matt Sprange deny online a lot of suggestions (I vaguely recall him even saying it's not Middle Earth, but I may have dreamed that). I've never seen him deny Dungeons & Dragons.

'Holy grail' implies a sure-fire RPG hit. It doesn't necessarily imply a licence that hasn't been done before. I would think that only Middle Earth, Star Wars, and D&D qualify. Harry Potter is a very interesting suggestion, and I'm sure would sell well, but for something that covers so many pages, it would seem to have little room to actually role-play in. Star Wars is well sewn-up. The Tolkein Estate appears to be very resistant to any games that take in all of Middle-Earth, rather than a specific LotR (movie-based) licence - maybe that's why the negotiations are so protracted.

And then again, maybe they're drawn out because the 'holy grail' is _THE_ RPG. It's difficult to imagine WotC licensing D&D, but if 'holy grail' is taken at face value, it's the best candidate.

If nothing else, the claim still has us pondering, even after all this time.

- Q

QuoteThe Tolkein Estate appears to be very resistant to any games that take in all of Middle-Earth, rather than a specific LotR (movie-based) licence - maybe that's why the negotiations are so protracted.

Well, it's trickier than that, it seems.  Because the rights to the whole body of Tolkien's work on Middle-Earth are divided.  Tolkein Enterprises holds the rights to merchandising based on the main books (LotR and the Hobbit), while the Tolkien Estate has everything else, like the Silmarillion and the histories.

So to get the whole body of the works, you'd have to negotiate with two different companies.  Plus, Christopher Tolkein, who controls the Tolkein Estate, is really, really protective of his father's works.

Supposedly Games Workshop was in talks to actually start including stuff from the preipheral works in the miniatures game, but I don't know if they ever succeeded.

Hey, my wife's other guess was Pirates of the Caribbean.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Hey, my wife's other guess was Pirates of the Caribbean.

Normally I wouldn't have though there was enough of a setting to go on there, but the third movie does seem to have a more detailed implied setting than just "historical Carribean + zombie pirates".

Though I really kinda like the latter approach better.

Quote from: J ArcaneNormally I wouldn't have though there was enough of a setting to go on there, but the third movie does seem to have a more detailed implied setting than just "historical Carribean + zombie pirates".

Though I really kinda like the latter approach better.

Sao Feng, ahoy.

I wouldn't have described Middle Earth as the "holy grail" of gaming. There have been Middle Earth roleplaying games in the past, and none of them have been wildly successful. That's not to say that the property couldn't be made very successful with the right company, but it isn't really a "holy grail".
 
IMO, in terms of being an instant success, it would have to be Harry Potter. A Potterverse RPG would sell like hotcakes, regardless of whether it was any good. But I think a Potter RPG would be very, very unlikely.

Quote from: Tyberious FunkI wouldn't have described Middle Earth as the "holy grail" of gaming. There have been Middle Earth roleplaying games in the past, and none of them have been wildly successful.

Yeah, I was rather thinking that Middle Earth might be more of a Bad Penny or Golden Handcuffs than a Holy Grail.  In fact, for all the hype they may generate, I'm ever increasingly of the opinion that licensed properties -- especially the really big names -- are more of a liability than a coup.

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Quote from: Ian AbsentiaYeah, I was rather thinking that Middle Earth might be more of a Bad Penny or Golden Handcuffs than a Holy Grail.  In fact, for all the hype they may generate, I'm ever increasingly of the opinion that licensed properties -- especially the really big names -- are more of a liability than a coup.

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So an existing big name RPG then?  

Maybe they got publication of Traveller5?  Like they did with ParanoiaXP?

Quote from: J ArcaneSo an existing big name RPG then?  

Maybe they got publication of Traveller5?  Like they did with ParanoiaXP?

That would make me both happy and sad. =

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