Quote from: One Horse TownThe alternative, for cash strapped folks is to nick bits, rename them and re-shape them a bit. If done well, the source should be apparent as the inspiration. Of course, that won't get you the sales that a license will, but 'swings and roundabouts' as they say.

...or just use BESM, GURPS 4th/e, HERO, or SAVAGE WORLDS to approximate those settings.

- Ed C.

Quote from: pspahnThat's what I see.  The Fifth Element universe would make a nice setting book, but everything that can be done in that verse can be done in Firefly/HardNova/Traveller, etc.
Pete

I think you could say that about pretty much any Sci-Fi game. I definitely think that a Fifth Element  universe could be a viable RPG. But it is way past its prime. By that I mean theres no current movie TV show etc. That could generate interest in it. So it would just be core niche fans. Therefore I would think not very profitable.
Now the Terminator on the other hand I think not only has the RPG possiblilties. But with a string of movies, and a TV show coming out this fall. That could be a hit. You could play before the fall. Maybe you end up being an important leader of the resistance. So they send terminators after you. Or your friends of people being stalked by terminators, and are tring to help them. Or just dealing with difficulties in our age preparing for the fall. Or you could play after the fall. Fighting the machines.

Quote from: Koltar...or just use BESM, GURPS 4th/e, HERO, or SAVAGE WORLDS to approximate those settings.

- Ed C.

Yup.

Quote from: RoninNow the Terminator on the other hand I think not only has the RPG possiblilties. But with a string of movies, and a TV show coming out this fall. That could be a hit. You could play before the fall. Maybe you end up being an important leader of the resistance. So they send terminators after you. Or your friends of people being stalked by terminators, and are tring to help them. Or just dealing with difficulties in our age preparing for the fall. Or you could play after the fall. Fighting the machines.

Yeah, I think that would still have a huge draw.  I would set it just after the 3rd movie with the humans on the run having to band together to fight the machines (with a rough timeline of the different stages of resistance, from start to finish).  Lots of cool opportunities for post-apoc roleplaying there.

Pete

Quote from: pspahnI'm not sure that's how a license works. As I understand it, you pay a flat fee and then you keep the income. I'm sure that's not how all of the contracts work, but I would say the majority.
 
Pete

Including all licenses (not just rpg), I think it can be both. They almost always have an initial fee to keep the riffraff from applying and to get something out of the deal if no product is ever made.
 
In addition to cost, a license can be quite a bit of extra logistical work depending on how protective the license holder is.  If they want to sign off on everything, then there is extra time and crap of sending stuff off and waiting for an answer.  My impression is that AEG cancelled their Farscape line after being frustrated with getting their core book out.

Quote from: pspahnI'm not sure that's how a license works.  As I understand it, you pay a flat fee and then you keep the income.  I'm sure that's not how all of the contracts work, but I would say the majority.

My understanding is that it varies from contract to contract: there's no universal licensing contract that's used for every licence out there.

It's also my impression that "perpetual licences" are rare-to-nonexistent - which means that the renewal process brings its own problems. If you're a game publisher and your game based on a licensed property isn't doing well, the people you're licensing from don't care, and aren't likely to drop the fee or royalties arrangement to the point where you'll start making money (and if the game's not doing well you might be disinclined to renew it anyhow). If the game is doing well, then the company you're licensing from might want a bigger cut of the action, leaving you with a choice of a) appeasing them and making less money yourself or b) dropping the licence, losing even more money, and wasting all the effort you've gone to preparing products which will have to be scrapped.

Quote from: pspahnI'm not sure that's how a license works.  As I understand it, you pay a flat fee and then you keep the income.  I'm sure that's not how all of the contracts work, but I would say the majority.  

Pete

IME the flat fee (fully paid variety) only occurs when the licensee (the person taking the license) has the market power.  This is not the case with the kinds of licenses we are talking abou.  An RPG company can only hope to make in a lifetime what these blockbuster movies and shows make in a month.

The primary business reason to even license your powerful brand to an RPG company is that it will help maintain your market presence in your demographic and drive sales in your other mechandise.  It's more like advertsing that you don't have to pay for than anything else.  The revenue stream is not likely to cover even your cost of administrating such a license.

I'd suspect the licenses to RPG companies include an up-front payment, plus a royalty, plus a minimum royalty payment and maybe even a minimum sales requirement.  I'd also suspect they have serious approval provisions so the RPG company doesn't end up doing something that tarnishes the brand.  Afterall what is really selling these games?  It's not the game mechanics or comapny, it's the setting, the brand.

I'm an anime nut, so...

Neon Genesis Evangelion? There are four new movies on the way.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex? Two TV series as prequels to the movies. I think there's also a SAC movie out, though I'm not sure it's been subbed/dubbed into English yet.

Fullmetal Alchemist? Screams RPG. Nothing forthcoming that I've heard of, but Conquerer of Shamballah is fairly recent.

Bleach? Not a fan myself, but it's got enough people into it and plenty of episodes on the way.

Naruto? See Bleach.

Also, a number of video games could be PnP-ified, like Halo.

All of the aforementioned anime series, and a great deal more, can be done just fine with existing games- and done with aplomb by a smaller subset of them.

Quote from: Bradford C. WalkerAll of the aforementioned anime series, and a great deal more, can be done just fine with existing games- and done with aplomb by a smaller subset of them.

Indeed, doing a whole bunch of different anime series is the entire schtick of at least one game (BESM).

I know for the Matrix, the Wachowski's directly credit Mage: the Ascension as an inspiration for the movie. I think it could be converted over (Awakening would be easier) pretty easily.

Quote from: WarthurIndeed, doing a whole bunch of different anime series is the entire schtick of at least one game (BESM).

Not to mention other games--such as the venerable Mekton series--that covers smaller subsets of the wide variety of genres produced in Japan, either in comic or animation format or take different approaches (Tinker's Dam, OVA).  However, tabletop RPGs not expressly marketed as "anime games" can also do the job just fine, and I'm not talking about HERO or GURPS.  With just a few tweaks, you can return Record of Lodoss War to its D&D roots using whatever edition of the game you prefer.  The Super Robot shows can be done using any superhero RPG flexible enough to copy Captain Marvel, and the same is true of both the Magical Girl shows and their meant-for-boys counterparts.  Vision of Escaflowne is easy to replicate using Exalted, as is Aura Battler Dunbine.  Cowboy Bebop is doable with Traveller (so long as Ed and Ein are NPCs), Spycraft or d20 Modern (and you can have Ed and Ein as PCs).  All Flesh Must Be Eaten works well enough for the Vampire Hunter D films (and the latter of the pair, Bloodlust, is the best damned RIFTS movie yet made).  Strip away the "anime" label, look at the source material as if it were anything live-action or literary, and you'll easily see a plethora of existing RPG products that can already do the job of recreating it.

Quote from: KrakaJakI know for the Matrix, the Wachowski's directly credit Mage: the Ascension as an inspiration for the movie. I think it could be converted over (Awakening would be easier) pretty easily.

They did?  Where?

Quote from: KrakaJakI know for the Matrix, the Wachowski's directly credit Mage: the Ascension as an inspiration for the movie.

Reference please?

Thirding the call for a reference; all I can find are forum posts by Matrix fans speculating that Mage might be an influence.