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Moon Design Publications transfers ownership of the HeroQuest trademark to Hasbro


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MEDIA RELEASE: For immediate release

Ann Arbor, MI. 22 September 2020

Moon Design Publications has announced the formal transfer of ownership of the HeroQuest trademark to Hasbro. Moon Design's HeroQuest tabletop roleplaying game line, published by Chaosium, will be rebranded as "Questworlds".

"We know that the old Milton Bradley HeroQuest board game has many devoted fans who would love to see it back in print once again. The transfer of the HeroQuest trademark to Hasbro is a significant step towards that becoming a reality," said Chaosium head of licensing, Michael O'Brien.

The HeroQuest trademark: some background...

HeroQuest the boardgame was published by Milton Bradley (a subsidiary of Hasbro) and Games Workshop from 1989 - 1994. The trademark having lapsed, Greg Stafford registered the HeroQuest trademark in 2002 for his HeroQuest tabletop roleplaying game. 

Note: in the 1970s, Greg Stafford used the term "heroquest" to describe a transformative journey in which a quester enters the realm of the gods to reenact a myth, returning with gifts or special knowledge, and began designing a roleplaying game exploring those themes. Greg Stafford's HeroQuest tabletop RPG is completely unrelated to the Milton Bradley HeroQuest boardgame. 

Moon Design Publications became the licensed publisher of Greg Stafford's HeroQuest RPG in 2006. In 2012 Moon Design Publications purchased the HeroQuest trademark and other related IP from Greg Stafford. 

In 2015 Moon Design Publications became part of the ownership of Chaosium Inc. Via Chaosium, Moon Design Publications has continued to publish the HeroQuest RPG, largely for tabletop roleplaying in Greg Stafford's fantasy world of Glorantha.

In April 2020, Moon Design Publications published the Questworlds System Reference Document (SRD) so independent publishers could use the HeroQuest RPG core rules system for other game worlds and settings.

The sale and transfer of the HeroQuest trademark from Moon Design Publications to Hasbro was completed in July 2020.

What's Next for HeroQuest the Boardgame?

That is up to Hasbro and their board game subsidiary Avalon Hill. For more information, see:
https://heroquest.avalonhill.com

What's Next for HeroQuest the Tabletop Roleplaying Game?

The HeroQuest tabletop roleplaying game is being rebranded as Questworlds. The rules themselves will remain unchanged. 

For more about Questworlds, the rules and prep-lite RPG system that facilitates beginning play easily, and resolving conflicts in play quickly, see:
https://questworlds.chaosium.com

Over coming months, Chaosium will be rebadging all HeroQuest products. 

"We are currently selling off existing printed stocks bearing the HeroQuest mark at a discount. Purchase these print releases while you can! Once these books are taken down from sale they will be out-of-print permanently," said Michael O'Brien.

Purchase HeroQuest and HeroQuest Glorantha products here (limited time only):
https://www.chaosium.com/heroquest

Contact Information:
Michael O’Brien, Head of Licensing
mob@chaosium.com
chaosium.com

 

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Well, this all sounds rather vindictive on the part of Avalon Hill and Hasbro.

Not that they can realistically trademark every single iteration involving the words"hero(ism)" and "quest(ing)".

hmmmmm guessing though there was some horse trading about RuneQuest versus HeroQuest, given both companies' histories with the brands.

I do hope at least that you guys have not lost the ability to use such words as "heroquesting" in product titles using the RuneQuest brand name.

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56 minutes ago, Julian Lord said:

Well, this all sounds rather vindictive on the part of Avalon Hill and Hasbro.

Why?

Hasbro wanted to bring back their HQ boardgame.  As I understood it, they had the trademark rights in at least part of Europe, but not the US, and have now worked out an arrangement to acquire all the trademark rights, thus avoiding any future back-and-forth over rights or lapsed rights.

Clearly this has been in process for awhile given the shift to Questworlds for the SRD.

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27 minutes ago, jajagappa said:

Clearly this has been in process for awhile given the shift to Questworlds for the SRD.

....and also given that paperwork began being filed as early as summer 2019 as far as I can tell from government databases.

I think it's a good thing overall:

  1. The HeroQuest board game is coming back! Yay! (although I have ambivalent opinions about the new WotC-type cartoonesque artwork, and Hasbro's leadership)
  2. Chaosium probably got a big lump of money? Maybe?
  3. We will finally see an end to years of subtle distinctions between "heroquest" (lowercase) and "HeroQuest" (capitalized). Now it's just going to be about the activity of going to the God Time! No more ambiguity!

 

Edit: I tried to back the HeroQuest campaign.... check out the shipping fees for Western Canada :D  

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Maybe I'll wait until it naturally shows up in my local store then :D 

Edited by lordabdul
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Ludovic aka Lordabdul -- read and listen to  The God Learners , the Gloranthan podcast, newsletter, & blog !

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45 minutes ago, Ali the Helering said:

Copyrighting 

It's the trademark that has been sold.

Many companies trademark a word for branding purposes, but it doesn't stop anyone from using the word in a sentence. Think Amazon, apple, coke (a form of coal), etc. You copyright intellectual or creative works not single words.

Quote

Copyrights and trademarks protect distinct creations. Generally, copyrights protect creative or intellectual works, and trademarks apply to commercial names, phrases, and logos. ... Trademarks fall under the auspices of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, while copyrights are granted by the U.S. Copyright Office.

 

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Search the Glorantha Resource Site: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com. Search the Glorantha mailing list archives: https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/

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11 hours ago, MOB said:

"We are currently selling off existing printed stocks bearing the HeroQuest mark at a discount. Purchase these print releases while you can! Once these books are taken down from sale they will be out-of-print permanently,"

If I've previously bought the HQG pdf, can I still get the price of that off of the discounted hardcover?

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6 hours ago, David Scott said:

It's the trademark that has been sold.

Many companies trademark a word for branding purposes, but it doesn't stop anyone from using the word in a sentence. Think Amazon, apple, coke (a form of coal), etc. You copyright intellectual or creative works not single words.

 

I know, it simply sounded better to me.  Sometimes art must overcome precision😜

As it happens, I used to work at the Uk's Trademark Registry! 

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3 hours ago, Richard S. said:

If I've previously bought the HQG pdf, can I still get the price of that off of the discounted hardcover?

If you previously bought the HQG pdf from Chaosium.com and want to upgrade to the physical product, you can get in touch with Dustin via the customerservice@chaosium.com email. The current price of the PDF is $7.49, and that is the amount you would receive off the hardcover if you purchase it now. Note that the hardcover is only available in UK, EU, and AUS warehouses. 

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The journey of the HeroQuest trademark – left to lapse by Milton Bradley, picked up Greg Stafford for his (completely different) tabletop RPG, and returning to the fondly-remembered board game of old some twenty years later – is something of a heroquest in itself. I discussed the history of this famous mark with EN World's Egg Embry:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/hasbros-heroquest-and-chaosium’s-role-in-the-board-game’s-return.674860

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I've been excited to see the return of the Milton Bradley HeroQuest but it's left me incredibly curious about what will happen to the name of Chaosium's HeroQuest.  I've long been a fan of Call of Cthulhu but I'd really like to get into RuneQuest and HeroQuest. I think I'd like to have the version with the name Stafford wanted on the cover so I may have to pick up the HeroQuest books before any changes are made.  Also, I think it'd be kind of silly and cool to have two completely different games with the same name on my shelf.

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1 minute ago, davewire said:

but it's left me incredibly curious about what will happen to the name of Chaosium's HeroQuest.

As the OP says

19 hours ago, MOB said:

The HeroQuest tabletop roleplaying game is being rebranded as Questworlds. The rules themselves will remain unchanged. 

...

Over coming months, Chaosium will be rebadging all HeroQuest products. 

-----

Search the Glorantha Resource Site: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com. Search the Glorantha mailing list archives: https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/

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10 minutes ago, David Scott said:

As the OP says

I know. I read it. I’m saying that when I first heard about the rumors about the HeroQuest board game revival two weeks ago when Avalon Hill put up the timer and Hasbro subsequently confirmed those selfsame rumors yesterday, I immediately was curious about Chaosium’s response. Again, it’s good to see the answer and if I want a copy of Chaosium’s game with the HeroQuest brand, I better get on it.

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5 hours ago, MOB said:

I discussed the history of this famous mark with EN World's Egg Embry:

Well, the good folks over at EN World seem thrilled about the return of HeroQuest the board game, and the crowdfunding is doing great. The confounding situation surrounding the term HeroQuest just became a lot less confounded. Good move, Chaosium!

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It makes me sad, HeroQuest as a brand is tied to the world of Glorantha in a way QuestWorlds will never be.   :(

But I agree it would be confusing to have QuestWorlds as a generic set of rules and to name it HeroQuest when it is used for Glorantha.

I am not sure we will ever see new products set in Glorantha from Chaosium with rules other than RuneQuest though. And it also makes me sad.

Edited by Corvantir
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On 9/23/2020 at 12:51 PM, davewire said:

Also, I think it'd be kind of silly and cool to have two completely different games with the same name on my shelf.

I've accomplished this feat in the form of Maharaja and Maharaja.  In the same order from a since-defunct US boardgames company.  Their demise I'm sure not directly related to their mistakenly shipping it to "IR(an)" rather than "IR(e)L(and)" and them not arriving for nine months...

Can recommend the former; the second was once described with cruel accuracy as the world's first 3 1/2 player boardgame.

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On 9/23/2020 at 9:19 PM, Mark Mohrfield said:

Well, to me the Gloranthan iteration of the rules will always be HeroQuest, dern it.

I feel much the same.  Not merely out of sentiment and stubbornness, as because that habit's going to be mighty hard to unlearn after those neurons firing in that manner for all these years now...

Perhaps much as, post-Hollow Crown and gags on Pointless I've started to think of Richard II and Henry V as Henry IV, Parts 0 and 3 respectively I can do the same with Hero Wars and QuestWorlds...

Edited by Alex
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