"Monographs" re-issue ... ?

[g33k]

Chaosium has withdrawn the old "Monographs" line... old news to most of us, I know.  Still a regret to many.

As I understand it however -- and I may well misunderstand (hence this post) -- these would now be available to re-issue under the ORC license, if the authors wanted to do so...

Do the (c)'s on the originals prevent this, or is it possible?

 

I believe that Chaosium made some effort to track down the original authors, when they pulled the monographs; but their contact-info for the authors was out of date and/or the authors weren't interested in pursuing the projects, etc.  Can @MOB or @Rick Meints (or whoever) shed any light?

But, nothing seems to be happening on that front.

I was wondering if the community might be able to rally an effort, here... in light of the new edition & upcoming ORC license?  Do folks know any of the Monograph authors?  Any "friend-of-a-friend situations where they could get the word out?

Etc...

[NickMiddleton]

Serendipitously, I have reached out to Chaosium privately to clarify the status of Outpost 19 earlier today.

I can’t find a definitive public statement, or private email to me regarding Outpost 19,  other than some correspondence with MOB back in 2015 that touch on it, when the existing agreements remained in place (and Chaosium were rather busy trying to ensure the company survived).

I can’t speak definitively for anyone else, but if Chaosium are content that rights to Outpost 19 have reverted to me, I’d still want to go over it carefully: it was written for the BGB incarnation of BRP, and it uses a few names from the Future*World segment of Worlds of Wonder that would need changing at the very least. But it is on a list of potential projects for release for BRP under ORC (as well as some Magic World fan stuff that the PoD releases inspired me to go back to).

I have quite a lot of the BRP monographs, I could probably sort a list of names.

[g33k]

I am not Chaosium, and of course know nothing of any specific contracts between you and them.
 

But in general, it appears monograph authors retained (c) :
 

Quote

Independent creators could release titles under Chaosium's Miskatonic University Library Association or BRP brand, and — as with current community content programs — retain ownership of their original creations while using Chaosium's rule systems and IP. 

-- https://www.chaosium.com/blogmiskatonic-monday-46-retiring-the-monographs/

 

 

[MOB]

9 hours ago, g33k said:

As I understand it however -- and I may well misunderstand (hence this post) -- these would now be available to re-issue under the ORC license, if the authors wanted to do so...

Do the (c)'s on the originals prevent this, or is it possible?

As the announcement at the time noted, the monograph creators retain ownership of their original creations. Monograph creators are free to do whatever they want with their own work - including releasing under the ORC license. They would have to remove Chaosium IP first though. 

We gave all monograph creators the option of rereleasing their work in our community content programs (e.g. Miskatonic Repository), and said we would waive the usual 250 sales POD requirement, and have community ambassadors assist.

9 hours ago, g33k said:

But, nothing seems to be happening on that front.

No, several monograph creators have already availed themselves of this offer and have published in the Miskatonic Repository, and there are more in the works.

9 hours ago, g33k said:

Chaosium has withdrawn the old "Monographs" line... old news to most of us, I know.  Still a regret to many.

The announcement was largely met with indifference. Sales of all but a few of the monographs had trickled down to minuscule figures in recent years. Some hadn't even managed to sell double digits in an entire year (indeed, some had no sales at all in a given year). Meanwhile, although there were some excellent monograph releases, and many that deserved a bigger audience, the extreme variability in quality meant all Chaosium products were tarred with the same brush when someone ever complained about bad art, bad layout, bad writing, objectionable content etc. Often they were pointing at a monograph which had sold perhaps a dozen copies in five years.

As we said when closing the program down, the monographs were a brilliant idea at the time, but their time passed, and now we have community content to occupy that space. 

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by MOB

[Agentorange]

2 hours ago, MOB said:

As the announcement at the time noted, the monograph creators retain ownership of their original creations. Monograph creators are free to do whatever they want with their own work - including releasing under the ORC license. They would have to remove Chaosium IP first though. 

We gave all monograph creators the option of rereleasing their work in our community content programs (e.g. Miskatonic Repository), and said we would waive the usual 250 sales POD requirement, and have community ambassadors assist.

No, several monograph creators have already availed themselves of this offer and have published in the Miskatonic Repository, and there are more in the works.

The announcement was largely met with indifference. Sales of all but a few of the monographs had trickled down to minuscule figures in recent years. Some hadn't even managed to sell double digits in an entire year (indeed, some had no sales at all in a given year). Meanwhile, although there were some excellent monograph releases, and many that deserved a bigger audience, the extreme variability in quality meant all Chaosium products were tarred with the same brush when someone ever complained about bad art, bad layout, bad writing, objectionable content etc. Often they were pointing at a monograph which had sold perhaps a dozen copies in five years.

As we said when closing the program down, the monographs were a brilliant idea at the time, but their time passed, and now we have community content to occupy that space. 

 

Hi MOB, do you know are there any plans to release Once Men ? It was on my geek list but the monographs were pulled before i bought it. I've checked over at DTRPG but with no luck. Unless perhaps it's under another name ?

[MOB]

1 hour ago, Agentorange said:

Hi MOB, do you know are there any plans to release Once Men ? It was on my geek list but the monographs were pulled before i bought it. I've checked over at DTRPG but with no luck. Unless perhaps it's under another name ?

Not that I am aware of, but that doesn't mean it's not happening. While our community ambassadors are happy to assist, community creators can release their work on the Miskatonic Repository without Chaosium's involvement, and do not need Chaosium's approval. 

[David Scott]

4 hours ago, Agentorange said:

do you know are there any plans to release Once Men ? It was on my geek list but the monographs were pulled before i bought it. I've checked over at DTRPG but with no luck. Unless perhaps it's under another name ?

Why not contact the author? They aren't hard to find and would likely be able to tell you any publishing plans they have: 

https://shadowsofmaine.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/once-men-monograph/

[Agentorange]

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

Why not contact the author? They aren't hard to find and would likely be able to tell you any publishing plans they have: 

https://shadowsofmaine.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/once-men-monograph/

Thank you, i shall give it a go. 👍

[Rick Meints]

Since we discontinued the program several years ago we have had a few monograph authors reach out to us to discuss the options/status/rights situation of their monograph. Our basic response is as MOB outlined above. A few have done the slight modifications/adjustments needed to get their work into our community content programs on DTRPG. Most monograph creators have just been silent.

We have tried to put as few barriers as possible in their way to get their work back into print. Monograph creators have a number of options open to them. It's really just down to them to make one or more of those options happen. 

[g33k]

16 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

Since we discontinued the program several years ago we have had a few monograph authors reach out to us to discuss the options/status/rights situation of their monograph. Our basic response is as MOB outlined above. A few have done the slight modifications/adjustments needed to get their work into our community content programs on DTRPG. Most monograph creators have just been silent.

We have tried to put as few barriers as possible in their way to get their work back into print. Monograph creators have a number of options open to them. It's really just down to them to make one or more of those options happen. 

TYVM, @Rick Meints & @MOB & @David Scott(even incognito) & the rest of the Chaosium crew!

 

But I wrote my OP un-skillfully, it seems.  What I really wanted to emphasize was this element:

On 6/11/2023 at 11:35 AM, g33k said:

I was wondering if the community might be able to rally an effort, here... in light of the new edition & upcoming ORC license?  Do folks know any of the Monograph authors?  Any "friend-of-a-friend" situations where they could get the word out?

I bet that some encouragement (from fans of the work, friends of the authors, &c) might help get the author(s) to move on those projects...

But, beyond that, it may even be a matter of just making them aware of the new  BRP:UGE  state of affairs.

Hence, my appeal to "the community" that (for any of the folks here who know how) they reach out to encourage (or just inform) the authors of the Monograph titles.

I myself recently reached out to an old-time author.  He hadn't seen anything RQ/Glorantha since he backed the GtG Kickstarter; the entire "Return of the Great Old Ones" & "Chaosium Resurgent" modern era had escaped his notice.  He's now buying & reading with some excitement (and may well re-release some of that older material).