Atgxtg Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 It's actually closer to C or D. Neither John Carter or ERB are really available for RPG licensing. Disney owns the rights to JC, Tarzan, and a few other properties in the ERB catalog (or so I have been informed) and they're not exactly cheap to work with. Plus, the ERB estate is famous for overvaluing their IP when dealing with smaller licensees. It is definitely pulpy, though, but more romantic in tone. Ah, Sword & Planet. Nice. It's not a genre that has been trod to death, either. In fact, such a book could be a nice source book for games like HERO, or Spirit of the Century, too. Quote Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickMiddleton Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 It's actually closer to C or D. Neither John Carter or ERB are really available for RPG licensing. Disney owns the rights to JC, Tarzan, and a few other properties in the ERB catalog (or so I have been informed) and they're not exactly cheap to work with. Plus, the ERB estate is famous for overvaluing their IP when dealing with smaller licensees. It is definitely pulpy, though, but more romantic in tone. Cool! Can't wait to learn more Jason! Cheers, Nick Middleton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agentorange Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 I wonder how much a license for The Trigan Empire would be ? Aaaah....the nostalgia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Neither John Carter or ERB are really available for RPG licensing. Disney owns the rights to JC, Tarzan, and a few other properties in the ERB catalog (or so I have been informed) and they're not exactly cheap to work with. Plus, the ERB estate is famous for overvaluing their IP when dealing with smaller licensees. I'm curious, how do either Disney or the ERB estate have any say as long as you limit the source material to that which is in the public domain? About half of the John Carter books are in the public domain in the US, as are several of the Tarzan books. Zane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 I wonder how much a license for The Trigan Empire would be ? Aaaah....the nostalgia How many people remember the Trigan Empire? Especially those in the US. I've always liked the book of it I have that I got in the 70's. Zane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason D Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 I'm curious, how do either Disney or the ERB estate have any say as long as you limit the source material to that which is in the public domain? About half of the John Carter books are in the public domain in the US, as are several of the Tarzan books. Zane I'm not a lawyer, and could be very well misinformed about this, but this is my understanding of the situation: While much of what ERB wrote is in the public domain, the characters themselves (John Carter, Tarzan, etc.) have been trademarked. This has the unfortunate side effect that any use of them outside of simply printing the public domain manuscripts represents a threat to the trademark. Which, I understand, the ERB Estate and Disney will defend vigorously. The situation extremely similar with REH's Conan and Frank Baum's Oz. Republishing the manuscripts in the PD is allowed, but further utilization of the IP is not really an option. I gather that Adamant Entertainment had many issues with their Mars game, which had art that (to my eyes) looked extremely similar to ERB's Martians and caused them some legal issues before release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simlasa Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Tonight I watched a bunch of episodes of the 'War Of The Worlds' tv series from the late 80s... and now I'm all jazzed about trying to game something along those lines... It's pretty wild stuff, especially the second season... kind of a post-apocalyptic setting with alien invaders, who... though advanced in a lot of ways... still have a lot of limitations that keep them from being able to take over outright. So far I've counted 3 different kinds of aliens (one being a huge, floating, tentacled thing with one big eye)... various weird 'constructs' and forms of possession, cloning, mind control... odd weapons... strange plagues... interplanetary/interdimensional gateways... grotesque 'biotechnology'... secret underground government labs... vehicular combat... punk rock bands... street riots... false messiahs... unnatural pregnancies... If some zombies show up in the remaining episodes then it will be a pig-perfect setting for me and mine... otherwise I'll do it anyway and add the zombies myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PK Games Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 Tonight I watched a bunch of episodes of the 'War Of The Worlds' tv series from the late 80s... and now I'm all jazzed about trying to game something along those lines... oooh how about V? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rurik Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 I'm not a lawyer, and could be very well misinformed about this, but this is my understanding of the situation: While much of what ERB wrote is in the public domain, the characters themselves (John Carter, Tarzan, etc.) have been trademarked. This has the unfortunate side effect that any use of them outside of simply printing the public domain manuscripts represents a threat to the trademark. Which, I understand, the ERB Estate and Disney will defend vigorously. The situation extremely similar with REH's Conan and Frank Baum's Oz. Republishing the manuscripts in the PD is allowed, but further utilization of the IP is not really an option. I gather that Adamant Entertainment had many issues with their Mars game, which had art that (to my eyes) looked extremely similar to ERB's Martians and caused them some legal issues before release. That is all pretty much the way I understand it. Trademarks do not expire as long as the trademarked character or image or whatever is still in use. Disney had a big part in the having copyright terms extended here in the U.S. When say the copyright on say Steamboat Willy expires, you will be able to show that movie, which 'stars' Mickey Mouse, but you will NOT be able use Micky Mouse in any other way, as he is trademarked. And Disney does vigorously defend it's trademarks. They will even throw their weight against smaller competitors who are 'in the right' - usually a smaller company cannot afford to defend itself against a juggernaut, even if they know they will win in the end (not that Disney is the only company to do this). Quote Help kill a Trollkin here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atgxtg Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 That is all pretty much the way I understand it. Trademarks do not expire as long as the trademarked character or image or whatever is still in use. The key phase is "Stillin use". Once a company stops using a trademark is usually is fair game after 5 years or so. Disney had a big part in the having copyright terms extended here in the U.S. When say the copyright on say Steamboat Willy expires, you will be able to show that movie, which 'stars' Mickey Mouse, but you will NOT be able use Micky Mouse in any other way, as he is trademarked. Probably the biggest contributor to getting the terms extended was the orginal desl over Superman that Simon & Shuester made with DC. Basically they got shafted. Cases like that raised public attention to such issues. Personally, I don't think copywrites should extend for much more than the life of the orginal creator. I don't agree with people getting rich off of the work someone else did decades ago, let along centuries. I also think it is bad for our technological development. Imagine where we'd be today if someone had copy written all the old greek manuscrips that were saved by monks through copying. Quote Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drohem Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 oooh how about V? That would be cool. I really liked the show when it aired. The effects weren't that great, but with a little imagination, it was cool. Quote BRP Ze 32/420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PK Games Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 The Original Mini-Series is still one of my all time favorite sci-fi events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Tonight I watched a bunch of episodes of the 'War Of The Worlds' tv series from the late 80s... and now I'm all jazzed about trying to game something along those lines... It's pretty wild stuff, especially the second season... kind of a post-apocalyptic setting with alien invaders, who... though advanced in a lot of ways... still have a lot of limitations that keep them from being able to take over outright. I remember watching that show in the late 80's. I was in the Navy and would watch the episodes my Dad taped for me while home on leave. I felt the first season was pretty lame, though it had an excellent tie-in to the movie as I recall. I was surprised it was renewed for a second season. The Second Season was great, I really liked it. I believe in one episode they explain how things got so bad, and it had nothing directly to do with the aliens as I recall. Zane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tal Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 It's a little early to announce, but the next BRP project I'm working on should make you very happy. That's an understatement!:D Quote 141/420 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 The key phase is "Stillin use". Once a company stops using a trademark is usually is fair game after 5 years or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRose Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredj Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 I'm planning on doing some kind of survival horror. I'm thinking about using the Resident Evil universe (video games, for sure) for some of my settings. Btw, I'm surprised I'm not hearing anything about an official Resident Evil P&P role-playing game (this may be due to my ignorance of the rpg business). The games' setting pretty much has everything needed for a full-blown rpg setting--including campaign play. There is even a source book for the setting. Amazon.com: Resident Evil Archives: BradyGames: Books With all the mutant beasty madness that you could expect from CoC (but none of the cosmic terror or magic or significant loss of SAN). It would also be a great espionage setting (which is what the background of the story is). All it needs is the BRP rules. It would be a more action oriented version of CoC. I would also like to do some hard sf games. And maybe a game in a setting like Perfect Dark or Deus Ex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Duck Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Since Jason's Interplanetary will meet my Burroughs Planetary Romance needs, I'll be working on: "Silver John"-style modern supernatural adventure A Robotech campaign set during the Invid invasion Using the Allegiance system for a Nightwatch campaign -Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dredj Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Nightwatch; that would make a good campaign. I assume you're talking about the movies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Duck Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Nightwatch; that would make a good campaign. I assume you're talking about the movies? Yeah, the setting is great for supernatural action and politics. The movies rock, and I'll be pulling in some of the details from the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottomancer Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 I have a copy of edition zero of the BRP rules, and am happy to find that most of the info about sci-fi type games in there will allow me to run a campaign set in the Revelation Space universe of Alastair Reynolds. I plan to run a campaign set pre-diaspora, around the time of Reynolds' early short stories - Great Wall of Mars, A Spy In Europa etc. I have got character generation for factions such as Conjoiners, Demarchists, Coalition for Neural Purity, Gilgamesh-Isis etc done. Just need to get some playtesting done... Quote River of Heaven - Science Fiction Roleplaying in the 28th Century http://riverofheaven.d101games.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trifletraxor Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 I'm planning to continue running Cthulhu Rising as my main campaign, but also test out the other settings coming for BRP, especially those with scenarios created for them (I'm lazy!). I will also try Gwenthia when the first scenarios are out, and maybe later run the Glorantha specific scenarios from Mongoose. I've had to generate scenarios on my own now for around 10 years, and suddenly I find lots of new stuff for my favorite system. This is certainly not the twilight of old-school gaming, it's a new golden age! SGL. Quote Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub! 116/420. High Priest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottomancer Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 I'm planning to continue running Cthulhu Rising as my main campaign, but also test out the other settings coming for BRP, especially those with scenarios created for them (I'm lazy!). I will also try Gwenthia when the first scenarios are out, and maybe later run the Glorantha specific scenarios from Mongoose. I've had to generate scenarios on my own now for around 10 years, and suddenly I find lots of new stuff for my favorite system. This is certainly not the twilight of old-school gaming, it's a new golden age! SGL. Glad to hear it. You're welcome to my Revelation Space stuff (as is anyone else) when I finally get it done... Quote River of Heaven - Science Fiction Roleplaying in the 28th Century http://riverofheaven.d101games.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sladethesniper Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 A Robotech campaign set during the Invid invasion -Matt With BRP or using a kitbash of Palladium and BRP (they are very similiar...)?? My next game is a steampunk/fantasy/high tech BRP game...starting tonight with the kids and wife, hopefully...of course the kids are going to want to play something other than the 68 races I have :confused: Why are they so difficult to please?? I'll see how it goes. On the Robotech idea, I am fairly sure that my son is going to want to play an orc with a VF-1S tonight. -STS Quote Vhreaden: Blood, Steel and Iron Will is here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Duck Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 With BRP or using a kitbash of Palladium and BRP (they are very similiar...)?? I haven't decided yet - it depends on how lazy I'm feeling when it comes time to run the campaign. The new Shadow Chronicles RPG from Palladium would make a nice reference for the mecha stats either way. My next game is a steampunk/fantasy/high tech BRP game...starting tonight with the kids and wife, hopefully...of course the kids are going to want to play something other than the 68 races I have :confused: Why are they so difficult to please?? I'll see how it goes. C'mon, it sounds like a hoot - from what I've seen, kids can be surprisingly creative in gaming. Keep us posted. On the Robotech idea, I am fairly sure that my son is going to want to play an orc with a VF-1S tonight. My son is a bit too young for gaming, but, by gum, he loves singing the Robotech songs... :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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