News Digenst: Kingkiller Chronicles Showrunner is Former Game Designer, Mutants and Masterminds Has a New Lead, CAH Involved in Trump Lawsuit, and more!
Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week's gaming news. The TV series based on Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles has a new showrunner and it's a former game designer, Mutants and Masterminds has a new lead developer, Warhammer 40K leans Friendship is Magic, Cards Against Humanity sued over a Trump-based clone game for intellectual property issues, your 2017 Gaming Convention map, and big changes to Star Trek Attack Wing!
Former game designer turned television writer John Rogers will be showrunner for the television adaptation of the Kingkiller Chronicles. Rogers is best known for his television series Leverage and The Librarians, but much of his early writing was done in roleplaying games with work on Dungeons & Dragons 3rd and 4th edition products, Fate, and Fiasco. He also wrote the Dungeons & Dragons comic series for IDW Publishing. Kingkiller Chronicles is the bestselling fantasy series by author Patrick Rothfuss with two books of the trilogy released, The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear. This follows a previous announcement that Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda will be serving as a creative producer on the television series as well as the films. If this paragraph seems very clinical, it’s because my initial reaction to this announcement was a series of audible only to animals squeezing and a stream of excited expletives as the showrunner of one of my favorite television programs is running the adaptation of one of my favorite novel series.
Mutants and Masterminds has a new lead developer in Crystal Fraiser. Green Ronin made the announcement on Sunday that Fraiser would be replacing Jon Leitheusser on the D20 based superhero roleplaying game, currently in its third edition. Fraiser previously worked as a freelance designer and writer with Green Ronin and other companies such as Paizo, Palladium, Onyx Path, Rogue Genius, and Kobold Press. No new products have been announced yet, but several ideas were teased in the announcement.
An interesting clash of genres is taking place in an eBay auction as 6,200 point Warhammer 40K army (plus elites) went up for sale for the asking price of $1800 with free shipping. What makes this army unique? Ponies. Each unit has been modified extensively with My Little Ponies action figures and paint schemes creating an army of powersuit-clad ponies. “Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy,” commented Ross Watson, designer of Rogue Trader and former Warhammer 40K Roleplaying lead developer. If you had your heart set on a Fluttershy Apocalypse Pony complete with orbital drop pod, I unfortunately must be the bearer of bad news as the auction has ended. However, you can still view the images from the auction in the archive.
When I started writing about tabletop gaming news almost three years ago, I didn’t think I’d be getting a remedial education in intellectual property law or spend nearly as much time reading court filings, but here we are as yet another lawsuit is making waves in the industry. SCS Direct attempted to crowdfund a game titled “Humanity Hates Trump”, a political clone game of Cards Against Humanity. The lawsuit seeks a summary judgment by jury trial against Cards Against Humanity for “unfair competition” due to an intellectual property dispute. This caused at least one blogger to ask “Did Cards Against Humanity Unfairly and Illegally Kick a Game Developer Off Kickstarter?” Unfairly? Possibly. Illegally? No.
Time for a quick lesson that is the quagmire of United States intellectual property laws and tabletop gaming. There are almost no legal ways to protect game rules. They cannot be copyrighted as only the actual text and images used to illustrate the rules are protected, but not the rules themselves. Game rules can be patented, but it is an expensive and detailed process that only offers limited protection and still requires lengthy legal battles in cases of infringement (the only patent I’m aware of in the hobbyist gaming industry of note is Wizards of the Coast’s patent on the “Tapping” mechanic from Magic: The Gathering). However, you can legally protect trademarks and trade dress. While you probably know what a trademark is, “trade dress” is a little murkier as it describes the general appearance and presentation of a product. Under United States trademark law, you must defend your trademark vigorously or you can lose the trademark protection. This prompted many legal threats and lawsuits with the advent of the web and fan websites in the 1990s that prompted a backlash against game companies like TSR as they attempted to protect their trademarks.
This is where we stand. SCS Direct attempted to run a Kickstarter campaign for their game “Humanity Hates Trump” with the tagline “Cards Against Everybody” using black and white cards, an identical font, and uses of the words “Cards”, “Against”, and “Humanity” in the promotion of the project. Cards Against Humanity contacted SCS Direct, as they have done in the past over games such as Crabs Adjust Humidity, letting them know what aspects of the game they would need to change in order to not violate Cards Against Humanity’s intellectual property in their view. SCS Direct ignored those directions, so Cards Against Humanity sent a legal Cease & Desist order and informed Kickstarter of an intellectual property dispute. Kickstarter terminated the campaign while it was ongoing as it is a violation of the Terms of Use to run a campaign without the proper rights or during an ongoing rights dispute (this is to protect itself against being involved directly in those disputes). SCS Direct filed a lawsuit against Cards Against Humanity by basically saying “They said they were going to sue us so we’re suing them first”, which is a common legal tactic despite how childish it sounds. It prevents companies from sending out blanket Cease & Desist orders as empty threats if the company doesn’t actually want to go to court because they don’t have the legal standing they claim.
As the holiday season wraps up and many start looking at their bank account with dread, others start looking at the next year and planning for which conventions they’ll be able to make it to each year. Casual Game Revolution created a very handy resource to make sure you don’t miss out on any with an interactive Google Map with a list of every convention worldwide taking place in 2017. The announcement post also contains a link to a public spreadsheet for corrections or updates to the map. I should note that this is just for tabletop gaming conventions and does not list science fiction or comic book conventions, even if they have a large gaming track.
WizKids announced several big changes to their Star Trek Attack Wing miniatures game. A new edition of the rules will incorporate various rulings and FAQs accumulated over the years into the core rules document, meaning that all products will remain compatible with the new rules. There’s also an across the board price drop for retailers looking to carry the game, thought he MSRP will remain the same. This will allow more retailers to carry the product at a lower risk as well as allow for more in-store discounts and promotions. WizKids is also introducing new faction packs to the game, allowing new players to pick up a complete fleet for one of the game’s factions rather than assembling them ship by ship. Finally, WizKids has promised to “continue to improve the paint quality” of ship models, which some have complained about compared to Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars X-Wing line using similar rules.
Traveller is coming to the world of customizable card games from Horizon Games. This living card game puts you and up to three other players in the roles of ship captains as you ply the mains of the Third Imperium. If you’re not familiar with living card games, they’re basically like CCGs similar to Magic: The Gathering, only each set is fixed so there’s no buying multiple booster packs to find a specific card as you always know what you’re getting. A $40 pledge gets you the Starter Set which includes the Ship Decks for Free Trader and Scout along with rules and a token set, while a $15 pledge gets you a single Ship Deck of your choice. There are also add-ons of Trouble on the Mains (the first expansion for the game) at $12, promotional cards ranging from $2 to 10, extra token sets for $5, and more. While this project hasn’t funded yet, it’s already raised over $20,000 of its $35,000 goal and I can’t see Traveller fans staying away from it as the campaign runs until Monday, January 9.
Most people think of Broadway or Shakespeare when they think of the theater, but the majority of theater in America happens in small community theaters. Which, like any small niche community, is full of drama and conflict. Enter Curtain Call, a card game based around the hijinks, drama, and betrayal of community theater. The game is illustrated by Randal Milholland (of Something*Positive fame) and features over 120 cards (including 20 oversized Play cards) plus a Playbill that also functions as the rulebook for the game. You can get the complete game for a $30 pledge, or add on custom art prints signed by Randal Milholland for $50. This project has gotten very little attention due to being in the “Playing Cards” category (full of custom themed poker decks and not much else) rather than the “Tabletop Games” category where it belongs, so it’s only raised $12,700 of its $25,000 goal, but the campaign has until Wednesday, December 28 to make it across that threshold.
One of the hardest parts of being a gamer can be hauling the games around. While PDFs have helped roleplaying gamers, board gamers have it a little more difficult as do those who use extensive miniature setups for their games. For that, we have the Con Carrier. It’s basically just a giant-sized version of a reusable grocery bag, but it can be a life saver for attending conventions when your wallet is thin but you’re overloaded with new purchases. The bag is two feet long, more than a foot wide, and more than two feet deep giving it enough space to hold even the monster OGRE Designer Edition box with room to spare. It also includes a 39-inch adjustable strap so it can be carried as a hand bag, shoulder bag, or messenger bag. It’s available for a $15 pledge with multiple reward levels offering price breaks if you buy more than one. This campaign is fully funded and runs until Tuesday, January 10.
That’s all for this week. Find more gaming news at the EN World News Network website, and don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you even more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enworldnews.com. You can follow me on Twitter @Abstruse where I will probably be complaining about glitches in recording equipment as I finally set up my studio after moving, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits!
Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week's gaming news. The TV series based on Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles has a new showrunner and it's a former game designer, Mutants and Masterminds has a new lead developer, Warhammer 40K leans Friendship is Magic, Cards Against Humanity sued over a Trump-based clone game for intellectual property issues, your 2017 Gaming Convention map, and big changes to Star Trek Attack Wing!
Former game designer turned television writer John Rogers will be showrunner for the television adaptation of the Kingkiller Chronicles. Rogers is best known for his television series Leverage and The Librarians, but much of his early writing was done in roleplaying games with work on Dungeons & Dragons 3rd and 4th edition products, Fate, and Fiasco. He also wrote the Dungeons & Dragons comic series for IDW Publishing. Kingkiller Chronicles is the bestselling fantasy series by author Patrick Rothfuss with two books of the trilogy released, The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear. This follows a previous announcement that Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda will be serving as a creative producer on the television series as well as the films. If this paragraph seems very clinical, it’s because my initial reaction to this announcement was a series of audible only to animals squeezing and a stream of excited expletives as the showrunner of one of my favorite television programs is running the adaptation of one of my favorite novel series.
Mutants and Masterminds has a new lead developer in Crystal Fraiser. Green Ronin made the announcement on Sunday that Fraiser would be replacing Jon Leitheusser on the D20 based superhero roleplaying game, currently in its third edition. Fraiser previously worked as a freelance designer and writer with Green Ronin and other companies such as Paizo, Palladium, Onyx Path, Rogue Genius, and Kobold Press. No new products have been announced yet, but several ideas were teased in the announcement.
An interesting clash of genres is taking place in an eBay auction as 6,200 point Warhammer 40K army (plus elites) went up for sale for the asking price of $1800 with free shipping. What makes this army unique? Ponies. Each unit has been modified extensively with My Little Ponies action figures and paint schemes creating an army of powersuit-clad ponies. “Friendship is Magic, and Magic is Heresy,” commented Ross Watson, designer of Rogue Trader and former Warhammer 40K Roleplaying lead developer. If you had your heart set on a Fluttershy Apocalypse Pony complete with orbital drop pod, I unfortunately must be the bearer of bad news as the auction has ended. However, you can still view the images from the auction in the archive.
When I started writing about tabletop gaming news almost three years ago, I didn’t think I’d be getting a remedial education in intellectual property law or spend nearly as much time reading court filings, but here we are as yet another lawsuit is making waves in the industry. SCS Direct attempted to crowdfund a game titled “Humanity Hates Trump”, a political clone game of Cards Against Humanity. The lawsuit seeks a summary judgment by jury trial against Cards Against Humanity for “unfair competition” due to an intellectual property dispute. This caused at least one blogger to ask “Did Cards Against Humanity Unfairly and Illegally Kick a Game Developer Off Kickstarter?” Unfairly? Possibly. Illegally? No.
Time for a quick lesson that is the quagmire of United States intellectual property laws and tabletop gaming. There are almost no legal ways to protect game rules. They cannot be copyrighted as only the actual text and images used to illustrate the rules are protected, but not the rules themselves. Game rules can be patented, but it is an expensive and detailed process that only offers limited protection and still requires lengthy legal battles in cases of infringement (the only patent I’m aware of in the hobbyist gaming industry of note is Wizards of the Coast’s patent on the “Tapping” mechanic from Magic: The Gathering). However, you can legally protect trademarks and trade dress. While you probably know what a trademark is, “trade dress” is a little murkier as it describes the general appearance and presentation of a product. Under United States trademark law, you must defend your trademark vigorously or you can lose the trademark protection. This prompted many legal threats and lawsuits with the advent of the web and fan websites in the 1990s that prompted a backlash against game companies like TSR as they attempted to protect their trademarks.
This is where we stand. SCS Direct attempted to run a Kickstarter campaign for their game “Humanity Hates Trump” with the tagline “Cards Against Everybody” using black and white cards, an identical font, and uses of the words “Cards”, “Against”, and “Humanity” in the promotion of the project. Cards Against Humanity contacted SCS Direct, as they have done in the past over games such as Crabs Adjust Humidity, letting them know what aspects of the game they would need to change in order to not violate Cards Against Humanity’s intellectual property in their view. SCS Direct ignored those directions, so Cards Against Humanity sent a legal Cease & Desist order and informed Kickstarter of an intellectual property dispute. Kickstarter terminated the campaign while it was ongoing as it is a violation of the Terms of Use to run a campaign without the proper rights or during an ongoing rights dispute (this is to protect itself against being involved directly in those disputes). SCS Direct filed a lawsuit against Cards Against Humanity by basically saying “They said they were going to sue us so we’re suing them first”, which is a common legal tactic despite how childish it sounds. It prevents companies from sending out blanket Cease & Desist orders as empty threats if the company doesn’t actually want to go to court because they don’t have the legal standing they claim.
As the holiday season wraps up and many start looking at their bank account with dread, others start looking at the next year and planning for which conventions they’ll be able to make it to each year. Casual Game Revolution created a very handy resource to make sure you don’t miss out on any with an interactive Google Map with a list of every convention worldwide taking place in 2017. The announcement post also contains a link to a public spreadsheet for corrections or updates to the map. I should note that this is just for tabletop gaming conventions and does not list science fiction or comic book conventions, even if they have a large gaming track.
WizKids announced several big changes to their Star Trek Attack Wing miniatures game. A new edition of the rules will incorporate various rulings and FAQs accumulated over the years into the core rules document, meaning that all products will remain compatible with the new rules. There’s also an across the board price drop for retailers looking to carry the game, thought he MSRP will remain the same. This will allow more retailers to carry the product at a lower risk as well as allow for more in-store discounts and promotions. WizKids is also introducing new faction packs to the game, allowing new players to pick up a complete fleet for one of the game’s factions rather than assembling them ship by ship. Finally, WizKids has promised to “continue to improve the paint quality” of ship models, which some have complained about compared to Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars X-Wing line using similar rules.
Traveller is coming to the world of customizable card games from Horizon Games. This living card game puts you and up to three other players in the roles of ship captains as you ply the mains of the Third Imperium. If you’re not familiar with living card games, they’re basically like CCGs similar to Magic: The Gathering, only each set is fixed so there’s no buying multiple booster packs to find a specific card as you always know what you’re getting. A $40 pledge gets you the Starter Set which includes the Ship Decks for Free Trader and Scout along with rules and a token set, while a $15 pledge gets you a single Ship Deck of your choice. There are also add-ons of Trouble on the Mains (the first expansion for the game) at $12, promotional cards ranging from $2 to 10, extra token sets for $5, and more. While this project hasn’t funded yet, it’s already raised over $20,000 of its $35,000 goal and I can’t see Traveller fans staying away from it as the campaign runs until Monday, January 9.
Most people think of Broadway or Shakespeare when they think of the theater, but the majority of theater in America happens in small community theaters. Which, like any small niche community, is full of drama and conflict. Enter Curtain Call, a card game based around the hijinks, drama, and betrayal of community theater. The game is illustrated by Randal Milholland (of Something*Positive fame) and features over 120 cards (including 20 oversized Play cards) plus a Playbill that also functions as the rulebook for the game. You can get the complete game for a $30 pledge, or add on custom art prints signed by Randal Milholland for $50. This project has gotten very little attention due to being in the “Playing Cards” category (full of custom themed poker decks and not much else) rather than the “Tabletop Games” category where it belongs, so it’s only raised $12,700 of its $25,000 goal, but the campaign has until Wednesday, December 28 to make it across that threshold.
One of the hardest parts of being a gamer can be hauling the games around. While PDFs have helped roleplaying gamers, board gamers have it a little more difficult as do those who use extensive miniature setups for their games. For that, we have the Con Carrier. It’s basically just a giant-sized version of a reusable grocery bag, but it can be a life saver for attending conventions when your wallet is thin but you’re overloaded with new purchases. The bag is two feet long, more than a foot wide, and more than two feet deep giving it enough space to hold even the monster OGRE Designer Edition box with room to spare. It also includes a 39-inch adjustable strap so it can be carried as a hand bag, shoulder bag, or messenger bag. It’s available for a $15 pledge with multiple reward levels offering price breaks if you buy more than one. This campaign is fully funded and runs until Tuesday, January 10.
That’s all for this week. Find more gaming news at the EN World News Network website, and don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you even more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enworldnews.com. You can follow me on Twitter @Abstruse where I will probably be complaining about glitches in recording equipment as I finally set up my studio after moving, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits!
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I'm sure M&M will be the better for it, but yowza that's a big plate.
