Which literary licenses are available for RPG market?

[Animan]

With the number of possibilities for RPG settings, is there a reference in finding out which licenses have expired and which have current ownership? You know, like an RPG based on the works of Pratchett/Tolkien/Niven etc... Does anyone have any suggestions where to find this information?

Outside of contacting the publishers themselves, but even that can be tricky since some books have often switched publishers. Others have expired.

A website perhaps? Thanks for any help.

[PatrickLawinger]

To the best of my knowledge there is no centralized listing of licensees for products like this. You'll have to dig into each one individually and find out who has the license, what type of license, etc. For example, a license to do a board game for a setting might or might not preclude giving out another license to do an RPG--OR, a company could have a license to create games for a setting and be able to sub-license out for different types of games.

When I worked with some people on some board games I learned that the whole licensing scenario can get pretty complicated.

I realize this is NOT the answer you were looking for.

Mongoose Publishing has obtained a number of licenses, you could ask Matthew Sprange how he went about it.

Patrick

[Animan]

Thanks, I figured it would take a lot of leg work on my part.

The publisher I'm going through said as much. I plan to release some OGL adventures on their site very soon, though! I'll make an announcement here and on their forum...

www.dementia5.com/community