Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!

Pinnacle Entertainment Group is running a Kickstarter for their upcoming official Flash Gordon roleplaying game. They've kindly sent along an exclusive preview for me to share! The caveat is that they asked me to mention that this is not final text, and things may change. Below you can see three page spreads straight from the book.

Seemingly there is no reason for these extraordinary intergalactical upsets. Only Doctor Hans Zarkhov, formerly at NASA, has provided any explanation.

For those not familiar with Flash Gordon (if such a creature exits), it has been a comic strip, radio series, TV show, and a truly awesome movie. Flash! Aaaaah! He'll save every one of us! The comic strip started way back in the 1930s (around the same time as Buck Rogers) and featured our hero as an Earthman who finds himself embroiled in adventures on strange worlds. His archival was Ming the Merciless, and the strip featured a plethora of rocket ships, ray guns, and all the other accoutrements of space opera. The 1980 movie, with its Queen soundtrack and starring the scenery-chewing likes of Timothy Dalton and Brian Blessed, is a cult classic.

The upcoming RPG is powered by Savage Worlds. It's being Kickstarted and is in its final few days, and features a foreword from none other than Flash Gordon himself, the actor Sam J Jones. It's a full-colour, 192-page rulebook (along with adventures, GM screens, and the like). There's also a pile of miniatures, including Flash, Dale, Dr. Hans Zarkov, Ming the Merciless, and more).

If you're willing to spend a little more, there's an awesome boxed set containing the rulebook, GM screen, combat maps, card decks, counters, and more.

The previews below are not final, but they give you a good sense of what the book looks like. I've seen a copy, and its crammed full of colour comic-strip art.

What do you mean Flash Gordon approaching? Open fire! All weapons! Dispatch war rocket Ajax to bring back his body!

Previews - not final text!

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[dco]

I don't want another version of Savage worlds with extra rules like the cliffhanger, but as a Flash Gordon fan the Kingdoms of Mongo looks interesting.

 

[Yaztromo]

I sure wish this was NEW, 5e, or Stars without Number. Just not a Savage Worlds guy. I love Flash Gordon...

Actually Savage Worlds works very well with this kind of "pulp"-style settings.

 

[barasawa]

We'll not be privy to the final details, but unless there is a major movie or TV show in the offing, it's probably not all that expensive. Flash Gordon is quite old, and may well even be in the public domain if it was just based upon the original comic strip. Yet its instantly recognisable, and playable, so it's surprising that no-one else has made a RPG on it before, and it's a clever investment for Pinnacle. Totally suits the Savage Worlds system and tone too.

I don't know, but with the so called mickey mouse extension, it's now 90 years after the death of the creator, and even if it went into the public domain before the MM extension, if it would be covered by the new date, the supreme court declared that it was no longer public domain in a case shortly after the MM extension came into effect.
So basically you'd probably have to hire a copyright lawyer, ask him, and then see if someone tries to nail you for copyright violation I guess. I think I've heard something about companies being able to extend even past the 90 years after death thing with something like 5 years a pop, but I might be mixing that up with patents or something. Don't forget, copyright isn't like trademarks in that you have to pursue all potential violations or risk losing it, so copyright holders can get away with waiting around until somebody is making money off it and then torpedo them with a lawsuit and usually get away with it.

The resurgence of pulp, retro, and in some ways even steampunk can only enhance the viability of a Flash Gordon property in the eyes of investors, and copyright trolls.

Our entire copyright situation is borked up these days! Oh well, try listening to Leonard French on Youtube, his channel is called Lawful Masses. The documents he reads are boring as all get out, but his comments can be rather interesting. I don't watch any longer than 20 minutes, the legalese makes my brain want to suicide itself, or send grid spiders after the person that wrote it. Some of those videos are over an hour and a half!
I'm babbling too long and getting sidetracked. TTYL

 

[johndesmarais]

I don't know, but with the so called mickey mouse extension, it's now 90 years after the death of the creator, and even if it went into the public domain before the MM extension, if it would be covered by the new date, the supreme court declared that it was no longer public domain in a case shortly after the MM extension came into effect.
So basically you'd probably have to hire a copyright lawyer, ask him, and then see if someone tries to nail you for copyright violation I guess. I think I've heard something about companies being able to extend even past the 90 years after death thing with something like 5 years a pop, but I might be mixing that up with patents or something. Don't forget, copyright isn't like trademarks in that you have to pursue all potential violations or risk losing it, so copyright holders can get away with waiting around until somebody is making money off it and then torpedo them with a lawsuit and usually get away with it.

The resurgence of pulp, retro, and in some ways even steampunk can only enhance the viability of a Flash Gordon property in the eyes of investors, and copyright trolls.

Our entire copyright situation is borked up these days! Oh well, try listening to Leonard French on Youtube, his channel is called Lawful Masses. The documents he reads are boring as all get out, but his comments can be rather interesting. I don't watch any longer than 20 minutes, the legalese makes my brain want to suicide itself, or send grid spiders after the person that wrote it. Some of those videos are over an hour and a half!
I'm babbling too long and getting sidetracked. TTYL

I think the copyright still stands, held by Hearst Holdings instead of the original creator or his heirs. The Trademark (which, as you mention, is different) is also active, and - depending on actually what form of mark you are looking for - is held by Hearst Holdings or King Features Syndicate.

As for licensing, I'd guess Pinnacle paid a pretty high sum (in small publishers dollars at least) for it, but it's a near perfect property for them - even if they only hold it for a short time. Thematically it fits into their game line well, and (as has been mentioned) it's still very well known. If they can milk it hard for year to attract new players, then keep those players with similar (non-licensed) offerings after, it could work well for them.