Hello everyone, Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! Wizards of the Coast releases codename release dates for four new products and a statement on harassment in the Magic: The Gathering community, CMON releasing a Munchkin board game, Epic Games files a lawsuit with far-reaching effects for online gaming media, and more!
Wizards of the Coast sent out solicitations for some yet-to-be-announced products. The Canadian bookseller McNally Robinson has listings for four new D&D products, “Marathon” (a 192 page hardcover “accessory” due on May 29,2018), “Broadway” (a 256 page hardcover “adventure” due September 18, 2018), “Broadway” dice, and “Catacomb (a 256 page adventure due on November 20, 2018). This isn’t new as other products received similar codename-based solicitations such as “Labyrinth” for Tales of the Yawning Portal and “Midway” for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. This is due to the conflicting needs of mainstream publishing distribution requiring advance listing of products and the marketing department’s wish to have “big reveal” announcements similar to the live stream marathon from this past summer for Tomb of Annihilation closer to the release date so fan talk and speculation is still high when the product actually comes out. That said, let the speculation being!
Magic: The Gathering cosplayer Christine Sprankle announced she would not be attending any events in 2018 and posted that she would be selling her Magic: The Gathering related costumes, props, collectibles, and cards on social media before taking both her Twitter and Instagram accounts private. This follows a long harassment campaign against her orchestrated by YouTuber “MTGHeadquarters” and his channel Unsleeved Media (which is unaffiliated with Wizards of the Coast). Unsleeved Media posted a video denying a targeted harassment campaign against Sprankle before publishing a celebratory video taking credit for forcing her to “quit finally” (the latter video was deleted for violating YouTube’s anti-harassment policy). Twitter accounts for both MTGHeadquarters and Unsleeved Media were similarly banned for harassment policy violations, but both accounts are back online at the time of writing and actively attacking critics. Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering team released a statement condemning harassment, but did not address this situation nor did they state any definitive action in this situation. There has been no comment from that Magic: The Gathering team about any punitive actions from the DCI, the official sanctioning body of Magic: The Gathering tournament play.
Video game maker Epic Games filed multiple lawsuits that may have strong repercussions for all aspects of gaming media, one of them against a 14-year-old. Epic Games filed several copyright lawsuits against people posting YouTube videos of their game Fortnite.
For those unfamiliar with the copyright claim process of YouTube, here is what normally happens. A copyright holder can file a claim either manually by contacting YouTube or through the automated ContentID system. The content creator (that is, the person who posted the video to YouTube) can appeal the decision, which requires a response from the original claimant (the person requesting the takedown or demonetization) which may or may not include a manual review from YouTube. If the claimant responds within 30 days and continues to claim the video is a violation of copyright, the content creator can contest this again which then takes the issue out of the hands of YouTube, who requires that any further attempts to place a copyright claim on the video proceed through legal action.
Epic Games made the claim that they “must” sue or else they will lose their copyright (which is not true under United States intellectual property law, as that is a function of trademark law and not copyright law). Epic Games released a statement to both Polygon and Kotaku:
Laura Rogers, the mother of the 14-year-old sued by Epic Games, filed a letter to the court dismissing all of the claims and pointing out the multiple legal flaws in the case by Epic Games.
This is one of at least three lawsuits filed by Epic Games, and it may have strong repercussions for online media and gaming. If any of the lawsuits are successful, it will set the first court precedent that Let’s Play videos and live streams of video games are not covered under Fair Use. Currently, it is a legal grey area because it may or may not meet the legal requirements of “Criticism” or “Transformative Work” considered under Fair Use. We don’t know for sure because no game company has decided to actually go through with a lawsuit, even though some companies have made threats in the past, most famously this year Altus Games threatening anyone streaming or posting videos of Persona 5. With reports that as many as half of current Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition players being exposed to the game through online media and the “Tabletop Effect” of board games featured on Wil Wheaton’s webseries Tabletop receiving massive sales boosts, any lawsuit affecting the ability of online media to showcase games could have a startling effect on the tabletop gaming industry.
Dice Tower host and co-founder Tom Vasel claimed in an interview that Dice Tower was “uninvited” from the GAMA Trade Show. GAMA Executive Director John Ward replied by stating that no media have been invited yet as the press list has not been finalized. The GAMA Trade Show will be in Reno, NV, from March 12-16 next year and is, as the title suggests, a trade show for industry insiders for business-to-business promotion and networking rather than a traditional fan convention, so press attendance is by invitation only. This follows previous tension between the game manufacturing trade group and Vasel following a video posted earlier this year arguing against the promotion of brick-and-mortar game retailers, especially as the Dice Tower’s network of podcasts and videos are sponsored by online retailer Cool Stuff Inc., which was not disclosed in the original video.
Steve Jackson Games and Cool Mini or Not entered into a partnership to produce Munchkin board games. The press release stated that the first game under this license will come out in Fall of 2018 and will be inspired by CMON’s Arcadia Quest dungeon exploration game. Munchkin artist John Kovalic stated that he will be “working closely” with CMON on the art for the game. Kovalic then spent most of yesterday coming up with hypothetical Hamilton-themed Munchkin cards with Twitter users, though no license has been announced on that front. Yes, that last sentence was superfluous to the story, but come on, you know you want it! Start writing Lin-Manuel Miranda!
The Worldbuilders fundraiser is still going on raising money for Heifer International. The charity fundraiser from fantasy author and Acquisitions Inc. party member has already raised more than $350,000 to benefit the organization. Each $10 pledge gets you one entry into a prize drawing at the end of the campaign for currently over 5000 different prizes including games, books, memorabilia, and more with further entries on the charity’s team pages for their giveaways. Rothfuss is also hosting live stream events on his Twitch page (discloser: I am a moderator for Pat’s Twitch page as a volunteer) every weeknight during the fundraiser from 4PM to 7PM Central time, and there will be a StarCraft tournament kicking off on December 4 featuring teams from Geek & Sundry, The Doubleclicks, Paul & Storm, Cards Against Humanity, and more. During the fundraiser event, 100% of every donation is going directly to Heifer International. The fundraising drive continues until Friday, December 8.
Flash Gordon RPG for Savage Worlds. I may be showing my age a bit, but I’m curious if Pinnacle had to pay a license fee to Queen as well, because every time this game has crossed my social media, the first thing I hear is ♪FLASH! AAAAaaaa!! Savior of the Universe!!♪ The game is based on the classic pulp series of novels, comics, cartoons, film serials, and more of science fiction-adventure that is probably the perfect match for the Savage Worlds system. And, thanks to stretch goals, they’ve even gotten actor Sam J. Jones (who played Flash Gordon in the 1980 film) to write the forward. You can receive the core rulebook in PDF for a $20 pledge, add on a digital copy of the GM’s book for $45, or upgrade to print copies for $45 and $100 respectively, and a full boxed set including both limited edition print books, dice, maps, bennie tokens, and more for $175. This project is fully funded and runs until Monday, December 4. Note that a copy of the Savage Worlds core rules are required to play and not included. I’m going to have that song in my head all day…
Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition from Onyx Path is a rules and publishing update for the Fae-focused roleplaying game in the Chronicles of Darkness line. The book brings the rules up-to-date and in-line with previous updates for Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, and Mage: The Awakening while presenting the over 300 page rulebook with a quality embossed hardcover edition. The PDF is available for a $25 pledge and the hardcover available for $50, and there are multiple pledge levels with more expansions, fiction, and other games in the Chronicles of Darkness line. This project is fully funded with many stretch goals left to unlock before it funds on Thursday, December 14.
That’s all from me for this week! Find more gaming crowdfunding news at the EN World RPG Kickstarter News 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 I’ve been talking a lot about Star Trek and have no idea why and that’s not me being coy about an announcement or anything it’s just come up a lot recently for some reason, follow Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history and Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
Wizards of the Coast sent out solicitations for some yet-to-be-announced products. The Canadian bookseller McNally Robinson has listings for four new D&D products, “Marathon” (a 192 page hardcover “accessory” due on May 29,2018), “Broadway” (a 256 page hardcover “adventure” due September 18, 2018), “Broadway” dice, and “Catacomb (a 256 page adventure due on November 20, 2018). This isn’t new as other products received similar codename-based solicitations such as “Labyrinth” for Tales of the Yawning Portal and “Midway” for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. This is due to the conflicting needs of mainstream publishing distribution requiring advance listing of products and the marketing department’s wish to have “big reveal” announcements similar to the live stream marathon from this past summer for Tomb of Annihilation closer to the release date so fan talk and speculation is still high when the product actually comes out. That said, let the speculation being!
Magic: The Gathering cosplayer Christine Sprankle announced she would not be attending any events in 2018 and posted that she would be selling her Magic: The Gathering related costumes, props, collectibles, and cards on social media before taking both her Twitter and Instagram accounts private. This follows a long harassment campaign against her orchestrated by YouTuber “MTGHeadquarters” and his channel Unsleeved Media (which is unaffiliated with Wizards of the Coast). Unsleeved Media posted a video denying a targeted harassment campaign against Sprankle before publishing a celebratory video taking credit for forcing her to “quit finally” (the latter video was deleted for violating YouTube’s anti-harassment policy). Twitter accounts for both MTGHeadquarters and Unsleeved Media were similarly banned for harassment policy violations, but both accounts are back online at the time of writing and actively attacking critics. Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering team released a statement condemning harassment, but did not address this situation nor did they state any definitive action in this situation. There has been no comment from that Magic: The Gathering team about any punitive actions from the DCI, the official sanctioning body of Magic: The Gathering tournament play.
Video game maker Epic Games filed multiple lawsuits that may have strong repercussions for all aspects of gaming media, one of them against a 14-year-old. Epic Games filed several copyright lawsuits against people posting YouTube videos of their game Fortnite.
For those unfamiliar with the copyright claim process of YouTube, here is what normally happens. A copyright holder can file a claim either manually by contacting YouTube or through the automated ContentID system. The content creator (that is, the person who posted the video to YouTube) can appeal the decision, which requires a response from the original claimant (the person requesting the takedown or demonetization) which may or may not include a manual review from YouTube. If the claimant responds within 30 days and continues to claim the video is a violation of copyright, the content creator can contest this again which then takes the issue out of the hands of YouTube, who requires that any further attempts to place a copyright claim on the video proceed through legal action.
Epic Games made the claim that they “must” sue or else they will lose their copyright (which is not true under United States intellectual property law, as that is a function of trademark law and not copyright law). Epic Games released a statement to both Polygon and Kotaku:
This particular lawsuit arose as a result of the defendant filing a DMCA counterclaim to a takedown notice on a YouTube video that exposed and promoted Fortnite Battle Royale cheats and exploits. Under these circumstances, the law requires that we file suit or drop the claim. Epic is not okay with ongoing cheating or copyright infringement from anyone at any age. As stated previously, we take cheating seriously, and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players.
Laura Rogers, the mother of the 14-year-old sued by Epic Games, filed a letter to the court dismissing all of the claims and pointing out the multiple legal flaws in the case by Epic Games.
This is one of at least three lawsuits filed by Epic Games, and it may have strong repercussions for online media and gaming. If any of the lawsuits are successful, it will set the first court precedent that Let’s Play videos and live streams of video games are not covered under Fair Use. Currently, it is a legal grey area because it may or may not meet the legal requirements of “Criticism” or “Transformative Work” considered under Fair Use. We don’t know for sure because no game company has decided to actually go through with a lawsuit, even though some companies have made threats in the past, most famously this year Altus Games threatening anyone streaming or posting videos of Persona 5. With reports that as many as half of current Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition players being exposed to the game through online media and the “Tabletop Effect” of board games featured on Wil Wheaton’s webseries Tabletop receiving massive sales boosts, any lawsuit affecting the ability of online media to showcase games could have a startling effect on the tabletop gaming industry.
Dice Tower host and co-founder Tom Vasel claimed in an interview that Dice Tower was “uninvited” from the GAMA Trade Show. GAMA Executive Director John Ward replied by stating that no media have been invited yet as the press list has not been finalized. The GAMA Trade Show will be in Reno, NV, from March 12-16 next year and is, as the title suggests, a trade show for industry insiders for business-to-business promotion and networking rather than a traditional fan convention, so press attendance is by invitation only. This follows previous tension between the game manufacturing trade group and Vasel following a video posted earlier this year arguing against the promotion of brick-and-mortar game retailers, especially as the Dice Tower’s network of podcasts and videos are sponsored by online retailer Cool Stuff Inc., which was not disclosed in the original video.
Steve Jackson Games and Cool Mini or Not entered into a partnership to produce Munchkin board games. The press release stated that the first game under this license will come out in Fall of 2018 and will be inspired by CMON’s Arcadia Quest dungeon exploration game. Munchkin artist John Kovalic stated that he will be “working closely” with CMON on the art for the game. Kovalic then spent most of yesterday coming up with hypothetical Hamilton-themed Munchkin cards with Twitter users, though no license has been announced on that front. Yes, that last sentence was superfluous to the story, but come on, you know you want it! Start writing Lin-Manuel Miranda!
The Worldbuilders fundraiser is still going on raising money for Heifer International. The charity fundraiser from fantasy author and Acquisitions Inc. party member has already raised more than $350,000 to benefit the organization. Each $10 pledge gets you one entry into a prize drawing at the end of the campaign for currently over 5000 different prizes including games, books, memorabilia, and more with further entries on the charity’s team pages for their giveaways. Rothfuss is also hosting live stream events on his Twitch page (discloser: I am a moderator for Pat’s Twitch page as a volunteer) every weeknight during the fundraiser from 4PM to 7PM Central time, and there will be a StarCraft tournament kicking off on December 4 featuring teams from Geek & Sundry, The Doubleclicks, Paul & Storm, Cards Against Humanity, and more. During the fundraiser event, 100% of every donation is going directly to Heifer International. The fundraising drive continues until Friday, December 8.
Flash Gordon RPG for Savage Worlds. I may be showing my age a bit, but I’m curious if Pinnacle had to pay a license fee to Queen as well, because every time this game has crossed my social media, the first thing I hear is ♪FLASH! AAAAaaaa!! Savior of the Universe!!♪ The game is based on the classic pulp series of novels, comics, cartoons, film serials, and more of science fiction-adventure that is probably the perfect match for the Savage Worlds system. And, thanks to stretch goals, they’ve even gotten actor Sam J. Jones (who played Flash Gordon in the 1980 film) to write the forward. You can receive the core rulebook in PDF for a $20 pledge, add on a digital copy of the GM’s book for $45, or upgrade to print copies for $45 and $100 respectively, and a full boxed set including both limited edition print books, dice, maps, bennie tokens, and more for $175. This project is fully funded and runs until Monday, December 4. Note that a copy of the Savage Worlds core rules are required to play and not included. I’m going to have that song in my head all day…
Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition from Onyx Path is a rules and publishing update for the Fae-focused roleplaying game in the Chronicles of Darkness line. The book brings the rules up-to-date and in-line with previous updates for Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, and Mage: The Awakening while presenting the over 300 page rulebook with a quality embossed hardcover edition. The PDF is available for a $25 pledge and the hardcover available for $50, and there are multiple pledge levels with more expansions, fiction, and other games in the Chronicles of Darkness line. This project is fully funded with many stretch goals left to unlock before it funds on Thursday, December 14.
That’s all from me for this week! Find more gaming crowdfunding news at the EN World RPG Kickstarter News 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 I’ve been talking a lot about Star Trek and have no idea why and that’s not me being coy about an announcement or anything it’s just come up a lot recently for some reason, follow Gamer’s Tavern on YouTube featuring videos on gaming history and Let’s Plays, or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon, Humble Store, Humble Bundle, and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.
