Wizards of the Coast/Kenzer & Company License Agreements Expiring

[MerricB]

To have the license for 7 years... to do Hackmaster as an AD&D-spoof, parody or tribute (depending on who you ask)... to get Kalamar up as a recognised D&D world... those are amazing things.

Well done, Jolly and the rest of the Kenzer team!

(Looks at his Hackmaster core rulebooks, sitting next to Aria on his shelf...)

Cheers!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Will your wild west game be out for Gen Con?

Aces & Eights has been out for weeks now. It seems to have sold well at the game shops I've been to, judging how quickly the stacks of copies disappeared.

 

[HiLiphNY]

* SIDEBAR * "Goods and Gear" is a Kalamar supplement which is, in my opinion, one of the best general gear books out there. I am not a Kalamar player, but it is so easy to use across any fantasy milieu.

A&8 RAWKS, too!

 

[RFisher]

Having wondered if there were any provisions in the agreement that limited what Wizards could do with the older material... Sure, they probably won't do anything with it, but I can't help hoping that they do.

Perhaps using OSRIC would help alleviate another problem, the one concerning those who began bashing HM because it wasn't just a reprint of AD&D, or who refuse to give it a chance because they "already have the AD&D books."

There's no problem there. I'm willing to bet the majority of that minority (like me) are happy to use HM products in their AD&D games. The rest? They aren't worth Kenzer wasting time courting anymore than they should go courting--e.g.--hard-core White Wolf fans.

 

[Echohawk]

(btw we HAVE been running some official D&D material in recent issues -- more so than usual).

Which issues?

 

[Voadam]

HM books based on AD&D material were (and are) prohibited in electronic form.
However those books based original material can (and have) been posted as pdfs if they're OOP.

Does this mean the PH, DMG, and Hacklopedias in addition to the hacked modules cannot be turned into pdfs?

 

[Kichwas]

I think this is a good thing in that I personally feel the DnD logo held Kenzer back.

I loved Kalamar up until the Kobold book, which for me was a 'jump the shark' moment.

But I also always felt Kalamar could have been a lot better if it hadn't been constrained to fitting a WotC style in certain areas, such as the approach used for dark elves, which was too drow-like.

A Kenzer not contained to any WotC standards in my opinion will be a much better Kenzer, fully able to follow its own vision in its products.

They will be fully to blame for any future faults or merits in their books, which in my opinion will more likely lean to merits. I trust their authors sense of quality a lot more than I do those at WotC.

 

[Hard8Staff]

Does this mean the PH, DMG, and Hacklopedias in addition to the hacked modules cannot be turned into pdfs?

That is correct, sir.

bligatory echo of what Jolly said above:

Thanks for all the praise. Kalamar did well prior to the D&D license. Kalamar did well under the D&D license. Kalamar will do well post D&D license.

It has long been my belief that settings with a "schtick" are only played until that "neat-o/different" idea wears thin. Generic fantasy settings with a solid foundation in believability, verisimilitude and pseudo-anthropology survive for the long haul (meaning, the players keep returning there to play).

If you look at the production quality of A&8, you will get a feel for the production quality we expect for Kalamar and HackMAster on a going-forward basis.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yup....especially given their reticence to experiment to the degree 3rd party companies have, and the lack of options for campaign settings. It'll be interesting to see where things are in 5 years.

One thing I was thinking of.....what if pulling in all the licenses etc. *is* linked to 4E, but not in the way we think? What if they're pulling in the licenses etc. to reduce competition in the market, so they can "coast" for a few more years while they get ready for the launch of 4E? Maybe they're concerned that competition from D20 companies etc. will make it harder for them to turn profits until 4E is released?

If you piled up the profits of all the third party publishers, they still wouldn't come close to equaling that of WotC. If they're killing off the competition on purpose -- which I don't think they are -- it's not for monetary reasons.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I loved Kalamar up until the Kobold book, which for me was a 'jump the shark' moment.

Can you elaborate this, possibly on a separate thread? I've been going back on forth about getting this book, since gnomes and kobolds are both very important to my campaign, and I'd like to hear your issues with it.