Kalamar - first published 4e setting?!?

[Staffan]

I am also interested in any factual info about Paladium almost bringing WOTC to its knees. I would have thought with how closely I follow the industry I would have heard of such a thing.

I think it's somewhat exaggerated. Basically, the story goes like this:

1. Some dude named Peter Adkison writes a book on how to play gods (The Primal Order), starts a new RPG company called Wizards of the Coast to publish it, and includes an appendix on how to apply the stuff in the book to various RPGs (including AD&D and Palladium).

2. Palladium takes exception and sues Wizards of the Coast. TSR takes a somewhat more mellow stance, sending a C&D note telling WOTC to drop that section if they reprint it.

3. WOTC spins off a second company, Garfield Games, to do some stuff providing a legal shelter from the Palladium lawsuit for those things. This includes RoboRally and, at first, Magic.

4. The lawsuit is settled, WOTC pays Palladium some cash, and go on their merry way.

I don't know if the lawsuit came close to "bringing WOTC to their knees", but it was apparently bad enough that they set up a shell company to keep some of their new properties safe from it. It should be noted that this was pre-Magic, and Palladium was at the time one of the bigshots of the RPG industry (in the top 3 - I'm told that when TSR was on the verge of bankruptcy and closed down for half a year, Palladium actually managed to outsell them that year). The settlement of the lawsuit happened in the same year Magic was released.

 

[Zaister]

The one thing I remenber about Primal Order was that your god character could have an abilty called "Limited Omnipotence". I still find that funny today

 

[justanobody]

501 page pdf! GSL or not?

By this cover, I'm guessing not.

Why not? It states on the cover it is for use with 4th Edition. Doesn't the compatibility logo have to go on the BACK of the product, so since we are seeing the front only we don't know what the back cover holds.

 

[cildarith]

Which part of Post #67 in this thread is unclear to you?

 

[thundershot]

Why not? It states on the cover it is for use with 4th Edition. Doesn't the compatibility logo have to go on the BACK of the product, so since we are seeing the front only we don't know what the back cover holds.

You really need to read the thread. Mark Plemmons flat out said they're not using the GSL. There's no more speculation involved...



Chris

 

[Jolly_Blackburn]

4. The lawsuit is settled, WOTC pays Palladium some cash, and go on their merry way.

My recollection is that GAMA stepped in as a mediator after the lawsuit was settled and convinced Palladium 'not to destroy a small company" and waiving the cash settlement. Then MTG hit a few months later.

At least that's what I recall Kevin saying back in 1994 or so.

THey may have had their court costs covered however.

And since this was before MTG it did indeed bring WotC to its knees.
THey were cash strapped at the time.

In fact they were paying folks with stock.
They even offered to pay for an ad in Shadis at the time with stock.

 

[WizarDru]

My recollection is that GAMA stepped in as a mediator after the lawsuit was settled and convinced Palladium 'not to destroy a small company" and waiving the cash settlement. Then MTG hit a few months later.

From RPG.net's History of Game:

"The Palladium lawsuit almost put Wizards of the Coast out of business. Palladium's Kevin Siembieda consistently demanded an "acknowledgement of guilt" which Wizards was unwilling to sign. (If they had, they might have been liable to every other publisher who's game had been featured in The Primal Order.) Fortunately Mike Pondsmith of R. Talsorian, and then GAMA President, was able arbitrate and in March of 1993 an agreement came about. Wizards' official statement on the issue was this:

The lawsuit between Kevin Siembieda, Palladium Books, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. has been settled. All three of them want to put the suit behind them, and hope that their fans will do the same. In the spirit of industry harmony, Wizards requests that there be no boycotts or other action against Palladium. Thanks to all who have shown concern and support to both sides.

Later reports suggested that calling off boycotts (as this statement did) was part of that settlement agreement, along with payment by Wizards of an unspecified amount of cash, and promises for Wizards not to mention Palladium ever again in their games. "

As for setting up a shell company, that was done to protect the IP AND to protect WotC, should M:TG go belly up. That way, it couldn't destroy the company if it failed.

And from the same article:

"The game that would become Magic: The Gathering was very nearly not released. The original request for a "cheaper" game ended up being hugely ironic once Wizards realized the huge scale required to produce a collectible card game. Add that on to the financial woes caused by the Palladium lawsuit and Wizards was practically begging for money. Requests went throughout the industry and across the Internet. Shares were sold in Garfield Games, then (after the lawsuit) merged into Wizards of the Coast at a 8:5 premium. So much stock was sold that it would cause problems for Wizards a few years later when they began approaching 500 individual shareholders, which would have forced them to begin reporting publicly. (A stock buyback at the time reduced the shareholder number and resolved the problem.) However, it got the job done, and Wizards stayed in business and got the printing money they needed. "

 

[phil500]

I just cant see myself paying for a pdf.

you can get heaps of roleplaying pdfs for free, some of which have to be comparable to this one.

browsing an rpg book is a great joy, browsing a pdf feels like work

 

[mhensley]

Is it too late to start a boycott of Paladium? Uh, nevermind... I don't think I've ever bought anything from them anyway.

 

[catsclaw227]

I just cant see myself paying for a pdf.

you can get heaps of roleplaying pdfs for free, some of which have to be comparable to this one.

Really? From where I sit, unless you get them illegally, there aren't any roleplaying PDFs for free that come even remotely close to this. And of the ones that ARE for free, they are usually an enhancement for an existing for-sale product, or a marketing item to get some press for a new product line.