Arthaus reverts rights to Ravenloft and Gamma World back to Wotc

[DreadPirateMurphy]

My first reaction was, "that's a shame," but I quickly became fine with it.

I thought the Gamma World stuff was more like a toolkit than what little I know about previous editions, and they were reasonably well done. They also made it clear that there was a finite number of books expected -- 5 was the magic number. It was clear from the start that this wasn't a setting they expected to milk forever. I'm not surprised it is going back to WotC.

As for Ravenloft, the market is a lot more saturated with dark (or potentially dark) fantasy than it used to be. You've got Vampire, Call of Cthulu, Buffy/Angel, Weird West, and D20 settings like Midnight and Dark Inheritance. Between the Book of Vile Darkness and Heroes of Horror, you can probably make a D&D setting as dark as you like, too. It reminds me of the Dork Tower comic where everything is really DARK, and you can't see anything. Ravenloft probably could do well as a campaign setting book, or maybe the three core books they published, but it isn't as unique any more, and it just doesn't have the following to support setting detail like Forgotten Realms.

 

[Shemeska]

*sigh* They did an amazing job with Ravenloft, and I'm sincerely sad to see that they won't continue their work with it both for the level of quality they provided, and that WotC either won't do anything with the line, or would do a generic'ized (aka halfassed) version.

 

[Turanil]

Ah! No need to weep over Gamma World when there already is d20 Modern, d20 Future, d20 Apocalypse, and Darwin's World!

On the other hand, if I were going to release a new edition of the game, the last thing I'd want out there were licenses that allowed others to support older editions of my IP....

Hehehehehehehehehehhehe...

 

[Odhanan]

A pitty, really. I enjoyed the RV Gazetteers.

It would be a shame to see Ravenloft disappear for more than a while.

 

[Remathilis]

Does Hickman's publishing company (the name escapes me) still have Dragonlance's IP? If it does, that puts the kibosh on many conspiracy theories...

Perhaps Ravenloft and GW weren't bringing in enough revinue to continue the cost of liscencing, development, publishing, etc. Perhaps ArtHaus thinks (and WW is parent) it can do it cheaper W/O paying liscence for WotC's settings?

Then again, didn't S&SS close up shop? Maybe WW is getting out of the d20 market completely...

Personally, I'd rather play RL under second edition rules than 3.5; call me old fashioned but the revised setting never "did it" for me.

 

[Frostmane]

Turanil with all due respect, everyone I've ever talked to in my FLGS considers D20Modern and its spinoffs the Cheez-Whiz of d20 gaming..not even as much quality as Velveeta I think I'll go on mourning GW <And yes, I know: GW was written for D20M, I did conversions like mad. > Essentially, I agree with Shemeska: Its probably better that WOTC not piddle around with Ravenloft..better they sit on it or lease it to a more-creative developer. Though I don't think we'll see the likes of S&S's work again, sadly.

 

[DaveMage]

Does Hickman's publishing company (the name escapes me) still have Dragonlance's IP? If it does, that puts the kibosh on many conspiracy theories...

Good point. That one is still out there...for now.

Then again, didn't S&SS close up shop? Maybe WW is getting out of the d20 market completely...

No. Malhavoc and Necromancer Games still have a full slate of products coming through SSS/White Wolf.

 

[Ranger REG]

Does Hickman's publishing company (the name escapes me) still have Dragonlance's IP? If it does, that puts the kibosh on many conspiracy theories...

WotC still owned the Dragonlance IP. They simply granted Sovereign Press (Margaret Weis's company, not Hickman's) the licensing right to publish Dragonlance product (of course there are royalty payments involved for every sale of DL branded products from Sovereign Press).

Perhaps Ravenloft and GW weren't bringing in enough revinue to continue the cost of liscencing, development, publishing, etc. Perhaps ArtHaus thinks (and WW is parent) it can do it cheaper W/O paying liscence for WotC's settings?

It's possible. Will ArtHaus continue to publish d20 products or does WW have a different agenda for that subsidiary?

Then again, didn't S&SS close up shop? Maybe WW is getting out of the d20 market completely...

That would be bad news since WW has been a publishinghouse for S&SS as well as Goodman Games.

 

[Turanil]

Turanil with all due respect, everyone I've ever talked to in my FLGS considers D20Modern and its spinoffs the Cheez-Whiz of d20 gaming..not even as much quality as Velveeta

Frostmane, I would be glad that you expand on this opinion, but preferably in this thread. Thanks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

With a few noteworthy exceptions, Arthaus did Ravenloft vastly better than TSR ever did. It's a damn shame they won't be continuing on with it. I recommend everyone take a look at "Denizens of Dread," the Ravenloft monster book, while they still can. It's one of my favorites, and makes most "Libris Mortis" monsters look pretty tepid in comparison.