Call of Cthulhu d20 out of print?

[thastygliax]

This makes no change to the situation, except if the above part about the website is true, in which case a few things might have been pulled off (a couple of monsters that were lft out), and if the book is OOP.

Yes, all the material on the website was pulled. This included (IIRC) the character sheet (PDF), a short adventure (PDF), monster entries for Shantak & Y'golonac* (PDF), and a couple of bit that appeared in preview excerpts but were cut from the final book (Channeling feat and Star-Spawn; html). (* Y'golonac also appears in the Game Master's Pack, in the errata section.)

Erica Balsley ("DnDChick") has received permission to put this material on her website (http://members.aol.com/CountryGrrlHere/dndchick.html) and will be doing so as soon as she finds the time.

Tim Emrick

 

[teitan]

Of course, now that the Sanity rules are OGL -- we pretty much CAN do this sort of stuff -- and so can any publisher who cares to. Sure, you can't use the CoC trademark or licensed properties, but there's all sorts of possibilities starting to emerge.

What trademarks or licenses? The Mythos is public domain and so are Lovecraft's stories, nobody bothered the copyright them until it was too late, not even August Derleth has a claim to the rights, which would have been owned by Howie's Aunts anyway and they died without heirs.

So ESSENTIALLY you could publish a game using the Cthulhu Mythos and call it something other than Call of CThulhu or Mythos (both trademarks of CHaosium, which is allowed) and bammo new Mythos horror game.

I would LOVE to see WOTC release a horror game to take the place of COCD20 myself because COCD20 was so damn perfect.

Jason

 

[barsoomcore]

What trademarks or licenses?
(snip)
So ESSENTIALLY you could publish a game using the Cthulhu Mythos and call it something other than Call of Cthulhu or Mythos (both trademarks of Chaosium, which is allowed) and bammo new Mythos horror game.

Um, yeah. So those would be the trademarks and licenses in question.

Let me know if I'm going too fast for you.

 

[Vocenoctum]

And isn't CDA the first new (in as much as a book with the standard Cthulhu BRP rules, but medieval, is "new") RPG they've done since Nephilim came out in '94?

Nephilim wasn't really "new" either, since it was licensed from a French company.

A shame, i loved that game, but it was a fatality of the CCG bust.

Chaosium never really recovered, and it doesn't really look like they will. Until someone buys them out, they'll probably straggle for a while.

Still, some of the stuff is pretty nice, so I'll continue to buy.

 

[Unseelie]

Yeah, every RPG businesses got hit bad when TCG trend was introduced back in the 90's. That's why I have a love-hate relationship with WotC. But I never thought that Chaosium was in a bad shape. I mean everywhere I look, I know of at least one gamer that is devoted to CoC.

Chaosium was in bad shape... at one point they'd reached a point with back taxes that the State of California had revoked their corporation status. Between being burned by CCGs, tax issues and being screwed by a distributor, things were bad. They've only recently started paying their writers again, and IIRC, they're still several years behind on that. I believe that they're smaller than Green Ronin, when it comes to people on the payroll and GR only has 3.

 

[Unseelie]

It's not that Chaosium is "poorly run." The fact that they were a hair's breadth away from bankruptcy just last year means they have to take their time and pick their projects. They just released the excellent Cthulhu Dark Ages (not a re-print, and unfortunately not dual-stat), Call of Cthulhu 6.0 is due out soon as well as some other books that have been in the pipe for a while. Give 'em a chance.

BTW, last I heard Pagan has less people than Chaosium, and AFAIK, Chaosium has *four* full time employees. So it may be a little while longer for DGd20.

In my book not paying writers for years == poorly run.

I dunno, I'd call Dark Ages a reprint, as it was originally printed in Germany, sans rules as a campaign setting. Then someone translated it to English and made it available online. That's no longer available, of course.

I see no reason to buy CoC 6th, as I have 5.5 and based on previous track record, all they'll do is put a few more bits and pieces in it in haphazard order and call it a new edition.

If they're up to four employees, they're bigger than Green Ronin. They're certainly bigger than Pagan, as that's just Glancy now I believe.

 

[buzz]

I see no reason to buy CoC 6th, as I have 5.5 and based on previous track record, all they'll do is put a few more bits and pieces in it in haphazard order and call it a new edition.

It's true that 6th is simply a different layout; nothing has been revised, though some copy may have been tightened up. I emailed them a while back and got confirmation on this.

Still, it's a very nice layout. If you've seen the leatherette special edition they did a few years ago, it's the same thing.

Assuming my lottery check got lost in the mail ( ), I'd love to see a company like Atlas Games buy Chaosium. They know d20, and their excellent work on Unknown Armies shows that they know how to do horror. CoC purists would probably torch the place, but UA's system would be a great match for CoC.

 

[kipling]

Of course, now that the Sanity rules are OGL -- we pretty much CAN do this sort of stuff -- and so can any publisher who cares to. Sure, you can't use the CoC trademark or licensed properties, but there's all sorts of possibilities starting to emerge.

They are?

I'm a little dubious about this; I don't recall any spot in the CoC d20 book that makes stuff OGL (though admittedly I haven't scanned the fine print, and I haven't my copy with me). Since the Sanity rules are lifted whole cloth from the BRP version, I would be surprised if Chaosium allowed that in the license.

(Of course, it could be in the rulebook and I just missed it...)

I'm not sure that the d20 rules for CoC are perfect -- the loving detail lavished on guns strikes me as a bit schizophrenic for a game that doesn't even officially give you the number of hit points any of the GOOs have. But the John Tynes stuff on running horror stories with the Mythos is pretty darned close.

 

[jaerdaph]

They are?

No, the Sanity rules are most definitely NOT OGC.

 

[JPL]

No, the Sanity rules are most definitely NOT OGC.

Yes, they are...via Unearthed Arcana.

I haven't actually sat down and compared CoC v. UnArc, but my understanding is that they are identical