mkarol said:
Here's a thought... I do see that the project is publishing under the OGL, but could the Valar Project be a sub of Hasbro/WOTC? I mean, i would have assumed that AV has a non-compete with WOTC while working there (unless he left and I missed that fact in my non-obsesive D&D news gathering time).
The potential for a non-competition clause in his contract is an excellent point you bring up. What he is doing is very unusual in other industries. It seems clear to me that there is some kind of agreement about this with Anthony and the other people running WotC. My guess is that it went something like this:
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AV: BoVD raked in the phat lewt. We need more vile. We also need to ratchet up the explicitness. Monte Cook watered down the book I thought we should have made. There's a big market for this stuff and it hasn't been tapped to full potential.
Other WotC: Probably not good for the D&D brand label to be associated with this.
AV: Yeah, and market data from Dragon Magazein indicates that having it under official imprint is polarizing to the customer base.
Other WotC: Yeah, but D&D would gain popularity from such a product. It would gain lots of free publicity and drive sales of the core books, especially with the new revision coming out.
AV: Okay, so why don't you give me permission to start a new company to handle these topics. To keep the fires down we'll have no association with WotC.
Other WotC: Sounds good. We'll re-write the anti-competition clause in your contract so you can do this. I'm sure it will be beneficial for all of us.
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Okay, just rampant and unfounded speculation.
On another note, there is a difference between the kind of controversy this might generate and the kind of controversy that 1e generated. 1e was deemed offensive by a vocal minority with tenuous claims. I think a book like this has the potential of being offensive to the majority for very conrete reasons (only, of course, if the book is heavy on the fetish aspects akin to the photographer's gallery). If this is the case, RPG-land is sailing into uncharted water. Roll the dice. Hope we don't get craps or some of the more casual players might start being too embarassed to play anymore.
On the other hand, it's most likely that nothing will come of it. Who really cares one bit about RPG's these days aside from the people who play them?
(That includes fratboys.)
