Green Ronin and Call of Cthulhu

[teitan]

Howie never bothered to copyright his works so they are definitely PD. Chaosium has a trademark on the name "Callof Cthulhu" for a book, but anyone can write and publish a game etc using the Cthulhu Mythos without any problems, just most don't out of courtesy.

The other problem is his Aunts never bothered to contest any copyright claims, Howie wasn'yt all that valuable until the last thirty years when he really began to surface due to people like King and Campbell. Howie has been PD a hellalong time.

Jason

 

[Shapermc]

Speaking of public domain... LINKY!!!

Aside from that, Yea I rember when a guy from my 2nd edition gaming group brought over the Deities and Demigods with all the Cthulhu stuff in it from 1st ed. I thought that it was pretty cool, with decent "old world" art. Not worth what it goes for on ebay.

 

[Yellow Sign]

So does Chaosium have control over Call of Cthulhu d20 ? Can someone write and publish a Call of Cthulhuish Campaign which uses the Call of Cthulhu d20 rules as a base? Other Companies put out D&D campaign, scenario, monster, and class books all the time.

 

[Wolfspider]

Speaking of public domain... LINKY!!!

Aside from that, Yea I rember when a guy from my 2nd edition gaming group brought over the Deities and Demigods with all the Cthulhu stuff in it from 1st ed. I thought that it was pretty cool, with decent "old world" art. Not worth what it goes for on ebay.

As I recall, however, TSR had to remove this section (as well as the one featuring characters from Micheal Moorcock's novels) in subsequent printings.

 

[Wolfspider]

I also realize that a lot of the Mythos concepts come from other authors, like Howard and Chambers. But Chaosium also includes such information in their CoC RPG books.

It is rather convoluted.

I wonder if someone could legally publish a D20 Modern adventure or whatnot including Mythos concepts--whether it would legally step on anyone's toes or whether it would simply be rude.

 

[Ranger REG]

So does Chaosium have control over Call of Cthulhu d20 ?

Yes. I'm not a Lovecraft expert but Call of Cthulhu (the title, not just the term "Cthulhu") can be claimed as trademark and Chaosium's work can be claimed as their copyright.

Can someone write and publish a Call of Cthulhuish Campaign which uses the Call of Cthulhu d20 rules as a base?

You can write such a campaign, but you can't use the title if it is someone else's trademark (in this case, Chaosium's). AFAIC, the Call of Cthulhu d20 is still copyrighted material by Wizards and Chaosium.

Other Companies put out D&D campaign, scenario, monster, and class books all the time.

They do so under the d20 System Trademark License which granted limited use of certain Wizards' trademarks. As long you follow the terms of the license, you are then permitted to use their selected trademarks.

 

[AdamBank]

It's important to distinguish between the property rights of the original stories (which are a big mess) and the property rights of the game (which are fairly straight-forward). Chaosium owns the trade mark to the phrase "Call of Cthulhu." WotC used the trademark with Chaosium's permission when it published Call of Cthulhu d20. WotC owns the copyright to Call of Cthulhu d20, just as Chaosium owns the copyright to its Call of Cthulhu game.

Publishing material based on the content of Call of Cthulhu d20 could consist of a violation of WotC's copyright on said game, even though the original stories are up for grabs.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I'm pretty sure that Chaosium has permission to use creatures like Glaaki or the Chthonians in the game. A lot of these authors were published through Arkham, so there may have been some sort of licensing clause. Otherwise, a quick letter would probably suffice- the writers of the stories in question probably know that an entry for a single monster isn't going to make or break them. If it's an entire sourcebook, like "Ramsey Campbell's Goatswood", then I'm sure there were some sort of royalties involved.

A lot of the writers probably don't care what happens with their creations anyhow. Campell wrote most of that stuff in his teens, and he's indicated he really only keeps it in print for the fans.

The front page of CoC d20 says that there is no OGC in the book, so no one could publish material without permission. The closest someone could come would be to do a D20 Modern or D&D supplement with references to creatures or concepts only from HPL's stories. Kind of like what Freeport did, which is how this all started in the first place.

Or we could all do like Shaper and get permission to do fan stuff on the web...

 

[trancejeremy]

As I recall, however, TSR had to remove this section (as well as the one featuring characters from Micheal Moorcock's novels) in subsequent printings.

Not quite.

Basically, TSR probably could have included the Cthulhu stats, and they apparently did ask Mr. Moorcock for permission verbally and he said yes. However, he sort of forgot he licensed his rights to Chaosium. So that definitely was a sticking point.

Anyway, TSR did stop printing of the D&DG with those two in it for a while, but they worked out a deal with Chaosium that they could keep them in and in exchange, Chaosium could use AD&D/D&D stats in their Thieves' World product. And they started printing them again.

A couple years later, they did take them out in a future printing. But they never had to. This was apparently when the Blumes took over the company, and I think they wanted to kill their gentleman's agreement with Chaosium.

This is actually why the D&DG with Cthulhu in it isn't really all that rare. There are a heck of a lot of them out there (probably at least 10 on ebay at any given moment). But thanks to that urban gaming legend, they sell for a lot. (Sort of a self-fulfilling thing. )

 

[Alzrius]

Basically, TSR probably could have included the Cthulhu stats, and they apparently did ask Mr. Moorcock for permission verbally and he said yes. However, he sort of forgot he licensed his rights to Chaosium. So that definitely was a sticking point.

Not quite.

Michael Moorcock, iirc, only has the rights to the Elric stuff that he'd written, not anything Cthulhu. The stuff you're talking about is why they had to remove the Elric section from the original Deities & Demigods, but as I recall, that wasn't the sticking point for the Cthulhu materials.