Modiphius' Conan TTRPG Is Ending

At the end of this year, Modiphius' license to publish the 2d20-powered Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of is coming to an end. Taking over with a new roleplaying game will be French publisher Monolith Edition, which already produces the official boardgame.

While the license ends on December 31st, you will still be able to buy existing stock until the end of June 2023.

Other Conan games include Mongoose Publishing's Conan: The Roleplaying Game, which used the d20 System back in 2004, TSR's Conan Roleplaying Game in 1985, and even 1984 D&D adventure modules called Conan Unchained! and Conan Against Darkness!

MONOLITH HANDED THE CONAN ROLEPLAYING GAME LINE FROM MODIPHIUS FOR NEW EXCITING ROLEPLAYING STORIES IN THE HYBORIAN AGE!

“When we first started exploring Robert E. Howard’s world of Conan, little did we imagine the full expanse of what was to come. It’s been an incredible journey working with top Conan scholars, talented writers and artists who gave their all to dig deep into the Conan stories and bring them to life in a truly authentic way.” Said Chris Birch, Chief Creative Officer of Modiphius Entertainment. “Now with twenty beautiful hardback books to our name and numerous beautiful accessories, we are ready to call time on our journeys across Hyboria. We’ve reached the point where we feel like we have done justice to REH’s words, delivered some incredible Conan swords & sorcery gaming, and reached the ends of the Hyborian world in every direction we could imagine. It’s time to pass on the mantle to new hands who can tell a new story in the Hyborian age!”

The roleplaying game line, under licence from Heroic Signatures (Formally Cabinet Entertainment), will end on Dec 31st, no more re-stocks are being ordered, and all stock will be sold by June 30th 2023.

If you’ve been waiting to pick up one of the books, now is your chance, either from retail or from the US or UK-based webstores. Get them while you can!

Matthew John, Conan Board Game Developer for Monolith added “For 8 years now, Conan, Heroic Signatures and Monolith have been treading the lands of Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age, finding grand inspiration for our products. Our board game, which rallied tens of thousands of players, was soon joined by a great role-playing game, thanks to Modiphius, who did a fantastic job diving deep into this exciting setting. As fans, we’ll be forever grateful to Modiphius for their work and our collaborations on Conan.

We’ve said it before, Howard's stories are part of Monolith’s DNA, and so we happily accepted Heroic Signatures’ offer to develop our own Conan roleplaying game–one we can infuse with our passion and unique creative vision. While we prepare our next Conan board game project, which will offer new, long-awaited features next year, we wanted to let fans know it is not the only Conan game we’re bringing to the table–or rather, your tables.

So…Monolith will bring back the Conan board game, then an all-new role-playing game! And who knows–it’s certainly possible that our admiration for Robert E.Howard's work will lead us beyond the borders of the Hyborian Age.

Stay tuned, Conan fans; we’re just getting started”.

 

[Skywalker]

Amazing. A French based company has a large number of fans from France.

Who saw that coming...

I don’t think anyone is surprised by it, though it may help some understand why different decisions were reached.

 

[Yora]

This is the kind of thing that needs to be challenged in court...

Because if you "trademark" the right names, it essentially amounts to unlimited copyright.

A trademark gives you the right to use a term or logo as a trademark.

Say there is a book with the character Buck Rogers named "Space Pilot of Planet X". Copyright for the book expires but "Buck Rogers" remains as a Trade Mark.

You could still make and sell copies of the book that has "Space Pilot of Planet X" written on the cover and the name Buck Rogers appear all throughout the text.
But I think you might not be allowed to have the title of the book say:

BUCK ROGERS:
Volume 375: Space Pilot of Planet X​

Nor could you write a new book with the title "Buck Rogers and the Space Babes", because Buck Rogers is still a trademark of an entity that is using it to identify its own products.

A trademark is used to identify a business or product. And as such you have the right that nobody uses that trade mark to impersonate your business or products. And I think it absolutely makes sense that Trademarks do not expire, precisely because company names and brands can continue to be in use long after the copyright expiration of their first products.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I doubt Hasbro wanted Buck Rogers RPG published by WotC when other franchises are being published by Renegade Games Studio. Today Buck Rogers is a dead brand, almost totally forgotten, and WotC would rather to start from zero but with total creative freedom, at least as a new setting for M:tG and later added to the D&D multiverse.

If somebody wants to pay for a dead brand and later to publish a retelling it may be because it is an easier option to about reports about plagiarism.

 

[eyeheartawk]

A French based company has grown a French-European fan base!?

Stay tuned for our next segment where we discuss the wetness of water...

I hate to be that guy but water isn't wet. Wetness is the condition of liquid adhering to a solid.

Wow. I feel ashamed at my level of pedantry. And I'm posting about D&D on the internet.

Anyway, to the topic.

I own most of the 2D20 Conan books because the feel is right, they really do capture the tone and milieu of the source material wonderfully. I don't hate 2D20 but would gladly jump ship to pretty much any other trad system if they got the tone and feel right. If it's 5e derived great, if not, that's great too.

 

[ngenius]

Not everybody who enjoys Robert E. Howards Conan is over 40. Many fans, though still a niche set, read their parent's books and comics or even just that popular collected omnibus of a book.

Modiphius did a great run in 5 years publishing about 22 sourcebooks all from just 900 pages of stories.
Drilling in more detail, only 18 books are actually inspired by authentic REH Conan story content.
Still, there is nowhere left to go if Modiphius wanted to stay REH specific only and not bring Red Sonja.

Regarding the 2d20 system, I hear many say they hate it but then happily play Star Trek 2d20. Strange.

1. Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of
2. The Book of Skelos
3. Conan Player's Guide
4. Conan the Adventurer
5. Conan the Barbarian
6. Conan the Brigand
7. Conan the King
8. Conan the Mercenary
9. Conan the Scout
10. Conan the Thief
11. Conan the Wanderer
12. Kull of Atlantis

13. Ancient Ruins and Cursed Cities (locations)
14. Horrors of the Hyborian Age (Bestiary)
15. Nameless Cults (Cthulhu Mythos-adjacent)

16. Jeweled Thrones of the Earth Adventure Compendium
17. Shadow of the Sorcerer Campign Book
18. Waves Stained Crimson Campaign Book
19. The Pit of Kutallu Free RPG Day Adventure

20. Age of Conan Sourcebook
21. The Exiles Sourcebook
22. Conan and Monolith Crossover Sourcebook

 

[Teo Twawki]

I own most of the 2D20 Conan books because the feel is right, they really do capture the tone and milieu of the source material wonderfully. I don't hate 2D20 but would gladly jump ship to pretty much any other trad system if they got the tone and feel right.

Except for where they got self-conscious to appease an audience that wasn't in the market for buying Conan books anyway. After that, the line seemed to wane a bit. I feel the complete collection is wanting with the decision to not publish Spear and Fang. Curiously, of the 4 or 5 titles we attempted, Conan is the only one of the 2d20 games our group enjoyed. The system-for-setting equation really hit the Triple-20 mark for us.

 

[halfling rogue]

Neither would I... That kind of lawfare will work until they go against someone with deep pockets. But they haven't gone after anyone in Europe that is making Conan stuff right now, so hopefully they will not be jerks about it.

But IMHO; The idea of trademarks based on public domain material remaining valid after the IP goes public domain is a question that does need to be settled though...

There was a case some years back where a Edgar Rice Burroughs estate went after a comic for using Tarzan, not based on copyright, but based on trademark. I think the comic book folks were on firm legal standing, however they settled out of court and got the approval of the ERB estate.

Really the only reason to sue based on trademark is not that IP is being used at all, but that it is used in a way that is undistinguishable from the trademark holder. For instance when Mickey Mouse enters into the Public Domain to use him without violating his trademark, however you sell or market him can't be mistaken as a Disney product.

However, there is a Supreme Court case on the books about this: 20th Cent. Fox sued another company over a television documentary. The doc had slipped into Public Domain and this other company (Dastar) stripped out the original credits and presented it as their own production. Fox sued based on trademark, but the court rejected their argument noting that it would create "a species of mutant copyright law" that limits copying of public domain works.

So distinguishing is the key. I assume if Dastar did not distinguish itself from Fox, they would have lost. But things are still messy and I also think more future lawsuits will sort of carve the path of do's and don't's.

 

[halfling rogue]

Here's the crazy thing, technically nearly all of Robert E Howard's Weird Tales works (including Conan) are already in the public domain. No one renewed the license when it expired in 1964.

However, because of the legitimate jungle of grey murkiness of copyright law, and because the "license holder" has more money that you do, they've been able to more or less bully anyone with the threat of court. Now that the Public Domain train is rolling again (since 2019) it means all of the legal murkiness and threats will clear away for Conan beginning in 2028 because that's when the first tale "The Phoenix on the Sword" becomes PD.

 

[John R Davis]

I like the 2d20 system. I only have 1 Conan book but others in our group have quite a few.
The power level in the Conan version is quite high and with a good build up of momentum you can spank even the toughest beasties. I think we are playing it again next year
Can't see me buying into another system for it.

 

[Skywalker]

I like the 2d20 system. I only have 1 Conan book but others in our group have quite a few.
The power level in the Conan version is quite high and with a good build up of momentum you can spank even the toughest beasties. I think we are playing it again next year
Can't see me buying into another system for it.

Monolith’s Conan RPG will likely be released in 2024 so that wouldn’t even be an option next year. They are doing a long awaited Red Nails expansion for their board game, with solo and co-op rules expansion, in 2023. If the Batman RPG is anything to go by, we should see it 18 months after that in the later half of 2024.

 

[agrayday]

Regarding the 2d20 system, I hear many say they hate it but then happily play Star Trek 2d20. Strange.

If i recall correctly the two 2D20 systems are different enough to not be the same. I am willing to bet more people are willing to put up with 2d20 for star trek (how many options are there?), than a dark sun combat oriented game.

 

[Staffan]

If i recall correctly the two 2D20 systems are different enough to not be the same. I am willing to bet more people are willing to put up with 2d20 for star trek (how many options are there?), than a dark sun combat oriented game.

I've only looked briefly at Conan (I think I bought it at a Bundle of Holding or something like that), and it seems significantly more crunchy than Star Trek Adventures. There are far more skills, and there's a second skill value that determines how often you get a crit, rather than it being the result of a skill specialization/focus. And that's just the core mechanic, the rest seemed much more crunchy as well.

 

[Skywalker]

I've only looked briefly at Conan (I think I bought it at a Bundle of Holding or something like that), and it seems significantly more crunchy than Star Trek Adventures. There are far more skills, and there's a second skill value that determines how often you get a crit, rather than it being the result of a skill specialization/focus. And that's just the core mechanic, the rest seemed much more crunchy as well.

2d20 differs significantly from iteration to iteration. It has also been almost uniformly been more and more streamlined and simplified with each iteration. Conan, Infinity and Mutant Chronicles are quite different beast to Star Trek, John Carter and Dune.

 

[Jaeger]

Other companies could buy the IPs of Conan's clones. WotC doesn't need Conan when they have got Dark Sun.

I may be a minority opinion on this - but I wouldn't want the current crew at WotC to touch Dark Sun with a ten foot pole.

WotC owned IP like Dark Sun, Gamma world, and Star Frontiers would be better off sold to someone who cares about their legacy.

You could still make and sell copies of the book that has "Space Pilot of Planet X" written on the cover and the name Buck Rogers appear all throughout the text.
But I think you might not be allowed to have the title of the book say:

BUCK ROGERS:
Volume 375: Space Pilot of Planet X​

Nor could you write a new book with the title "Buck Rogers and the Space Babes", because Buck Rogers is still a trademark of an entity that is using it to identify its own products.

That is a pure lawfare extortion racket.

If Buck Rogers is in the public domain then you should be able to have "Buck Rogers" in the title of your book!

I hate to be that guy but water isn't wet. Wetness is the condition of liquid adhering to a solid.

Wow. I feel ashamed at my level of pedantry. And I'm posting about D&D on the internet.

You have become the thing you hate. Over elfgames.

Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.

There was a case some years back where a Edgar Rice Burroughs estate went after a comic for using Tarzan, not based on copyright, but based on trademark. I think the comic book folks were on firm legal standing, however they settled out of court and got the approval of the ERB estate.

The trademark Lawfare extortion racket in action.

ERB estate came to a deal because they didn't want to risk a court ruling going against them.

However, because of the legitimate jungle of grey murkiness of copyright law, and because the "license holder" has more money that you do, they've been able to more or less bully anyone with the threat of court.

^THIS^

Once an IP becomes public domain; Any trademarks derived from, or in any way similar to: words, phrases, images or titles from the public domain IP should be rendered invalid and unenforceable.

 

[Staffan]

Once an IP becomes public domain; Any trademarks derived from, or in any way similar to: words, phrases, images or titles from the public domain IP should be rendered invalid and unenforceable.

Sort of agree, but not entirely.

The thing is that trademarks is, at least in theory, about customer protection. If you buy a can of Coca Cola, you should get a can of Coke and not some cheap knock-off. So I'm in favor of having some way of denoting that this is the "real" IP. Perhaps by using some reference to the original creator or company. So there could be a difference between "Conan" and "Robert E. Howard's Conan" or something like that.

 

[Jaeger]

The thing is that trademarks is, at least in theory, about customer protection. If you buy a can of Coca Cola, you should get a can of Coke and not some cheap knock-off. So I'm in favor of having some way of denoting that this is the "real" IP. Perhaps by using some reference to the original creator or company. So there could be a difference between "Conan" and "Robert E. Howard's Conan" or something like that.

Once something hits public domain, it should be in public domain.

Anyone faithful to Howards stories is just as real as anything else.

We've certainly have seen several licensed IP "adaptations" that took characters and stories and dragged them through the gutter due to lack of faithfulness to the source material.

The copyright/Trademark grifting needs to stop at some point. Let the fans decide what is real vs. the cheap knock off...

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Hasbro realises the potential value of the IPs. They aren't going to sell them, but maybe licence them. The alien species from Star-Frontiers or Star*Drive can be recycled or reskinned for Spelljammer. Gamma World could be adedd to the D&D multiverse, but the high-tech and firearms can break the power balance too easily. Hasbro doesn't want to touch Star Frontiers because they are too focused into Star War toys and Disney doesn't want a rival brand. Disney broke with Mattel when this launched Ever After High, a potential rival for Disney princesses.

There was some new about the law wanted to be changed, from 75 to 56, but big entertaiment companies wouldn't be happy with the idea, because they are making money with old IPs.

 

[antiwesley]

If you want to talk Buck Rogers and copyright, I can easily cast "Summon Flint Dille" to chip in, but that would take us majorly off-topic.
To summarize though:
"Buck Rogers" is trade dress.
"Buck Rogers" in his Gil Gerard regeneration is a trademark, AND copyrighted.
The original story may be out of copyright, but because the estate has continually kept up the TM on the name, it's not likely you'd be able to claim fair use. (and to be honest, would you really want to use that very stereotypical and... backwards world, please feel free to do, IMHO)

 

[Skywalker]

Monolith just acquired rights to Solomon Kane from Mythic Games. The announcements doesn’t confirm plans for a Solomon Kane RPG but it certainly seems to hint something along those lines in time.

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗞𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 !
Monolith is pleased to announce the acquisition of Reichbusters brand and Solomon Kane games from their former owner custodian Mythic Games. Reichbusters is a universe we loved since day one. Here, players cooperatively fight against an alternative nazi reich full of occult, weird, and alien technology. This board game will be back, but with a different, fresh and streamlined set of rules, enhanced with additional content.
Concerning Solomon Kane … it is way too soon to talk about it in details, but as you saw on our last Conan RPG announcement, we have many, many plans going on in the Robert E. Howard universe.
Note that Monolith has no connection with the Solomon Kane pre-orders made on Mythic Games store.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I’m surprised there’s this much competition for the license simply because most of the source material is on the public domain.