Akrasia said:
Do you have any justification for making these claims?
Do you know what rates TLG pays people who write modules for them? Authors who have worked for Necromancer Games and Goodman Games are writing C&C material for TLG. I would thus assume that TLG is willing to pay authors at comparable rates to NG and GG (both established d20 publishers).
Lets just say I have a decent idea of what most publishers pay module writers by the word.
Furthermore, it is not clear to me why one could not get TLG's permission to produce material for C&C without giving TLG control over what you produce. TLG does not own or have 'control' over the two modules that Goodman Games has produced for C&C.
C&C is a trademark of TLG. No one can use that trademark on their product without their permission. That's simply a fact of life. If Goodman is making C&C modules, then they had to get approval for that. And you might note that those writers who did those C&C modules for Goodman worked for them, and thus one corporate entity or another has control over the finished product.
Until TLG starts granting permission to every Tom, Dick, and Harry to slap the C&C label on their module, anyone who wanted to publish one needs their permission, and TLG is certainly within their rights to say no. There may be work arounds an independent author or company might be able to come up with using the OGL, but without TLG's permission, that module will not have C&C on the cover, it will not be able to use the Siege Engine, and various other parts that are protected under TLG's trademarks and copyrights. Thus, TLG has a certain amount of authority about what can and cannot be made for their game. Don't believe me? Try slapping C&C on a product without their permission.
James Mishler (an author who has written for Necromancer Games, and a major contributor to their Wilderlands products) will be producing new material for the Wilderlands setting for C&C, with a new company of his own creation. He has permission to use C&C for his products from TLG, but (as far as I can tell) has
complete control over the content of his products. (For more infor:
http://p105.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm40.showMessage?topicID=380.topic .)
Umm, yeah. You realize that TLG licensed the C&C brand name and rules for this, right? That permission had to be gotten for this deal to go through? That if TLG had told Mishler to go fly a kite, that he'd be out buying string right now?
I can certainly understand why someone would prefer to write something for OSRIC instead of C&C (viz. a preference for OAD&D rules over C&C, and/or a desire to avoid paying for TLG's permission to use C&C). But I very much doubt that one could expect to make more money self-publishing something for OSRIC over writing a C&C product for TLG.
I didn't say that anyone would or should to expect to make more self-publishing, so please don't put words in my mouth. Any venture is a risk of capital, and there is no guarantee of a return.
And it certainly is not impossible to retain control over one's products when writing for C&C.
You might want to check the various official C&C modules that have been published. TLG owns the rights to those, not the authors.
So far, the only avenues I've seen to publish material with C&C on the cover (and specific C&C rules and content under the hood) is to either go through TLG (which means they will retain the rights, not the author), or through another company that has gained a license to make C&C material (which means that company will retain the rights, not the author).
The Trolls are not going to license just anyone to produce material for their game, and licenses cost big money. Someone might be able to retain control of their project by obtaining such a license, but its going to cost and the Trolls must give permission. And that means that, ultimately, the Trolls have a big say in who can publish C&C material, and thus alot of control over anyone who wants to professionally produce game material with C&C on the cover.
Sorry for the tangent, but your comments regarding TLG seemed both unjustified and snarky.
Well, I could say that the C&C crowd are a prickly lot, but what's the point in either of us getting all fired up and defensive about this?
I stand by my original statements. Anyone writing modules for TLG (or any other game publisher these days) is not going to make much for their work (its simply a fact of the state of the gaming "industry"), they won't retain the rights to their work (whether done through TLG or a third party), and they need the Troll's permission to do so in the first place.
Technically, even fan-created stuff would need permission from the Trolls before it would be legal, as the profit/non-profit aspect does not matter when it comes to trademarks and the like.
With OSRIC, an author is guaranteed to retain the rights to their work (unless they sell them for some reason), and they need no permission to use the OSRIC rules or the trademark.
