Neopets Terminates Geekify's License, TTRPG in Jeopardy

A tabletop RPG that raised over $427,000 on Kickstarter is now in Jeopardy after Neopets ended its licensing partnership with Geekify. On March 10, Neopets announced that it had ended its license agreement with Geekify, effective immediately. Geekify had made various licensed products for Neopets over several years and was in the process of developing a tabletop RPG for Neopets. This RPG had been under severe scrutiny by both the fandom and the owners of Neopets after a playtest was released that indicated the RPG would be a combat-focused 5E derivative. Neopets ordered that the playtest be taken down and said that it was released without their oversight.

Neopets indicated that backers of the campaign should reach out to Geekify directly about questions regarding their outstanding pledges. Kickstarter frequently notes that pledges are not a promise of goods delivered, and it's unclear whether Geekify will reimburse backers either in part or in full. As of press time, Geekify had not posted an update about the state of the RPG to Kickstarter, although updates for the RPG appear to be temporarily down.

As for Neopets, they noted that interest in a TTRPG appears to be high and didn't rule out a future TTRPG featuring their property. "Regarding the TTRPG category as a whole, we recognise the immense support this project received and the demand for a quality roleplaying experience within the Neopets universe," a statement on the Neopets website read. "We are continuing to explore alternative options to bring a high quality TTRPG gaming experience to the fan base and are looking into solutions to help us accomplish this in the future."

 

[doctorhook]

it sounds more like Geekify were trying to take an IP that is fundamentally about feeding and training pets while you explore their world and turn it in to Pokemon battle arena. Neopets didnt like that approach, reacted to Neopet fan complaints and pulled back their licence, which is fine.

Geekify should have talked to Neopets first and found rules that emphasized exploration and pet raising first rather than DnD which has always been combat focussed

Don’t forget the fact that the playtest included killing bandits and a sexual assault… pretty different fare from the Neopets I remember.

 

[timbannock]

The playtest being released at all -- certainly in its then-current form, but really at all in any form -- is what strikes me as very strange in this story. It adds the third narrative about writers not being paid and really confuses the whole thing. If it was a revenge-release, then I guess whoever did that got their wishes because damage done!

 

[MichaelSomething]

Hopefully Neopets will find a better TTRPG partner... like ENPublidhing! I know Morrus would do a great job and treat it the care it deserves.

 

[Deset Gled]

Don’t forget the fact that the playtest included killing bandits and a sexual assault… pretty different fare from the Neopets I remember.

Based on what was posted in the last thread on this subject, I believe this is extremely incorrect and completely unfounded. If you have other information, please share it.

 

[Blue]

Given how most of the complaints about the playtest seemed like nothing more than generic mindless social media rage, I'm guessing either that releasing the playtest without corporate approval was against the contract terms, or Neopets saw how much money the Kickstarter made and decided they wanted a bigger piece of the action.

Here's the summation from an article here on ENWorld.

"Geekify's initial playtest document revealed a combat-focused 5E-derived game with a playtest adventure that involved torturing a group of drunk bandits. Fans also took umbrage towards sections involving player discussions about sexual content. Given that the Neopets IP is based more on family-friendly and whimsical activities, it seemed like a tonally discordant adventure compared to the original online game. Even more concerning than the content were references that Geekify had not paid writers for the content in the playtest, although Geekify disputed these comments and claimed it was an internal misunderstanding."

This contains the links to the material. If you have a problem with the reporting here, I'd let the author of the article know.

 

[Deset Gled]

This contains the links to the material. If you have a problem with the reporting here, I'd let the author of the article know.

I did?

To quote me from the thread you linked to:

"Having read just the info linked here, I'm having trouble finding good reasons for the outrage.

The "torture" is a "DC 4 intimidation check or persuasion check". That's not torture unless your players want it to be torture.

What's being called "homophobia" is a scripted line where a NPC says "He wouldn't be caught dead wearing a bracelet that was so ... feminine". Maybe not the most inclusive line ever, but also stretch to call homophobic.

The sexual content is "there's a section about discussing with your group how much in-game sex they're comfortable with". Yeah, that's how session 0 works.

Maybe this needs some editing to make this more on brand with Neopets, but that's what prerelease material is for. Maybe there's more offensive chunks I'm missing. But this feels like a nothingburger right now."

Now, people in this thread have raised the stakes to claiming in-game murder and sexual assault. I have yet to see anything of the sort. IMNSHO, the sensationalism is getting out of hand. Unless someone has some new evidence, of course.

 

[jdrakeh]

Don’t forget the fact that the playtest included killing bandits and a sexual assault… pretty different fare from the Neopets I remember.