Hey Adam,
First off, doing it yourself.
For the sort of licence you describe (and without specifics, please accept we are shooting in the dark here), be prepared to lay out five figures up front, for the licence alone (printing, art, etc all go on top). However, strange things have happened in licence land before now and you never know. Always be professional to the extreme, always be ready to answer any question you are given and you have the tiniest chance of a miracle happening. However, you will likely not get away from that five figure cost and that is assuming they look past a lack of track record. Warner Brothers, for example, were keen to explore what we had done previously before they handed over B5.
Second, approaching someone else.
This all depends what you want out of the gig. Want to become a multi-millionaire from this idea? Try licencing something other than RPGs
However, if what you are looking for is the chance to work on something that will grow into a game thousands of people will play and you get fairly rewarded for it, this might be the option.
As Chris pointed out, you need a good reason to stay in the loop when you approach another company, as they will likely take over the licence negotiations (we would - and would likely get a better deal, having had some experience with this). However, you are likely to bring something to the table that is very important - knoweldge and expertise of the property you have in mind.
For example. Suppose somebody approached us with the idea of the Care Bears RPG. We might consider it a good idea and start making moves to acquiring the licence. However, to my knowledge, not one of my staff members has any good idea of what the Care Bears are about - we would thus be in need of either crash-learning the property or relying on a freelancer for the job. If you have the knowledge and can put pen to paper, you might well have talked yourself into a job.
As I say, funny things can happen in licence-land. The most we have ever paid for a licence runs well into six figures. The least we have paid for something based on film & screen is zero. But what I lay out above can be considered more or less the norm.
I can make you an offer here - drop me a line at
msprange@mongoosepublishing.com and I would be happy to discuss this further. Mongoose is always on the look out for interesting licences and I would be happy to give you an honest opinion. If it is a good 'un, we might well make you an offer. If it is not, I would be happy to show you why it is not.
Your call
