Planescape Setting

[Wraith Form]

safe to say...

Curses! I have exactly $99.37 sitting in my pocket right now that I'm willing to pay WotC for the license....!

 

[Clueless]

i'm going to have to have a look at that. i wonder how much they've done for monsters; we've done plenty at the Creature Catalog, but there are so many left to go.

Creatures Codex has a LOT of the monsters from a previous version of the site sitting in edit. If you want to help I'm sure you could contact Max/David and he'd adore the help. (there's over 100 of these things just waiting in his edit queue.)

 

[Clueless]

Want. Hardback. Book.

(or box set)

Same here - but can't. *kicks the Lotto for not giving her the funds to buy rights*

 

[Monte At Home]

Furthermore, to echo Monte's point, don't get your hopes up about anyone else snatching up the PS license in the vacuum left in Monte's wake; from what I have been told, WOTC wants a fair amount for the license and IMHO that amount would be out of the reach of most (if not all) D20 companies out there....

This was once true, and was certainly true of Ravenloft and Gamma World which WW licensed, but as I said, they are not offering licensing deals on their old properties at the moment at all.

 

[Trickstergod]

This was once true, and was certainly true of Ravenloft and Gamma World which WW licensed, but as I said, they are not offering licensing deals on their old properties at the moment at all.

This really isn't any more then idle fancy on my part, but perhaps that in and of itself is a small glimmer of hope? As it might mean Wizards is at least considering doing something with their old settings if they're no longer contemplating licensing them out.

Not that I necessarily think they will, even if the thought's running through a few of their heads. But...who knows? Certainly not I.

 

[wingsandsword]

I don't understand why WotC doesn't want to license out any more of their properties, since as I understand it, they are under constant pressure from Hasbro to generate profit, which licensing out IP they have and aren't using would do. Unless they are considering using those properties themselves. If their driving motive is profit, they wouldn't turn away a chance to make money on a property. If they aren't going to even think about selling it, they might have plans for it themselves.

Look at it, WotC might be going back to the Idea Well. Environment books ? Honestly, Frostburn et al seem a little desperate to me. I'm a pretty hardcore D&D player but even I won't pay $30 for a book just about adventuring in ice and snow, or any other single climate. I would pay $30 or $40 for a good hardcover revival of Planescape (or a few other older settings) done by authors who know the setting well, with good mechanics and of at least the same flavor quality as the 2e materials.

They like to market Eberron as something you can mine for materials for other games, instead of just for that setting. They could market other settings the same way, Dark Sun is desert, psionics and epic-level play; Birthright is army-scale warfare, rulership of domains, and playing nobility; Planescape is about planar travel, outsiders, elementals, and world-spanning ideological factions; Kara-Tur is a chance to do an OA for 3.5e that doesn't have any licensing agreements regarding Rokugan. Each one has significant elements that can be exported beyond its own setting.

If WotC can do one-shot campaign books like Ghostwalk (honestly, the 3e FRCS proved that you can make a very good comprehensive campaign setting in one book) or pretty limited-use and limited-audience books like Frostburn they can certainly go back to their big well of older settings and find things the fans want to buy.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I don't understand why WotC doesn't want to license out any more of their properties, since as I understand it, they are under constant pressure from Hasbro to generate profit, which licensing out IP they have and aren't using would do. Unless they are considering using those properties themselves. If their driving motive is profit, they wouldn't turn away a chance to make money on a property. If they aren't going to even think about selling it, they might have plans for it themselves.

The hardest thing to accept is that our beloved settings from older editions just aren't as profitable as they once were. Yes, WotC COULD do a one shot hardcover book for Dark Sun, Planescape, etc. Heck, I'd love it and buy them in a second. But those campaigns were niche markets, no matter how popular among us is may seem. ENWorld(heck the internet in general) is a horrible representation of D&D players as a whole.

Just because WE like something and nearly all of us would buy it, doesn't mean that others would. Just because we remember and love Planescape doesn't mean anyone else even cares.

...besides, go get Beyond Countless Doorways. Mmmm..Goodness.

 

[fanboy2000]

I don't understand why WotC doesn't want to license out any more of their properties, since as I understand it, they are under constant pressure from Hasbro to generate profit, which licensing out IP they have and aren't using would do.

There are only so many dollars out there for grabs. If WotC licenses Planescape, they risk looseing money to there licensee. Essentially, the cannibalize their there sales. Yes, they would make money on the licence, but they could loose sales too. Also, if they put out a Dark Sun book to fill the desert nitch, they won't get as many sales as if they just put-out book about desert campaigns.

Is WotC realy advertising Eberron as something to mine for homebrews? I know that do that FR, but Eberron dosen't seem to do that well. (Mind you, I love Eberron.)

 

[Zappo]

Planescape was among the most profitable of the "secondary" settings that TSR did. However, that still isn't enough for a firm the size of WotC, and a smaller business likely doesn't have enough money to purchase the rights from them. Also, Planescape is very popular here on enworld, much more than among gamers in general.