Valdemar RPG? needs a publishing company....

[Taloras]

Im not sure where to post this really. There are a lot of people like me, fans of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, that would like to see an RPG based off of it. However, Misty(Mercedes Lackey) has said that no publishing company is willing to try this. Im trying to find out if there would be any publishing company that would be willing to go out on a limb and try this. They would have to get the rights for the game, but im very sure that it would be well-recieved. This is something id love to work on, however, i do not have the money or resources to start a company to do this. I do not know if there are any other fans of the series out here, but thought id give it a shot.

 

[Crothian]

So, she'd actually let it happen? Last I hear she was against it.

 

[Taloras]

Go to the website, the Ask Mysti area. in the games and gamers section, she said shes not interested in doing it herself, but if a publishing company wanted to buy the rights, her agent might be interested. several ppl have requested this, but as no publishing company has shown interest......Id be really interested in a d20 Valdemar. Id personally be very interested in workin on it, but i dont think theres any publishing companies near me. nor am i a great writer.

 

[Crothian]

That's cool. I think d20 would be a good system for it, but you'd really need someone that really knew the rules and the setting.

 

[Taloras]

The main problem is that Mysti hasnt fleshed out the world (maps, religion, gov'ts etc). If we could just get her to do that, it would be much easier. It would require completely new classes (sure, fighter and mage would be similar, although i believe it should go sorc instead of mage), but youd have to have a Healer class completely different from clerics, Herald might be a PrC or something like that (something the DM does for plot reasons, not one the PC can automatically take...) I know the world pretty well, but im not sure id be able to do it myself.

 

[Crothian]

Actually, I think she's done a very good job at fleshing it out in the novels. We have enough going ons in Haven to really get a good feel for the city. A map of the whole city can be made with a little creativity, but the government should be easy enough to do. There are many different types of religion so one could base them almost on anything. The Holderkins are well defined and easy to do, and the Water folk shouln't be that hard as well (the people up around that perfectly round lake that I recall its name). The fighter, barbarian, and rogue all fit well enough. we would need annon spellcasting ranger/woodsman, a minstral, a full bard, the healers, and the Heralds. The mindmagic would be psionics that are feat and skill based. Each person is limited to the number of feats they can have (a feat would be farsight, foresight, firestarting, mindspeech, animal speech, etc.). The canion would be a more powerful paladin mount that could actually boost mind magic and would be a full NPC. Magic would be all sorcerer based as they don't seem to study spells. One would probablt want a new class with feats that determine potential. The rules for the shields (SR) and the grounding (concentration) would be pretty easy. Taping into the ley lines and heartstones would take a little more.

That's just off the top of my head of course, but I think I've shown that this can be done rather well in the d20 system.

 

[Tsyr]

Hell, I'd chip in money to buy the contract if someone wanted to do it...

I SO want this game.

Hey Mongoose! You out there? Yer' my favorite "take a setting and game-ize it!" publisher... help us! I mean, heck, your Slaine "Earth Magic" system is a pretty good start at the magic system in Valdemar.

 

[Crothian]

I highly doubt you'll get a publisher to respond. They seem to keep quiet until well after a liscense has been gained. I'm sure there are many liscenses that people tried to get that failed for whatever reason that we will never hear about.

 

[Taloras]

So far, ive got one email from Tensen at Dark Quest gaming asking me if im sure its ok. This is a copy of what ive received from Firebird Arts (which is where the Ask Mysti column on her website goes)
You can do anything you want, and if bugging game companies is how you
want
to spend your free time, go for it.
However you do not have the right to claim you represent Mercedes
Lackey,
Larry Dixon, Firbird, or DAW Books.

Teri Lee
Firebird Arts & Music


At 08:22 PM 11/14/02 -0800, you wrote:
>Yes, this is about an RPG. I know you have said you
>would not want to work on one, and no publishing
>company is interested so far. If i only had the money
>and resources, id try to get the rights, but
>currently, all i can do is ask companies if they would
>be interested. Is this ok? A Heralds of Valdemar RPG
>would be the greatest thing ive ever seen....and im
>pretty sure it would be quite well recieved.
>Zach
>OKC, Oklahoma

As im not saying i represent them, everything seems to be in order.

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/text/1mlask02.shtml has the contact information for their agent....

Also, i too would be willing to help w/ the contract, but as im not making a lot of money....

 

[Taloras]

I just thought id bring this back up....ive started working on a personal game based on Valdemar for me and my friends....if i had money, id help out a publishing company to get the license.....