Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
They each claim to be the only one with the rights, as I recall. It's kind of a mess.
Villains and Vigilantes comes back
- Thread starter billd91
- Start date
Right now there's a legal dispute, as both are claiming the sole publishing rights. They're waiting for the courts to issue a ruling, but until then, both are busy publishing new material, or releasing material that had been on the shelves.
There's a whole lot of stuff in the pipeline for both companies. FGU has a Japanese themed sourcebook called Great Bride, nearing completion, as well as an Egyptian themed book called The Sands of Time, and a book of solo adventures. MHG is working on V&V 3.0 and V&V Universe source book. They're also planing on releasing updated versions Bill Willingham's Death Duel with the Destroyers, and The Island of Doctor Apocalypse (both will be in full color, and have stats for Bills NPC super team), Bill's also got a new adventure call Suicide Mission in development, and Stefan Jones is working on a book of five mini-adventures (no title yet).
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Oh, wow, I didn't realize there were new and rereleased Willingham adventures coming. Those two modules were as iconic for me and my brother as Keep on the Borderlands or the Village of Hommlett.
I got the opportunity to play V&V will Mr. Willingham, Jeff Dee, and Jack Herman, last month at Gary Con. Bill ran a three day long mini-campaign for us, and we got to play test one of his upcoming adventures. We also got a sneak peak at V&V 3.0, and got to here about some of the upcoming releases they've got planned.
Over on the FGU front, they've got quite a few goodies in the hopper, but I don't want to say to much until it's official. I'll post more info, once I get the OK to do so.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
So when is this V&V 3.0 coming out, and who is it coming out from?
3.0 is supposed to be released by Monkey House Games sometime later this year (they haven't set a release date yet). Jeff Dee's been previewing it at cons, and plans to run a couple of demo games over the Summer (as he's still tinkering with it).
pawsplay
Hero
I'm really curious how that came about.
It's a VERY long story, and one I'm not trying to get into here, as every time it comes up, it always seems to end a flame, as the supporters of each side tend to get rather vocal in their support. For now, I'm content to sit back and let the courts decide who's got a valid claim, though I'd still prefer that all parties involved could come to some sort of agreement, as I've had dealings with all of them, and don't want to see either company take a finical loss.
You can read Jeff Dee's interview with Ain't it Cool News here at Justice Carmon's site. Apparently, FGU ceased to exist as FGU, INC. in 1991 and has been a DBA since relocating to Arizona. According to Jeff, the contract was with the former not the dba. Therefore, once, FGU, Inc ceased to exist, rights reverted back to Jeff and Jack. They were never notified and, Scott Bizar DBA Fantasy Games Unlimited would have needed a new contract to have the publishing rights.
There is also this forum debate here between Jeff and some dude with ties to Scott Bizar at the Villains and Vigilante forums. It starts on page two or three, but the thread appears to have originated with another thread (which I didn't check out).
That pretty much sums up Jeff and Jack's argument, while Scott is arguing that FGU has never ceased to exist, and has been one continuous business entity the entire time, and that while he hasn't been extensively marketing V&V, he's made it available for sale, and has solicited new product. After that, it just tends to get ugly, with a lot of name calling, and finger pointing by people who really don't have a say so one way or the other.
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