What’s the draw of licensed games?

[delericho]

The gold standard is also the only example
I can think of. Actually FASA Star Trek did too, but they ignored all that stuff when they made new TV/movies.

It's the "adding stuff" that I like to see - I'm not bothered if it's then later ignored or contradicted by primary sources. If nothing else, shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who reality ignore, change, and discard bits of their own established continuity, so it's too much to ask that they honour a licensed work.

On the other hand, I've seen plenty of licensed games that almost religiously avoid adding anything - they'll lovingly detail the stuff we've already seen to the nth degree, but won't go one step beyond that (probably for fear of being contradicted later). I don't think that's a deal-breaker, necessarily, but it's not my preference.

 

[Morrus]

On the other hand, I've seen plenty of licensed games that almost religiously avoid adding anything - they'll lovingly detail the stuff we've already seen to the nth degree, but won't go one step beyond that

It is very rare that a licensee is allowed to add to canon. I’ve been on the licensing end a couple of times and everything has to be approved by the licensor and the license will rarely permit addition. The WEG Star Wars license was the exception, not the norm (and very early in this environment). Most IP holders are not interested in letting licencees add content. The exceptions are usually licensed novels/audiobooks, which go through a lengthy approval process.

 

[kronovan]

I see licensed products as 2 types:
1) where the IP is closely tied to a custom (often new) set of rules.
2) where the IP is adapted to an existing set of rules - usually a universal one.

I rarely buy the 1st type, but on occasion do buy the 2nd.

When I reflect upon the past decade or so, Dragon Age, Call of Cthulhu, A Time of War and Pendragon are the only TTRPGs I've bought that might fall under the 1st. While for the 2nd type I've bought a good many. Even with Dragon Age; while I did run campaigns set in its world, I also used its AGE rules to run a campaign set in Midgard. For Cthulhu 7 I have Cthulhu Dark Ages and 1 of my 2 sets of homebrewed adventures is set in 6th century France - so not exactly the Lovecraft canon. Pendragon I'm new to and so far have only run adventures set in its Medieval England, but I've already done a fair amount of pondering as to how I might adapt AGOT to its rules.

I prefer the 2nd type, but that's mostly due to homebrewing being more my thing. I find I can sometimes borrow the better features from the adaptation of a license product for my homebrews. I own Mongoose Traveler 2, but my primary reason for getting it was that I didn't like AToW and wanted to use MGT2 for campaigns set in the Battletech verse - use it more as a universal rule system. I've since moved on to Cepheus Engine for that. One thing I appreciate about this 2nd type, is that reading how someone else adapted a a licensed IP can be very inspiring for homebrewing my own worlds. Or maybe even doing a custom adaptation of a favorite license, that no official publisher has taken up.