Critical Role Wildemont <--> Tal'dorei: Relationship?

[Morrus]

You can. But there is no reason to suppose they did. It's not normal in publishing (J. K. Rowling still owns the rights to Harry Potter).

RPG publishers typically license the rights to publish an RPG based on an IP for a period of time. They don't buy the rights. FFG hasn't bought Star Wars. Cubicle 7 didn't buy Middle Earth. Modiphius isn't the new owner of Star Trek. I don't own Judge Dredd. You license them, usually in exchange for an advance on royalties and ongoing royalties.

Critical Role will have licensed the rights to Green Ronin to publish a book in exchange for royalties. Green Ronin may or may not have just lost the rights they licensed from Critical Role. It's a rental arrangement, not a purchase.

 

[gyor]

You can. But there is no reason to suppose they did. It's not normal in publishing (J. K. Rowling still owns the rights to Harry Potter). If Green Ronin had gone to the trouble of acquiring the rights, they wouldn't have just done one book, they would have published a whole string of adventures.

At this stage, not even WotC could afford the rights. It wouldn't surprise me if the Critical Role brand isn't worth more than the D&D brand.

No Critical Role is not worth more then the D&D brand.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If Green Ronin had gone to the trouble of acquiring the rights, they wouldn't have just done one book, they would have published a whole string of adventures.

Yeah, I think Paul is spot on here. I seem to recall at the time the book was being released that both Pramas and Mercer said the convos were basically like "Hey, if you write up your campaign setting, we'll publish it for you in book form", and not "Can we have the rights to your setting to produce a campaign guide?" and then hired Matt (and James Haeck) to write the book after the fact.

And this is why I think Paul's right and why we didn't subsequently see a string of Tal'Dorei adventures and other setting material. Because the deal was to publish the guide and the guide alone. Once that was done, it was all on Mercer to decide what else he wanted to make (if anything). And truth be told... the book was released in October 2017 and the Critical Role Campaign 2 in Wildemount first started in January 2018. And with Matt having said he's been working on the Wildemount guide for Wizards for a year and a half, WotC must have come to him fairly quickly after the book came out and the second campaign started to make the deal with him to produce the Wildemount book. And thus he never felt the need to write additional Tal'Dorei material or adventures for Green Ronin to publish after that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Critical Role will have licensed the rights to Green Ronin to publish a book in exchange for royalties. Green Ronin may or may not have just lost the rights they licensed from Critical Role. It's a rental arrangement, not a purchase.

It doesn't matter if you rent or buy, because this was neither. The normal publishing arrangement is a publisher agrees to publish a book. Everything else, the characters, setting, etc belong to the author unless some other arrangement is agreed.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And thus he never felt the need to write additional Tal'Dorei material or adventures for Green Ronin to publish after that.

And if Green Ronin had any sorts of rights to the setting, they wouldn't have needed Mercer - any staffer could have written a Tal'Dorai adventure.

 

[Morrus]

It doesn't matter if you rent or buy, because this was neither. The normal publishing arrangement is a publisher agrees to publish a book.

That's not the usual arrangement when licensing IP in the RPG industry.

Everything else, the characters, setting, etc belong to the author unless some other arrangement is agreed.

You're confusing ownership with licensing. There's no change in ownership. Like I said, I don't own Judge Dredd, and FFG doesn't own Star Wars. You're getting your terminology mixed up. Probably because the word "rights" is being bandied about.

The usual arrangement in the RPG industry is to license IP in exchange for royalties (and an advance on royalties) for a set term (say three years) with a renewal option if both parties agree. There is usually an approvals process for any products the licensee chooses to produce during that period.

Green Ronin may have a more restrictive license for one book only, but that's not typically how it's done.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's not the usual arrangement when licensing IP in the RPG industry.

It's how it's done for books. And this is a book.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If Green Ronin had wanted, they had published for of titles for 5th Ed. They created their own setting, Freeport, even a new class, the bucaneer. GR has got its own projects and it doesn't need Exandria world.

 

[Morrus]

It's how it's done for books. And this is a book.

Paul, I'm an RPG publisher. I have been and am both licensee and licensor. I have been party to other licenses. I assure you that what I described is typical for IP licensing for RPGs. This conversation is getting silly.

 

[dave2008]

It's how it's done for books. And this is a book.

@Paul Farquhar you do realize that @Morrus is deeply involved in the RPG publishing world. He is not making this stuff up. This is his knowledge from actually publishing RPGs and licensing IP for RPGs. He is telling you how it is actually done, and how he as done it. This is not speculation.