Quote from: CRKrueger;814964A huge amount of Howard's work is in the public domain as it was published in the era where you had to keep reapplying for copyright and no one did.  Most of the Conan stuff is on Project Gutenberg.

It's not a question of whether you can legally publish Conan stuff in the US, you can.  The question is do you have pockets deep enough to fight the legal battle.

I think you could publish the original works as is, but can you publish derivative works based on those books?

Quote from: Endless Flight;815010I think you could publish the original works as is, but can you publish derivative works based on those books?

Yes, if it's in the public domain.

If anyone has any questions about the work we're doing, let me know. I'm happy to provide what answers I can.

I have run the new Mutant Chronicles RPG and it has nothing to do with Star Wars or WFRP3.
It's a gritty, semi-realistic system (hit locations!), that still maintains fluid gameplay. The Dark Symmetry is nothing more than a resource the players' feed the GM with and is totally in line with the Mutant Chronicles setting.
I don't know if I can see something similar to that in Conan, where it doesn't make any real thematic sense, but the core of the system is perfectly suited for Hyboria.

Quote from: Nerzenjäger;815057I have run the new Mutant Chronicles RPG and it has nothing to do with Star Wars or WFRP3.
It's a gritty, semi-realistic system (hit locations!), that still maintains fluid gameplay.

I too have run the new MC during its beta-phase, and I'll give you fluid. I've seldom had to spend less time explaining how things work. In play, it could have retained some of the fluidity if we had the custom dice. We didn't, so there were some extra mental hoops in reading dice results - but I guess practice would make it better.
I'll give you gritty as well - it can get exeptionally nasty. As for semi-realistic ..nah. It's as wonky as its setting, only without the charm.
I wont claim that it doesn't work because that would be lying, but it still rubs me every other way but the right one.
It's a gimmicky system, and a system weirdly lacking in transparency(but that might be because of my shortcomings in basic probabilities).
Gears are already whirring in my brain on a MC-campaign, but I don't see me using the official rules - I guess we'll see when it is out and I can properly devour it. I plan on doing a let's read-thread.

Now, this is about the Conan-game. I don't really have any input there, except for wishing they'd secured a RuneQuest Gateway-license for it.

Yeah "Too bad it's not RQ6" seems to be a common reaction, on a variety of boards.

I remember way back, when people were talking about Mongoose making Conan using MRQI (probably due to Slaine), I didn't see it, the MRQI system just didn't grab me for Conan.  Then MRQII came along and it sold me.  

When I heard they were redoing Conan in MRQII with a series of world books and detailed new maps, I was in Howard Hog Heaven.  Then the IP holder said Mongoose couldn't change the system because the movie was coming out soon, and they thought they could squeeze new money out of the license and so a lot of great work went down the toilet (from what I understand, 2 and a half of the world books were done writing-wise).

I look at this project and it looks near perfect in some cases.  Two well-known serious Howard/Conan scholars, two well-known Conan artists, and Jason Durall, who did a great job with Laundry Files, a BRP veteran...all that's missing is a system worth anything.

Narrative-based metagame economy, abstract ranges, "complications" that let players choose when to lose resources like ammo.  It's like they decided to take the most OOC elements of X-world, FATE, and Cortex and slap them together.

What a tragically missed opportunity.

Quote from: Jason D;815054If anyone has any questions about the work we're doing, let me know. I'm happy to provide what answers I can.

Hi Jason, I have a couple questions.

1. Abstract Ranges
Except for 3:16, I haven't seen an abstract range system that wasn't clunkier then just using ranges.  Some games it's easy to just give numbers, in others the system mechanics for movement, combat, etc are so tied into the abstract range system that it becomes a redesign to convert.  How "baked in" are the Abstract Ranges?

2. Narrative Metagame Economy
MC has "Dark Symmetry", Infinity has "Heat", both are methods of buying dice by giving the GM authority to mess with you kind of like Fate/Cortex.  Systems like this are not always easy to remove.  For example, removing Bennies from Savage Worlds has an effect on the game beyond just removing the OOC thinking, the mechanics themselves use Bennies as fuel.  How is this going to be represented in Conan and how easy will it be to remove?

3. World Development
Traditionally, game systems of a light, narrative bent don't spend much time on setting development, because, really, the setting is less important then the player's stories, I mean that's why that system was used.  There are a couple of well-known Howard guys on board. Are they there as window dressing or just to go over a manuscript and say stuff like "no unicorns", or are they going to be consulted on actually developing Hyboria beyond Howard's text but within Howard's vision?  In other words, stuff like actually detailing Brythunia, for example.

4. Pastiche
If I had a criticism of Vincent Darlage's work for Mongoose, it's that he brought in a lot of pastiche elements from Carter, De Camp, etc... even though the "pastiche canon" is of varying degrees of "Howardness" much like Derleth's Mythos differs from Lovecraft's ideas in many ways.  What sources are being used, Howard only or Howard plus others?

5. System
Why didn't you convince everyone to use BRP/RQ6?  Ok, you don't have to answer that one.

Quote from: CRKrueger;814964It's not a question of whether you can legally publish Conan stuff in the US, you can.  The question is do you have pockets deep enough to fight the legal battle.

The problem these days is trademark not copyright. How is anybody supposed to make a successful Conan RPG if they can't use Hyboria or Conan in the title.

I'm not familiar with 2d20. It sounds a bit gimmicky from what I read in this thread.

Making this a BRP-derived game doesn't sound like a bad idea, though I personally find RQ6 a little too fiddly/complex. I'd prefer something akin to OpenQuest in that case.

Quote from: estar;815108The problem these days is trademark not copyright. How is anybody supposed to make a successful Conan RPG if they can't use Hyboria or Conan in the title.

The essay "The Hyborian Age" is in the public domain, you could use that, couldn't you?  Or since Kull, Bran Mak Morn, etc are probably in the public domain too, call it the Robert E. Howard RPG or Worlds of Howard or something.

Besides isn't trademark a sign, design, logo or expression of something, so for example something using the Hyborian Font or using the exact name "Age of Conan" like the MMO, would be offlimits, but they can't trademark the word Conan if the character is in the public domain, can they?  How many games with Cthulhu in the title do we have?

Paradox can claim all they want, but it doesn't mean shit if you have the money to fight them, that's the only real problem, all the original Weird Tales stuff is Public Domain, and that's nearly all of it.

Quote from: Anglachel;814952Oh and it will be a KS? Great...more "good" news :rolleyes:
Modiphius is known for its overpriced KS.
So: lame system and overpriced rip-off? No thanks.

We're funding the core book and campaign book ourselves before the kickstarter then running a kickstarter to bring together the biggest line up of Conan artists ever to paint the covers of each book and do interiors and do a boxed mass market intro set, the book range, and more. Our last kickstarter gave away about 3000 PDF pages for £40 / $60 investment which I don't think has been beaten by any RPG projects yet and is one of the best value deals out there.

As to the cost of the books - I think they're a fair price for the exceptional quality - the last set of books got converted for free to colour so backers have got them for £5 / $8 less than retail on average. We set a price to make sure we could deliver quality, and still be around to make sure people got the books - which we've done and continue to do. Many company's have failed to deliver because they didn't charge a fair price.

As to the system - well that's a matter of taste - there will be a free preview out in the spring for you to decide on :-)

Quote from: JeremyR;814954It's such BS that there is even a Conan "license". The dude died childless in 1937. By any moral right, how does a company in Sweden own the rights to his work?

Sure, I can understand the pastiches and the comic and movies. But the original text? Bah, humbug.

Actually the last owners did their very best to make sure no one published Conan, the new owners have since got major publishers across the world to republish Conan works, produced a new movie (whether you like it or not with more on the way) and encouraged and managed a swathe of merchandising to bring Conan to a new generation - so I'd say they're nurturing it pretty well and making sure more people than ever have access to the works of REH.

Quote from: CRKrueger;815101Hi Jason, I have a couple questions.

1. Abstract Ranges
Except for 3:16, I haven't seen an abstract range system that wasn't clunkier then just using ranges.  Some games it's easy to just give numbers, in others the system mechanics for movement, combat, etc are so tied into the abstract range system that it becomes a redesign to convert.  How "baked in" are the Abstract Ranges?

2. Narrative Metagame Economy
MC has "Dark Symmetry", Infinity has "Heat", both are methods of buying dice by giving the GM authority to mess with you kind of like Fate/Cortex.  Systems like this are not always easy to remove.  For example, removing Bennies from Savage Worlds has an effect on the game beyond just removing the OOC thinking, the mechanics themselves use Bennies as fuel.  How is this going to be represented in Conan and how easy will it be to remove?

3. World Development
Traditionally, game systems of a light, narrative bent don't spend much time on setting development, because, really, the setting is less important then the player's stories, I mean that's why that system was used.  There are a couple of well-known Howard guys on board. Are they there as window dressing or just to go over a manuscript and say stuff like "no unicorns", or are they going to be consulted on actually developing Hyboria beyond Howard's text but within Howard's vision?  In other words, stuff like actually detailing Brythunia, for example.

4. Pastiche
If I had a criticism of Vincent Darlage's work for Mongoose, it's that he brought in a lot of pastiche elements from Carter, De Camp, etc... even though the "pastiche canon" is of varying degrees of "Howardness" much like Derleth's Mythos differs from Lovecraft's ideas in many ways.  What sources are being used, Howard only or Howard plus others?

1 - We'll be providing alternative range related combat for those who want to use minis and tiles, or want to measure how far their arrows fall. It's not forced, but the abstract 'zone' system does work well. But if you want a metres per turn movement you'll have it :-)

2 - RPG's already let the GM mess with you - in fact with a normal RPG the GM can mess with you even more and not need any justification. 2d20 gives a fun structure to this, it makes GM'ing a lot easier (and we'll be running seminars for 2d20 GM's online) and is perfect for new GM's and experienced alike. Wait for the free preview and you'll see or stick it out with the Infinity playtest.

3 & 4 - We're working with Jeff Shanks to ensure this game is true to REH. We're only using the works of Howard, not pastiches etc. When new material is required - ie for adventures, Jeff will be the core of the team writing the plots to ensure it's true to Howard's vision. This is extremely important for us.

Hope that helps!

We'll be unveiling a lot more about plans soon - we're currently confirming the list of planned books with are a lot less geographical supplements and more story orientated plot books. It's a different approach than previous works and I think you'll like it.

There's a lot of great writers to announce, many more major artists as well so we'll have a busy month. The 2d20 system is being tweaked to give a heavier focus on melee, magic will be very very dark, costly and dangerous, or you'll have simple alchemical options for those 'pretend sorcerers' who were much better at convincing people they were sorcerers

Quote from: CRKrueger;815113Paradox can claim all they want, but it doesn't mean shit if you have the money to fight them, that's the only real problem, all the original Weird Tales stuff is Public Domain, and that's nearly all of it.

Unfortunately Paradox has registered as trademarks for games all the common terms for Conan, like Conan, Hyboria, Age of Hyboria, etc.

Which is not likely a problem if you reprinted the original weird tale work. But is probably a problem if you printed a derivative work.

Not they are registered, not in the process of being registered but already granted.

If you were to try to make a RPG product off of the PD Conan works then your best chance is to hire a IP lawyer to come up with a decent titles.

I don't know what could pass muster but if I had to guess would be something like

QuoteRed Swords and Black Sorcery
Adventures in Robert E. Howard's The Hyborian Age.

The mark for Conan for games

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:z9wzty.6.26

The mark for Hyboria for games

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:z9wzty.6.21

And totally unrelated the guys behind Troll Lord Games tried to trademark Swords & Sorcery.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:z9wzty.8.4