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A rumor has been floating aroung that WOTC's license or copyright on Greyhawk material will revert to its original creator - Gary Gygax - at some point in the near future. Some speculate that this is the reason why WOTC is phasing out (or more accuratey snuffing out) references to the Greyhawk universe.
Can anyone out there shed some light on this rumor.
I myself don't believe it, but I have heard is so many times from Living Greyhawk players that I am would like to know if anyone else has heard anything similar.
Snorter
(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Roleplaying Game, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber; GameMastery Superscriber)
Until I hear it from Mr Gygax himself (or an original first-generation player/DM/contributor such as Rob Kuntz) I would have to assume this is an unsubstantiated rumour.
If it were true, I would have expected some sort of announcement before now, from companies Gygax has worked with, such as Necromancer, Troll Lord Games, etc, in the form of some 'consolation' for GH-fans. "Psst! Don't worry! Stop pestering WOTC, cos' in x years time, you'll get your Greyhawk surprise...".
Unless of course they're under a gagging order, in which case, let the wild speculation continue!
Personally, I'd rather WOTC believe that there's no future in GH, so they don't feel tempted to screw with it.
Alas, Mr. Gygax has stated on numerous occasions that Greyhawk is now wholly WotC IP and, as such, will not revert to him under any circumstances. There might be the minutest of chances that WotC might license Greyhawk back to its creator in some unforeseen future, but I'd not hold my breath. I believe Paizo has tried several times to get WotC to license the setting to them but to no avail. Heck, WotC even owns the Blackmoor IP and isn't willing to sell it back to Dave Arneson and it's been nearly 20 years since any Blackmoor material has been produced under the D&D name.
No, it's just an unfounded rumor. A shame.
Wasn't there a D20 Blackmoor book out a few years back?
There still is, but it's produced under license from WotC rather than by WotC itself. The company that publishes it includes Dave Arneson, creator of Blackmoor and co-creator of D&D, but WotC still owns all the IP. For good or ill, Arneson's setting isn't well known and so it's probably not viewed as very threatening to the D&D brand, whereas a licensed Greyhawk, especially if Gygax were involved, might be seen as such.
Wasn't there a D20 Blackmoor book out a few years back?There still is, but it's produced under license from WotC rather than by WotC itself. The company that publishes it includes Dave Arneson, creator of Blackmoor and co-creator of D&D, but WotC still owns all the IP. For good or ill, Arneson's setting isn't well known and so it's probably not viewed as very threatening to the D&D brand, whereas a licensed Greyhawk, especially if Gygax were involved, might be seen as such.
Are you certain Blackmoor as it exists in the d20 setting book is licensed? I got the impression Arneson still owned that version of the setting since Blackmoor has appeared in a number of places outside TSR/WotC material. The product First Fantasy Campaign is a good example. Arneson also used to offer free downloads of Blackmoor material at his site. And I have not heard of any license being pulled from Arneson, which has been the WotC modus operandi prior to the announcement of 4e. It would seem like something they would want to do to help "clean house" before the release of 4e. But I could be wrong about this. I am mostly stating my perception of the situation.
Most of the material that appears in OD&D books and in Greyhawk bears only a passing resemblance to the material that Arneson actually designed for his games. Some of it might share similar names but most of it is very different.
I really like Blackmoor by the way.
Are you certain Blackmoor as it exists in the d20 setting book is licensed?Yes. The most recent Blackmoor book published by Zeitgeist Games includes a copyright notice stating that Blackmoor and all associated names and characters were the intellectual property of WotC.
Wow, did not know that. Thanks for letting me know. I wonder why they didn't go ahead and pull that license as well. I am glad they didn't. Like you said, it probably has everything to do with setting popularity.
Wasn't there a D20 Blackmoor book out a few years back?There still is, but it's produced under license from WotC rather than by WotC itself. The company that publishes it includes Dave Arneson, creator of Blackmoor and co-creator of D&D, but WotC still owns all the IP. For good or ill, Arneson's setting isn't well known and so it's probably not viewed as very threatening to the D&D brand, whereas a licensed Greyhawk, especially if Gygax were involved, might be seen as such.
As long as Gygax doesn't follow his own book's storylines in the Greyhawk world. For those of you big into the Greyhawk Mythos, are Gygax's Rogue books ignored? Or are they latter events?