 October 31, 2012 - 3:35pm | I thought I'd pop in to announce this biggy for anyone that may be late on the news. George Lucas has sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney. What do you think of them beans? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 November 10, 2012 - 1:14pm | Really have to wonder about a company that spends resources shutting down people working on dead acquired 30 year old properites.
I've seen crazier stuff. Model train manufacturers have to pay royalty fees to railroad companies if they produce models of railroad equipment that have their name or any of the predeccessor companies they own. So if you produce a model of a Central Pacific locomotive, a royalty is owed to UP even though that corp. was liquidated 100+ years ago! Boeing and Lockheed Martin have done similar things with model airplane kits. The concern is not really the money but if they don't defend their IP then they could lose it to someone else. It's not always control freek executives, many times it's the attorneys. Another one of the unfortunate side effects of our litigious society. |
 November 10, 2012 - 2:11pm | I heard about a fan movie produced not for profit but was barred from being released lest it set a precident under German or European law making the IP public domain. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 10, 2012 - 5:45pm | If Disney buys Hasbro then you can bet they will not be as benevolent towards SF. SF is dead as a viable commercial brand but that won't keep Disney from locking it down in their dungeon (vault).
Frankly I don't see how that is any different than the current situation. Sure, WOTC permits the pdfs for now, which is far more than they allow for D&D. But at least Disney would look into selling the property if they could make money off of such a sale. Which is more than what WOTC's outlook on the property is. |
November 11, 2012 - 2:46pm | I understand your position, but I'm not as optimistic. I don't think Disney ownership would change Hasbro's position and might make it worse. The old TSR product lines probably aren't worth enough for them to bother negotiating a sale. Maybe if there was a larger deal the TSR stuff could get included. It would be an interesting discussion thread. I hope you're right though. |
November 11, 2012 - 5:20pm | check out www.dragonsfoot.org --- WOTC doesn't permit pdf files of D&D like they do for SF. Even with that "safeguard" on the property, fan submission materials are still readily available and submitted/offered, last I looked they have something like over 20 modules avialble some even using recognized TSR names like the Haunted Keep (from the Moldvay basic rulebook). Several members there publish a fanzine, much like we do with the SFman here (although not to that scale). Frankly I just don't see it being a hindrance. |
 November 11, 2012 - 6:46pm | We regards to how WotC has been cracking down on D&D files, while ignoring us, is that we are too far below their radar. After they cough some folks pirating the 4e books before it hit the market, they did a massive crackdown on all D&D files. Since they are not doing much with Star Frontiers and are not supporting the game in any way, we are low on their priority. Even if WotC knows about us, chances are Hasbro nothing about us, and Wizards have better things to do then rat us out. If Disney dose buyout Hasbro, they would be too inept at role-playing games to even know the dept of games and title they acquired. Hell, even Avalon Hill (also owned by Hasbro) forgot they own a kickass title like Lords of Creation! Look at it this way. The boardgame HeroQuest is owned by Hasbro (they also own Milton Bradly), with elements owned by Games Workshop. There is a strong community dedicated to keeping the game alive (whom I'm also apart of). They scan all the books, cards, titles, and props - from each of the different language-editions they can get their hands on - and post them online. They also make their own house-ruled books, cards and props, using copyrighted content (names and artwork). But no one has ever gotten a cease and desist order. |
 November 11, 2012 - 8:25pm | In regards to HeroQuest cracking down on you guys would be counter-productive to Games Workshop. The game uses their figures which they hope to sell you. Also being a long time player of their games I know how much they like to bring back stuff but in entirely new editions so you just want to buy it. D&D is a cultural icon. Those who have never played it at least know what it is. There are several hundred if not thousand registered trademark properties dealing with it not to mention numerous computer and online games. Star Frontiers is barely a footnote on the Wiki TSR entry. Face it folks we are Luxemburg to the D&D European Union. This isn't a bad thing since we still get to have a blast doing our thing and no one bothers us. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 12, 2012 - 4:42am | Star Frontiers is barely a footnote on the Wiki TSR entry. Face it folks we are Luxemburg to the D&D European Union. This isn't a bad thing since we still get to have a blast doing our thing and no one bothers us. That will be true until the rise of Adolph Mickey and his Biltzkrieg corporate war. Lets just hope this doesn't all end with a Dunkirk. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 12, 2012 - 5:57pm | Star Wars Movie posters redux: http://southfloridafilmmaker.com/classic-movie-poster-redux-the-star-wars-trilogy/ Never knew that Sissy Spacek and Cindy Williams auditioned for the role of Leia. Also love this one too: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcz0ateurP1qe5k65o1_500.jpg I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 12, 2012 - 8:55pm | Never knew that Sissy Spacek and Cindy Williams auditioned for the role of Leia. You can see those screen tests on one of the orignal trilogy DVD extras. IIRC if you bought the three movie collector pack that was released before ROTS it's the 4th disc. I watched that stuff once and have since reverted back to my 12" Laser Disc restored/undoctored collector edition...just to escape the madness of all the extra added nonsense. |
November 13, 2012 - 12:07am | Star Frontiers is barely a footnote on the Wiki TSR entry. Face it folks we are Luxemburg to the D&D European Union. This isn't a bad thing since we still get to have a blast doing our thing and no one bothers us. That will be true until the rise of Adolph Mickey and his Biltzkrieg corporate war. Lets just hope this doesn't all end with a Dunkirk. Dont forget they will clone and army of unfrozen heads of Walt Disney, and mount them on the body of Robo-Hitler from Wolfenstein 3D, then unleash them on the world!  |
