For a while now, fans have been worried about the lack of news on upcoming Blackmoor products. This was just posted on the Blackmoor Gmail list:
Blackmoor licensing is looking like it's going to end as Wizards of
the Coast does not appear inclined to renew the license come the
beginning of the year.
There was also developmental issues with Age of Wolf. Contractual violations by all on the project save 2 artists. It boils down to people forgetting they're working for someone on contract, not themselves or their vision.
Between these 2 items Age of the Wolf as it was initially envisioned is not going to see the light of day I am sorry to say.
HOWEVER...
We knew eventually Wizards would not renew the license, we were obviously hoping for another year or two, but it is, what it is. So we have had a contingency plan in place for the last 2 years.
It's been mentioned of the 'New Lands' we were going to add to Blackmoor for some time now, a number of hints of that were made clearer to those fortunate enough to be able to play in the 4e MMRPG campaign...
Well Wizards doesn't own everything Blackmoor from the 3.5 era... notably the classes, the Docrae race and a number of other things that made Blackmoor new and interesting. Those belong to Zeitgeist and Dustin Clingman... who has been nice enough to offer continued usage of those items NOT Wizards.
So, the new campaign setting will be in the New Lands and have a number of Blackmoor flavorings in it. Such as the classes and the Docrae Race and even Skelfer Ard!
More on this over the coming days, weeks, and months.
With the above issues on Blackmoor and for the holidays, all Blackmoor PDF's in our store and on RPGNow are marked at 25% off!
This sale is effective now through the end of the license (early next year).
W. Robert Reed III
Mynex
Too early for me to comment beyond what is said here. Just thought I should share this with you right away.
-Havard
Very informative and great information. Thanks for all the hard work!
ReplyDeletePerhaps it time to find another dutch map, flip it on it's back, and trace.
ReplyDeletehttp://jamesmishler.blogspot.com/2009/10/original-blackmoor-maps.html
http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/10/introducing-blackmarsh.html
Douglas: Thanks for the feedback and support! This blog will go on in spite of these changes for the publishers :)
ReplyDeleteRob: Indeed! There are always ways around an IP (See my latest post). Also, didn't you make a map of the lands west of Blackmoor over at Lulu? :)
ReplyDeleteHere's a comment by Ari Marmell left on my Blackmoor group over at WotC's site. It is always nice to have more than one side to a story:
ReplyDelete"I don't think it'd do much good to get into a war of words with CMP, and I don't think it'd be professional to make specific accusations in a public forum. So let me just say that there are *definitely* two sides to what happened, and that the problems that led to this did *not* originate with the freelancers.
I'm sorry that the fans are the ones ending up disappointed, but we could not, in good conscience, continue to work for CMP. (The fact that almost the entire freelance team--writers, artists, art director, and cartographer, some of whom had never even spoken to one another before the **** hit the fan--agreed on this course of action should be indication enough that there were problems coming down from above.)
I don't feel it appropriate to say anything else, except that I hope that, in all my years of working in this field, I've earned enough of a positive reputation for people not to assume the worst about me, or my fellows on the creative team, in this unfortunate situation.
Mouseferatu
November 16, 2009
08:42 PM CET "