Well, in case you havent heard it yet, there's bad news and there's good news. Bad news is WotC has given their thumbs down to
Bruce Heard's request at writing new stories for the Voyage of the Princess Ark. Although not surprising given WotC's position on lisencing out their IP since 2008, I think Bruce really wanted to do this and I know it would have been great to read more stories about Prince Haldemar of Haaken and his Skyship flying over Mystara, just like in all of those installments back in TSR Era Dragon Magazine.
Good news is,
Bruce Heard will be continuing writing Mystara material on his fantastic blog. Even more good news is, Bruce will go on to publish fiction. It will be set in a world of his own creation rather than Mystara, but this may actually be a good thing too. I know I am excited about it!
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More discussion on this article
-Havard
Damned grumble Wizards grumble!
ReplyDeleteI think that WotC would do well by revisiting this non-lisence policy of theirs. Perhaps the lisences they had for Dragonlance, Blackmoor, Ravenloft etc were too generous(?), but that doesn't warrant stopping doing them altogether IMO.
ReplyDeleteIP "laws" (really just opinions from bureaucrats backed by guns aimed at our faces) are the scourge of our hobby, the threat of use of force to prevent creativity for the sake of the bottom line for people who cannot compete with imaginative minds.
ReplyDeleteI don't care for Mystara, but to think a faceless, fictional "Corporation" has the power to prevent Mr. Bruce Heard from publishing whatever fiction he wishes just shows how F'd-up our world is. Even in matters that aren't truly relevant the normal way to deal with things is via violence and aggression.
May you live in interesting times...
Actually, Vargr, they do not prevent me from publishing whatever fiction I wish--just the Voyages of the Princess Ark. In any case, their decision has spurred me to create something new, and in retrospect something I believe will be much better. So, in fact, they have sparked new creativity in a backward way. . . just not one that will benefit them. (Fine by me!)
ReplyDelete