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3rd Party Publishing?

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biotech66

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« on: <11-07-14/1548:11> »
I don't see too many third party publishers step up to publish Shadowrun stuff.  Any ideas why?
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Sendaz

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« Reply #1 on: <11-07-14/1628:08> »
I thought Shadowrun was not Open Licence, which would be a major reason why you don't see this.

I might be wrong, will have to look at the legal stuff inside the covers.
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The Tekwych

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« Reply #2 on: <11-07-14/1819:44> »
CGL themselves is licensing the Shadowrun IP from Tops. I doubt they want to water that down further by having competition. Ir also depends on what is covered by the license. Are the video games a sub license from CGL to do those companies go back to Tops with their fees. Does CGL have the rights to do apparel or is that a separate license from Tops.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #3 on: <11-08-14/0745:45> »
Videogames rights are licensed from Microsoft, not sure how much say Topps has in there but I don't think CGL has any. On the other hand, the videogame companies can't sell physical merchandise at all, and probably have to work through CGL for any books they want to sell. Not even sure where the rights are for things such as t-shirts, though I'd love for the 3 to team up and sell shirts.
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AJCarrington

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« Reply #4 on: <11-08-14/0759:37> »
I think Michael has summed it up pretty well. I know that apparel, books and accessories were offered with the Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun Online Kickstarters, though CGL was heavily(?) involved in both. CGL also typically has ltd run shirts and such for the con season, but never, seemingly, in my size. I would love to see apparel licensed out to some of the online outlets like Paizo and WotC do...one day hopefully. ::)

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #5 on: <11-08-14/0807:37> »
An added factor there is that the Kickstarters technically aren't shops for the goodies backers get. I can't remember the details but I seem to recall the HBS team noted they can't produce shirts over a year ago when someone asked over at SRU.
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AJCarrington

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« Reply #6 on: <11-08-14/1043:07> »
I suspect you're right on that one...I picked up a couple of t-shirts as a backer, but don't think they've ever been made available for general release.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #7 on: <11-08-14/1055:35> »
Wearing a Shadowrun shirt gives you a once-per-session +3 dice modifier in Missions. ZeConster and I got 6 backer shirts combined (due to SRU-benefits from my side), so technically some of our friends can borrow such a shirt when they play at my Missions game. ^_^'
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Mirikon

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« Reply #8 on: <11-08-14/1200:15> »
As has been mentioned, there's a difference in property rights between Shadowrun and, say, D&D. For D&D, especially 3.X, while the 'official' settings and books are all proprietary material, the d20 system itself had the Open Gaming License, which allowed third party publishers to make sourcebooks and even entire campaign settings based on the d20 system, so long as they didn't actually use proprietary items, such as Bigby, Greyhawk, or Drizzt do'Urden. Shadowrun, on the other hand, has no such open license, so publishers cannot use Shadowrun's system for their own works unless they pay to license it from the property holder. In addition, because Shadowrun is a single coherent world, rather than a bunch of different campaign settings taking place in multiple worlds, the difficulties rise even further.

Long story short, you won't see Shadowrun sourcebooks from anyone but Catalyst, or the equivalent foreign companies. As for t-shirts, art, or any other such things, anything Shadowrun is going to have to be properly licensed. It is possible (people do similar things with other companies' products/logos), but it will cost money for licensing, and for a niche product of a niche product, that'll cut into any potential profits quite severely. Now, you can make art with a cyberpunk feel to it while including elves, trolls, a pyramid-shaped skyscraper in the background, and even a dragon, and that'll be some really fragging cool art. However, if that dragon looks too much like Lofwyr, or you put a corporate logo on the side of that building that just happens to resemble something from SR, then you'll start getting in trouble. That line is blurry, and usually defined by lawsuits, so it is best to keep a wide berth from anything that might appear to be infringing on proprietary material.
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AJCarrington

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« Reply #9 on: <11-08-14/1646:18> »
Facts...sigh... 8)

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« Reply #10 on: <11-08-14/2312:24> »
Videogames rights are licensed from Microsoft
I knew Battletech was sold to Microsoft but SR as well. Too bad. MS games is a black hole and both the division and the parent are falling apart right now

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #11 on: <11-09-14/0636:35> »
You do realise that there are two companies making SR video games now?
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The Tekwych

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« Reply #12 on: <11-09-14/2057:21> »
Yes, I'm a KS backer of both. Shadowrun Returns and its two upgrades are great product and Jordan Weisman has shown once again that he knows how to make an engaging game and is still the master of the Shadowrun Universe. Personally we should all buy any product that man releases in thanks for all these years of magic in the shadows. His Harebrained Schemes has several products on the market right now and all are quite fun. Cliffhanger Productions on the other hand has had issues from the moment they got out money. While SR Returns is enjoyable and I have logged over 100 hours in game Shadowrun Online gives me fits as I try to play there game. Still beta but so ruff and just doesn't feel like Shadowrun to me.

I really enjoy Crossfire and am looking forward to Hostile Takeover and hope Sprawl Gangers makes it to production.