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Villains & Vigilantes Creators Sue Publisher
rcade writes "Jeff Dee and Jack Herman, the creators of the super-hero roleplaying game Villains & Vigilantes, have filed a federal copyright lawsuit against the game's longtime publisher Scott Bizar of Fantasy Games Unlimited. They allege that Bizar has no rights to publish the game because his corporation was dissolved in 1991, reverting the rights to them. Dee and Herman revived the old-school RPG last year and have been battling Bizar ever since. Sadly, this suit will not be resolved by muscle-bound men in tights."
RTFA?
Brent Rose, the Tampa attorney representing Dee and Herman, told me in email that the suit was filed after other means of resolving the dispute were attempted. "There were cease and desist letters issued by both sides," he said. "We requested arbitration or mediation or even just a teleconference to just try and work things out before filing our federal lawsuit, but our written requests were either ignored or refused."
I remember our interpretation of their acronym:
Fscking Game's Unplayable
-SS "Teach the ignorant, care for the dumb, and punish the stupid."
Wow, I'd forgotten about this game. I played V&V back in 1987-ish with buddies back in junior high. We had the Marvel Super Heroes game too, for when we wanted to play "legit" super-heroes. Good times...
FYI, here's a review of it (not mine): http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9439.phtml
Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
Please, not another discussion of D&D 3.x.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Please, not another discussion of D&D 3.x.
Okay, how about D&D 4? I've started gold farming with my tank.
I have often wondered how does a book based on pure fantasy become "outdated"
Tell that to playboy magazine.
FTA:
Our contract was with Fantasy Games Unlimited, Inc. -- which, we recently discovered, was "dissolved by proclamation" by the state of NY in 1991 for failure to pay state taxes. It no longer exists. And the contract clearly stated that if FGU, Inc., ever ceased to exist, then the publication rights reverted back to us.
If this is accurate, then how does this Bizar guy even have a leg to stand on to fight this? How can he claim anything at all? It seems like any litigation would reach the point where that bombshell is dropped and the judge would place judgement against Bizar for whatever these guys are asking for.
Wait, do you want something where everyone acts like adults and business people?
Or do you want something where everyone resolves their differences without suing everyone and invoking copyrights, trademarks, and patents?
Because, in the real world, "adults and business people" actually are usually the ones using lawsuits invoking copyrights, trademarks, and patents in resolving their differences.
Once upon a time, I owned a game shop, I enjoyed playing V&V myself because it was a break from DMing. We had a super fun cheesy time, bellowing battle cries while we tossed dice to see if we fell flat on our face or landed a deadly blow. We had a GM for V&V nicked named Dizzy, and he put on a great game. Thinking back there are just some things that don't translate well into computer gaming. The social aspect of it being the number one thing that comes to mind. Gone are the late nights, the delivered pizza boxes stacked up, piles of empty soda cans and playing hard until everyone is goofy tired, played out and ready to crawl home and sleep late. We smoked too, a thick haze choked the pastiest of geeks, so we had a fan blowing it out. It was a place to go for so many people. Kids used to tell us that they would much rather be gaming at the shop than out at a party.
I still remember my cheesy character I named "The Black Mask", who wore a black mask...real brilliant, huh? But it I played it up until it would slay the lactose intolerant.
Take the Red Pill.
That's quite a generalization you have going there.
Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.
Corporations that are dissolved by the state do not cease to exist, but once dissoved only have the legal capacity to pay off outstanding debts and disburse assets to shareholders.
The chief shareholder and/or chief creditor of FGU was Bizar.
Consequently, most assets including (but not limited to) the right to publish V&V were assigned to Bizar.
Bizar then formed a sole proprietorship with the name FGU which, as a sole proprietorship run by him, has the right publish whatever he has the right to publish.
If it is true that the clause about right to publish ceasing to exist if FGU the corporation was dissolved is unenforceable, there are many chains of events that end in Bizar having the right to publish V&V. The example above is just one scenario among many plausible scenarios. I do not know if any of the "facts" I presented above are accurate. I'm just laying out a plausible example of how it might be that Bizar believes that he has the right to publish V&V.
At any rate, Bizar will most likely file a response to the complain soon. When he does, his side of the story will be presented.
How about we try a new roll playing game where everyone acts like adults and business people and resolve their differences without suing everyone and invoking copyrights, trademarks and patents?
High fantasy isn't for everyone.
"How about we try a new roll playing game where everyone acts like adults and business people and resolve their differences without suing everyone and invoking copyrights, trademarks and patents?"
I'm sure there is a GURPS book for that.
Anything after AD&D ain't worth the time invested.
It's just simply no RPG anymore. It's just "hack monster, cash in loot, equip loot, become more powerful, rinse, repeat". Seriously. If I wanted to play WoW, I'd play WoW. I play D&D because WoW cannot give me what D&D gives me: A GM that gives me interesting, funny, exciting adventures with nonscripted quests where I may decide when, if and how I solve them.
And most of all, a new dungeon every time I play. Not "heck no, not again this one, it takes almost 30 minutes to get to the boss here".
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.