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Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 6:30 am
by Toby Pilling
Am I right that Cubicle 7 have the publishing rights to all the WFRP material ever published by Hogshead, GW, Green Ronin and FFG? I see that they've adapted a bit of 3rd edition stuff but I'm surprised they haven't just released on pdf other stuff that FFG (and others) designed. Is there a reason for that?

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:14 am
by Orin J.
i think they mostly just have to focus their staff on making material for the current edition and don't want to have to compete with older editions too much (and i admit, both myself and the other local WFRP players have been guiding new players to older editions for their first forays into the old world so i can't say it's a poor choice....)

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:37 am
by Jadrax
Looking at DriveThru, they have 12 1st edition pdfs and 25 2nd edition.

The big missing ones seem to be Apocrypha Two (they only uploaded one last November so its probably coming), Dwarves: Stone and Steel, and the last Doomstones books.

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:46 am
by Totsuzenheni Yukimi
As well as the PDFs available on DriveThruRPG Cubicle 7 have also done Humble Bundles of 2nd edition PDFs and W40K RPG PDFs. I have written to them about what else they might release and as far as i can gather they are up for releasing as much 1st and 2nd (and i guess therefore also 3rd) edition material as they can, but when they have time and if they can can get hold of good hard copies to turn into digital copies. I asked about some White Dwarf articles too, and, i infer, it seemed they were up for doing that if they were able to get permissions for doing so.

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:18 pm
by Toby Pilling
Nothing of 3rd edition has been released as a pdf though, has it? It was also the first stuff to start getting converted - such as part of 'Edge of Night'. I guess this could be because Cubicle 7 have largely followed FFG in fleshing out Ubersreik as a base for PCs. Has the section on Ubersreik nobility from 'Lure of Power' been published by Cubicle 7 yet? I suspect they may adapt one of the other adventures, such as 'Mirror of Desire', which is also set in Ubersreik.
I'd have thought though that it would be sensible to publish as pdfs things such as 'Witch's Song' and 'Crimson Rain', which are set a distance away. What about FFG's own 'Enemy Within' campaign? I haven't read it myself, but only because it is impossible to get hold of - I certainly think it deserves a wider audience.

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:19 pm
by Jadrax
Toby Pilling wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:18 pm Nothing of 3rd edition has been released as a pdf though, has it?
I did not even think to check for third tbh.

I suppose the problem is the core rules are so dependent on bits and special dice etc. that printing it would probably be a pain. And I can see why they would not be comfortable printing supplements for a game when you cannot easily get the core material for it.

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:44 pm
by Totsuzenheni Yukimi
Toby Pilling wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:18 pm Nothing of 3rd edition has been released as a pdf though, has it?
No, not that i'm aware of.
Toby Pilling wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:18 pm Has the section on Ubersreik nobility from 'Lure of Power' been published by Cubicle 7 yet? I suspect they may adapt one of the other adventures, such as 'Mirror of Desire', which is also set in Ubersreik.
If it's incorporated into some fourth edition material then i wouldn't know. Is there anything specific we could look out for?
Toby Pilling wrote: Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:18 pm What about FFG's own 'Enemy Within' campaign? I haven't read it myself, but only because it is impossible to get hold of - I certainly think it deserves a wider audience.
There are some comments from KelvinGreen in this blog post: https://awesomeliesblog.wordpress.com/2 ... venturers/ indicting that some of the third edition 'Enemy Within' will be revisited in the fourth edition 'The Enemy Within Director's Cut', but i (nor i suppose anyone else, except maybe Graeme Davis) don't know what it is that will be revisited, nor how it will be revisited.

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 3:37 am
by Karanthir
Regarding the 3e TEW, I seem to remember Graeme Davis's comments being non-commital but with a strong implication that they wouldn't be incorporating material from that into the TEW Director's Cut. That would make sense because the 3e version is a completely different campaign set 10 years later. It would work quite well as a sequel to the original though, if they decided to go that route. It's a solid campaign - shorter but more focussed than the original.

Regarding the 3e pdfs generally, they're not currently available. I'd love to see them available again though. Yes, the mechanics of 3e are completely different to other editions, but the information about the world (and Ubersreik specifically) is completely usable - arguably moreso than the post-Storm of Chaos information in 2e supplements (although 3e is technically set c.2522, most of it can be applied to any time with Karl-Franz on the throne pre-SoC/End Times). And even the adventures themselves can theoretically be converted with only a bit more effort than converting between other editions.

I suspect that, while C7 have the rights to re-release the pdfs from older editions, actually adapting adventures/information to 4e and publishing them might be a murkier area. Graeme Davis wrote 'The Edge of Night' (and the 3e TEW for that matter), so there's no problem getting him to adapt it to 4e since he's already on the team. Other materials written by other authors might be off limits without explicitly getting the authors' permission. I'm not sure how copyright law works in these situations though. (e.g., 'Lure of Power' credits writing and development to Owen Barnes, Daniel Lovat Clark, Chris Gerber, Andrew Hoare and Ian Robinson. Would C7 need to get their permission to adapt that supplement (including 'Mirror of Desire'), or can they do whatever they want because it's a GW copyrighted product?)

Re: Rights to previous editions?

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:25 am
by Jadrax
Karanthir wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2020 3:37 am Other materials written by other authors might be off limits without explicitly getting the authors' permission. I'm not sure how copyright law works in these situations though. (e.g., 'Lure of Power' credits writing and development to Owen Barnes, Daniel Lovat Clark, Chris Gerber, Andrew Hoare and Ian Robinson. Would C7 need to get their permission to adapt that supplement (including 'Mirror of Desire'), or can they do whatever they want because it's a GW copyrighted product?)
You are moving out of copyright law and into contract law. It depends what was agreed: I.e. was it done as work-for-hire? do the relevant American contracts for FFG neatly slot into British law for Cubical 7? But, while it is conceivable there could be legal issues using the third edition stuff, I would imagine it is unlikely.