Programmed Adventure Editor

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

I was just thinking of the Dwarfstar games the other night. It would be so nice to have those back in print, along with some of SPI's back catalogue. Wonder where in rights limbo those all dwell now...

SPI games MOSTLY reside with Decision Games now, but some are still floating around out there, probably with WotC (assuming they took over all of TSR's property rights) for many, but some are just in the ether (meaning that the rights are owned by SOMEONE, but they aren't currently enforcing them -- though if you try to make money off of them or otherwise infringe on the market for them, you are violating copyright law regardless), like TFT was until Steve got his rights back. Keep in mind that many SPI properties were sold to places like Avalon Hill and a couple of other now defunct companies that briefly owned the "S&T" magazine. A good place to take a look at what SPI games you might be able to do something with is HPS' DieHauptKampfLinie web site, which has game sets created for ADC2 -- if you don't have ADC2, downloading the game sets probably won't do you a ton of good, but you can at least see some of the titles of the games that Decision Games doesn't currently hold copyright to (they reserve the right to do ADC modules for their own games). Keep in mind this listing is not a legally definitive one, by any means... In other words, use at your own risk. Personally, I would tend to NOT share anything that I wasn't 100% sure it was okay to do so.

To see what DG apparently doesn't have an issue with (or at least, has chosen not to request be withdrawn), click on the SPI folder (scroll down past the screen shots), not the DG folder.

(Just FYI -- there is nothing wrong with doing an ADC module for a game on their list (or ANY game, for that matter) for your own use, but technically you're not supposed to share it except with people who already own the hard-copy game.)

[ColBosch]

JLV, while that's a very neat site, I believe ShadeKeep - plus myself and others - want is to see those games commercially available again. Many of us are aware of the options, legal and illegal, to acquire digital copies of the old games. But when considering the actual manufacture and sale of them, the legalities are very simple: have the permission (or direct involvement) of the copyright holder. I wouldn't invest my money in a project where I wasn't 100% sure of the rights, and I know neither would SJ Games.

So, while I almost certainly will print out copies of the Dwarfstar catalog and modify them to fit in spare Pocket Boxes, I'd prefer to see them in stores.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by ColBosch

JLV, while that's a very neat site, I believe ShadeKeep - plus myself and others - want is to see those games commercially available again. Many of us are aware of the options, legal and illegal, to acquire digital copies of the old games. But when considering the actual manufacture and sale of them, the legalities are very simple: have the permission (or direct involvement) of the copyright holder. I wouldn't invest my money in a project where I wasn't 100% sure of the rights, and I know neither would SJ Games.

So, while I almost certainly will print out copies of the Dwarfstar catalog and modify them to fit in spare Pocket Boxes, I'd prefer to see them in stores.

Colonel, I think we all feel that way; however the question seemed to be about what SPI games you might be able to experiment with, vice actually returning them to sale, so that was what I addressed. Certainly, the only way to ever return them to sale is to get with the copyright holder and determine what can be done. For SPI games, the initial stop in any inquiry should be Decision Games, since they hold the vast majority of SPI's old copyrights and can best answer your questions on the subject. As far as Dwarfstar goes, I would recommend the owner of the web site hosting them as your first stop...

(Actually, you know what I'd really like to see? I'd like to see Steve Jackson work a deal with the Dwarfstar folks to re-publish their games in a whole new series of pocket box games! "Pocket Box game for the Twenties!!!" That would be total awesomeness! Almost certainly won't happen (I think SJG has plenty of other projects on the fire for the foreseeable future), but wouldn't that be the greatest thing since canned beer? ;-) )

[ColBosch]

Originally Posted by JLV

(Actually, you know what I'd really like to see? I'd like to see Steve Jackson work a deal with the Dwarfstar folks to re-publish their games in a whole new series of pocket box games! "Pocket Box game for the Twenties!!!" That would be total awesomeness! Almost certainly won't happen (I think SJG has plenty of other projects on the fire for the foreseeable future), but wouldn't that be the greatest thing since canned beer? ;-) )

SJ Games has made the Pocket Box available for licensing, and Phil Reed has mentioned that he's talked with at least one person about doing a re-release of their game in the format. Personally, I'd love to see all the old micro-format games in modern Pocket Boxes, especially since some have gotten very scarce and pricey.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by ColBosch

SJ Games has made the Pocket Box available for licensing, and Phil Reed has mentioned that he's talked with at least one person about doing a re-release of their game in the format. Personally, I'd love to see all the old micro-format games in modern Pocket Boxes, especially since some have gotten very scarce and pricey.

You and me both! I can think of some excellent ones that never got as much play as they should have back in the day, and yet were still pretty amazing little games. The real pity is that the old Metagaming micros will never see the light of day that way; most of them (ALL of the early ones) were either very good or simply outstanding, and they would be a big hit all over again, I'm betting.

However, I think we've hijacked this thread long enough, now! ;-) Back to Shadekeep's truly amazing programmed adventure editor!!

[Shadekeep]

Thanks for the comments and info regarding the old titles! I do shy away from the rights-ambiguous stuff. I actually did rights recovery for some old videogames a while back and got two classic titles re-released on GOG.com. If I get similarly motivated here there are some SPI games I'd love to track down.

I certainly think that the Dwarfstar games could be brought back in Pocket Box format. It seems like Reaper is the obvious initial point of contact for following that thread. For the SPI stuff I might do like I did with the videogames and try to contact the original designer first.

Anyway, thanks again!

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

It seems like Reaper is the obvious initial point of contact for following that thread.

Reaper owns the Dwarfstar Heritage line.

In unrelated news, I enjoy chats with the Reaper team.

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by philreed

Reaper owns the Dwarfstar Heritage line.

In unrelated news, I enjoy chats with the Reaper team.

Very cool, thanks for the confirmation. And the intriguing aside...

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

For the SPI stuff I might do like I did with the videogames and try to contact the original designer first.

Alas that Redmond is no more. But the original designer on the vast majority of the old SPI ludograhy was Jim Dunnigan, and he might even have some of his old copyrights. Hard to say...

Originally Posted by philreed

In unrelated news, I enjoy chats with the Reaper team.

OMG! ;-)

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by JLV

Alas that Redmond is no more. But the original designer on the vast majority of the old SPI ludograhy was Jim Dunnigan, and he might even have some of his old copyrights. Hard to say...

Thanks, and yah, one doesn't really know until one goes digging. Jim Dunnigan designed one of the titles on my shortlist of ones I'm after, "Demons". John H. Butterfield designed my favourite SPI title, "Voyage of the B.S.M. Pandora", which truly deserves to be back in print. It is packed with great concepts and play mechanics. Other titles I'd like to get reprinted are The Creature That Ate Sheboygan and DeathMaze (both by Greg Costikyan), and Citadel of Blood (by Eric Lee Smith). Many of these appeared in SPI's short-lived but excellent magazine Ares.