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An occasional #TTRPG thought I have: we lose a lot of gaming history because of licensed materials. I've heard how great the Ghostbusters RPG was. I know and love d6 Star Wars (2e R&E was mine), and have a new appreciation for RM, which I know through MERP.
But because they're licensed properties, they don't exist anymore. Can't reprint, licenses sold to others. Not gone, just rare and hard to get.
@libraryogre In a very explicit sense, the increased possibility of high-resolution scans and low-friction piracy is the archivist's best friend. If you care about works which are derivative of licensed properties, steal them.
Okay, if you need a better justification, buy a copy for yourself and make a high-resolution scan for your personal archival purposes. You are allowed to do that under the tenets of the Bourne Convention.
Afterwards, consider seriously whether or not you want to purchase any further licensed products in the future. Look, I get it. Sometimes they are really, really good. The fact that you can get them in PDF now makes archival much more likely even when that license inevitably dies.
But keep it in mind.
@libraryogre It’s also crazy that changing publishers has meant some products for IP have disappeared. For example, The One Ring no longer has Darkening of Mirkwood available which is a superb campaign but it was Cubicle 7’s IP.
@libraryogre I also with that the Stormbringer back catalogue was available more generally. I can still get mine off DTRPG because I got it before the rights went because of movie plans.
@libraryogre @pteryx A problem with intellectual property in general, I find. Sometimes fans create very loosely-disguised versions of the game (likely hoping the actual rights-owner isn’t inclined to go after tiny infringements) - here in thinking of the fan version of White Wolf’s licensed Street Fighter: the Storytelling Game
@pcas Or, say, a "TMNT with the serial numbers filed off" game? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/461853/mutant-dawn?affiliate_id=315505 ;-)
@pcas @libraryogre @pteryx This can happen with stuff licensed not involving big name media stuff. Most of the old stuff for the Traveller RPG can be gotten in PDF (of varying scan quality), but there is one subset of quite good stuff that can't be legitimately acquired except by searching eBay and the like. Because the different rights holders can't agree on a deal.
I recall other cases where a rights holder just can't be found, or the costs of setting up a deal wouldn't be worth it.
Ever since 1984 I have been kicking myself for not picking up a copy of the Ringworld RPG. I thought it could get a copy later. Then it abruptly vanished and the few used copies available are outrageously expensive.
@nyrath About 20 years ago, I was in a used bookstore and ran across an issue of a magazine from the 80s, whose name I don't recall, but was supposed to have rules for playing orcs inside.
I was *dead* broke at the time. The magazine was only 1$, but I really couldn't afford it. And I have lowkey regretted it ever since.