#7: Interlude: The Chaosium Connections

[RPGnet Columns]

http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory7.phtml

Summary:

A look at the licensees and other interactions in just one corner of the industry.

Go to the column (http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory7.phtml) for more information.

[gdaudin]

You are missing the most recent one : apparently, the "Skirmisher Game Developer Group" has published the third edition of "Cthulhu Live" very recently.

Guillaume

[smascrns]

Some more notes:

There are several companies that licenced Chaosium games to be published in languages other than the ones you mention, including Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian, at least.

Moon Design also published the RQ Classics, reprints of old RQ books in a new format. I don't know if they need a Chaosium licence for this but I suppose they did.

Chaosium published itself licenced products. I'm recalling the cities-oriented books created by Miskatonic press.

[YojimboUK]

Excellent article.

One minor quibble: Games Workshop had produced licensed versions of RuneQuest 2nd Edition and Call of Cthulhu before RQ3 in 1985. They also released a hardcover version of Stormbringer around the same time as the RuneQuest 3 books.

Indeed, GW's decision to produce these games in hardcover book format (to take advantage of the fact that books were exempt from VAT in the UK) may have led to the death of the boxed set RPG.

[jcfiala]

Cool article, I'm really enjoying this series.

I particularly liked the graph of the family, along with the black hole at the end of 'Wizard's Attic'. Very appropriate.

[WinstonP]

Chaosium also had a connection to Timeline Ltd.'s Morrow Project. In my 3rd Ed. of the MP rules it says at the start of the Role Playing Expansion: "With sincere thanks to the Chaosium and Tadashi Ehara, who made possible the form this expansion takes." The rules that follow look very similar, in part (I haven't played them in years), to BRP.

[Tim Ellis]

Excellent article.

One minor quibble: Games Workshop had produced licensed versions of RuneQuest 2nd Edition and Call of Cthulhu before RQ3 in 1985. They also released a hardcover version of Stormbringer around the same time as the RuneQuest 3 books.
.

Games Workshop produced licensed UK editions of many RPG's, - not only the Chaosium ones listed above (and there were UK editions of Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror as well...) but also TSR games ((A)D&D), FASA (Star Trek), West End Games (Paranoia, and I think Star Wars) and ICE (MERP). There were probably others too that I don't recall... (I suspect Traveller as it always had heavy coverage in WD). (A history of Games Workshop would also be interesting!)

Chaosium also licensed some of their board games to Avalon Hill - including "Elric" and "White Bear & Red Moon (Dragon Pass)) - not strictly relevant to a RPG history, maybe, but worth a footnote as AH are already listed...

[PaulK]

No, Games Workshop didn't reprint Cults of Terror - although Griffin Mountain should be added to the list.

I remember Cults of Prax, MERP and Paranoia.

I can confirm AD&D to an extent - they did softback printings of Monster Manual and Player's Handbook for AD&D 1st Edn (but not DMG or later books IIRC). The Fiend Folio book was at least partly produced from submissions to White Dwarf, but I don't think that it was reprinted by GW. At that point TSR had it's own UK branch.

I don't remember any Traveller material - I think it got into WD because it was early and successful and I don't remember Star Wars being reprinted either.

I think that GW may have reprinted some of the FASA RPGs - Doctor Who and maybe Star Trek but I can't remember for sure.

[Qusoor]

And for a bit of wicked obscure trivia, don't forget that Chaosium liceneced/said yes to Even Horozons Press's The Triad Sourcebook for Hong Kong Action Theater.

[Brandir]

In the 80's GW produced a line of licenced Elric minis.

At the moment Reaper seem to hold the Cthulhu minis licence.

[cj.23]

Cool article, I'm really enjoying this series.

I particularly liked the graph of the family, along with the black hole at the end of 'Wizard's Attic'. Very appropriate.


Still loving the series, and the diagram was wonderful!. Hopeffully ultimately the series will see print as a book or magazine. :)

Will we ever see an article on Wizard's Attic? I understand they were a retailer or distributor who went bust, but that is all, and it is often referred to - plus i was left being owed money as I recall, or rather an order. :) Still that must have been a decade ago now, but I still have only the vaguest idea what actually happened!

cj x

[ShannonA]

Will we ever see an article on Wizard's Attic? I understand they were a retailer or distributor who went bust, but that is all, and it is often referred to - plus i was left being owed money as I recall, or rather an order. :) Still that must have been a decade ago now, but I still have only the vaguest idea what actually happened!


Probably not. Eric Rowe, who ran the company, was one of my best friends for 15 years. I was Best Man at his wedding, and I don't think I can be at all objective about it. I'd either underplay the problems due to nolstalgia or overplay them in the name of fairness.

The short: they were an arm of Chaosium which did mail order of related products like Cthulhu bumper stickers and books. When Chaosium started having post-Mythos problems, they ended up owing Eric money, and he took Wizard's Attic instead (c.1998). He used his knowledge of the book trade (which he earned by pushing Chaosium's fiction line into book stores) and leveraged that, turning Wizard's Attic into a fulfillment house that did warehousing, marketing, and sales for an increasing number of small companies that emerged from the d20 boom. Things went wrong, a movement out of fulfillment made the problems worse, and Wizard's Attic ended up owing a lot of money, and eventually the company went under (c.2003).

I know Eric really tried and it really hurt him not to be able to make things work, and I know a lot of people got screwed in the aftermath, and I don't really feel up to trying to write much more about it.

[cj.23]

I know Eric really tried and it really hurt him not to be able to make things work, and I know a lot of people got screwed in the aftermath, and I don't really feel up to trying to write much more about it.


That is a sad story. :( The fact is good companies do go under, and because it is mentioned a great deal on this forum I had to ask, but I hope your friend has bounced back, and that all is good now.

I have also asked over on rpg open about the D20 crisis you show on the chart. I have no idea what that actually was...

cj x

[ShannonA]

I have also asked over on rpg open about the D20 crisis you show on the chart. I have no idea what that actually was...


Wizards of the Coast released D&D 3.5 and thus d20 3.5. The d20 market had already been selling in an unsustainable bubble. Suddenly, people weren't willing to buy brand-new products because they'd been written for 3.0. The whole market reacted, and afterward retailers got a lot pickier about what d20 they stocked.

Edit: And what everyone says about the dubious quality and overpoliferation of d20 products is entirely accurate. That's why the category was already in a bubble.

[rmeints]

Games Workshop produced licensed UK editions of many RPG's, - not only the Chaosium ones listed above (and there were UK editions of Cults of Prax and Cults of Terror as well...) There were probably others too that I don't recall... (A history of Games Workshop would also be interesting!)

Chaosium also licensed some of their board games to Avalon Hill - including "Elric" and "White Bear & Red Moon (Dragon Pass)) - not strictly relevant to a RPG history, maybe, but worth a footnote as AH are already listed...

Games Workshop ended up reprinting "with their logo" the following for Runequest:

RQ2 Rulebook (may not have been sold separately)
RQ2 boxed set (with Apple Lane)
Apple Lane (sold separately)
Snakepipe Hollow (Broo cover)
Cults of Prax (map cover)
Griffin Mountain (book taller, map smaller)
They also did about 11 boxed sets of RQ miniatures, plus blister packs of broo.

For RQ3 they did the 5 hardcover books: Basic Rules, Advanced Rules, Monsters, Griffin Island, and Land of Ninja.

Hope that helps.

[PaulK]

RQ2 Rulebook (may not have been sold separately)


It was sold separately - I still have mine.

[komradebob]

At the moment Reaper seem to hold the Cthulhu minis licence.

Wait. What?!?!

I thought RAFM had it, although an italian company called Mirliton supposedly owns the old CoC molds from Grenadier.

Where'd you hear Reaper had the license?

[highpriestrsw2]

Probably not. Eric Rowe, who ran the company, was one of my best friends for 15 years. I was Best Man at his wedding, and I don't think I can be at all objective about it. I'd either underplay the problems due to nolstalgia or overplay them in the name of fairness.

The short: they were an arm of Chaosium which did mail order of related products like Cthulhu bumper stickers and books. When Chaosium started having post-Mythos problems, they ended up owing Eric money, and he took Wizard's Attic instead (c.1998). He used his knowledge of the book trade (which he earned by pushing Chaosium's fiction line into book stores) and leveraged that, turning Wizard's Attic into a fulfillment house that did warehousing, marketing, and sales for an increasing number of small companies that emerged from the d20 boom. Things went wrong, a movement out of fulfillment made the problems worse, and Wizard's Attic ended up owing a lot of money, and eventually the company went under (c.2003).

I know Eric really tried and it really hurt him not to be able to make things work, and I know a lot of people got screwed in the aftermath, and I don't really feel up to trying to write much more about it.

Damn! That's what happened?
I was out of the RPG hobby loop right about then and about a year later when I resumed my RPG playing/buying they were gone! I LOVED Wizard's Attic! They always had the coolest stuff in stock! I just tried searching for them a couple days ago and I was wondering the story.
When the economy/industry takes another upswing I'd love to see them back in business again...too bad that will probably never happen. :-(

If you see him tell Eric that he still has fans (I can't be the only person who LOVED Wizard's Attic!) and that we're sorry to hear the story. Also, we miss the sore and it was awesome!

A TOAST! TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS! :D

[ShannonA]

I'd say it's very, very unlikely that Wizard's Attic would ever return. Eric's out of the gaming industry and I don't expect him to return. I don't see him any more, but from what I hear he's happy now in his post-WA work.

I'm sure he'd be happy to hear he has fans still.