SotM Dies ; Long Live SotM?

I might be (ok, am almost certainly) jumping the gun, but I have read Darrell Louder’s post on FB regarding >G being shuttered due to the tariffs bullshit.

So, I get that answers are up in the air right now. But I do have questions that I’m hoping can get answered.

1. Is the IP owned by >G or FRG?
2. I’m guessing this means the Disparation KS (and History of Sentinel Comics KS, but I didn’t back that one) are now not going to be fulfilled. Not a question, but more of a statement.
3. What does this mean for the digital edition?

Hi, I’m with Handelabra Games. We are heart-broken to learn the news today, but are committed to continue our work with SotM 2.

Hopefully we’ll get more details in the coming days, as the official announcement was certainly detail-light.

You’ve probably already gotten your answers, but

Can they get it back? Time will tell… who can say?

Per the official announcement about upcoming crowdfunding projects, we can just hope to hear from Christopher in a couple weeks since he usually writes Disparation Backerkit updates himself around the 1st and he’s still on staff.

At least we know from John above that we’ll get the core DE digital version.

I hope FRG will provide some kind of official statement before that, but yeah, one way or another, we’ll eventually find out what FRG’s plans are for GTG’s backlog of projects.

I’m hoping that FRG gives all the IP back, because they have to realize there’s zero value in holding onto it or selling it, right?

Certainly no way in hell anyone is going to accept Spirit Island anything from anyone other than Eric Reuss or someone he designates, or Sentinels of the Multiverse anything from anyone other than C&A or people they designate. And surely FRG has to be aware of that if they have any competency in marketing at all.

My understanding is that Eric does own the IP for Spirit Island and he posted this saying he still has more plans for the game. Sad Greater Than Games news – R. Eric Reuss

That’s very good to know. Then I guess the plan is just hoping/getting FRG to revert the IP rights for SotM back to C&A&P.

(And similar for various other games GTG was creating/publishing, though I’m less familiar with the particulars for those other franchises.)

It’s probably best to look to Asmodee/Asmodi and Fantasy Flight Games for how things might play out. Also, I agree that the IP doesn’t make money on its own, so I’m guessing it will be licensed out and new editions of things will be produced, if anything at all: Think the Arkham Horror boardgame. Alternatively, it might be a case where GtG is strip mined and sold off in parts. Neither is a good look.

Yeah, and that’s why I’m leery.

I certainly have zero interest in anything SotM that isn’t at least an Arcane Wonders type situation.

And I’ll be honest, I’m mostly here for the podcast by this point. I buy the games themselves to support GTG and see more lore but I don’t have any particular way to play them. So if the podcast stops being a thing I might lose interest entirely in new things.

Another question I had; I know The Letters Page is on indefinite hiatus, but how long will the episodes from the podcast be hosted on libsyn/etc?

From a purely logistics sense, a Libsyn premium account seems to be only $20/month, which wouldn’t be terrible from a personal standpoint.

The question is who controls the account.

IMNSHO, as long as no new content is added (and FRG doesn’t have to pay for it), I don’t think FRG would particularly care about its existence. I suppose it depends on what FRG is intending to do with the IP.

Maybe a better comparison than Asmodee/FFG would be Asmodee/Plaid Hat Games.

After being bought, shuttered, and let go, Corey got the IP for Ashes and Summoner Wars back and basically restarted PHG from the ground up. They’re better than ever now.

It’s a small hope, but an important one that it’s not impossible.

If I remember GtG bought the “cheap ass” brand to help out James Ernest, I think FR then gave all but the big 3 or 4 back to Ernest since they did not need the rights or IP to anything other than Dr. Lucky. Could be a good sign for C&A being able to do stuff “in the future”

Whoa- brand new forum user (longtime SoTM player, and working my way through the Letters Page podcast), just logging in for the first time and seeing… this?! Can you give some context to where this was posted? They don’t have the rights anymore? For a newbie just jumping in, I’m just trying to catch up on what’s going on…

This was from the Letters Page discord. Apparently as part of FRG buying GtG they got ownership of a lot of their IP. Spirit Island is the only one that I’m aware of that is spared as Eric Reuss has posted that he still owns those rights.

Thank you.

It’s really sad to hear that, especially after having invested so much emotionally (and financially) in the universe. I hope that the digital content will survive somehow. For the IP, I imagine that it remains unclear until nothing is official. Frankly, it hurts to see >G end up like this.