What IP Needs to Be an RPG
Explicit content warning
02/12/25 • 50 min
I remember playing my first Call of Cthulhu game. It was at GenCon many years ago when GenCon was in Milwaukee and the Safehouse was the place to be.
At the time all I knew was that Call of Cthulhu was a horror roleplaying game. The idea sounded cool and the game fit into my schedule so why not.
I had a blast.
It truly was a wonderful game that fundamentally changed many of my thoughts around table top roleplaying. It wasn’t just swords and sorcery, there were other worlds out there to be explored.
After the game I realized that Call of Cthulhu wasn’t just a neat game. It was based on an entire world created by author H.P. Lovecraft. I had copies of “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Shadow of Innsmouth” in my hands by the end of the week.
I think that is where my love of games that come from Intellectual Properties or IPs came from.
What’s an IP you ask?
Well simply put it is a creation of the mind typically found in inventions, literature, film, or any other medium that a person can apply for a patent, trademark, copyright, etc.
While D&D was built on the backs of Tolkien’s middle earth and Howard’s Conan it wasn’t specifically set in that world. Traveller leaned heavily into the old Sci-Fi serials like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Dumarest of Terra, but it was its own thing. As far as I can tell Call of Cthulhu is the first roleplaying game truly built on an IP.
But it wasn’t the last.
Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth Role Playing, Marvel Superhero’s, DC Adventures and James Bond 007 all followed quickly. Today as I glance at my gaming bookshelf, I notice a trend.
Games based on IP’s.
From Aliens to Farscape, From the One Ring to Monster Hunter International, From Blade Runner to Star Trek, from Star Wars to The Expanse and from Conan to James Bond. I love the IPs.
In this week’s episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about Intellectual Property Games. We are going to talk about why they are so successful, why people like them, and some of our favorites. But specifically, we are going to talk about the what IP isn’t a game right now, but should be.
Before we go down that road, Christina, what’s your current favorite game based on an IP?
[Kick to Christina]
Mike, this question probably makes your brain melt. You can’t pick Star Wars and Middle Earth Roleplaying...you gotta choose, so which one is your current favorite.
I remember playing my first Call of Cthulhu game. It was at GenCon many years ago when GenCon was in Milwaukee and the Safehouse was the place to be.
At the time all I knew was that Call of Cthulhu was a horror roleplaying game. The idea sounded cool and the game fit into my schedule so why not.
I had a blast.
It truly was a wonderful game that fundamentally changed many of my thoughts around table top roleplaying. It wasn’t just swords and sorcery, there were other worlds out there to be explored.
After the game I realized that Call of Cthulhu wasn’t just a neat game. It was based on an entire world created by author H.P. Lovecraft. I had copies of “At the Mountains of Madness” and “The Shadow of Innsmouth” in my hands by the end of the week.
I think that is where my love of games that come from Intellectual Properties or IPs came from.
What’s an IP you ask?
Well simply put it is a creation of the mind typically found in inventions, literature, film, or any other medium that a person can apply for a patent, trademark, copyright, etc.
While D&D was built on the backs of Tolkien’s middle earth and Howard’s Conan it wasn’t specifically set in that world. Traveller leaned heavily into the old Sci-Fi serials like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Dumarest of Terra, but it was its own thing. As far as I can tell Call of Cthulhu is the first roleplaying game truly built on an IP.
But it wasn’t the last.
Star Wars, Star Trek, Middle Earth Role Playing, Marvel Superhero’s, DC Adventures and James Bond 007 all followed quickly. Today as I glance at my gaming bookshelf, I notice a trend.
Games based on IP’s.
From Aliens to Farscape, From the One Ring to Monster Hunter International, From Blade Runner to Star Trek, from Star Wars to The Expanse and from Conan to James Bond. I love the IPs.
In this week’s episode Mike, Christina and I are going to talk about Intellectual Property Games. We are going to talk about why they are so successful, why people like them, and some of our favorites. But specifically, we are going to talk about the what IP isn’t a game right now, but should be.
Before we go down that road, Christina, what’s your current favorite game based on an IP?
[Kick to Christina]
Mike, this question probably makes your brain melt. You can’t pick Star Wars and Middle Earth Roleplaying...you gotta choose, so which one is your current favorite.
Previous Episode
You Heard it Here Last S3E3
Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
Diamond Comic Distributors, the owner of Alliance Game Distributors has filed for bankruptcy. In a message from Chuck Parker the President of Diamond comic Distributors he outlines the necessity for the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy which would allow Diamond Comic Distributors to restructure and meet many of its significant financial obligations. While this could likely be very bad news for an already struggling comic book industry his message does have some good news;
“We have already received a commitment from Universal Distribution to purchase Alliance Game Distributors coupled with a signed letter of intent to purchase Diamond UK, and we remain committed to pursuing offers for all Diamond lines of business.” Parker said in his statement.
While it’s not likely this news will cause any significant issues or problems with game distribution it is noteworthy that Goodman Games signed an exclusive deal with Diamond in December of 2023.
Nasty business stuff. Mike you are our business guy. What’s all this mean?
[Kick to Mike]
Christina, thoughts?
[Kick to Christina]
Speaking of IPs, or at least we will be speaking of IPs in the near future, stay tuned to our regularly scheduled program for our upcoming episode on Intellectual Properties that should be games we have this bit of news from across the pond.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/qi-mentions-the-diana-jones-awards.709578/
QI is a BBC2 quiz show that called out the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Roleplaying Games on it’s social media accounts. While that is news, it’s not why I bring this up. Reading the “Quiet Interesting” post on Facebook is what made this one interesting.
The Diana Jones Award is named after The Adventures of Indiana Jones Roleplaying Game that was released by TSR in 1984. It is considered one of the least loved and most savaged roleplaying games of all times and eventually every last copy was burned. The trophy itself is a Lucite pyramid made up of the last legible remains from those burned books. All you can read is “diana Jones”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Jones_Award
Mike, Christina, did you guys know this origin story and if you did, why the hell didn’t you tell me?
[Kick to Mike and Christina]
Also, why does Steven Spielberg have such a great track record with moves, but a terrible one when it comes to turning those movies into games. I mean we have this one with Indiana Jones and then we also have the ET Atari Video Game. Both considered the worst ever in their genres? You guys might want to keep that in mind when thinking about the IPs that need to be made into roleplaying games...I’m looking at you Avatar.
[Kick to Mike and Christina]
And there you have it. All the news, you’ve already heard.
Next Episode
You Heard it Here Last S3E4
Welcome to You Heard it Here Last, where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
While doing a little research for news to talk about, I wandered down a deep rabbit hole.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/evil-genius-games-attempts-to-remove-bad-press.709776/
Evil Genius Games, the publishers of Everyday Heroes and a slew of IP content like Escape From New York, Crow, Highlander, and Pacific Rim have been in and out of the business news for more than a year now about problems at the company. Rumors of broken promises, no employee payroll, and bad management practices have peppered my feeds, but the most recent news about the CEO of Evil Genius Games Dave Scott sending emails asking people to remove links to bad press articles got me interested. That followed up with a deep dive into an article written by Russ Morrissey the owner of EN World. He does a great job of listing, investigating, and discussing the issues that have plagued Evil Genius Games since the summer of 2023.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-rise-and-fall-of-evil-genius-games.702617/
https://www.enworld.org/threads/is-evil-genius-games-doubling-down-on-nfts-blockchain.704819/
I wanted to spend some time talking about these issues. I felt that some of them were very concerning, some of them were a little vague or based on “anonymous sources”, and some of them seemed to be a product of just working for a small company in the modern age. But this look behind the curtain of a game company that seemed to go from being a top contributor in the hobby to one step ahead of the bankruptcy lawyers is very interesting.
We can get into the details in a minute, but what were some of your guys first thoughts?
[Kick to Mike and Christina]
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