HeroQuest 25th Anniversary Kickstarter

[Blaznak]

I don't get it still.
How are moon claiming something as theirs when its been around 25 years?

Yeah, I don't get it either. Wikipedia calls the Milton Bradley game HeroQuest with rpg a disambiguation. I would have bet money the RPG was diluting the board game. Who knows? Really wacky story.

[Spärky]

Nobody gives a rat's *** about the RPG. I'd never even heard of the damn thing until all this BS surfaced. Screw moon publishing for ruining this with their stupid 'well it's my ball and I'm going home' attitude. THEY are the ones with the shoddy knock off, trying to cash in on the success of others. It's like a Van Halen split all over again.

[Ashriel]

THEY are the ones with the shoddy knock off, trying to cash in on the success of others.

Isn't that what GZ are doing, they didnt create HeroQuest? Not that there is anything wrong with that, as long as they get the rights.

[Ezaviel]

Or they could just get permission from Hasbro and agree to compensate Moon, instead of being jerks.

Except that the response from Moon suggests that their idea of compensation is to be paid for the lost earnings from their "upcoming" board game, which they feel will be ruined by HeroQuest. So they are likely demanding some crazy ammount of money. Especially when I guarantee most of the sales of this "HeroQuest" will be from people who mistake it for actual HeroQuest.

[Ashriel]

Especially when I guarantee most of the sales of this "HeroQuest" will be from people who mistake it for actual HeroQuest.

They(Moon Design) just had a successful $260,000 Kickstarter for a set of 2 background books. They do have fans. It is a shame that this is happening, I have some friends that enjoyed HeroQuest back when it came out. The only reason Moon Design has the game named HeroQuest was because they briefly lost the rights to the name RuneQuest to Avalon Hill, which was where the game started in 1978.

[Ezaviel]

They(Moon Design) just had a successful $260,000 Kickstarter for a set of 2 background books. They do have fans. It is a shame that this is happening, I have some friends that enjoyed HeroQuest back when it came out. The only reason Moon Design has the game named HeroQuest was because they briefly lost the rights to the name RuneQuest to Avalon Hill, which was where the game started in 1978.

Well, then it is more popular then I would have expected.

However, the idea that they lost the name of their popular IP to copyrights shenanigans, so they grabbed the IP of a different popular game to replace it does not make me sympathetic to them. I guess it is possible that they had no idea there was a prior game named HeroQuest at the time, and it was just luck that the rights had expired, but I find that unlikely.

Though them having been bitten before by the loss of rights does explain their heavy handed response.

[Ashriel]

Well, then it is more popular then I would have expected.

However, the idea that they lost the name of their popular IP to copyrights shenanigans, so they grabbed the IP of a different popular game to replace it does not make me sympathetic to them. I guess it is possible that they had no idea there was a prior game named HeroQuest at the time, and it was just luck that the rights had expired, but I find that unlikely.

Though them having been bitten before by the loss of rights does explain their heavy handed response.

The term "HeroQuest" had been in the game since 1978, it only made sense for the name to be chosen.

Special: HeroQuest

From the first, RQ players were intrigued by references to a "higher" level of gaming: HeroQuesting. Set in the mythic "God Time" of Glorantha, HeroQuests surpassed the ordinary mundanity of Gloranthan existence and allowed individuals of incredible power to interact with the gods and basic forces of the universe. Success in HeroQuesting could allow a character to become a Demi-Hero, a Hero, a Superhero (not the caped kind), perhaps even a god. But although Chaosium often referred to HeroQuest as an upcoming product, it was never published. Apparently some HeroQuests were run in-house at Chaosium, but the rules used were a matter of speculation. Fans created a wide variety of add-on HeroQuesting rules for RuneQuest and designed their own HeroQuests, inspired by fiction in such works as the RuneQuest Companion.

Eventually Milton Bradley published a major board game under the name HeroQuest. Chaosium had apparently failed to get or maintain the rights to the name. But fans and publications still referred to HeroQuests, and many continued to create their own versions for their own campaigns. Some can still be found online, many years later.

Much later, Milton Bradley gave up the trademark for HeroQuest (the boardgame had long since gone out of print). Greg Stafford's Issaries company picked up the rights to the name, and the next major revision of their non-BRP-derived Hero Wars RPG was called HeroQuest. It has kept that name ever since.

So now there are several kinds of "HeroQuests" in the gaming business. When it comes to RuneQuest, however, there are HeroQuests which were designed for RuneQuest II and III using the Gloranthan setting, which have no relation to the Gloranthan RPG HeroQuest - which is, now, the official Gloranthan system. Confusing, isn't it?

from
[url]http://www.maranci.net/rqpast.htm[/url]

I had actually only stumbled on this link as a result of this thread, I just saw why they sold RuneQuest to Avalon Hill, it is interesting

The reasons for the deal seemed obvious: compared to Chaosium, Avalon Hill was a giant. They could put far more resources behind RQ than Chaosium ever could. And Chaosium needed funds; by all accounts they would have soon faced bankruptcy if they hadn't sold one of their two prime properties, either Call of Cthulhu or RQ. By selling RQ but retaining control over Glorantha, it seemed they might have the best of both worlds. And so Chaosium created RuneQuest III for Avalon Hill.

[GrauGeist]

They term HeroQuest has always been in the setting of Runequest ands is tied to the setting.

Here is a recently sucessful kickstarter that Moon Design created to publish a setting book for Glorantha designed to be used with their game HeroQuest or RuneQuest.
[url]http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/224590870/the-guide-to-glorantha/posts[/url]
They raised $260,000 and it is laughable to think they grabbed the name Hero Quest to make a buck from GZ or Hasbro.

Thank you for sharing some actual information - very helpful!

ETA - I wonder what the RPG boards are saying about this HQ boardgame upstart! Haha.

[Dogboy]

I have never even heard of this moon company. So am I to understand that Hasboro, toy mega conglomerate, and GW the SS of IP law did not have the rights to the Name "heroquest". At least here in the U.S.

If the rights to the name expired the guy from moon must have been poised to copy write the name like a fanboy camping out for a new xbox as soon as it was not renewed by GW and or Hasboro.

I think we are missing the point here. Which is Moon Design asked for proof that Game Zone had the rights to remake the game and not just make something called HeroQuest. If GameZone had shown a license agreement things would be different. Why? Moon Design has the US trademark but GW still has the UK (amongst other) trademarks. Moon Design trades to the UK, which means Games Workshop is aware and allows it.
Games Workshop has history with Chaosium and Runequest, due to [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Runequest-2nd-Edition-Games-Workshop/dp/B008FSE0NW"]licensing it in the early 80s[/URL]. They were fully aware that they were going to produce a game called HeroQuest, but beat them to it. Fair play to them, though a big fan of Runequest, I really liked HeroQuest and if GameZone can prove they are in the right I'll back their KickStarter to the hilt. But the fact remains that MD asked GZ to prove that they had the rights to make this game, long before they kicked of the funding and they ignored it and went ahead anyway. Moon Designs' hand are tied, and they are gonna face a lot of bad publicity and possibly worse from GW/Hasbro if they relent.

As you point out GW are litigious, and Hasbro won't like people stealing their business. If Moon Design agree to let GZ go ahead without proof, they risk legal action too from GW/Hasbro for condoning it if it isn't on the level. My guess is that GW/Hasbro were waiting it out to see how things faired. As i say, hands tied.

[onlyonepinman]

IP disputes are generally quite petty and no-one comes out of them smelling of roses. If GameZone claim they have the legal rights to do this in Spain or Europe, move it to a European site and have done with it. But don't pay Moon Design a cent for something they haven't really earned.