In Ab Chaos #25 (the Chaosium newsletter) it was announced that Magic World has been officially put out to pasture. Chaosium will continue to sell the books it has, and PDFs, but that's it. This is nothing (so far as I recall) that we didn't already basically know, it's just mostly closure. The official reasons: they are a small crew focused on other things, Magic World was very niche (I am sure it was) and they don't want to do "generic" fantasy (which is a shame that MW is considered generic fantasy; ain't nothing else like it in the fantasy RPG genre). There is also the more general feeling I get that Chaosium content from 1984 to 2014 has been wiped off the map for all practical purposes, and all projects associated with former Chaosium folk no longer in the mix. Okay, fair enough....one must expect that the current crew will focus on what they are most interested in (and what is presumably most profitable).*
But there is good news for the all the MW fans out there: Chaosium is indicating that they are open to licensing for Magic World, for any fans interested. There are definitely a few hardcore fans out there who've produced some impressive online supplements (check out basicroleplaying.com for examples such as the Big Damn Book of Monsters). Dustin Wright, unfortunately, is out of BRP entirely as of the last post I read from him over there so it seems unlikely we'll get any new content from the original author/compiler. It's also unclear to me if Chaosium would be open to a license in which someone produces an entirely new or revised rulebook (given they plan to continue selling the two books they did release in PDF, at least).
The other news in the email is that Mythic Iceland is nearing completion. I imagine this will sell well, both because many found it a great book, and also because this will be our first look at the new edition of the Runequest/BRP Essentials game system. I was never sufficiently excited by this setting to think of using it for gaming, but I am sure it somehow has it's place. It was, admittedly, one of the best sourcebooks for BRP to be released, so it's good to see it will continue to exist.
*And lets face it, Chaosium is practically the poster child for the cottage industry of gaming, where everything is already niche, so supporting a niche within a niche is just not a good idea. That said...is Mythic Iceland really that much better of a seller than Magic World was?
As someone who loved and followed Chaosium for years, I don't find much there anymore. None of their products draws me to them really, so much that I don't even read the Ab Chaosium anymore...
ReplyDeleteI really feel like Chaosium is marketing to a hypothetical crowd from 1984-1985, steeped heavy in nostalgia, and not pretty much everyone else since. It's a vessel for specific pet projects now, and Glorantha in particular. My guess is even the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition rules revision wouldn't have survived unscathed had they not been in such a deep hole that there was no digging out from it.
DeleteI'm dubious about the way that Greg Stafford and Moon Design have treated licensors and their plans. While Greg was doing whatever, other people were carrying the RuneQuest torch, maybe none of what they releases was perfect, but my nostalgia for RQII was greater than the real thing. MW was EXACTLY what I want from BRP fantasy. And after dealing with a former licensor of RQ in professional situation, I won't be buying that company's products in the future.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad that Design Mechanism can carry on with Mythras. It may be the next best thing we've got for a while, especially given that Legend, with Mongoose, seems to be more or less dead.
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