Mystara and Hollow World?

Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:15 am

A friend said this, I have no means to check it but was wondering if it was true. he said TSR or WotC once had the copyright over it, but that it eventually returned to the author, who died. He claims time has elapsed, enough to make the copyrights over it fall into the public domain...

He said that because, according to him, Steve jackson Games is considering the possibility of using the setting in their Fantay supplement for 4th edition GURPS.

Is this true? if it is, the Trolls could easily make use of that idea then...
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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:01 pm

Who was the author/proprietor of the name Mystara? As far as I know, the Hollow World was created by Aaron Allston who is still alive and well. The first time I saw the name Mystara used, was in the pages of Dragon magazine, with the articles of Bruce Heard (who is still alive).

Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:15 pm

I can't check the information mainly because of that, heh.
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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:20 pm

I have no clue. Try posting on DF, there are two or three guys who are Mystara experts (havard comes to mind) so they might know the ins and outs. Interesting perspective, anyway.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:26 pm

I've never heard of such a thing.

................................................Omote

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Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:26 pm

Yeah, but I was pretty certain the copyright owner was TSR and now is WotC. Going to the DF boards then.

Edit: Dragon's Foot Thread: link
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:36 pm

I would imagine that WOTC owns the property, fully.

.............................................Omote

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dcs · Post by **dcs** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:50 pm

I'm sure WOTC owns the copyrights, but even if it reverted to the original author, the work would not enter the public domain until 70 years after his death. That obviously has not happened.

It could become public domain if the copyright holder allowed it to be, but that obviously has not happened either.
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Nifelhein · Post by **Nifelhein** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:10 pm

and that is exactly what made me wonder how much truth was there to this rumour (can only be that heh). And I was on the impression mystara was a setting developed not by a few authors but by teams working on specific parts of it, making individual ownership much less likely.

but then, if it would be true, I could see C&C Mystara...
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"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." - Attributed to Herman Melville.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:13 pm

Nifelhein wrote:
And I was on the impression mystara was a setting developed not by a few authors but by teams working on specific parts of it, making individual ownership much less likely.

Which makes it even more likely that WOTC own the whoke kit-and-kabootle.
............................................Omote

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gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:19 pm

Ask Frank Mentzer. If anyone would know for sure, it would be him.

Sides, TLG already has its own setting. It's too much to take on everyone elses. ^_^
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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:30 pm

I have written an adaptation document for Mystara, for use in my games, but then I started again with Mentzer Basic, and I did not use it.

dcs · Post by **dcs** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:38 pm

Didn't the Isle of Dread just appear in Dungeon Magazine? If that's not proof that WOTC owns Mystara, I don't know what is.
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Philotomy Jurament · Post by **Philotomy Jurament** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:49 pm

dcs wrote:
Didn't the Isle of Dread just appear in Dungeon Magazine? If that's not proof that WOTC owns Mystara, I don't know what is.

Yeah, it did. Paizo put it in Greyhawk. (That's not an attempt to rebut your statement about who owns Mystara -- I just thought it was interesting.)

cuchulainkevin · Post by **cuchulainkevin** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:44 am

Philotomy Jurament wrote:
Yeah, it did. Paizo put it in Greyhawk. (That's not an attempt to rebut your statement about who owns Mystara -- I just thought it was interesting.)

They did that with Keep on the Borderlands and Blackmmor too. They exist in Greyhawk and Mystara. I don't think the campaign worlds were as claerly defined in those days.

I Mystara was def created by commitee, so I doubt anyone has copright cept WOTC.

The only campaign world were I ever heard that the creator still had rights was the Forgotten Realms. From what I recall, Ed Greenwood's rights would revert back to him if and only if the setting was no longer in print- which pretty much insured that Wizbro's were going to keep producin SOME FR materials. Couldn't possibly rememebr where I read that though, so that might be complete crap.

Morty
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Catweazle · Post by **Catweazle** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:06 pm

Even if the author is dead, copyright remains with the estate for seventy (or ninety-nine, in some cases) years. In the case of Mystara, WotC owns that copyright. In either case, it hasn't been nearly long enough.

However, the concept of a hollow Earth as used in the Mystara setting is well over a hundred years old, it is not solely associated with Mystara, and that may well be what SJG are getting involved with.

EDIT: Too many years, and sorted out my punctuation.
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Mystara and Hollow World?

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