Re: [HoE] Re: Copyright

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

>That's what I was trying to say. FRPG didn't want us even saying Pinkerton
>on the list, in case they found out (valid concern).

From what I remember, FRPG wasn't really worried about getting sued by the
Pinkerton Detecitve Agency, as the Pinkertons are a historical company with
a strong presence in the mythology of the Old West.  Which is why PEG could
get away with it.

But since they are also an active company, an err on the side of caution
seemed adviseable.  Especially since FRPG was (probably) taking advice from
the same legal staff that adviced TSR, whom I, well... lets just say I have
a lot of personal comments about the bravery of anyone at T$R....

Now, a couple months ago this Pinkerton vs. Agency thing came up on the DL
listserv, and Hal put out a quick announcement on how the Pinkerton agency
was "removed" from the contract and how they have been replaced with a
fully government "Agency", which was pretty much staffed from the
Pinkertons who were just "fired".  With Allan Pinkerton calling the shots
still.
This new twist was put in print with the Deadland's supplement City of Lost
Angels.  

This twist is something I am personally kinda pro and con about.  Con -
they are playing it safe and pulling out the Pinkertons.  This, well, this
reminds me of when TSR had a moral collapse and removed all reference to
Demons and Devils from their games in order to appease a vocal minority of
people who weren't in their customer base at all.  And later WotC did the
same thing.
Note - the word "reminds".  This is NOT what happened at PEG.  But I'm
still kinda sore about how T$R voluntarily subjected to censorship.

Now - Pro:  The name Agency fits the role of the MiBs far better then the
name Pinkertons.  During games I had to take great care to not refer to
them at the Pinks, or as the Men in Pink, or whatnot.

Neutral - It reconciled a one of the storyline differences between
Deadlands and Doomtown in a manner that demonstrated cooperation  between
the companies.  ie - it told us that there was no hard feelings over
Pinkerton vs Agency.

Though I heard that Rob Vaux heard so much about the use of the Ghost, that
it's unlikely that he'll print another spoiler again.

While I'm on the soapbox....

WW's use of Year of the "Reckoning" and the crackhouse font is (probably) a
case of imitation being flattery.   
There are an extremely large number of fonts out there, and there are
several synonyms for Reckoning.
Though it's probably a subconscious imitation, or even the thought
processes that led PEG to using "Reckoning" (biblical reference for time to
pay the bill or whatnot) and the use of the Crackhouse font may be the same
thought processes that the WW staff was using.

Who knows?

The gaming world evolves.  First we had RPGs - then we had a lot of
copy-cat RPGs.  And then one company says - "Why do we need character
classes?"  Then comes the point based systems...
Multiverses....
Heavy realism....
Story over mechanics (atmosphere over realism)...
etc. etc.
Anyone remember Whimsy Cards -- forerunner to Torg's fate (?) deck, and
possible forerunner to Everway.

Nowdays - so many people have come up with so many good ideas that it's
possible to pull a smorsgaborg and pick what you like to make the system
you want.

-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Robert Anton Wilson:
Because agents of the Ancient Illuminated Roosters of Cooperia were
controlling it with their Orbital Mind-Control Lasers as part of their
master plan to take over the world's egg production.