Game companies "allow" events to be run?

[Watchdog]

There's a thread on the Gencon boards about Chaosium not allowing any CoC events to be run until negotiations are settled:

http://community.gencon.com/forums/thread/89722.aspx

I know that no one here could say what those specific negotiations are about, but I didn't even know that a gaming company could prevent a con from running its games. Can anyone from DOJ give some insight into this? Is there a standard agreement between game company and con?

[Darren Watts]

I've never heard of such a thing, and I'm not sure how it would be enforced. I'm guessing there must be more to the story... dw

[Blue]

Pretty unreal. As they pointed out, it would seem weird to have a company NOT want people using and publicising their product.

Let's do our own rumors!

No, just kidding :D

[teh bunneh]

Let's do our own rumors!

I've heard that Blue eats old tires for breakfast!

Bill.
(You don't want to know what his "morning constitutional" is like!) :fear:

[Thag13]

I heard that Keys Bill has a collection of Nude photos of Marion Ross at his house, most of them post Happy Days......:eek:

[Blue]

I hear that Chaosium didn't want to compete with the Call of Bunthulhu event run by Keyes_Bill.

[ghost-angel]

It quite possibly because, and this is an educated guess from my experience working with an Anime con, Conventions do take on a certain level of responsiblity for all events they run (events taking place in the Convention Area - not in private rooms). If there's some kind of legal issue an even like GenCon could remove all such events from their official schedule.

[Karmakaze]

I suspect that what makes the difference is that, technically, GMs are "employees of the convention" (they have the option of charging more than base for tickets and they get reimbursed after the con for their badge rather than comped). Thus events run at GenCon are professional exhibitions of the games. So while Chaosium couldn't stop an individual from playing a CoC game they purchased in their own home, they could stop a convention event that the players had to buy tickets for.

[bigdamnhero]

I suspect that what makes the difference is that, technically, GMs are "employees of the convention" (they have the option of charging more than base for tickets and they get reimbursed after the con for their badge rather than comped). Thus events run at GenCon are professional exhibitions of the games. So while Chaosium couldn't stop an individual from playing a CoC game they purchased in their own home, they could stop a convention event that the players had to buy tickets for.
Makes sense. Anytime someone makes money off a trademarked property, the owner of that trademark has some legal say in the matter. Still don't know *why* they would be doing it tho...

[Watchdog]

Gencon now says they will allow Cthulhu events to be run. Whatever it was (some suspect it was a dispute over Chaosium's late payment for exhibit hall fees in previous years, but I can't confirm that) has been settled.

[Flames]

I still say it was bunnies the whole time.

Bunnies, bunnies it must be BUNNIES!

http://wnyrpg.com/stuff/bunnies1.jpg

[teh bunneh]

Though I am guilty of many crimes great and small, I'm afraid I can't lay claim to this one. Sorry. :o

[Watchdog]

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but it's from fellow Evil Fleet member Dave Scheftel. An event we almost submitted for Gencon:


"The Curse of Cthulhu."

The horrors of the Outer Gods are beyond the comprehension of mortal men. The last line of defense between humanity and insanity, the owners of Gen Con Arkham, are trying to prevent Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know from driving an unsuspecting world insane. However, cultists of Mr. B. Natural, Nyaralothetep himself, are attempting to let loose the sanity-blasting writings of the Necronomicon through vile practices such as "Call of Cthulhu RPG events" and "unpaid booth fees". Can your team of Peter Adkison and unresponsive 'customer service' personnel prevent this evil from occurring?


Bonus points if you know the source of Mr. B Natural - no cheating, Joe.