Certainly not safe for work but full of bits of gaming history that was news to me. Its a fun video. Hopefully you're not too offended by excessive vulgarity ;)
While I enjoyed the rant, was that really all one take?, the ranter clearly has his biases. Personally, I think that what Harmony Gold did with Robotech, taking three completely separate series, removing the blantant sexism, and writing a totally new story linking them all was nothing short of brilliant. That being said, the IP for Robotech is a hot mess. Even the name Robotech doesn't belong to Harmony Gold but was licensed from Revell, the model company, as they already owned the trademark for an unrelated series of models. To be fair to Harmony Gold, FASA opened themselves up to litigation when they outright stole the mecha designs from Macross. All that should be ancient history though. Perhaps Harmony Gold today should concentrate on finshing the Robotech story rather then be concerned with what other people are doing. Even better, they should find someone else to license a Robotech RPG so we can get a decent game out of it.
When FASA created the Battledroids boardgame in 1984 that would become BattleTech, the designers licensed the rights from Twentieth Century Imports (TCI) to use certain pre-existing mecha from the Japanese anime series' The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe. These were then used as visual representation of several BattleMechs and other units within the BattleTech universe, under new BattleTech-specific names and with BattleTech game stats devised entirely by FASA.
They didn't "outright steal" the designs.
"During a series of lawsuits FASA found out that TCI, from whom FASA's rights to the images derived, might not have been in a legal position to provide these rights to FASA in the first place. However, this was ultimately never decided. The lawsuits were settled out of court in 1996."
That is the official story from team FASA per the lawsuit. I remember reading other versions in print, pre-Internet, but since I don't have my fingers on those sources I'll concede the point. We can still agree the IP is a mess.
The pure foul mouthed fan boy gushing he throws out there for BT in this and his "Battletech: An Introduction" video has me itching to head down to the basement and pull all my old BT books off the shelf.
I'll never understand the whole IP fiasco, but I basically agree with him that it's ridiculous for this still to be a thing. Primarily about the upcoming PC game - the miniatures/wargame is still (moderately) active.
Deadpool Dropping Into Marvel Rivals Next Month
-
January 16th Deadpool comes to the online shooter, Marvel Rivals. This game
is a blast. I wanted to share the animated trailer because it's pretty
entertai...
An Intriguing Invitation
-
This is a beautiful artefact. Inside the stark black and alabaster box is a
cornucopia of gaming content and again, all of it is beautiful. This
includes ...
Brodgar Tumulae Map25.06
-
Not far from the village of Bramblgulf a large tumulae has been discovered,
hidden under the forest floor. How was it discovered you ask? A local
ranger on...
NEXUM – The Contract of Aurion
-
By Giuliano Gianfriglia, La Tavola Rotonda APSLa Tavola RotondaOSELevel 1 A
SIMPLE CONTRACT. A SILENT WRECK. A SECRET THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN
AWAKENED....
Quick Thoughts on Draw Steel
-
Had a game today at club next to my regular supermarket in Edwardstown. The
table price becomes credit in the shop, whi...
Random Links for Friday 12/26/25
-
It's been a while. Here is stuff to read.
- A nice rule for "cooking" a hand grenade in GURPS.
- A quick rules answer I need to put somewhere besides here ...
Fantasy Friday Boxing Day: Dragonbane
-
[image: Dragonbane]
A special combined Fantasy Friday with Boxing Day. Today I am diving into
the Dragonbane boxed set. I picked this up my local RPG auct...
Secret Santicorn 2025: Two Forges
-
The Forge of Yakul
Yakul was obliterated, and his temples were sunk. Memories of the dead god
were struck from the souls of men. A heavy punishment was ...
15mm Stuff for Italy
-
This is all the 15mm stuff I currently have that is suitably painted for a
15mm British force in Italy 1943-ish. It's not a lot, but it's a decent
sta...
Unbalance the Scales, a free ShadowDark Adventure
-
It's Christmas. I'm in my office. Snowing outside. Coffee in hand. Netflix
in my ears. Drawing a map. I wanted to share an adventure I shared with my
Pat...
A Christmas Diversion
-
Christmas Eve, and so I'll post one of the stories from my Lantern. Not
the best story in my opinion, and in fact I think the shortest, nor the
most "Ch...
The Importance of Having a Stake
-
Recently if I have some spare time during lunch at work I have been
watching some recordings of Warhammer Total War 3 on YouTube. Don't judge
me.
One o...
Closely Related Species(?), Holiday Edition
-
Source...showing I'm clearly not the first to make this connection...!
Source
Source
Source
(Yep, that last one is a DC Comics toy...a 2025 *Superman *tie-i...
2025 Year End Roundup
-
AI Is Everywhere Gaming in 2025 started slow with the usual Wednesday night
on Roll 20 that I’ve been in since March of 2014. We’re on campaign 3.5,
which ...
[BLOG] News on the March! Episode XII.
-
This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on
Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and
setup...
Count Belisarius by Robert Graves
-
An overwhelmingly sad book about the worlds most heroic dude. A study in
ressentiment. Rome’s summer in the east, before its very slow descent,
produces an...
Fragging Out
-
Intergalactic work continues.
I'm constantly reminding myself that the first *Mythic Bastionland*
playtests (then *Primeval Bastionland*) were based on ...
More d100 D&D
-
I've been playing with this idea again.
Basically, you have percentile values for each ability.
Each level gets you at least 2% better at (basically) ever...
Toys on the (Gaming) Table...
-
As Christmas approaches, toys spring immediately to mind. Yours truly has
talked (ad nauseum) about getting Holmes Basic for Christmas, but never
that much...
Community Greyhawk – The Hunt for Malfera
-
Today we have another short adventure from a familiar name; The Hunt for
Malfera by David Quadrini. It’s a 4 5 page pdf (including cover and a page
of lega...
OSR: Treasure for Dungeon / Room Stocking
-
Dungeon stocking is tricky. Over and over, people ask "How much treasure
should I include per room / dungeon level / PC?"
The answer varies enormously be...
Weather in the Yatil Mountains
-
The players in my D&D campaign will soon be headed into the Yatil Mountains
in search of the lost treasure hoard of the Archmage Iggwilv (see module
S4: ...
Mutants and Wizards
-
Heya folks, long time no see.
I've just started working on something new called Mutants and Wizards. It's
going to be an OSE/OSR post-apocalyptic game t...
Ten Friggin Hill Cantons Wizards
-
10 Wizards of the Hill Cantons
#
Name
Description
1
Magister Dobromil the Cauterizer
Specializes in magical “cleaning” of reality leaks. Wears fou...
On Bounty, Questions worth asking.
-
Well? Will we?
Available Now!
https://sinlessrpg.com
------------------------------
*Hack & Slash*
Follow, Twitch, Support, Donate to end Cancer (5 ...
Rob Kuntz at Lucca Comics & Games 2025
-
If you are planning a trip to Europe (like right now) and wish to catch up
with me in person, make sure to book a detour via *Lucca Comics & Games*,
...
What is the point of the OSR?
-
Over on Reddit, Kaliburnus asks What the point of the OSR is? He concludes
his post with some questions.
So, honest question, what is the point of OSR?...
Musings on the OSR Blogosphere and Forums
-
Link to discussion There are some posts on the historical OSR blog scene
that I’ve read recently from the Grumpy …
Continue reading →
How do you do piracy… in SPACE!?
-
Interstellar space travel in Iridium Moons was always going to be a form of
hyperspace jump like in Star Wars or Traveller. Simply because it’s the one
for...
A long overdue hobby update!
-
Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
-
With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun!
-
Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the
time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the
unfathoma...
Articulations
-
Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
-
Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Clean Your Room
-
Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
-
When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
-
I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
Now THAT, my friend is how you go on a rant!
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK you might get a raised eyebrow and a 'tsk-tsk' or (if you REALLY screw up) a heavy sigh and some rolled eyes.
As a backer of the latest BT Kickstarter, that made my day.
This guy takes RANTS to a whole new level.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a backer of the BT Kickstarter (and still having my original Board game, etc, etc, etc) I approve.
As bit of shame, I did watch the Robotech stuff as a kid. But what can you do? :)
While I enjoyed the rant, was that really all one take?, the ranter clearly has his biases. Personally, I think that what Harmony Gold did with Robotech, taking three completely separate series, removing the blantant sexism, and writing a totally new story linking them all was nothing short of brilliant. That being said, the IP for Robotech is a hot mess. Even the name Robotech doesn't belong to Harmony Gold but was licensed from Revell, the model company, as they already owned the trademark for an unrelated series of models. To be fair to Harmony Gold, FASA opened themselves up to litigation when they outright stole the mecha designs from Macross. All that should be ancient history though. Perhaps Harmony Gold today should concentrate on finshing the Robotech story rather then be concerned with what other people are doing. Even better, they should find someone else to license a Robotech RPG so we can get a decent game out of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen FASA created the Battledroids boardgame in 1984 that would become BattleTech, the designers licensed the rights from Twentieth Century Imports (TCI) to use certain pre-existing mecha from the Japanese anime series' The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Crusher Joe. These were then used as visual representation of several BattleMechs and other units within the BattleTech universe, under new BattleTech-specific names and with BattleTech game stats devised entirely by FASA.
DeleteThey didn't "outright steal" the designs.
"During a series of lawsuits FASA found out that TCI, from whom FASA's rights to the images derived, might not have been in a legal position to provide these rights to FASA in the first place. However, this was ultimately never decided. The lawsuits were settled out of court in 1996."
That is the official story from team FASA per the lawsuit. I remember reading other versions in print, pre-Internet, but since I don't have my fingers on those sources I'll concede the point. We can still agree the IP is a mess.
DeleteThe pure foul mouthed fan boy gushing he throws out there for BT in this and his "Battletech: An Introduction" video has me itching to head down to the basement and pull all my old BT books off the shelf.
ReplyDeleteRazorfist is always entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI'll never understand the whole IP fiasco, but I basically agree with him that it's ridiculous for this still to be a thing. Primarily about the upcoming PC game - the miniatures/wargame is still (moderately) active.
ReplyDelete