All TOR PDFs have been pulled from the C7 store, as well as DTRPG and RPGnow. Is there an issue?

Hi Skywalker, I'm hoping to be able to say something about this in the next day or two.

To allay any potential fears in the meantime - The One Ring line is fine.

Thanks

Dom

Thanks.

Got to admit, this does cause some concern, especially when it looks like it's just TOR pdfs and not any other line. I have pre-orders with C7 on TOR stuff, hope pdfs are still going to be sent for those items when available, it's partly why I preodered from C7 and not went bricks and mortar.
I hope the announcement is sooner rather than later.

Peter Jackson has just confirmed that they are going to make a third Hobbit movie:
'An Unexpected Journey'
'There & Back Again'
? Unknown 3rd title - based on the appendices from LotR ('Hunt for Gollum'?; 'The White Council'?; 'The Necromancer'?)

Perhaps this development has impacted on licenses for the property specifically relating to the period immediately after the Quest to Erebor / Bo5A / etc
.... or maybe not.

At risk of derailing the thread, I think that a 3rd film is likely to be the Aragorn/Arwen story from the Appendices. From the boy Estel growing up in Rivendell to the time Aragorn spends in Rohan and Gondor. I think that the Necromancer story line will be included as another arc of the first two films. I would imagine that Peter Jackson will intermesh the stories as he did for the Lord of the Rings - showing us where Gandalf goes when he leaves the company. I expect the first film to end at the edge of Mirkwood, with Gandalf leaving the party at the start of the elf road.

On topic, I'm hoping that C7 can continue to release in print/PDF form. As a gamer who runs most games online now, the PDFs are very useful - especially with the bookmarks that C7 take the time and effort to put in. Not many do, and it's definitely appreciated at the game table (virtual).

Same question was asked about the LOTR LCG done by FFG - but that card game and the TOR license are based on the book license and not the film license, another company now has that license to do card and board games.

There are so many people involved at the moment in the board, card, rpg game making process right now, it's all getting very complex. If you look on Middle Earth Enterprises website the main holders of the license are Sophisticated Games, Fantasy Flight Games and Games Workshop. C7 are working with SG to make the One Ring rpg. Meanwhile SG also make some board games (Middle Earth Quest) but surprisingly another company (Ares) is now making the 2nd edition of the War of the Ring board game with expansions which was originally brought out by SG, the copyright details of that game mentions SG, so I assume Ares are in some way working with SG.
Then there is FFG who bring out some board games and also the fantastic Lord of the Rings Living Card Game.
Now following an announcement months ago, Cryptozoic Entertainment, have waded into the mix with at least 6 card and board games based on the Hobbit and LOTR film license.

My concern is based on what SG are doing - they have dropped their name from one big game - the War of the Ring box has Ares emblazoned on it but nothing aside for in the copyright details about the actual license holder Sophisticated Games. If something happens to SG, I am not sure what happens to their partners who are creating stuff for them.

Sorry, sorry

I didn't mean to tweak the thread - my reply was in response to the PDFs all going offline, and I figured just maybe there was a property-rights stop-action temporarily in place due to the PJ announcement.
Ta Valarian - yes it is likely that the 2 topics are unrelated.

Movie discussion moving to another thread now.

Ares is publishing War of the Ring 2nd edition on a license from Sophisticated Games, in the same way FFG publishes its Tolkien-based boardgames (the Lotr LCG being an exception - not being strictly a 'boardgame'). So, nothing weird going on on that side.

Francesco

I also just pre-ordered and am hoping to still get the PDF for Tales from Wilderland

Thanks for that clarification Francesco, I just wondered why they (Ares) aren't in some way obliged to make it more obvious on their packaging as it were. I can see C7 and SG is more of a "partnership" (that the right word?) hence the why we get both companies logos on TOR products.
I can also see two of the three main license holders (FFG, Sophisticated Games - not Games Workshop) are using the strengths of other companies to produce fantastic games.
I'm curious because ME Enterprises are quite strict on the issue of license and people using material under copyright - including fans. I was wondering if that was linked to the issue of pdfs, maybe SG are taking a step back like they have done with "War of the Ring."

Yes, that's exactly the case with TOR.

Francesco

Maybe the core set is being split into three books

You, sir, are the winner.

BWAHAHA!

Not sure that this is related to the issue, but certainly a speculation...

Wizards of the Coast had an issue a few years ago with their Star Wars RPG surrounding electronic copies of books and electronic tools. It came down to the fact that they held the license only to produce the pen and paper RPG and another company had the rights to produce all electronic games (i.e. the video game license). But, due to a broad interpretation of said license, Wizards was prohibited from releasing PDFs of the game materials, character builders, etc. because they were determined to be electronic gaming in nature.

Now, again only speculation, but given the litigious history of the various Tolkien rights holders, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a similar situation going on here. I am fully confident that the game line is safe, but it does make one worry about the availability of future electronic products.

However, I appear to still be able to download the TOR items I've already purchased from DTRPG.com... So perhaps there is some hope for continued electronic support!

This post has been edited by bbarlow on Jul 31 2012, 11:54 PM