Rivendell

[Beran]

I was just wondering if there was an ETA on the Rivendell sourcebook?

[Valarian]

From Dom's update on the 9th November (Take me to your Leader), the Darkening of Mirkwood is in license review so I would imagine that Rivendell is in the range of the in-development stuff. From past experience, the license review stage can take a while and is something that C7/Sophisticated Games don't have control over. The license review process seems to be what has been slowing down the releases (both on The One Ring and Doctor Who). Come on M-e Enterprises and BBC ... we want our fix!

[Beran]

So, right around the time the ice caps melt? Sorry couldn't resist. Though I do have to ask if these legal problems are something that has just popped up or were they foreseen. The One Ring was an ambitious project to begin with, but with legal delays it seems like it may take the better part of a decade to get the whole line out. Oh, well I'll keep an eye out for the Rivendell book...hopefully next year in Imladris.

[Rich H]

They aren't legal delays out of the ordinary Beran. They are the license review of TOR material that happens with every book. It's nothing out of the ordinary for licensed material and especially not when Middle Earth Enterprises are involved.

[Hermes Serpent]

I suspect that when negotiations are going on with the IP holder that they promise to turn around material sent for approval in a certain time and the publisher builds their release schedule around that. However real life intervenes, people move to another company, new deals get made and the poor, low-level, flunky tasked with approving the stuff that generates little income for the IP holder get's overwhelmed.

TOR (and the Who RPG) are such small beans that the flunky puts off reviewing/approving them to do the next wave of collectable figurines as they generate far more income for the IP holder. So we get slow releases as carefully crafted schedules get reduced to shreds of waste paper.

[Mim]

So we get slow releases as carefully crafted schedules get reduced to shreds of waste paper.

I'm still laughing over this - well put.

That said, however, it's frustrating waiting for these glacial releases. My guess is that we may receive a pdf of The Darkening of Mirkwood by Christmas, the book itself in Jan or Feb, & Rivendell by the summer.

They may not be able to do anything about their legal restrictions, however, it will be wonderful to get an update on the game as we approach the New Year - at least a tentative release schedule for 2014.

[Beran]

So, the possible legal issues were taken account of when the process started. C7 is just unlucky to have more then their fair share of headaches which lead to delays. Unfortunate.

Agreed a tentative estamate of future releases would shiney.

[Valarian]

Didn't help that the Tolkien Estate started a legal suit against M-e Enterprises and Warner Bros. a little after the launch of the core product. It can't be easing the process.

[Rich H]

They may not be able to do anything about their legal restrictions, however, it will be wonderful to get an update on the game as we approach the New Year - at least a tentative release schedule for 2014.

I'd love that but Jon and Dom have said on numerous occasions that they share release date/schedule information with us when they have firm updates. I think we can infer from this that the time it takes for the approval/product review is completely out of their control so until a particular product is returned to them with a clean bill of health there's nothing they can say about its release date as it could vary dramatically based on the review process.

[Mim]

Thanks for the feedback Rich. Perhaps I should have explained my point differently

ANY news would be a pleasant change of pace. For example, I'd like to know that they're at least working on something beyond Rivendell (TBC). They still have this on their release schedule:

"We have more exciting supplements and additional TOR products planned, but at this time can say no more! Stay tuned for future updates."

Well, we're all staying tuned...