This episode, Jon and Chad talk to Max (a.k.a. Mahaffa on the forums), a regular Keeper and player on Skype of Cthulhu who also serves as President of Promethean Games Inc. We discuss a mélange of topics, including Chaosium’s new licensing structure, thoughts on Call of Cthulhu sanity mechanics, and the search for new ways to get investigators involved in scenarios. This episode was recorded on, June 12, 2017.

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Campus Crier

Chaosium launches new licensing policies.

The licenses fall into three tiers:

* Fan-generated material for non-commercial use.

* A Limited License, which allows small publishers and individuals to sell fanzines, convention scenarios, and one-off books if the gross sales revenue does not exceed $2,000 per year. Significant: “You cannot crowdfund (e.g. Kickstarter) products covered under the Small Publisher Limited License.”

* Commercial License. This is for established companies with a proven track record, and is “very rarely” given to individuals. A change was made to the posted language for clarity: In general, Chaosium collects a percentage of gross sales as a royalty, and under certain circumstances may also require an advance on royalties. The exact percentage and dollar amounts are only negotiated after we have seen what a company is proposing to do,” the text now reads (bold added to emphasize what’s new). And a further clarification was made on YSDC and sent to us to share: “We have the advance on royalties as an option for licensees we haven’t worked with before, and for foreign language translations, particularly fiction. For crowdfunding e.g. Kickstarter, we require our royalties to be paid 10 days after the projects funds come through.”

Some people we spoke with mentioned that Chaosium’s licensing specifications are more stringent than other publishers, and this could mean projects are taken to other companies. Some have also said that these conditions seem fair and appreciate the clarity. Not allowing small creators to do Kickstarters could mean less commercial experimentation in Call of Cthulhu, but also more control over quality.

Dean Englehardt of Cthulhu Reborn has been vocal in airing concerns about how the new rules affect small publishers who would not qualify for a commercial license. In a YSDC thread, Dean argued:

“The reason I find this an unusual policy decision is that it somewhat goes against the entire reason that Kickstarter and similar platforms exist — which is to allow people who don’t have a lot of starting capital to get a start. By taking that option off the table for people starting out in publishing, Chaosium are basically making people put up their own starting capital, get established as a company, and get a few titles out. After they are already established,