V&V Lawsuit

Rogers Cadenhead dropped me a note, letting know about an article on his blog discussing the ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit between Jack Herman and Jeff of Monkey House Games and Scott Bizar of Fantasy Games Unlimited over the old school superhero RPG, Villains & Vigilantes. The article even includes a PDF of the filing for the lawsuit.

I don't know much more about the suit other than what I've read in a couple of places. Plus, I'm no lawyer, so the niceties of the case are probably lost on me. Regardless, it's fascinating to me, as someone with an interest in old school RPGs, that in 2011, there actually is a lawsuit pending pertaining to one of those old games. In a strange way, it's encouraging to see that the creators and publisher of an RPG of yore still consider it valuable, however unfortunate the legal action itself may be. Here's hoping that, whatever the outcome, Villains & Vigilantes is here to stay; it's a classic old school RPG and deserves great success.

The Ads of Dragon: Fantasy Games Unlimited

I've highlighted ads for Fantasy Games Unlimited RPGs before, but this one, from issue #82 (February 1984) is particularly memorable in my opinion:

I've long felt that FGU had a knack for creating compelling advertisements and this one, for their five biggest RPGs, was definitely attention-grabbing. I played several of these games at various times and, with the exception of Aftermath, still own versions of them all, but none of them ever won my heart the way that other companies' products did. Still, I can't deny that ads like this one make wish I were playing one of them right now.

Jeff Dee and Jack Herman Interview

Over at Ain't It Cool News, there's a very interesting -- and lengthy -- interview with Jeff Dee and Jack Herman, creators of Villains & Vigilantes, where they talk about V&V, superhero gaming, their introduction to and involvement with the hobby, and more. There's some terrific stuff in there. Check it out.

Thanks to Christian de la Rosa for the tip.

V&V Now Available in Print

Old school superhero RPG, Villains & Vigilantes, is now available as a 64-page paperback through Lulu.com. The book sells for $14.95, but if you enter the code "BEACHREAD" if you order between now and July 31, 2010, you get a 10% discount.

I'd really love to snag a print version of the game, as I'm really quite taken with it (I never played it back in the day). Unfortunately, Lulu's shipping rates to Canada, while better than before, are still absurd, especially if you're only ordering a single book, so I can't justify doing so. For the moment, I'll content myself with the PDFs I purchased.

New V&V Module Available

There's a new adventure module available for Villains & Vigilantes 2.1 (which I will probably review soon). Entitled Intercrime: Hostile Takeover, it's for sale on RPGNow for $3.95 and is intended for use by beginning characters. I don't own a copy, so I can't comment any more than that, but I'm glad to see that Jeff Dee and Jack Herman are supporting the new edition of this old school classic.

V&V Now Available

The classic superhero game by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman, Villains & Vigilantes, is now available for purchase as a 62-page PDF from Monkey House Games. This latest edition of the game (called version 2.1) is the same as the 1982 edition, with some corrections and rules additions, along with new art. It sells for $7.50.

I've already snagged a copy for myself and will likely be posting a review of it sometime soon.