TSR owned the rights to the material they created and WotC bought the rights from TSR. They owe the creators nothing. Acknowledgement might be nice but there is no 'should'.
Is Jeff Grubb, Tracy Hickman, and Margaret Weis getting royalties on the new release material? They should be.
Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that anything like that was lawyered out existence long ago. The fact that WOTC did not even notify the originators of the material about the release of said material speaks volumes of what WOTC thinks of the 3 creators that you mentioned.
There's also the fact that Wizards and those creators had a lawsuit that was dropped by the creators. At this point, I'm sure they knew something was up but that's what happens when you sell your creations. Eventually they get used and you don't get to be in the loop.
In 1981, when Laura and I first arrived at TSR, Inc. I brought in our Dragonlance creation. I’ll be telling that origins story elsewhere later on. For now, suffice it to say that the terms of our contract at TSR, Inc. were such as creatives that anything we made or brought into the company of a creative nature while working there was owned by the company. Furthermore, the contracts for the Dragonlance novels (yet another story to be told) were not standard publishing contracts but ‘Work for Hire’ contracts which stipulated that the IP and copyrights to the books were also owned by TSR, Inc.
So it's not even that they sold the rights. Tracy and crew brought in Dragonlance and when they did, per their contracts, TSR got ownership of those creations.
Typically when you work for a company (like Jeff Grubb) did, that company owns what you create. You were drawing a salary from them, they own your work. If you want to keep the rights, then you self-publish. It might seem unfair, and maybe it is, but the creator in this kind of scenario is getting paid, even if the product is a flop and the company loses money on printing it, which is something to consider.
With Weiss and Hickman, they wrote their books, and there was likely a licensing deal which paid them for use of the IP. Usually things like that are a 1-time payout. For example, I think I heard that Ed Greenwood, creator of the forgotten realms, got like $500 or maybe $5,000 for it back in the 80’s. And that was it. They bought it, they own. For the creator, there’s a risk analysis when cutting the deal, they could try to negotiate for royalties instead of a lump sum, but you never know how successful something will be, so lots of people take the money and move on to their next project.
It is a real shame if the original creators of the entire Dragonlance setting and all of the novels are not credited at all in the new product. I do realize that Weis and Hickman have essentially never had any rights to the IP as they were always creating it for TSR or WotC, but it is kind of shitty for WotC to completely ignore the fact that Dragonlance would not exist without those creators.
It is a real shame if the original creators of the entire Dragonlance setting and all of the novels are not credited at all in the new product. I do realize that Weis and Hickman have essentially never had any rights to the IP as they were always creating it for TSR or WotC, but it is kind of shitty for WotC to completely ignore the fact that Dragonlance would not exist without those creators.
As nice as this sounds it might be lawyers telling them not to do this....who knows if giving them credit would give them legal exposure as well.
Grubb, Jeff. Spelljammer: The Concordance of Arcane Space. 1989.
Schick, Lawrence and David Cook. Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn. 1982.
They even gave Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn a nod.
I don't know if that's D&D Studio's on practice in house or something akin to a Writer's Guild best practice (I don't know if TTRPG writers have representation or advocacy from WGA or any other body). But those read to me like acknowledgement. Otherwise, it's a well known thing, just like writing for Marvel or Star Wars or Star Trek, things written under D&D are basically work for hire not considered something you maintain rights to unless you try to get the rights during the contract setting. It's different when Mercer and company come in to do a CR book, because that's their IP. I want to say the creator of Eberon got a similar rights retention clause in his gameworld.
Independent creations using just the SRD are a bit different, but you still need to give credit to the SRD in the product.
For Star Wars peep, did you like Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth character in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett? You know how much acknowledgment Chuck Wendig got from Disney? Spelljammer did better than that. On the other hand I think Jeff Grubb said he wasn't aware Spelljammer was forthcoming till the WotC press releases.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
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Is Jeff Grubb, Tracy Hickman, and Margaret Weis getting royalties on the new release material? They should be.
TSR owned the rights to the material they created and WotC bought the rights from TSR. They owe the creators nothing. Acknowledgement might be nice but there is no 'should'.
There's also the fact that Wizards and those creators had a lawsuit that was dropped by the creators. At this point, I'm sure they knew something was up but that's what happens when you sell your creations. Eventually they get used and you don't get to be in the loop.
we're all just guessing from the sidelines...but if they sold that right, then no...no they should not.
imo
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Deck of Decks
In terms of rights, it's not a guess.
From Tracys website: https://trhickman.com/qa-owns-dragonlance/
So it's not even that they sold the rights. Tracy and crew brought in Dragonlance and when they did, per their contracts, TSR got ownership of those creations.
Typically when you work for a company (like Jeff Grubb) did, that company owns what you create. You were drawing a salary from them, they own your work. If you want to keep the rights, then you self-publish. It might seem unfair, and maybe it is, but the creator in this kind of scenario is getting paid, even if the product is a flop and the company loses money on printing it, which is something to consider.
With Weiss and Hickman, they wrote their books, and there was likely a licensing deal which paid them for use of the IP. Usually things like that are a 1-time payout.
For example, I think I heard that Ed Greenwood, creator of the forgotten realms, got like $500 or maybe $5,000 for it back in the 80’s. And that was it. They bought it, they own.
For the creator, there’s a risk analysis when cutting the deal, they could try to negotiate for royalties instead of a lump sum, but you never know how successful something will be, so lots of people take the money and move on to their next project.
It is a real shame if the original creators of the entire Dragonlance setting and all of the novels are not credited at all in the new product. I do realize that Weis and Hickman have essentially never had any rights to the IP as they were always creating it for TSR or WotC, but it is kind of shitty for WotC to completely ignore the fact that Dragonlance would not exist without those creators.
As nice as this sounds it might be lawyers telling them not to do this....who knows if giving them credit would give them legal exposure as well.
In Spelljammer both hardcopy and print, this is in the credits:
They even gave Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn a nod.
I don't know if that's D&D Studio's on practice in house or something akin to a Writer's Guild best practice (I don't know if TTRPG writers have representation or advocacy from WGA or any other body). But those read to me like acknowledgement. Otherwise, it's a well known thing, just like writing for Marvel or Star Wars or Star Trek, things written under D&D are basically work for hire not considered something you maintain rights to unless you try to get the rights during the contract setting. It's different when Mercer and company come in to do a CR book, because that's their IP. I want to say the creator of Eberon got a similar rights retention clause in his gameworld.
Independent creations using just the SRD are a bit different, but you still need to give credit to the SRD in the product.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Ethically they should given how hard they're cashing in on the work of these authors.
Legally they're under no obligation.
From a design stand point... It really depends on how much they intend to honor the original games as opposed to just doing a nostalgia bait.
For Star Wars peep, did you like Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth character in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett? You know how much acknowledgment Chuck Wendig got from Disney? Spelljammer did better than that. On the other hand I think Jeff Grubb said he wasn't aware Spelljammer was forthcoming till the WotC press releases.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.