Proposal for an online real-time classic MRPG game---Dave E. Martin

This is for Super Dave E. Martin:

Dave, my college buddies and I have come up with an idea that may breathe more life into this thing called Classic Marvel RPG. I was surfing the net for RPG materials when I came across a site called battleon.com. This site uses Flash MX and ActionScript to run a totally online fantasy rpg realm. It had membership rolecalls, a running database of Players and their heroes as well as Player Character upgrades. For limited series sagas, Players had to upgrade their membership accounts by paying support fees for the upkeep of the site. The site is awesome! My groups plans are to do something similar by with classic MRPG. We have access to a 100Gig server(no ads), 3 programmers/animators(including myself), 3 writers(including myself), and the support of the Computer Science Department of Nyack College.

The only problems are the following:
*How can we get permission from Marvel to use their copyrighted characters in our gaming "matrix"?
*How can we get permission from TSR/Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro to use the published articles and game materials of Classic MRPG in the "matrix"?
*If permission is aquired, what royalty fee rates would be charged to us?
*How many members of the RPG community can be counted on to back us up with petitions, donations/membership fees(for upkeep and expansion of the "matrix"), and what kind of sponsers can we get?

I think that since this system was designed in 79 that you should be free of the copy right infringment. If you go the d20 route, they have an open door policy for the use of the system, of wizards did anyway.
And if you do it I'm there.
~drake

Don't look at me for solid advice. I'm strictly theory. I haven't had anything to do with TSR since the mid-90s and nothing at all to do with WotC.
And Hasbro/Kenner/MiltonBradley/WotC never answered the email I sent.

Now, in theory--
Approach Marvel explaining you're interested in developing an amateur gaming site using their characters. If you get a response, provide more details.

I suspect H/K/MB/W will ignore your email. The Marvel RPG is such a tiny and inactive portfolio (compared ot their overall inventory) it's probably not worth their while to worry about.

What do you mean 1979? Original Marvel came out in 1984.

My bad, thinking of something else.
~drake

It sounds great!

However, I doubt you would ever get official permission to us marvel characters in the game, as in Marvels eyes it would be be inpinging on their own online game venture (however wrong that view may be).

You MAY be able to get permission for using the rule system from WoTc, since it is officially a dead system, or you can do a "revamp" of the game that changes it enough to make it a sepereate system.

Either way you will more than likely have to remove Marvel from it.

Given Marvel's attempts to get CoH shut down, I seriously doubt they'd allow this, especially if you charge 'membership fees.'

Marvel would get a cut of the membership fees.

Do you think they would be happy with a "cut" if you're making money on it? I'm thinking that doing business with Marvel is a little more complicated than that.

I keep picturing a conference room full of lawyers with an M logo on their paychecks and absolutely no interest in RPGS.B!)-

You could probably get away with just using the system and not using Marvel characters but creating your own world out of it. The people they have working for them now probably have no idea what the MSHRPG system even looks like, let alone how the rules work.

That is unless they monitor this site...(:!P)

They have a team for that. They work in a nondescript building and monitor every website that mentions Marvel...They also ahve a team of Lawmmando's, who can sue at a moments notice...We're lucky to have survived this long.

I HAVE COME TO REAP THE SOULS OF THE LIVING!!!!!
And perhaps, order a burger.

CoH won't even allow players to name characters after real heroes to my understanding. They even remove things like 5p!d3|2 M@n and such from their system because marvel would be up their backside otherwise (and they still are anyways). There's no way -even given a cut- they would ever agree to let you use their characters.

Yeah, just screw playing with their characters, I mean who the heck wants to fight the Hulk after that horrible movie anyway? Spiderman is 45 years old, Wolverine should have died of over exposure....the Marvel Universe is kinda played out, that is why they have to change it every few years a re-do it just to try and save some sense of continuity, since so many hands have written the "history".
So make your own
Or use the Ultimates...

use the system because you have a system that works...

use the rules because you have a set of rules you can understand and modify and other people can do the same...

get some dice...

have people make up characters, not to powerful or it will suck...

and be a judge, who writes down fun stories that make sense and make the people think, and remember your job isn't to try and kill the players...until they have been playing for at least 18 months, then you try to kill them, just to see what happens...