The Shadowrun Situation

magnuskn · Post by **magnuskn** » Sat Oct 09, 2010 5:08 pm

Centurion13 wrote:acting like a man ought to...

Cent13

"Davions take a lof of killing!"

<rimshot>

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:22 pm

So anyone hear anything yet? How long until we can expect PACER to catch up?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:13 pm

The court date isn't until the 19th; no new documents have been posted to the docket as of last night.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:26 pm

Fresh from Dumpshock.

Latest from PACER: The petitioners and IMR have reached an agreement to dismiss the involuntary bankruptcy petition, and an unsigned order effecting the dismissal has been forwarded to Judge Overstreet. The case should closed today or early next week (depending on when the Judge is actually in chambers and signing orders). Don't expect any details of the settlement.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:33 pm

I'm-a guess Loren really didn't want to go to court. Copy of the unsigned order.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:46 pm

FrankTrollman wrote: Can you imagine if you just put "suck a barrel of cocks" in the middle of a paragraph?

I'm gonna try and squeeze that in at work. Police report, sworn statement, something.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:46 pm

GO THE SETTLEMENT! I wonder what they settled for.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:53 pm

kzt wrote:Forrest is kind of like Walter Model, a skilled commander in an evil cause who was personally committed to the cause. This doesn't change the fact that both were military geniuses and were among the best generals in their wars.

Post necro I know, but the only Forrest I'd ever heard of was a WWII Carrier commander for the yanks, so I was slightly puzzled why he was evil.

It appears there is another forest. But yeah, fuck had a major role in founding the KKK - that makes him evil.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:33 pm

Hope they expand on some details on the settlement. Not that I expect Catalyst will, but I hope Wildfire does.

(And personally, I fully expect Catalyst to renege on any settlement terms. Thus causing another court appearance in the future. But the point being that it is in the future, not now.)

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 5:51 pm

Do they send paperwork back for typos?

Asbestos Underwear · Post by **Asbestos Underwear** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Ancient History wrote:I'm-a guess Loren really didn't want to go to court. Copy of the unsigned order.

I'm-a guess Wildfire really didn't want to pay damages or fees. Big Daddy Stansel was fully paid off and the the petition would have been kicked out if they went through with the hearing. Settling saves LLC a lot of public embarrassment and saves Wildfire some money.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:40 pm

I've not heard anything about Paul Stansel (or any of the other creditors involved in the chapter 7 case) being paid off. Where did you hear this?

Neurosis · Post by **Neurosis** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:49 pm

Ancient History wrote:I'm-a guess Loren really didn't want to go to court. Copy of the unsigned order.

What the fuck is a stupilation? Surprising to see a typo like that on legal paperwork...on the HEADING of legal paperwork. Those people need a new proofreader.

Anyway, so basically they settled out of court? That's what happened?

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 8:51 pm

It's a stipulation without the reach around and happy ending.

BeeRockxs · Post by **BeeRockxs** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:33 pm

Ancient History wrote:I've not heard anything about Paul Stansel (or any of the other creditors involved in the chapter 7 case) being paid off. Where did you hear this?

We heard earlier that the originally-agreed-upon monthly payment were going on-schedule, which would mean that today, Paul Stansel is not owed any money by CGL.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:43 pm

I know they said they planned to pay him off, but I hadn't been aware that they'd actually done it. 15 said it was planned to pay it off between October and December. Which does beg the question of your source.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:49 pm

Schwarzkopf wrote:What the fuck is a stupilation? Surprising to see a typo like that on legal paperwork...on the HEADING of legal paperwork. Those people need a new proofreader.

They have a dismisal in the heading of page 3, too.

BeeRockxs · Post by **BeeRockxs** » Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:07 pm

Ancient History wrote:I know they said they planned to pay him off, but I hadn't been aware that they'd actually done it. 15 said it was planned to pay it off between October and December. Which does beg the question of your source.

I have no special source, I just misremembered what that PDF said, and though that it said that by October, all payments would be done.

Otakusensei · Post by **Otakusensei** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 3:03 am

Given IMRs recent published product you can't really expect them bother proof reading anything. I'm sure they expect to take care of the document errors if they ever bother to get around to an errata.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 3:07 am

I'm interested in the terms of the settlement, if anyone can find out.

Personally, I would have pushed for part of it being a taped confession of Loren Coleman and then hitting himself in the balls with a wooden hammer.

magnuskn · Post by **magnuskn** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:01 am

Yeah, but what does it mean for Shadowrun and BattleTech? Does Catalyst remains with the license or will they lose it?

BeeRockxs · Post by **BeeRockxs** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:18 am

magnuskn wrote:Yeah, but what does it mean for Shadowrun and BattleTech? Does Catalyst remains with the license or will they lose it?

That's Topp's decision to make.
I believe the license will stay with CGL.

Taharqa · Post by **Taharqa** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:53 pm

magnuskn wrote:Yeah, but what does it mean for Shadowrun and BattleTech? Does Catalyst remains with the license or will they lose it?

Yes, they retain the license at least until the next renewal period and there really is no reason at this point to think that they won't retain the licenses much longer. Despite Frank's pronouncements to the contrary, CGL is getting products printed and on store shelves. That fact and the dismissal of this lawsuit suggest that they are on fairly stable financial footing at this point, IMO. And ultimately I would guess that bottom line is what Topps really cares about.

What does it mean for the future of Shadowrun and Battletech? It means that both game universes will chug along, leaving behind another strident and bitter minority who claim that they have "jumped the shark" and are ruining the game. With game universes as long-lived as both of these, thats not really anything new.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:08 pm

Despite what the pepsquad said, the fact that the plaintiffs cut a deal for voluntary dismissal with the defendants does not mean that IMR is on pleasant financial waters. It means that over their dozens of other debts, they chose to cut a deal where they would pay off those three creditors that were actually suing them. And yeah, they dragged their feet on that until literally the last day to pay them off before it would be too late to file a dismissal before they would be required to go to court and show their financials to the government.

When their contract to lease the properties ended with Topps, Topps didn't renew it. They invoked a set of heavy restrictions on IMR and forced them to sell all their products through an intermediary that Topps had control of. And even then, the new license is just a "temporary" license subject to constant renewal or dismissal even now.

However, here's the reality: Battletech is in the toilet. It isn't making very much money and no one cares about it any more. A Time of War didn't exactly set the world on fire, in no small part because it is terrible. The current edition of the Mechwarrior RPG is pretty much DOA. And what that means is that there really aren't going to be any serious offers to take the Battletech license from IMR. There are companies interested in the SR license, and it could easily get split off. But Battletech is probably going to sit there and choke along. After all, the Battletech writers appear to be willing to continue to work while their pay is three years late and Loren Coleman continues making payments on his fancy house. It can probably keep failing to make any money for some time before it actually collapses.

-Username17

Taharqa · Post by **Taharqa** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 7:26 pm

FrankTrollman wrote:Despite what the pepsquad said, the fact that the plaintiffs cut a deal for voluntary dismissal with the defendants does not mean that IMR is on pleasant financial waters. It means that over their dozens of other debts, they chose to cut a deal where they would pay off those three creditors that were actually suing them. And yeah, they dragged their feet on that until literally the last day to pay them off before it would be too late to file a dismissal before they would be required to go to court and show their financials to the government.

When their contract to lease the properties ended with Topps, Topps didn't renew it. They invoked a set of heavy restrictions on IMR and forced them to sell all their products through an intermediary that Topps had control of. And even then, the new license is just a "temporary" license subject to constant renewal or dismissal even now.

There is a lot of either supposition or insider information in that quote. I know you like to cultivate an image of yourself as the man with all the information, but personally I think you are talking out of your ass. It makes perfect strategic sense for CGL to delay as long as possible, and it seems far more likely that it was the petitioners who wanted to settle to avoid having to cover CGL's legal bills. Forced bankruptcy is a long-shot under the best of circumstances and once the license was renewed and CGL started printing again, it had virtually zero chance of success.

However, here's the reality: Battletech is in the toilet. It isn't making very much money and no one cares about it any more. A Time of War didn't exactly set the world on fire, in no small part because it is terrible. The current edition of the Mechwarrior RPG is pretty much DOA.

Now you are really talking out of your ass. Every edition of the Mechwarrior RPG has sucked. History clearly demonstrates that there is zero correlation between the success of the RPG and the success of Battletech. You do realize Battletech is not an RPG, right?