Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
When TSR Passed On Tolkien
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Zardnaar" data-source="post: 7817866" data-attributes="member: 6716779"><p>Unlikely the Tolkein estate hasn't really done any more major novels by new authors. Can't say I blame them once IP is opened up to others to play in.</p><p></p><p> The licence was RPG only. Looking at what MERP sold assuming they made $10 a book (1992 pricing it's probably generous) it's only a few hundred thousands a year (300-400k) and that's off the core book. </p><p></p><p> It's not worth millions a year. Even if you make more splat it might get revenue up but not profit. </p><p></p><p> Hence earlier statement MERP is worth something but it's not run away to the bank giggling. Tolkein was still niche before the movies.</p><p></p><p> Even if they got the movie rights they didn't have the money to make them at least in any serious way. Peter Jackson's trilogy was hundreds of millions of dollars and even with that no MERPG has set the world on fire since. </p><p></p><p> It's highly unlikely with what we know about TSR such an RPG would have done much better. </p><p></p><p> People think "oooh Tolkein it's money". The money is in movies and the Tolkein estate licensing the name out. Maybe video games.</p><p></p><p> The numbers don't stack up, we know what MERP sold, we know what 2E sold early on and we know what the black box sold.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zardnaar, post: 7817866, member: 6716779"] Unlikely the Tolkein estate hasn't really done any more major novels by new authors. Can't say I blame them once IP is opened up to others to play in. The licence was RPG only. Looking at what MERP sold assuming they made $10 a book (1992 pricing it's probably generous) it's only a few hundred thousands a year (300-400k) and that's off the core book. It's not worth millions a year. Even if you make more splat it might get revenue up but not profit. Hence earlier statement MERP is worth something but it's not run away to the bank giggling. Tolkein was still niche before the movies. Even if they got the movie rights they didn't have the money to make them at least in any serious way. Peter Jackson's trilogy was hundreds of millions of dollars and even with that no MERPG has set the world on fire since. It's highly unlikely with what we know about TSR such an RPG would have done much better. People think "oooh Tolkein it's money". The money is in movies and the Tolkein estate licensing the name out. Maybe video games. The numbers don't stack up, we know what MERP sold, we know what 2E sold early on and we know what the black box sold. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
When TSR Passed On Tolkien
Top