Dragonlance What Happened To The New DRAGONLANCE Trilogy?

[Dire Bare]

Yeah, it's never just one guy. I get this dude is the one who made the call, but a big company like WotC doesn't just sue because one guy thinks it's the right call. He had to have some support to have moved ahead with it.

Of course, the lawsuit clearly became untenable and they reversed and the guy resigned. But the idea that only one guy had concerns with the Dragonlance IP and is solely responsible is silly... what's true is that he became the fall guy for the whole fiasco.

WotC didn’t sue. The authors did.

And the one guy literally made the call over one phone conversation. On his own.

Now I’ll grant you, WotC et all should have balked at that right away.

@darjr is right that Weis & Hickman sued WotC, not the other way around.

But I'm with @Urriak Uruk in that it wasn't just that one guy. That one guy, what's his name, was a huge issue for a number of reasons, but the failed relationship and cancelled contract wasn't his solely his fault.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

WotC didn’t sue. The authors did.

And the one guy literally made the call over one phone conversation. On his own.

Now I’ll grant you, WotC et all should have balked at that right away.

Apologies, I had forgotten who-sued-who.

Still, I can guarantee that this one guy didn't unilaterally cancel the Dragonlance books, on his own, without consulting anyone. That's simply not how these decisions can be made at large companies (you have to consult with others to pull the triggers on this stuff). A one-on-one phone conversation doesn't mean he woke up one day and decided to cancel Dragonlance without telling anyone.

 

[darjr]

Apologies, I had forgotten who-sued-who.

Still, I can guarantee that this one guy didn't unilaterally cancel the Dragonlance books, on his own, without consulting anyone. That's simply not how these decisions can be made at large companies (you have to consult with others to pull the triggers on this stuff). A one-on-one phone conversation doesn't mean he woke up one day and decided to cancel Dragonlance without telling anyone.

He absolutely did, he tried to strong arm the authors and when they said no he said he’d never review another draft. This happened over a single call. WotCs fault was not reversing it immediately.

WotC trusted him to be professional and not fly off the handle and he did just that. Why they didn’t step in right away and fix it I don’t know.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

He absolutely did, he tried to strong arm the authors and when they said no he said he’d never review another draft. This happened over a single call. WotCs fault was not reversing it immediately.

I'm going to need you to cite a source that says he unilaterally cancelled the Dragonlance books with no approvals or consultation. I'm extremely doubtful this happened, a company with WotC's bureaucracy is unlikely to be able to make decisions like this so easily.

 

[darjr]

I'm going to need you to cite a source that says he unilaterally cancelled the Dragonlance books with no approvals or consultation. I'm extremely doubtful this happened, a company with WotC's bureaucracy is unlikely to be able to make decisions like this so easily.

Some of it is documented in the lawsuit.

On or about August 13, 2020, acting with the knowledge and consent and possibly at the direction of Hasbro, Defendant held a telephonic meeting with Plaintiff-Creators and their representatives. Among those present at the meeting were Messrs. Kelman and Morrissey, Defendant’s in-house lawyers, Nick Mitchell and Ben Hellerstein, and various PRH representatives, including executives and counsel. At that telephonic meeting, without any forewarning, Defendant’s attorney (Mr. Mitchell) stated Defendant refused to perform under the License Agreement, effectively terminating the agreement unilaterally. When challenged about the grounds for such termination, Mr. Mitchell responded with the nonsensical statement, “We are not moving toward breach, but we will not approve any further drafts.”

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Some of it is documented in the lawsuit.

On or about August 13, 2020, acting with the knowledge and consent and possibly at the direction of Hasbro, Defendant held a telephonic meeting with Plaintiff-Creators and their representatives. Among those present at the meeting were Messrs. Kelman and Morrissey, Defendant’s in-house lawyers, Nick Mitchell and Ben Hellerstein, and various PRH representatives, including executives and counsel. At that telephonic meeting, without any forewarning, Defendant’s attorney (Mr. Mitchell) stated Defendant refused to perform under the License Agreement, effectively terminating the agreement unilaterally. When challenged about the grounds for such termination, Mr. Mitchell responded with the nonsensical statement, “We are not moving toward breach, but we will not approve any further drafts.”

Ok, all I'll say to this is just because he was alone on this call, doesn't mean no one else knew... I have plenty of calls where I need to tell a client/partner some new step, where I had a strategy meeting with coworkers before-hand deciding on that step. It would be very weird if this person was unilaterally making this decision without coworkers approval (or at least, acceptance).

 

[darjr]

Ever wonder why the wierd “no more draft approvals” tactic? WotC has buried expensive things before like that supplement some folks wrongly think WotC “promised” us. Why go about such a wierd way to stop the publication? Do you really think this cost to end the contract would have driven WotC to do these shenanigans? I dont think so.

I think it’s because he didn’t have the power to do it properly but he sure as h*ck could stop the draft approval process.

 

[Dire Bare]

Ever wonder why the wierd “no more draft approvals” tactic? WotC has buried expensive things before like that supplement some folks wrongly think WotC “promised” us. Why go about such a wierd way to stop the publication? Do you really think this cost to end the contract would have driven WotC to do these shenanigans? I dont think so.

I think it’s because he didn’t have the power to do it properly but he sure as h*ck could stop the draft approval process.

It was a way . . . they thought . . . to kill the project without breaking the contract. They didn't say "we're canceling the books", they said, "we're not approving any more drafts". Weaselly, lawyer stuff, you know!

 

[darjr]

It was a way . . . they thought . . . to kill the project without breaking the contract. They didn't say "we're canceling the books", they said, "we're not approving any more drafts". Weaselly, lawyer stuff, you know!

WotC doesn’t do that. They put a steak in things. I think that was him.

 

[Mort]

Some of it is documented in the lawsuit.

On or about August 13, 2020, acting with the knowledge and consent and possibly at the direction of Hasbro, Defendant held a telephonic meeting with Plaintiff-Creators and their representatives. Among those present at the meeting were Messrs. Kelman and Morrissey, Defendant’s in-house lawyers, Nick Mitchell and Ben Hellerstein, and various PRH representatives, including executives and counsel. At that telephonic meeting, without any forewarning, Defendant’s attorney (Mr. Mitchell) stated Defendant refused to perform under the License Agreement, effectively terminating the agreement unilaterally. When challenged about the grounds for such termination, Mr. Mitchell responded with the nonsensical statement, “We are not moving toward breach, but we will not approve any further drafts.”

This is a bit confusing because it seems it was WoTCs in-house attorney that put forth the no breach but no further drafts argument. It's HIGHLY unlikely that they attorney would do that without approval from his client!

Am I reading that wrong?