Dave Arneson Material in the Catalog of Rebellion Games? (Blackmoor Week Day 3)

 I have thought about not covering copyright or Trademark ownership discussions on this blog anymore. It tends to create a lot of drama every time and it just makes me tired. However, we need to talk about this. 

Last year we learned that Rebellion Games had acquired the entire catalog creatred by Flying Buffalo Games. Flying Buffalo were founded in 1975 by Rick Loomis. When Rick sadly passed away back in August 2019, the company briefly passed to Webbed Sphere (Jason Kingsley OBE)  who sold the Flying Buffalo games catalog to Rebellion. 

Based in their press releases at the time, Rebellion seemed to be most focused on Tunnels and Trolls. However, another part of their press release may be of particular interest to readers of this blog:

"As part of the acquisition Rebellion have taken over Flying Buffalo’s entire line of roleplaying games, including the cult classic Citybook, Grimtooth, and Merchants Spies and Private Eyes series. The entire back-catalogue of Flying Buffalo PDFs will remain available to purchase online, with future releases coming directly from Rebellion Unplugged. "

 Now, we know that Dave Arneson contributed to a couple of gaming books linked to some of these series. In 1984, he contributed to City Book II: Port o' Call. For Merchants Spies and Private Eyes, Dave Arneson wrote the adventure The Case of the Pacific Clipper (1991). 

At one point Dave Arneson told me that he had sold his company Adventure Games to Rick Loomis. Adventure Games also made several games whose current ownership is unknown to me. When I asked Rick about the status of Adventures in Fantasy, which is one of the games Adventure Games produced, he was not able to confirm that story at the time. 

Do you own a copy of City Book II or Case of the Pacific Clipper? Please leave a comment below!

Find out more about Blackmoor Week here?

-Havard

Memorial Gathering for Rick Loomis on Oct 19th

As reported on this blog, Rick Loomis, founder of Flying Buffalo Games, sadly passed away last month. I now learn from the DeluxeTunnels And Trolls Blog that there will be a memorial gathering for Mr. Loomis on October 19th. More details can be found here.

-Havard

Rest in Peace Rick Loomis

As I reported here, Rick Loomis was recently hospitalised fighting cancer. Today I am sad to learn that he has passed away. Rick Loomis was an important figure in the Tabletop industry.  In 1970, he founded Flying Buffalo Games (Tunnes & Trolls, Grimtooth's Traps, Mercenaries, Spies, & Private Eyes and more). He was also one of the founders of GAMA (the Game Manufacturers Association) where he served as President for 7 years. As President of Flying Buffalo, Rick worked with well known creatives like Michael Stackpole, Liz Danforth, Jennell Jaquays and others.

 Loomis had a good relationship with Dave Arneson. Dave owned shares in Flying Buffalo and when he gave up running is own company, Adventure Games, he sold that company to Flying Buffalo. Dave also contributed to at least one Flying Buffalo publication, City Book II: Port o Call, which I referenced my most recent Thonia Sourcebook.

 It feels strange now, that I chatted with Rick, only a few months ago about Dave Arneson. He was very helpful. Rick seems by all accounts to have been a very nice man.


May he Rest In Peace.


 -Havard

Gaming Legend Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games in Hospital

Rick Loomis is the founder of Flying Buffalo Games and has been working in the RPG industry for over 50 years. He is perhaps best known for the Tunnels & Trolls RPG and the Grimtooth's Traps series. Dave Arneson was friends with Loomis and owned shares in Tunnels & Trolls. He also sold his own company Adventure Games to Flying Buffalo in 1985. I was actually chatting to Rick about his connections to Dave just last month. He seemed like a really nice person.

I recently learned that Loomis, 1972, was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer earlier this year. A go fund me campaign has been launched to help cover his medical bills. If you want to help this legend in gaming you can do so by visiting that site here.


-Havard