Multiverse miniatures game

[Anonymous]

Tiskele Games, a company from California announced their first title "MULTIVERSE: The Infinite Game of Miniature Battles". I wonder if Mike knows anything about this projest?

http://www.triskelegames.com/

Krzysiek [Retrostacja, Steampunk Chronology]
http://steampunk.republika.pl/chrono02.html

[Yisselda]

Will it have cool little figures and a fabulus board and rules.

[Michael Moorcock]

I only know about it by hearsay.
Seems ambitious.

[DeeCrowSeer]

Surely if they advertise it as an "infinite game", and then at some point in the future the game goes out of print, they can be sued? It seems a very foolish claim to make. I've played some table-top games that seemed to go on forever, but that's beside the point.

D...

[Krzysiek]

After two weeks the company finally changed the name of the game from MULTIVERSE to AETHERVERSE. Look how they justified their decision:

"We determined that the old name of the game was infringing upon the trademark of a very, very large name in the gaming world."

A "very, very large name"? Let me guess... Michael Moorcock?
Mike, did you kindly ask them for a small favor?

More on this topic:
http://www.gamingreport.com/article....thread&order=0

And here's the ridiculous Name That Game contest:
http://forums.triskelegames.com/viewtopic.php?t=24

[Omaru]

Wow, sounds like a cool game.

[Anonymous]

"We determined that the old name of the game was infringing upon the trademark of a very, very large name in the gaming world."

A "very, very large name"? Let me guess... Michael Moorcock?
Mike, did you kindly ask them for a small favor?

Actually, the name "Multiverse" is a registered trademark (in the US at least) of Wizards of the Coast.

-Jason Lauborough
Designer, أ†therverse
www.triskelegames.com

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Actually, the name "Multiverse" is a registered trademark (in the US at least) of Wizards of the Coast.

Hmmmm. First Chaosium and now this?
Et tu, WotC?

[DeeCrowSeer]

After two weeks the company finally changed the name of the game from MULTIVERSE to AETHERVERSE.

That's really bad. According to my dictionary "aether" is the "same as ether", so the whole "أ†" thing is just going to annoy people. It's already annoyed me because I can't work out what to call it, other than "the أ† thing". Dammit.

My favourite from their contest was: "Intercosmic Phantasmagoria". I'm not sure I'd want to play a game called that, but if it were a cocktail... I might be tempted. :)

Do I have a better suggestion? Er... no.
Should I shut up now? Yes. Sorry.

D...

[Krzysiek]

Actually, the name "Multiverse" is a registered trademark (in the US at least) of Wizards of the Coast.

-Jason Lauborough
Designer, أ†therverse
www.triskelegames.com

I've never heard about WotC's Multiverse... but it seems you're familiar with Michael Moorcock's Multiverse.
BTW: what are you doing on this forum, Jason?

[Anonymous]

I've never heard about WotC's Multiverse... but it seems you're familiar with Michael Moorcock's Multiverse.
BTW: what are you doing on this forum, Jason?

Followed a reverse-link from my webpage's stats' page. :) Since people got to Triskele's site from this page and I like to keep track of what's being discussed regarding the game, I followed the link back to see what folks were talking about.

I posted above just to let folks know that it wasn't Mr. Moorcock's "Multiverse" that made me change the name. I wasn't ever able to find evidence of him holding a trademark on that word in the gaming area. Of course, I didn't spend too much time looking after I confirmed that WotC's trademark (which technically is "Multiverse Gift Box") did indeed prevent me from using the term for a game book's title.

Rest assured, that if Mr. Moorcock had contacted me with a request to drop the name previously, I certainly would have. It just never came around to it, since we decided to change the name rather than risk any possible confrontation with WotC in a year or two when it would have been devastating to change the game's name.

Anyways, short answer: I'm on this forum just to make clarifications. Probably won't stop back again unless I notice more hits from the thread.

(PS: we're pronouncing it "ayther-verse". :) )

[DeeCrowSeer]

(PS: we're pronouncing it "ayther-verse". :) )

That's probably for the best... because you know "ether" is also an anaesthetic, right? I'm really not trying to be mean (I imagine it must be very hard to settle on a name everyone is happy with), but using a word that some people associate with loss of feeling in the body and unconsciousness might not be the ideal.

Of course, I'm just a first year Marketing drop-out, so I really, really should shut up. Sorry again.

D...

[Krzysiek]

I'm on this forum just to make clarifications. Probably won't stop back again unless I notice more hits from the thread.

Don't worry. Since "Multiverse" is a WotC's trademark and Michael Moorcock has nothing to do with it, there's no need to clarify anything here.

[DeeCrowSeer]

I'm on this forum just to make clarifications. Probably won't stop back again unless I notice more hits from the thread.

Don't worry. Since "Multiverse" is a WotC's trademark and Michael Moorcock has nothing to do with it, there's no need to clarify anything here.

Not to say you aren't welcome of course! I already feel pretty guilty and will definitely be mentioning your game to my richer friends, so if you want to stop by and keep people up to date then I doubt Berry is going to mind the extra hits.

D...

[EverKing]

Grr. I can't stand WotC. It goes pretty deep for me and I'm not really going to get into it. But, I will say that they aquired "Multiverse" as part of TSR (at least if I have the chronology right). TSR used the term multiverse alot in throughout AD&D with the largest proliferation being as part of their Planescape Campaign Setting.

The TSR multiverse has an interesting layout actually, though I'd have to say it's no where near as dynamic as the EC Multiverse. It's divided into three basic parts, each with multiple planes of existance: The Inner-planes; the Prime Material Plane; and the Outer Planes.

The Inner-Planes are the building blocks of the multiverse, consisting of the Elemental Planes (Fire, Air, Water, Earth), the Para-Elemental Plane (planes that fall between the elemental planes: F+A=Smoke, A+W=Ice, W+E=Ooze, E+F=Magma), the Negative and Possitive Energy Planes, and the Quasi-Elemental Planes (planes between the elemental planes and the energy planes: F+PE=Radiance, A+PE=Lightning, W+PE=Steam, E+PE=Mineral; F+NE=Ash, A+NE=Vaccuum, W+NE=Salt, E+NE=Dust).

Between the Inner-Planes and the Prime Material is the Etheral Plane, an endless shifting cloud. Wherever the Etheral touches another plane is called the Border Etheral and floating in the Etheral are Demi-Planes (the best known are the Demi-planes of Dream, Shadow, Time, and Dread--the Demi-Plane of Dread is the setting of the Ravenloft Campaign Setting...AD&D Gothic Horror).

The Prime Material is the plane where mortals were born and where "normal" life is lived out. It is mostly a yellowish ooze called Phlogiston (I think). Within this ooze are the various Crystal Spheres of the Prime. A Crystal Sphere is sort of normal Universe, though sometimes it is very small (The Astromundi Cluster is an example of this. It is the Sphere in which the Dragonlance Campaign Setting world of Krynn exists. It is really just a single small solar system instead of a complete universe).

Between the Prime and the Outer-Planes is the silver vastness of the Astral Plane. There really isn't anything too special about the Astral, except that it is where "pocket-dimensions" exist. Those are (often) temporary mini-planes magically created to provide a little extra space when needed. Bags of Holding are perfect examples of permanent pocket dimensions, and the second level wizard spell "Rope Trick" is an example of a temp. one.

The Outer Planes are the home of the Powers (gods, etc). They are usually represented as a great wheel because they are divided by Alignment (if you're not familiar with D&D, alignment describes one's preference of Good/Evil and Law/Chaos). Let's see if I can remember all of them: Mechanus, Arcadia, Mt. Celestia, Bytopia, Elysium, Ysgard, Arborea, Limbo, Pandemonium, the Abyss, Carceri, The Grey Waste, Gehenna, Baator, and Archeron. In the center of them all is the Plane of Concordant Opposition aka, the Outlands at the center of which is a massive spire around which floats a doughnut-like chuck of stone with the city of Sigil built around the inside of the hole.

So, that's the WotC/TSR Multiverse. Scary that I know all that...yeesh.