Official Press Release
VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ RETURNS!

THE CLASSIC TABLETOP RPG IS NOW PUBLISHED BY MONKEY HOUSE GAMES™

June 27, 2010 is the release date for "VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ 2.1" from MONKEY HOUSE GAMES™. Virtually unavailable for the last two decades, VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ is back!

In 1979, JEFF DEE and JACK HERMAN created the original VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™, the game that brought classic comic book style adventurers into the world of role-playing games. It inspired thousands of crossover fans between comics and gaming, and spawned dozens of imitations.
VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ is legendary among role-playing games for its random super-powered character generation system, its accessible, open and fast-paced rules, and the imaginative, far-ranging campaign universe created by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman.

This latest version of the game- dubbed version 2.1- revives the popular 1982 Revised Edition with some rules additions. It also features brand new illustrations from co-creator Jeff Dee, whose RPG game art has developed a longtime following.

"Jeff Dee and I are Monkey House Games." announced Jack Herman, "Effective immediately, V&V is back in the hands of its creators, right where it should be. We’ve both dreamed of this opportunity for a very long time, and we can’t wait for you to see what we’ve done with the old place."
Dee and Herman both credited the "ferociously loyal legion of online fans and players" as a driving force in the revival. "You carried the torch for decades and never faltered. This is a testament to your power and your will. You effectively brought our game back from the dead. We are in awe and we thank you."

According to Herman, there are currently new adventures and campaign material in the pipeline. "This is the perfect time for new players to jump in, but the die-hards that have been following V&V since its earlier incarnation will be right at home. You’ll get to reconnect with the very same game world Jeff and I previously ran, drew and wrote about- only this time it’ll be bigger, better and more. If players have even half as much fun playing it as we’re having working on it, this will be something you won’t want to miss.”

VILLIANS AND VIGILANTES™ 2.1 will be available June 27, 2010 from RPGNow.

Monkey House Games products are available from RPGNow and its affiliates at:
http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=3246

VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ is the classic tabletop role-playing game of comic book style costumed crime fighters created by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman.

MONKEY HOUSE GAMES™ is the game company created by Jeff Dee and Jack Herman for the release of all material relating to the VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES™ Universe.

For further information, please visit www.monkeyhousegames.com

Monkey House Jack wrote on Jun 17^th, 2010 at 10:10pm:

Does this mean FGU no longer owns the game?

Mike wrote on Jun 17^th, 2010 at 10:38pm:

Interesting. I'm curious about this too. 

Great news!

Cheers!

Very interested if there will be a dead tree version as well.

Also, this will be compatible with what I already have, V&V wise?

Awesome news!  I'm really hoping the modifications lean toward the hints Jeff gave here.  I'm definitely looking forward to checking it out.

Will you be able to buy a hard copy of the book, or is it only available as a down loadable file?

Which company now owns the legal trademark to V&V?

Hope no one minds that I reposted this to my meetup group.

Of course I gave the post the heading of "Holy Flying Monkeys Batman!!!!!!"

Wow, this is really great news!  I for one am really excited about seeing what Jack and Jeff come out with!   

Monkeyhouse Games has the legal trademark on it now or they couldn't be putting out a 2.1 version.

Duroon wrote on Jun 18^th, 2010 at 2:50pm:

It's not in the press release, though. And FGU still has V&V materials on their site. Very interesting. I'd love to hear more details.

My brother informed me about this last night - I've really got only three words:

TOTAL
HARD
CORE!

Messers Herman and Dee...Thank you.  This is an event I've been dreaming about since the late '80s, and you have every guarantee that I'll be doing my utmost to support Monkey House Games in its efforts to bring V&V back to the gaming tables.

You guys did it first and you did it best.  Hoping that we'll be the recipients of updates regarding the upcoming hardcopy/.pdf releases over the coming weeks.

A fundamental part of my mis-spent youth has returned...

Hello everyone--

I went out for drinks with an old friend from high school yesterday, and heard the 2.1 news.

So what happened?

Did Herman and Dee purchase the rights from FGU?

Did the FGU contract expire?

Does the trademark agreenment allow for FGU and Monkey House to both publish V&V materials?

Or is Monkey House publishing V&V 2.1 in spite of any possible trademark infringements and planning on sorting out the details later?

I've been involved in trademark/copyright negotiations for my firm and am curious about the details. I couldn't garnish much from the press release.

AlabasterKnight wrote on Jun 21^st, 2010 at 12:03pm:

I guess we will see how this plays out on the 27th. As no one here is a copyright lawyer (at least no one I am aware of) I don't think any of us can say who is in the right or wrong at this point. I can say that I will be online as early as possible on the 27th buying the newest version of V&V.

Duroon wrote on Jun 21^st, 2010 at 1:06pm:

Well put.


Duroon wrote on Jun 21^st, 2010 at 1:06pm:

Me too.

Yes, welcome, AlabasterKnight! Hope to get to know you!

I'd like to add, by the way, that anyone who is currently writing V&V adventures for FGU is welcome to contact me privately (jeff@monkeyhousegames.com) to discuss moving their projects over to Monkey House.

-Jeff Dee
Monkey House Games

Jeff Dee wrote on Jun 18^th, 2010 at 11:33am:


It still may be too soon to say, but will we be able to get a hardcopy from our Friendly Local Game Store.

The owner of my FLGS is also an old time V&V player, he is interested in having a couple hard copies around the store. You should have seen his eyes bug out when I mentioned that you guys were putting out a new updated version of the rules!

I know, I've been calling everyone I used to play with... I hope we flood the site when the new version becomes available.

Jeff Dee wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2010 at 8:15am:


Have any official spokespeople from FGU responded to Monkey House Games directly? What have they had to say?

Guardian7 wrote on Sep 30^th, 2010 at 4:23pm:


Check out FGU's website:
http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/

Yep, they've got a submmission process to go through. So far they've only posted writer guidelines. Jeff is supposed to post submission guidelines for artists at some later date.

True, but he did ask pretty specifically if Jeff and Jack wanted some work done.

Quote:


Just wanted to make sure he got pointed in the right direction to talk with Jeff and Jack if that's what he really wants. Again, no wish to stir up any arguments on the subject.

Quote:


If you're going to post something like this, you should at least give your sources.

And what was FGI Inc.?

I'm going to start calling Allen "Deep Throat" until he reveals his sources. 

Where do you get 'shut down for non-payment of taxes' being an intelligent or relevant argument? We don't need your link; posting it hasn't done anything for me to 'buy' that you know what it means anyway.
Um, yea, when articles of incorporation are dissolved by a state, it's because the company stop paying the corporate tax to incorporate in that state. That dissolution occurred in 1991 or 92... FGU came to AZ to do business in 1987 where Scott didn't have all the same business restrictions and costs that make it so hard to operate a business in NY. He is doing business with a license legally here since 1987 and has done so continuously and seamlessly and is recognized legally by the people who count down at the courthouse, so it doesn't  matter what form his organization takes; it is still here. You saying FGU doesn't exist and repeating it while clicking your heels together isn't having a lot of effect... pass that to your source.

I'm sorry you don't 'buy' it. Maybe you'll end up mumbling somewhere on a street corner cursing ghostly sources who have spun your head. I've done everything but build a house for you to try and be honest with you all this time man. Yea, I've got my bias, but I also have a background that has relevance to all this including publishing, printing, graphic design and illustration, project management, business law, and contract administration. You don't buy it because it's not what you want to hear.

From your link:
Current Entity Status: INACTIVE - Dissolution by Proclamation / Annulment of Authority (Sep 25, 1991) 

See? INACTIVE 1991... duhhhhh ARIZONA 1987.

ARIZONA. "DBA" is a perfectly acceptable business for here that does not need to register new articles to maintain stature as an entity...

Sick of trying to explain it you. 

Hi Everyone,

I'm not Jack Herman! 

Red Tornado wrote on Oct 5^th, 2010 at 5:10pm:


Welcome to the site Red.

Again, not stirring, but to clarify something misleading that Duroon has said.
MHG filed an application to acquire the trademark.
FGU filed an application to reinforce its continued use by its owner.
But...
Yea, don't let the lawyer thing sour you, V&V is awesome and will only continue to be that much more!
EDIT: Scott will post a release when he feels it is appropriate to do so.

I think it's crappy that Mr. Dee wants to stop people from buying a V and V adventure when he was paid to do art for that adventure--unless he's returning the money he was paid for the art.

I think he should put fans above trademark disputes. If Jeff Dee has a problem with FGU, he should contact them instead of telling his fans what to buy, IMV.

Lately, he hasn't done much to contribute to the MHG or Yahoo forums except to tell people that they are unauthorized.

It really makes it hard to enjoy the game.

If the battle is between the lawyers, then I wish he would keep it to the lawyers and not put fans in the middle.

So far I've only purchased the MHG materials.

I've wanted to buy the FGU materials, but I keep reading Jeff Dee telling us not to. The Sub-Realms dispute was the last straw, though.

I'm tired of acting like Jeff Dee's drone. 

AlabasterKnight wrote on Oct 5^th, 2010 at 6:05pm:



In the same vein as AK but on the other side of this fence personally. I won't say don't buy FGU material, those guys (AK and DaveW, plus others) put a lot of hard work into those materials. But I won't buy them due to my own personal reasons. I wouldn't say no to someone giving me any of it though lol! I have seen some of AK's and Dave's work, it is good stuff, make your own decisions about what to buy, for your own reasons.

Then make sure you get someone to sit down and play the game with you!

Points taken.

I can tell you with absolute confidence Imaginos that you won't lose your opportunity to purchase Giant #1 and a rules upgrade is in the planning for 2011 as well as other game edifying materials...

Exactly... any rules supplement is going to be generated from the subject matter experts amongst the fanbase's experience...
There's been 25 years + of home tweaking that are mostly viable upgrades that have been tried and true.
FGU has already touched base on this possibility with a few writers about how to do this potential project, but again, it's cart before the horse to think about it too much right now.
We're focusing on building the product catalog to a modern state, adding game support, and then revision can come later.
I promise this: No hero/character/point build system... it's counter to the open judgment that GMs have right now in creating a discretionary point of being arbiter of their universe. Points means flat structure and boolean or mean values that can't be negotiated...
Sounds crappy to me...?

One of my favorite concepts that pushes toward a more organized character creation was the Assymmetry rules by Brian Rogers.  Characters were defined by an overall power level, which determined how many power "facets" they receive.  I highly recommend checking out the website (which I cannot link to because it is blocked from my work).

AlabasterKnight wrote on Oct 6^th, 2010 at 11:35am:


I was talking to DSumner on the phone the other night about much the same thing. In truth, I'm extremely happy with the system and am totally on board with Galaxy Boy's desire to keep the classic random set up versus a point build system. In truth, the one thing that I would like to see added as far as a rules set is a better focus on handling things that would normally be considered a skill check... hacking alien computers, flying strange aircraft, etc. etc. However, rather than implementing a cap system that could require a modification addition to all pre-existing characters, I've pondered about basically utilizing a clever analysis of pre-existing information about characters and incorporating that with typical skill saves. Basically looking at their primary ability scores and then adding circumstancial roll modifiers based on things such as their listed occupations (as computer programmers would naturally get a set bonus to doing computer related skill checks, mechanics would get a bonus towards rigging and repairing such equipment, counselors would get a bonus to diplomacy checks, etc.) and then also perhaps the type of environment the character was raised in, their back story, etc.
Basically you would have a simple tier of bonuses/penalties (-2,-4,-6 or +2,+4,+6 perhaps) and a broad list of guidelines on how to make it work.

I don't know, something I'm just playing around with.

PulpCitizen- good point (again, this is just something that is floating about in my head and I've not had the chance to sit at the playtest table and give it a spin but something I'm definitely going to personally play with to see if it is feasible and fairly accurate).
-Granted, a more polished skills system would probably give more fine tuned, accurate results, but that would possibly come at a cost of having to add additional information to character sheets and so forth. Coming up with a system that can pretty much take data that already exists and compute it is my preference... but that is just my preference.

I'm at work right now, but I'll chime in on this I prefer that any "new" skills system keep it simple, and not try to re-write the existing rules.

Any planned expansion should include more examples of open-ended powers like Body Power, Chemical Power, Magical Spells, Psionics, Mutant Power, and Willpower B.

Imaginos wrote on Oct 7^th, 2010 at 10:53pm:


Also an expansion on other ways to use inventing points.

Not offended in the slightest myself.   

So did they ever settle it?
Are there enough fans to make it lucrative for them to even produce materials?
Much as I love the game... I just don't see how well this one can survive when it has had it's head held underwater for so long.
But I could be wrong. There might very well be more RPGers out there than I think.
I was just under the assumption that people would rather play stuff on game-stations or Computer over table top dice rolling.

Too bad the whole lot of them simply couldn't put their heads together (A long time ago) and produced materials back when it would have really mattered... and not virtually two decades later.

That is my opinion.

G7

And Fantasy Games Unlimited has a pretty massive list of new product too.  But don't take my word for it:
http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/category/Villains-and-Vigilantes-8

Oops!  Forgot to add the free stuff:
http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/page7.html

I think the conventions are showing there are customers.  The VandV twitter account for Monkey House Games stated that they sold out of all the rule books at CoastCon on the second day and the discussion panel for V&V 3.0 rules was very engaging with a good turn out.