Kenzer & Company
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(August 2008) |
| Industry | Role-playing,card games,board gamesandminiature wargamingpublisher |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | David Kenzer Brian Jelke Jolly R. Blackburn Steve Johansson Jennifer Kenzer Mark Plemmons |
| Products | HackMaster,Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier,Kingdoms of Kalamarrole-playing games andKnights of the Dinner Tablemagazine |
| Website | www.kenzerco.com |
Kenzer & Company(KenzerCo) is aWaukegan, Illinoisbased publisher ofcomic books,role-playing games,board games,card games,andminiature games.
They are known for theKingdoms of Kalamarcampaign setting and for their ownHackMasterandAces & Eights: Shattered Frontierrole-playing games (RPGs). Perhaps their best known product is theKnights of the Dinner Table(KoDT) magazine, which is a monthly publication that is part comic book and part RPG magazine. KenzerCo's line of comics now includes spinoffs such asKnights of the Dinner Table IllustratedandSpacehack,licensed comics in theDungeons & Dragonsline, and the fantasy literature magazineBlack Gate.Other products include theFairy Meatminiatures game, theFuzzy Knightsweb strips, theMonty Python and the Holy Grailcard game and board games such asDwarven Dig,Elemental,andThe Great Space Race.[1]
Notable employees
[edit]- Barbara Blackburn - Assistant Editor ofKoDTand staff writer
- Jolly Blackburn- Vice-President and creator ofKnights of the Dinner Table
- Brian Jelke - Vice-President and game designer
- Steve Johansson - Vice-President and game designer
- David Kenzer - President and game designer
- Jennifer Kenzer - CFO
- Mark Plemmons - Game designer, senior editor, art director, convention manager, HackMaster Association manager
Unlicensed supplements and trademark issues
[edit] | This section may contain informationnotimportant or relevantto the article's subject.(February 2024) |
In 1994, Kenzer & Company releasedThe Kingdoms of Kalamar,afantasycampaign settingcompatible withAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons.This source book was a completely unlicensed product, and althoughTSR(the then-owner of theDungeons & Dragonstrademark) had a precedent of threatening legal action against similar supplements, Kenzer & Company was never threatened.[2]
With the launch ofDungeons & Dragons’s3rd edition,Wizards of the Coast made thed20 Systemavailable under theOpen Game License(OGL) andd20 Trademark License.Under these licenses, authors are free to use the d20 System when writing games and game supplements.[3]Shortly after Wizards of the Coast announced the 3rd edition ofDungeons & Dragons,they announced jointly with Kenzer & Company that Kenzer had acquired a license to produce officialDungeons & Dragonsmaterial, using the Kalamar setting exclusively.
With the release of the fourth edition, Wizards of the Coast introduced itsGame System License,which represented a significant restriction compared with the very open policies embodied by the OGL. In response, Kenzer & Company launched an updated version ofKingdoms of Kalamarcompatible with the 4th-edition version ofDungeons & Dragonsthat did not conform to the new GSL for approved use, instead releasing the campaign setting as an unlicensed supplement, similar to the original publication. TheDungeons & Dragonstrademarkis used in accordance with US law under a concept callednominative use– the book merely says that it is for use with the new version. David Kenzer is named as an expert in copyright law.[4]
References
[edit]- ^Daily Llama - Kenzer & Co. debut the world's first Monty Python home game!
- ^Games & The Law, Part Seven: The D&D Dilemma
- ^"The d20 System".Wizards of the Coast.Archived fromthe originalon February 3, 2004.Retrieved2007-08-14.
- ^Kenzer Co, D&D and Trademarksfrom the Robertson Games Website
External links
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| National | |
