Is it true that Kevin threatened to sue any gaming magazines that published material for Palladium games?
Not exactly. GDW was being prickish (may they rest in peace; GDW went out of business in January 1996, ironically partially due to costs incurred from the lawsuit they lost to TSR). Actually, what Kevin wanted was editorial approval of the articles. This meant that, if a magazine wanted to print a non-review (i.e. adventure or other supplement) article for Rifts or other Palladium games, Kevin wanted the right to review it, and reject any part of the article that might conflict with the company’s plans for Rifts (especially), etc. There was also the matter of the potential license difficulties that would have cropped up for TMNT or Robotech RPG articles. GDW (then publisher of Journeys & Challenge magazines) took the stance that “We don’t need your articles, if your restrictions mean a 1-3 month delay in an article seeing print.” The misunderstandings spread from there, with the result of both companies thinking that the other side wasn’t willing to negotiate at all.
Not exactly; it was more of a rights issue that got out of hand. Games Designer Workshop was being a little prickish, and things got out of hand (may they rest in peace; GDW went out of business in January 1996, ironically partially due to costs incurred from the lawsuit they lost to TSR over a violation of the non-compete clause in Gary Gygax’s contract, when he did Dangerous Journeys). What Kevin wanted was editorial pre-approval of any articles GDW would have printed in their Journeys magazine. This meant that, if a magazine wanted to print a non-review (i.e. adventure or other supplement) article for Rifts or other Palladium games, Kevin wanted the right to review it, and reject any part of the article that might conflict with the company’s plans for Rifts (especially), etc. There was also the matter of the potential license difficulties that would have cropped up for TMNT or Robotech RPG articles. Also, it was perfectly in line with what other magazines Kevin had experience with a
