While I like the idea of a Victorian Era-esque setting, I don't see any reason why they should pay Alan Moore to use characters that he doesn't own.
Moore or DC owns the rights to character interpetations and region interpetations, event interpetations, and indeed a cohesive set of fictional affiliations that in specificity (without signifigant change) are fairly authorial and corporate.
What they do not own are these characters and regions as abstracted from the fiction without Moore's interpetation and authorial presentation of these.
Should Wizards wish to create their own fantasy juxtaposition of fictive characters from literature and history, it is their right to do so. Should Wizards wish to invent a single or many secret societies that these characters belong to, they have the right to as long as these are not recognizably infringing on Moore's terms and recognizable qualities.
However, should Wizards wish to draw a crowd who loves this series why not purchase the rights to it. Furthermore, since Philip Jose Farmer is still alive it might be interesting to add the Wold-Newton family to the mix and purchase the license to that. This is assuming Wizards is still wealthy in cards.
So, what we might end up with is a world where family descent grants special powers and where secret societies are attempting to scoop up these families for their own purposes -- not always devious purposes though.
WotC could make a Victorian-esc setting, incorporating themes present in Moore's work but in the end, I don't see them doing that either. It would compete with Eberron a little too much and would, inevitably, fracture their fan base into 3 settings, instead of 2.
It is a wonder to me why Wizards, with their purported wealth, does not try to obtain a license for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from Alan Moore or DC comics. This would be a good way to resurrect "Gothic Earth", inspire reading amongst players, and to establish a good venue for sales to educated players of D&D.
As a huge fan of Masque of the Red Death, while you could easily run a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen style game in Gothic Earth, I'd rather not see the Alan Moore's envisioning of the famous literary characters when the the setting has its own. It'd be expensive to get and take away from the setting.
It is a wonder to me why Wizards, with their purported wealth, does not try to obtain a license for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from Alan Moore or DC comics. This would be a good way to resurrect "Gothic Earth", inspire reading amongst players, and to establish a good venue for sales to educated players of D&D.
Wealth? Are you referring to WotC or parent company Hasbro?
The bulk of their wealth comes from their TCG, not RPG.
I'm going to guess that Alan Moore is very picky about who he license his IP to, ever since the XLG film was produced.
I don't think WotC should acquire external licenses since they cost so much, and the only way to compensate the cost of said license is to increase the price tag of said licensed products.
Besides, XLG is not a big enough franchise compared to, say X-Men.
Further, Alan Moore would likely never allow it seeing as how much he regrets ever selling his works. He sold the rights to both Watchmen and V for Vendetta a long time ago, and the LEG rights were sold pretty much the second the first book came out. The rights went for very small sums, and the long series of disasters that followed pretty much destroyed any working relationships he had with DC comics (which is why The Black Dossier was the last Alan Moore book you'll ever see published by a major publisher like DC).
Pay someone else to use their characters and settings. This is a continual drain on finances, and they could have the license revoked at almosty any time, thus removing the revenue stream.
OR
Develop their own property and license it to other people (like video game developers). They control the IP and it generates money instead of draining money.
The choice seems pretty clear, I think. For some IPs (Star Wars) you might sell enough more copies based on the license to offset the cost, but even then youi don't control the IP and can't license it to other companies.
It is incredibly awesome fantasy with magic, demons, monsters but with a Wild West bend and a knightly order of Gunslingers.
One IP I would love to see WoTC do as a separate universe setting would be the Dark Tower universe that Stephen King made.
It is incredibly awesome fantasy with magic, demons, monsters but with a Wild West bend and a knightly order of Gunslingers.
Would you be satisfied with just a limted-time one-book deal like they did with Call of Cthulhu d20?
I have insisted a lot of times a modern setting in 100% fictional world (something like the game valkirye chronicles), specially if you want playing with FX (magic and psionic) and fantasy races like elfs, githyankis, hobgoblins, spellcales...
WotC created its own LEG, the chapter Shadow Stalker from d20 Past (I love this book!!!).
[smallcaps]Shadow Stalkers[/smallcaps] -- the precursor to the modern-day [smallcaps]Shadow Chasers[/smallcaps] -- is a clone setting that takes its inspiration from The Mummy, Hugh Jackman's Van Helsing, and flashbacks from Buffy The Vampire Slayer world.
It is a wonder to me why Wizards, with their purported wealth, does not try to obtain a license for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from Alan Moore or DC comics. This would be a good way to resurrect "Gothic Earth", inspire reading amongst players, and to establish a good venue for sales to educated players of D&D.
Cos Wizards ≠ Steve Jackson Games and D&D ≠ GURPS.