Jeff Dee talks to us about his legal battle over the rights to Villains and Vigilantes and the speculates on the where the strengths of RPGs will take the hobby in the future.

Jeff Dee entered the RPG industry as a teen, illustrating for TSR in 1979. Along with Jack Herman, he developed the first complete superhero RPG, Villains and Vigilantes. 1st and 2nd edition V&V were published by Fantasy Games Unlimited Incorporated in 1979 and 1982. In 1991 FGU unincorporated, effectively ending their publishing contract. FGU president, Scott Bizar, retained the name to the company and began selling the V&V rulebook and supplements electronically in 2010. Since then Jeff Dee and Jack Herman have fought Scott Bizar in court, winning back the copyright for the V&V text but, currently not the trademark for the name. You can help Jeff fight for creator’s right on his Go Fund Me page.

Having been a part of the RPG hobby since nearly its inception, Jeff Dee has a good perspective on where the industry is going. He marvels at the increased availability of games, and resources. There are free random generators for pretty much anything a player might need online. There are ample cheap printable paper miniatures at drivethruRPG.com. There are even customizable 3D printed miniatures, such as at heroforge.com, though the technology is still very expensive. Online virtual tabletops, such as Roll20, are allowing players around the globe to play together, though they will need to become easier to use.

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Downloadable Character Sheet (Sky Hunter Man)