Iron Crown Enterprises

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Iron Crown Enterprises
Industry Gaming
Successor(s) Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, Guild Companion Publications
Founded 1980
Headquarters Virginia
Key people Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton
Products MERP, Rolemaster, High Adventure Role Playing (HARP), HARP SF, HARP SF Xtreme, Shadow World, Spacemaster

Iron Crown Enterprises has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games for 30 years. Many of ICE’s better-known products were related to JRR Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth, but the Rolemaster rules system, and its science-fiction equivalent, Spacemaster, have been the foundation of ICE’s business.

History

ICE was incorporated in 1980 shortly after the principal founders graduated from the University of Virginia. ICE began by publishing a series of rules supplements, beginning with "Arms Law", which were intended to serve as modular add-ons to other RPG systems offering greater detail. In time these supplements were tied together to form an RPG system of their own, Rolemaster. The company enjoyed a sudden jump in status when it acquired the license to produce an official fantasy RPG based upon J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, which would come to be known as MERP ("Middle-earth Role Playing"). According to some interpretations, at the time of its publication ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing was the second best selling fantasy RPG after TSR's Dungeons & Dragons. ICE then added the science fiction RPGs Spacemaster and Cyberspace to its line, and, with the rise of collectible card games, the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game. ICE also published a moderately successful space miniatures battle game called Silent Death, based on Spacemaster but with simpler mechanics. Silent Death was released in two major editions, with supplemental books and a fair number of paintable lead miniatures.[1]

Solo Gaming

Iron Crown branched out into the solo gaming books under the Tolkien Quest (later called Middle-earth Quest) and Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries book lines.[1] ICE signed in 1986 a publication contract to take over Hero Games' production and distribution. Later with Hero Games staff leaving for other jobs, ICE took over the creative reins of Hero's products.[1]

Middle-earth Quest violated ICE and Tolkien Enterprises' contract with Tolkien's book publishing licensee George Allen & Unwin, forcing ICE to recall and destroy the whole line of books. ICE sued the Narnia licensor as they did not have the necessary right to license out Narnia to ICE. That company went bankrupt from the legal settlement and was unable to pay ICE their damages. ICE reached terms in 1988 for a gamebook license with the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and George Allen & Unwin for four new Middle-earth Quest books. The solo game book market was going soft by this time. ICE canceled all solo game book lines with dozens of books still in development. Returns were high on the Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries line. All this brought ICE to near bankruptcy in a "voluntary-type of receivership".[1]

Financial Decline

Despite ICE's many successes, in 1997 ICE suffered financial difficulties from a rapid decline in its distribution net; nearly 70% of ICE's distributors either went bankrupt or became moribund. The company entered bankruptcy and filed for Chapter 7 in October 2000. This bankruptcy cost ICE the Middle-earth license, ending both the MERP and CCG lines. Many of the authors and illustrators were not paid for substantial amounts of work.[citation needed]

ICE's logo since relaunch
In December 2001, ICE's assets were purchased by Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, an intellectual property ownership company backed by several wealthy individuals. The new owners licensed the Iron Crown Enterprise name and other assets to Mjolnir LLC until 2011. Starting in January 2011, licensing was transferred to Guild Companion Publications Ltd.[2]

Iron Crown Resurgence

Since taking over the reins, Guild Companion Publications Ltd (GCP) has been involved in the comprehensive rebranding and recovery of products from three decades of ICE publications, including some that have never before been available commercially. Using print-on-demand publishing via its partners, the OneBookShelf eCommerce network and Lightning Source, GCP is already working to make much of this back catalogue available in print and as PDF files. Most importantly, GCP has also published three brand-new products, HARP SF, HARP SF Xtreme and the Shadow World Player’s Guide, in both PDF and print-on-demand. These new books are the first of many planned for release by GCP.

The current ICE has no connection with Middle-earth Role Playing, which was not one of the properties purchased by Aurigas Aldebaron LLC in 2001.

Publications

Board games

  • Manassas[3] (1980)
  • The Riddle of the Ring (1982)
  • The Battle of Five Armies (1984)
  • The Lonely Mountain - Lair of Smaug the Dragon (1984)
  • Cleric's Revenge (1985)
  • Star Strike (1988)
  • Armored Assault (1989)
  • The Hobbit Adventure (1994)

Solo gaming books

  • Middle-earth Quest line
    • Tolkien Quest (1985)
    • Night of the Nazgul (1985)
  • Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries line
    • Murder at the Diogenes Club (1987)
  • Narnia Solo Games line
    • Return to Deathwater (1988)

Role-playing games

  • The Iron Wind (1980)
  • A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth (1982)
  • Angmar (1982)
  • MERP - Middle-earth Role Playing (1984)
    • Bree and the Barrow-Downs (1984)
    • Dark Mage of Rhudaur (1989)
    • Lords of Middle-Earth (1986)
    • Minas Tirith (1988)
    • Minas Ithil (1991)
    • Palantir Quest (1994)
    • Kin-Strife (1995)
    • Hands of the Healer (1997)
  • Rolemaster - A role playing game system.
    • Arms Law (1980)
    • Spell Law (1981)
    • Character Law (1982)
    • Claw Law (1982)
    • War Law (1991)
    • Sea Law (1994)
    • Rolemaster (1982)
    • Campaign Law (1984)
    • Rolemaster, second edition (1986)
    • Rolemaster Companion (1986)
    • Rolemaster second edition 2nd iteration (1989)
  • Spacemaster - An adaption of Rolemaster in a sci-fi setting. first edition (1985), second edition (1988)
    • Future Law (1985)
    • Tech Law (1985)
    • Action On Akaisha Outstation (1985)
    • Imperial Crisis (1985)
    • Spacemaster Companion (1986)
    • Lost Telepaths (1986)
    • Beyond The Core (1987)
    • The Cygnus Conspiracy (1987)
    • Tales From Deep Space (1988)
    • War on a Distant Moon (1988)
    • The Durandrium Find (1989)
    • Disaster on Adanis III (1989)
    • Raiders from the Frontier (1989)
    • Spacemaster Companion I (1990)
    • Dark Space (1990)
    • Aliens & Artifacts (1991)
    • Time Riders (1992)
    • Spacemaster Companion II (1994)
  • Cyberspace (1989)
    • Cyberspace Core Rulebook (1989)
    • Sprawlgangs & Megacorps (1990)
    • Edge On (1990)
    • Cyber Rogues (1990)
    • The Body Bank (1990)
    • Death Valley Free Prison (1990)
    • Death Game 2090 (1990)
    • Cyberskelter (1991)
    • Chicago Arcology (1991)
    • Cyber Europe (1991)
  • Campaign Classics line - dual stated for Hero System and Rolemaster:
    • Robin Hood (1987)
    • Mythic Greece (1988)
    • Vikings (1989)
    • Pirates (1989)
    • Mythic Egypt (1990)
  • Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (1991)
  • High Adventure Role Playing (2003)

Miniatures games

Collectible card games

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Appelcline, Shannon (2006-11-21). "#8: ICE, Part One: 1980-1992". A Brief History of Game. RPGnet. Retrieved 10 July 2009. 
  2. ↑ uncredited (2011-03-03). "Products from the Guild". IronCrown.com. 
  3. ↑ Manassas on Boardgamegeek.com, a boardgames specialized website
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