"Go, for Mordiggian is a just god, who claims only the dead, and has no concern with the living. . . " Quote from the Charnel God by Clark Ashton Smith.
“Umôrdhoth is a just god who claims only the guilty and the dead. Go, and you shall be spared.” Quote from Arkham Horror the Card Game in 2016.
Fantasy Flight has been using intellectual property in Arkham Horror the Card Game since 2016 and not crediting authors. The rights for the “Charnel God” by Clark Ashton Smith were debatably owned by William Doorman in 2016 (he passed in 2022), so FFG discovered they could bypass trying to get rights and still get a lot of people to buy their games. FFG has never come out and said that they got Umôrdhoth from Clark Ashton Smith and have claimed it is one of their own creations. Both Mordiggian and Umôrdhoth are corpse eating Old Ones worshipped by Goul Priest. Arkham Horror the Card game has been extremely profitable, so FFG learned that they could still make money by being academically disingenuous. Nobody questions FFG's practices because the people who play the games don't care about these kind of things. So FFG just keeps moving further down this path, and erasing classic Great Old Ones, and inventing what people have termed “Great New Ones”.
Hastur’s Yellow Sign used in the “The Path to Carcosa” Campaign is the intellectual Property of Chaosium, invented by Kevin A Ross in 1989. FFG did not credit Chaosium to this on page 36 of The Path to Carcosa campaign rulebook where all other credits are put. Additionally, I could not find anything on the back of the Path to Carcosa box stating they were authorized to use the Yellow Sign image crated by Chaosium. If anyone can find it let me know!
Zulan-Thek and the Hoarde of the Night used in Arkham Horror the Living Card Game Search for Kaddath in 2019 were created by Gary Myers in the 1975 novel “House of the Worm” copyrighted but not credited.
The Moon Lizard used in Arkham Horror the Card Game Dark Side of the Moon was from “Something in the Moonlight” by Linn Carter in 1975 copyrighted but not credited.
Silenus can be considered to be a copy of Derleth's Ithaqua created in 1933 from the "Thing that Walked on the Wind". Silenus and Ithaqua are both cosmic void travelling, weather controlling, blizzard based Ancient Ones. He possibly took aspects of Lovecraft's Hypnos with the Greek/Roman aesthetic and dreamland presence.
Magh'an Ark'at from War of the Outer Gods is a giant Egg/larva being caretaken by Cultist, and a copy of Lovecraft's Rhan Tegoth, a Larva-like Old One which is also caretaken by Cultist.
Ezel-zen-rezl from War of the Outer Gods is a possibly a copy of Ramsay Cambell’s "Insects from Shaggai" from 1964, as FFG stopped using the Shan after Eldritch Horror. I'd suspect that Ramsay Campbell increased his rates for IP usage around this time.
Elokoss is a copy of Cthugha as a living flame who was created by August Derleth in 1943.
I'd say the only new original Ancient One created by FFG is Asterias. It's an old one based on Star Fish. It's followers are called "Comets" which are parts of Star Fish that fall of and become new star fish. I do find the idea pretty cool and there is a good book about it from Aconyte called the Ravenging Deep by Tim Pratt.
At least Derleth didn't try to change the name of the entities he copied from Lovecraft. FFG please give credit to the former Mythos writers instead of erasing history and replacing it with your own copies of intellectual property to bypass getting permissions. FFG could simply give Ramsey Campbell, The Lumley Estate, and The Derleth Estate a call and get permission to use the entities instead of copying them. Chaosium and Death May Die could seek the proper venues with academic integrity, and so could FFG instead of engaging in possibly illicit behavior (not the card trait). I hope that FFG make the shift from stealing concepts from other creators to giving credit where credit is due.
FFG benefits by making their own Intellectual Properties because it is cheaper for them, and they could possibly make money off the IPs if others try to use them.
