Das Schwarze Auge
Fantasy Productions translated FASA products into German for years. When FASA closed in 2001, WizKids licensed some of FASA's old tabletop rights went to the principals of Fantasy Productions. Rob Boyle considered making a bid to license "Shadowrun", but before he could, Fantasy Productions expressed interest in Shadowrun themselves. Fantasy Productions founder Werner Fuchs invited Boyle to visit him in Germany, and Boyle was soon setting up and running FanPro LLC, a new corporation created by two of the principals of the Fantasy Productions and Boyle himself. They created the new USA subsidiary FanPro LLC to hold the rights to FASA's game lines. FanPro licensed "Shadowrun" in early 2001, and Boyle took over as Line Editor, and six months later, FanPro licensed "Battletech" as well and hired Randall Bills to continue with his job as "Battletech" Line Editor; that made Bills FanPro LLC's second and only other employee. FanPro LLC also began expanding into translations of German RPGs, their first being "The Dark Eye" (2003), a translation of Germany's top fantasy RPG, "Das Schwarze Auge" (1984) – which had recently been released in a fourth edition (2002) by the German Fantasy Productions. "The Dark Eye", like FanPro's FASA lines, depended on a metaplot, this one advanced through adventures and Fantasy Productions' "Aventurische Bote" magazine. However, "The Dark Eye" did not sell well, and was not further supported by FanPro LLC as a result. "Degenesis", originally scheduled for late 2006, would have been a second German RPG, but once more FanPro LLC was not able to follow through.