J. J.:

I would say the answer is between 'yes' and 'definitely yes'.

A mineral deed conveys mineral rights. This means not only the right to receive royalty, but also the right to receive bonus, rentals, and all other monies that one would expect as proceeds in advance of an during a lease. If your friend deeded you half the minerals prior to leasing, you would be entitled to half of the bonus. Even if your friend deeded half of the minerals today, you would be entitles to half of any rental, shut-in, or extension payment, etc., as well as half of the royalty, due under the current lease.

Royalty deeds convey just what the term implies, the right to receive royalties. You only receive revenue if the minerals are produced. Royalty deeds can be limited to and made subject to a lease (meaning if the lease expires, so does the deed, for all intents and purposes), or they can be a covenant running with the land (meaning that the deed would expire according to the same rules as minerals prescribe).

If there is any advantage to a royalty deed (and it really isn't an advantage, unless you are oblivious to what the deed actually does) is if you buy a portion of someone's rights. This is a case of when "the devil is in the details", because the wording of the document is all-important.

If you buy one-eighth (1/8) of the minerals "in, on, or under" a piece of land, you receive one-eighth of the right to execute the lease and benefits from a lease. If the property is under lease is for a 1/4 royalty, you will receive a 1/32 royalty interest in the tract.

If you buy a royalty deed for 1/8 of the production accruing from a tract of land, you will receive...

a 1/8 royalty interest in the tract. Big difference.

This is usually why if you wish to buy a fraction (let's use an 1/8 just to compare to the above) of someone's royalty, people generally state that, in the case in which someone has property subject to a lease reserving a 1/4 royalty, that the royalty buyer is purchasing "one-eighth (1/8) of seller's (not 'the') royalty (being 1/8 of 1/4 of 8/8)" of the revenue accruing from the production from the land".

As far as fair price, it's hard to put a price tag on a play that has not produced large amounts of data yet. If you had a good point of reference, like a producing well in the HS in an adjacent section with royalty owners receiving $500 per acre per month, then $12,000-$15,000 per acre would be a fair price to buy the royalty. But in unproven areas where there is no "fever mentality", speculative royalty rarely goes for more than a few hundred dollars per acre, so this type of purchase is much more of a judgment as to what fair market value should be.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.