Sure, but then you're on the hook for what they officially do with the name, since you've sanctioned them.
Then you come to the cost of doing this while protecting yourself. Getting lawyers to draft up something appropriately restrictive is probably expensive, and still unlikely to cover all the problems you might run into, and getting the project to sign it might be hard since it's in their best interest to have a lawyer review it to make sure it doesn't give away IP, and that costs money...
The author endorses racist/sexist views, comes out for child labor, and incorporates those themes into their work, or somehow publicizes that fact in relation to your property. The details don't matter to 99% of the people out there, if an official Doom product endorsed racism, Bethesda would definitely be dealing with the fallout.
I'm not sure how likely it is factors all that much. When you have a hundred million to billion dollar business, why risk allowing anything even remotely like that which might harm your brand? It's much easier to just say no.
Then you come to the cost of doing this while protecting yourself. Getting lawyers to draft up something appropriately restrictive is probably expensive, and still unlikely to cover all the problems you might run into, and getting the project to sign it might be hard since it's in their best interest to have a lawyer review it to make sure it doesn't give away IP, and that costs money...