Mongoose reaction to OGL/SRD
People seem to be judging mongoose on the d20 stuff they produced for Dnd 3E; thats not a propoer way of looking at it IMO. The best mongoose products and some of the best stuff for d20 was when mongoose applied the OGl to theri OWN settings.
Conan and babylon 5 for example, are two of mongooses main lines and some of the best selling d20 products published under the OGL. Lonewolf d20 was also fantastic. IMO this is what mongoose should keep doing; don't publish stuff for 4E, let the other companies do that. Use the OGL/SRD to publish for unique settings.
Sure this will be harder this time around, since the OGL is more limiting and does not allow all rules to be published in the 3rd party rulebook (thus requring the phb) but since other publishers will be focusing on producing strictly for dndn 4E, mOngoose will have a large niche market to themselves.
In many way's Mongoose is like TSR at its height (or close to it(; they have fantastic settings, and they go all out to support them (B5 novels are being published, Lonewolf gamebooks are being republished, etc all by mongoose) Mongoose is also AFAIK the 3rd largest poublisher, after WOTC and WW.
Furthermore Mongoose has made a significant investment in its future by purchasing the Runequest and traveller rulesets, so they truly have the luxury of sitting back and deciding what they want to do, rather than what they have to do to survive.
And as always, mongoose fans (messageboard readers) were the first to hear of their plans. Say what you will about mongoose, their link to their fanbase is topnotch. Sometimes msprange just goes onto his boards and asks the fans what they want in an upcoming product, or which way they should take a certain product line. And then does exactly as the fans suggest.
However, mongoose needs to reemphasize quality. Their editing has improved, but it needs to be taken a step further. Also, they need to cut down on quantity and focus on quality (to a profitable extent anyway) they are already doing so from what I have seen oiver the last few months however.
Conan and babylon 5 for example, are two of mongooses main lines and some of the best selling d20 products published under the OGL. Lonewolf d20 was also fantastic. IMO this is what mongoose should keep doing; don't publish stuff for 4E, let the other companies do that. Use the OGL/SRD to publish for unique settings.
Sure this will be harder this time around, since the OGL is more limiting and does not allow all rules to be published in the 3rd party rulebook (thus requring the phb) but since other publishers will be focusing on producing strictly for dndn 4E, mOngoose will have a large niche market to themselves.
In many way's Mongoose is like TSR at its height (or close to it(; they have fantastic settings, and they go all out to support them (B5 novels are being published, Lonewolf gamebooks are being republished, etc all by mongoose) Mongoose is also AFAIK the 3rd largest poublisher, after WOTC and WW.
Furthermore Mongoose has made a significant investment in its future by purchasing the Runequest and traveller rulesets, so they truly have the luxury of sitting back and deciding what they want to do, rather than what they have to do to survive.
And as always, mongoose fans (messageboard readers) were the first to hear of their plans. Say what you will about mongoose, their link to their fanbase is topnotch. Sometimes msprange just goes onto his boards and asks the fans what they want in an upcoming product, or which way they should take a certain product line. And then does exactly as the fans suggest.
However, mongoose needs to reemphasize quality. Their editing has improved, but it needs to be taken a step further. Also, they need to cut down on quantity and focus on quality (to a profitable extent anyway) they are already doing so from what I have seen oiver the last few months however.
MongooseMatt
First Post
Pat said:
The Slayer's Guides and Encyclopaedias did well for us - however, it was the Quintessentials that changed everything for us, as a company. They really did that well.
MongooseMatt
First Post
Darkwolf71 said:
Still not enough information yet. Still, the analysis can start now
MongooseMatt
First Post
Sitara said:
We did briefly consider Glorantha 4e, then sanity regained its place
Darkwolf71
First Post
Oh, no. I totally understand why you haven't made a commitment.MongooseMatt said:Still not enough information yet. Still, the analysis can start now
I'm just anxious to hear what you decide.
dmccoy1693
Adventurer
MongooseMatt said:We did briefly consider Glorantha 4e, then sanity regained its place
*Milk coming out of nose laugh*
Gundark
Explorer
a lot said without saying much...
Honestly I expected something like this from mongoose. They have branched out and are wondering if it's worth the effort. It seems to be the 5k that the companies are struggling with, not so much "gee should we make 4e products?"
But what was said by mongoose was exactly what I thought they'd say.
Honestly I expected something like this from mongoose. They have branched out and are wondering if it's worth the effort. It seems to be the 5k that the companies are struggling with, not so much "gee should we make 4e products?"
But what was said by mongoose was exactly what I thought they'd say.
MongooseMatt
First Post
Sitara said:
Still a little vague at the moment - 'a few weeks' was the quote, though I had the impression it was a small number of few weeks, rather than a large.
The advantage we have here is that we employ full-time writers and developers - this means we could choose to dedicate a team to do nothing more than study and play the new rules for a month or two, 8 hours a day, five days a week (it is a tough life they have, I know). That makes hitting the release dates a doable process.
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