Mongoose Publishing Acquires Dark Conspiracy RPG

Mongoose Publishing has acquired the rights to the Dark Conspiracy RPG, originally published in 1991 by Game Designers' Workshop. The game is set in the near future in the United States, and is described as a 'dark horror' game. The US is made of massive 'metroplexes' surrounded by the lawless 'Out-Law' areas and mysterious 'Demongrounds' which spawn dark monsters.

There have been three editions of the game since 1991. The 2nd Edition was published in 1995 by Dark Conspiracy Enterprises, and the 3rd Edition in 2012 by Kinstaff Media. The new Mongoose edition is expected in 2026.

The original creator, Lester W. Smith was also trying to acquire the property. Yesterday he posted on his blog that he failed to secure the rights--

I did my best, folks. Made an offer, had it approved, negotiated for some final wording about the state of previous licenses, and learned last week that the IP was being sold to someone else.

This isn't the first game that Mongoose has acquired in recent months. In October 2024 it acquired Twilight 2000 and 2300 AD, and in August 2024 the company announced that it had acquired the rights to Traveller from creator Marc Miller.

 

[Staffan]

Mongoose is really on a roll trying to recover all of the GDW properties. Good on them!

I hope they reach out to Lester B. Smith, I get the impression that their interactions with Marc Miller have all been positive.

I have no idea about what resources Lester B. Smith has, but I'm pretty sure that Mongoose has more resources available to make a better product. And of course, it would likely benefit from having the original main writer attached.

 

[payn]

The Fiddleback trilogy was one of the few works of gaming fiction I really liked. Well worth a read if you can find them.

I enjoy Stackpole's Battletech stuff (mostly) so ill look into it.

 

[DragonLancer]

I had everything for the 1st edition and we played several campaigns under it. I loved the character generation system with all the career progressions. I could be interested when this gets rereleased.

Only ever played Twilight 2000 once or twice but did enjoy. I could consider picking that up as well.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Also Elmore signed it on the wall part under the car. Along with some GDW lives graffiti.

Oops, the question was just about the cover, wasn't it? Yeah, that's Elmore. Bradstreet did a fair bit of the interior art - the subject came up on another site a few days ago.

That "GDW lives" bit just makes me sad.

 

[beta-ray]

Bwhaha I clicked on this thinking it was this thread and really did start wondering if there was some kind of conspiracy afoot.

 

[aramis erak]

Free League would do it prettier, but I'd much rather see it using the Traveller system. For me, GDW should have made that their house system back in the day anyway.

(I'd also still rather T:2000 was done in Trav, although I don't think Mongoose would have produced as good a package away from the core mechanics as FL have)

TNE was the T2000 port of Traveller...

 

[aramis erak]

Mongoose is really on a roll trying to recover all of the GDW properties. Good on them!

I hope they reach out to Lester B. Smith, I get the impression that their interactions with Marc Miller have all been positive.

There were some rough spots a decade ago, but generally, Marc seems pleased with them. And most of the fanbase seems ok with them, as well.

 

[Cergorach]

Neither have been involved with Rebellion for over a decade.

I only remember the announcement that they joined the Rebellion, I apparently missed the one where they said they were leaving (in 2010), the Rebellion Wikipedia lists that they acquired Mongoose and Crucible 7, but not that they left (although not under the current active subsidiaries). Thanks for the hint and found the old news article.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Free League would do it prettier, but I'd much rather see it using the Traveller system. For me, GDW should have made that their house system back in the day anyway.

(I'd also still rather T:2000 was done in Trav, although I don't think Mongoose would have produced as good a package away from the core mechanics as FL have)

Some of the Mongoose recent box sets - like 2300AD for one - are quite close to the production level of Free League’s Twilight: 2000. Their printing firm is Studio 2 - the same as that used by Pinnacle Entertainment’s Savage Worlds.

Moreover, Mongoose don’t seem so above themselves to not work with other companies, as they have done with Marc Miller for the last 15+ years or so. I noted that Modiphius managed to use the Paranoia licence to produce a boardgame recently, too.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I only remember the announcement that they joined the Rebellion, I apparently missed the one where they said they were leaving (in 2010), the Rebellion Wikipedia lists that they acquired Mongoose and Crucible 7, but not that they left (although not under the current active subsidiaries). Thanks for the hint and found the old news article.

Mongoose left Rebellion fairly swiftly - they basically wanted more independence.