Hi guys,
Taking a short (one hour!) break from work, so please forgive me if I digress on more than one occasion. Only a few days before 2003 comes into view, so this is as good a time as any to sit back and see where we are going over the next 12 months and beyond.
First off, let me say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us (be it on Internet forums or in your local games store) over the past 18 months or so. From (very) humble beginnings, Mongoose Publishing has swelled into something that resembles a proper company - imagine that! As well as the two chaps who started this mad enterprise (myself and Alex), we now employ two writers (Ian and Alejandro) and two editors (Paul and Daniel) full-time, and will be looking for more staff in the New Year (if you want to clamber on board, by all means give me a shout but I am afraid you'll have to move to Swindon in the UK - I am told it is the English equivalent of Fresno. . .). We could not have done _any_ of this without you chaps. Thank you. We are well aware that we have not always pleased all the gamers all the time, but we _do_ listen to each and every comment raised. No matter how vitriolic
The past 12 months have certainly been interesting for the d20 System, and I think it is about this time that you should really see things kicking off from all the publishers, in terms of dynamics and pushing the rules system to its limits. 2002 was very much the time of the class/race book and the various magic guides, but I think 2003 will belong more to full-blown d20 RPGs that may look nothing like D&D. Leading the way amongst these will be various licenced games (no, I still cannot reveal the-game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned, though I think most of you have put two and two together by now). Judge Dredd, I think, showed how d20 games need not resemble D&D to be effective, and Mutants & Masterminds from Green Ronin is another step on this road. I think we'll start to see the d20 system bent in various ways to fit the genre of the games, rather than bolting on a genre to the d20 rules, as the first RPGs did. I predict you will also see a (small) outcry from gamers who will claim this is debasing the d20 System, and that every game that moves further away from the core rules devalues the concept of the single system. But we know better, right?
When I started Mongoose, I thought I was working hard - far harder than I had ever done in any 'normal' job. I had no idea what was to come Still, for all the blood and sweat, there is nothing else I would rather be doing. After all, in 2002, we were able to produce the all new Judge Dredd RPG - how cool is that? Still, some things have had to give - I cannot remember the last time I played Warhammer 40,000, a once great passion of mine, and my decision to get back into radio-controlled aircraft has resulted in nothing more than a few short hops in my chopper. Still, I have made the office campaign mandatory for all staff (it is good to be the boss ) and we have had a thorough thrashing of our forthcoming books in the Forgotten Realms - all good stuff.
We have lots of exciting goodies planned for 2003. The Quintessential series remains one of the most popular set of d20 books, and there will be plenty more of them to come - as well as completing the core classes next year, we will also be looking at more esoteric subjects, such as the much vaunted Quintessential Chaos Mage and Lycanthrope. The Encyclopaedia Arcane/Divine/Psionica (coming soon!) series will continue to expand, forming into a proper library for any spellcaster - on this note, I have been meaning to put together some rules so characters can actually acquire these tomes 'in game'. That is, if you go out and buy, say, EA Constructs, your character has a chance to add the fantasy equivalent to his own library. I'll run those up as a free PDF when I get the chance.
I thought we might have run out of ideas for Slayer's Guides by now, but we _still_ have not done Ogres or Kobolds - and if they have yet to be covered, there must be plenty of ground to go yet. We are also going to be loooking at more 128 page 'beefy' Slayer's Guides covering the more powerful races, such as Devils, Demons and Giants. The Supplementary Rulebooks (or 'Ultimates' as many have started calling them) are proving to be almost as popular as the Quintessentials, so you can also expect to see a wide range of subjects covered here in 2003. Ultimate Prestige Classes Vol 2 is already being prepared, as is Ultimate Monsters and, a personal favourite of mine, The Ultimate Games Designer's Companion.
All that to reassure you that we are by no means leaving core fantasy supplements in the lurch as we pursue our range of full-blown RPGs. We have been very pleased with the response, particularly in the US, for the Judge Dredd and Slaine RPGs and will continue to support them throughout 2003. However, next up will be Armageddon 2089: Total War (the new name for WarMech) in March which is, without a doubt, _the_ most detailed set of d20 rules yet published. We have combined Mecha with modern and futuristic warfare for this one and if you are a tread or propeller- head, it is going to be well worth a look. Taking the role of Mercenary, Military or Corporation Mek companies, we have already expanded the setting out to include infantry/special forces missions and characters, as well as spies and espionage to coexist with Mek-based scenarios and campaigns. We have had several military experts working alongside the developers of this game and it promises to be an absolute corker. It will also, naturally, be heavily supported after release, with titles such as Armoured Companies, War at Sea, The High Frontier and a full range of novels.
The-game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned is rapidly turning into d20's worst kept secret but hopefully we can make our announcement very soon. The setting on which it is based made a lot about a certain curse that followed not only the characters in the TV show but also the actual creators and writers - and it seems the curse has followed on to us as well! Still, we have weathered the adversity (I sincerely hope I can give you guys the full story at a later date, you'll never believe it) and everything now seems to be back on course for a May release. We have also pulled in some 'names' to write source material for the game, some of whom will be very familiar to those who are fans of the setting. . .
On top of this, we have Lone Wolf coming out towards the end of the year (along with free to download PDFs of the original gamebooks, fully updated to use the rules of the new RPG), and Conan early in 2004. We are currently talking to a rather large RPG web site at the moment, for them to host the design and development of the Conan RPG - basically, we are looking to develop the game online, with everyone invited to come along, make suggestions and try out new rules on a weekly basis. Cannot help thinking I am making a major rod for my own back by doing this, but it should be loads of fun regardless!!! I have a feeling this will be the first time this has been done for an RPG, certainly for one as large as Conan.
There is a lot more in the works, of course, and as well as a few surprises in 2003, we are already beginning to flesh out our 2004 release schedule in detail. Lots of minor projects are being tinkered on at the moment by our writers, any of which could suddenly balloon out into a full-blown release (that is exactly how the Quintessential series started!), so things will certainly be kept exciting!
I'll polish this off with a few predictions for the coming year.
1. D20 companies will not fail or consolidate, as many pundits are saying. They will simply fail or survive. Despite the merging of, say, MEG and THG, I think consolidation between companies will be the exception rather than the rule.
2. You will, however, see more co-operation between companies, above and beyond the use of OGC. For example, we are offering a royalty-free licence to other companies to produce not just scenarios but sourcebooks and rules supplements for our Armageddon 2089 RPG, with complete access to artwork and marketing. If everything works out, we'll certainly be doing more of that!
3. We have had competition between companies on race/class and magic books over the past year. Next year the battleground will be actual RPGs, with perhaps a brief flurry into campaign settings territory as they see a small resurgence. I believe there will also be a small set of skirmishes in the gaming magazine market, though I am also guessing most gamers will be unaware of it
4. Someone will figure out how to use the Internet properly to support an RPG. . .
5. By this time next year, I still won't have played a game of Warhammer 40,000.
6. I _will_ have my stuffed Mongoose Mascot, damnit!
It has to be time for me to sign off now. I hope you have all had a very merry Christmas and I wish you the very best of Happy New Years!
Taking a short (one hour!) break from work, so please forgive me if I digress on more than one occasion. Only a few days before 2003 comes into view, so this is as good a time as any to sit back and see where we are going over the next 12 months and beyond.
First off, let me say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us (be it on Internet forums or in your local games store) over the past 18 months or so. From (very) humble beginnings, Mongoose Publishing has swelled into something that resembles a proper company - imagine that! As well as the two chaps who started this mad enterprise (myself and Alex), we now employ two writers (Ian and Alejandro) and two editors (Paul and Daniel) full-time, and will be looking for more staff in the New Year (if you want to clamber on board, by all means give me a shout but I am afraid you'll have to move to Swindon in the UK - I am told it is the English equivalent of Fresno. . .). We could not have done _any_ of this without you chaps. Thank you. We are well aware that we have not always pleased all the gamers all the time, but we _do_ listen to each and every comment raised. No matter how vitriolic
The past 12 months have certainly been interesting for the d20 System, and I think it is about this time that you should really see things kicking off from all the publishers, in terms of dynamics and pushing the rules system to its limits. 2002 was very much the time of the class/race book and the various magic guides, but I think 2003 will belong more to full-blown d20 RPGs that may look nothing like D&D. Leading the way amongst these will be various licenced games (no, I still cannot reveal the-game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned, though I think most of you have put two and two together by now
). Judge Dredd, I think, showed how d20 games need not resemble D&D to be effective, and Mutants & Masterminds from Green Ronin is another step on this road. I think we'll start to see the d20 system bent in various ways to fit the genre of the games, rather than bolting on a genre to the d20 rules, as the first RPGs did. I predict you will also see a (small) outcry from gamers who will claim this is debasing the d20 System, and that every game that moves further away from the core rules devalues the concept of the single system. But we know better, right? When I started Mongoose, I thought I was working hard - far harder than I had ever done in any 'normal' job. I had no idea what was to come
Still, for all the blood and sweat, there is nothing else I would rather be doing. After all, in 2002, we were able to produce the all new Judge Dredd RPG - how cool is that? Still, some things have had to give - I cannot remember the last time I played Warhammer 40,000, a once great passion of mine, and my decision to get back into radio-controlled aircraft has resulted in nothing more than a few short hops in my chopper. Still, I have made the office campaign mandatory for all staff (it is good to be the boss ) and we have had a thorough thrashing of our forthcoming books in the Forgotten Realms - all good stuff.We have lots of exciting goodies planned for 2003. The Quintessential series remains one of the most popular set of d20 books, and there will be plenty more of them to come - as well as completing the core classes next year, we will also be looking at more esoteric subjects, such as the much vaunted Quintessential Chaos Mage and Lycanthrope. The Encyclopaedia Arcane/Divine/Psionica (coming soon!) series will continue to expand, forming into a proper library for any spellcaster - on this note, I have been meaning to put together some rules so characters can actually acquire these tomes 'in game'. That is, if you go out and buy, say, EA Constructs, your character has a chance to add the fantasy equivalent to his own library. I'll run those up as a free PDF when I get the chance.
I thought we might have run out of ideas for Slayer's Guides by now, but we _still_ have not done Ogres or Kobolds - and if they have yet to be covered, there must be plenty of ground to go yet. We are also going to be loooking at more 128 page 'beefy' Slayer's Guides covering the more powerful races, such as Devils, Demons and Giants. The Supplementary Rulebooks (or 'Ultimates' as many have started calling them) are proving to be almost as popular as the Quintessentials, so you can also expect to see a wide range of subjects covered here in 2003. Ultimate Prestige Classes Vol 2 is already being prepared, as is Ultimate Monsters and, a personal favourite of mine, The Ultimate Games Designer's Companion.
All that to reassure you that we are by no means leaving core fantasy supplements in the lurch as we pursue our range of full-blown RPGs. We have been very pleased with the response, particularly in the US, for the Judge Dredd and Slaine RPGs and will continue to support them throughout 2003. However, next up will be Armageddon 2089: Total War (the new name for WarMech) in March which is, without a doubt, _the_ most detailed set of d20 rules yet published. We have combined Mecha with modern and futuristic warfare for this one and if you are a tread or propeller- head, it is going to be well worth a look. Taking the role of Mercenary, Military or Corporation Mek companies, we have already expanded the setting out to include infantry/special forces missions and characters, as well as spies and espionage to coexist with Mek-based scenarios and campaigns. We have had several military experts working alongside the developers of this game and it promises to be an absolute corker. It will also, naturally, be heavily supported after release, with titles such as Armoured Companies, War at Sea, The High Frontier and a full range of novels.
The-game-that-still-cannot-be-mentioned is rapidly turning into d20's worst kept secret but hopefully we can make our announcement very soon. The setting on which it is based made a lot about a certain curse that followed not only the characters in the TV show but also the actual creators and writers - and it seems the curse has followed on to us as well! Still, we have weathered the adversity (I sincerely hope I can give you guys the full story at a later date, you'll never believe it) and everything now seems to be back on course for a May release. We have also pulled in some 'names' to write source material for the game, some of whom will be very familiar to those who are fans of the setting. . .
On top of this, we have Lone Wolf coming out towards the end of the year (along with free to download PDFs of the original gamebooks, fully updated to use the rules of the new RPG), and Conan early in 2004. We are currently talking to a rather large RPG web site at the moment, for them to host the design and development of the Conan RPG - basically, we are looking to develop the game online, with everyone invited to come along, make suggestions and try out new rules on a weekly basis. Cannot help thinking I am making a major rod for my own back by doing this, but it should be loads of fun regardless!!! I have a feeling this will be the first time this has been done for an RPG, certainly for one as large as Conan.
There is a lot more in the works, of course, and as well as a few surprises in 2003, we are already beginning to flesh out our 2004 release schedule in detail. Lots of minor projects are being tinkered on at the moment by our writers, any of which could suddenly balloon out into a full-blown release (that is exactly how the Quintessential series started!), so things will certainly be kept exciting!
I'll polish this off with a few predictions for the coming year.
1. D20 companies will not fail or consolidate, as many pundits are saying. They will simply fail or survive. Despite the merging of, say, MEG and THG, I think consolidation between companies will be the exception rather than the rule.
2. You will, however, see more co-operation between companies, above and beyond the use of OGC. For example, we are offering a royalty-free licence to other companies to produce not just scenarios but sourcebooks and rules supplements for our Armageddon 2089 RPG, with complete access to artwork and marketing. If everything works out, we'll certainly be doing more of that!
3. We have had competition between companies on race/class and magic books over the past year. Next year the battleground will be actual RPGs, with perhaps a brief flurry into campaign settings territory as they see a small resurgence. I believe there will also be a small set of skirmishes in the gaming magazine market, though I am also guessing most gamers will be unaware of it
4. Someone will figure out how to use the Internet properly to support an RPG. . .
5. By this time next year, I still won't have played a game of Warhammer 40,000.
6. I _will_ have my stuffed Mongoose Mascot, damnit!
It has to be time for me to sign off now. I hope you have all had a very merry Christmas and I wish you the very best of Happy New Years!
