Hey all of you U.S. Mongoose fans, have a happy Thanksgiving and a safe day of tomfoolery and (hopefully) some good gaming! From those of us that ARE working today...enjoy your day off and eat some turkey!!!

Cheers all,
Bry

Wednesday lunch time approaches - always the point to aim for in a week, as the rest of the time seems downhill, somehow. . .

Not that this week is providing much respite, as we have been fearsomely busy. Lots of things are coming together, all at the same time.

The State of the Mongoose goes out this week, of course, revealing all our plans for the future, as well as casting a look back at the previous twelve months. This address, which will be found in its own section on our forums, will actually be going out today, rather than Thursday as previously advertised, due to our US cousins having their Thanksgiving holiday. There are some juicey bits and pieces in there, so don't miss it!

The other big event is Dragonmeet, held this Saturday in Kensington Town Hall. This is one of the best gaming events on the UK calendar, and I urge you not to miss it. It is on the 'right' side of London, so is very easy to get to for the rest of the country, and there is always lots of fun things going on. You'll even have the chance to hassle us here at Mongoose about your favourite games!

Mail orders have been fantastically busy too, as Paranoia: Internal Security is shipping out today (along with the Blue Line limited edition - literally just a handful of those left!), along with all the other regular bits and pieces you have been ordering.

Finally, we are going to be trying to institute a new credit card payment system at Dragonmeet and, at the moment I can't make head nor tail of it. Got a worrying feeling I might have to break out the instruction manual. . .

Every year, we release the State of the Mongoose, an annual report that reflects on what has been going on over the past twelve months, and a look ahead to what we are aiming to achieve in the New Year.

Traditionally, we usually make some major announcements in the State - and this year will be no exception!

Look for the State of the Mongoose on our forums late next Thursday/early next Friday, and feel free to comment with your own hopes and wishes for our games.

Quite a lot of good news for us today!

First, the Royal mail is moving again. This, coupled with a HUGE delivery from our warehouse means that lots of goodies are on their way to people today - Strontium Dog, Civilian Vehicles, Military Vehicles, and a few other bits and pieces. Under normal circumstances, those in the UK might see their books tomorrow but with the backlog the Royal Mail has, it may well be Monday/Tuesday. All orders we had for the books above are now on their way. Lone Wolf 12 will be going out next week.

We are also due to sign a contract for a new licence and, out of the blue, are drawing up contracts for yet another - this one we have been chasing for nearly three years now, but we finally cornered 'em! Hopefully, we will be able to announce both in the forthcoming State of the Mongoose. Finally, there is another that we are trying to turn into a hattrick, but more news on that later. Hopefully.

It has been quite a hectic week, but all is good. This weekend, I intend to sit down with a paint brush and work on some new models (nope, not saying what they are :)), and then hitting the XBox for a bit of Dragon Age action.

this week, we changed tack on our weekly office gaming - the start of a new campaign! We had had a short break from our Spinward Marches Traveller game, taking some time out to playtest [[[ Title Classified ]]]. Our heroes had been left pursued by just about every law enforcement agency in the known universe - seriously, they had shot at an Imperial Scout ship sent to rescue them (they called it a warning shot, but the salvage crew didn't agree) and had annihilated an entire world by starting a nuclear war (a long story involving a university mainframe and a rogue AI program they installed). Those were really just the highlights. They had visited Glisten in the hopes of finding some very high technology equipment, but got spooked by some of the rather large ships in the nearby naval base. Panicking, they jumped when they were all of about four metres out of the starport - massive misjump.

So, that seemed like a good place to put a temporary halt on the campaign while we tried something else for a bit - variety being the spice of life and all that.

When starting a new campaign, I tend to present the players with a list of possibilities I find interesting. They pick the ones they think they might want to play, and I choose from their short list. This is what I prepared for them - which would you have picked?

Traveller – The Spinward Marches
Continuing the current saga. After a serious misjump, you wake up on your ship in an unknown star system, with an Aslan missing. You’ll be pursuing the mystery of Twilight’s Peak and, just maybe, finding out a little more about Velvet’s dark past. Would prefer to run this one in the New Year as we have a new campaign coming out for Traveller that will fit in perfectly.

Traveller – The Trojan Reaches
Very close to your position in the current Traveller campaign, but if the Spinward Marches are the frontier, then the Trojan Reaches are the badlands. The Imperium has very little presence here, and most systems have their own governments or are part of small federations and empires. There is a lot of lawlessness here, and the campaign will feature much more danger and a little less high technology than the current one, with lots of pirates, bounty hunters and thieves. This will be as close to Firefly as you can get.

Traveller – The Kanturk War
Five years ago, a new political party took control of the Kanturk system, cutting ties with neighbouring world Ruby and seizing Rubric assets and companies. Rubric citizens became the targets of hatred and violence, and so Ruby invaded to ‘safeguard its citizens.’ Four regiments of the Ruby Royal Cavalry landed, more than a match for the Kanturk Militia. The Kanturk government hired Hammer’s Slammers.

You’ll be part of the greatest mercenary force in the galaxy, fighting a desperate war against an invading force. You can choose to go infantry, recon, or take control of a heavy, big-gunned hover tank. Lots of battles and intrigue as you climb the ranks and handle dangerous missions.

Dark Heresy – The Haarlock’s Legacy
Become the minions of Inquisitor Sebastian Faust, seeking to purge traitors and hunt down witches. Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, you’ll start as lowly adepts but have the chance to gain in power and stature until, one day, perhaps you’ll become inquisitors yourselves. . . All epics start small though, and you’ll start by investigating a strange cult on a far-flung, desolate world.

Dragon Warriors – The Elven Crystals and the Prince of Darkness
Visit the darkest days of the land of Ereworn as brave and noble adventurers. You’ll start by investigating a terrible monster that has been terrorising a nearby village, but will go on to discover the ways of goblins, battle a corrupt nobleman who has sold his soul to the abyss, meet foul beasts on Skull Island and learn how to defeat demons.

Traveller – Judge Dredd
You’ve just got your badges, and are ready to take to the streets of Sector 13 to dispense instant justice! You will face mob wars and block wars, citizens being murdered in synthi-caff bars, mo-pad piracy and someone has just reported a monster on the roof of Dotty Parker Block. Join the beleaguered judges of Sector 113 as they try to get to grips with a multitude of crimes. A fairly short campaign (initially, we can always go back to these characters!), but it will take you from the slums, past the city blocks, out to Forge Valley and into orbit!

Traveller – Legacy of War
A truly epic Babylon 5 campaign, Legacy of War takes place in the Earth Year 2266. The new Interstellar Alliance has kept the peace for five years but still the younger races yearn for anything that will give them an advantage over their neighbours. You will travel to the ends of the galaxy, fighting distant evils and exploring ancient alien ruins, all the while rallying support to face the greatest threat to darken humanity’s future.

As a writer (or any creative bod), what you immerse yourself in can often have a powerful effect on your professional output. For example, Carl Sagan's Cosmos has popped up in more than one Mongoose book in the past (beyond the quote we used at the front of the Babylon 5 rulebook which, in my opinion, nailed Babylon 5 perfectly), simply because I know that series inside out, almost word for word. It also touches on a very broad range of subjects, which is always useful for a writer.

All those books, videos, TV series, life experiences and people met get stored up in a writer's head, ready to be unlocked, often in the most unusual ways.

Two more examples. In my recent Shadowmage novel (Abaddon Books, check it out, it is not too bad, if I say so myself :)), the character Grennar is based almost entirely on someone I knew at school - and that was a long time ago.

The World at War documentary series popped up in the Slayer's Guide to Gnolls, our second ever release as a company. There is a paragraph in that book that was drawn from a very evocative part of the series - if you spot it, drop me a line at msprange@mongosepublishing.com, and I'll send the first one to quote the paragraph something funky that is currently sitting on my desk. I'll guarantee you can't buy it right now!

So, what have I been filling my head with recently, what bits and pieces might appear in our books in the years to come?

Tour of Duty: Caught a few episodes of this years ago, but I am finally sitting down and watching every one. A bit cheesy in places, in an 80's kind of way, but stil watchable.

Wet: An XBox game bought for my birthday. Basically, it is like playing Kill Bill, and much better than some of the reviews suggested.

Forza 3: What I know about the mechanical side of cars can be written on a stamp (though I have always fancied building one - a goal for a little later in life), but I am a sucker for a decent racing game. Forza 3 is the best yet. And the Reventon's cockpit (no other word for it) is to die for. I want one in my real life (actually, that's a lie - I would be content with a Jaguar that worked).

Codex Dark Angels: I used to be a huge Dark Angels freak in my GW freelance days, but I ended up selling the massive army I had accumulated. When Sandrine (our Official French Person) announced she was going to do a Space Wolves army, I just had to do another force of Dark Angels. Already up to 2,000-odd points, and I am aiming to complete the entire third comnpany before Christmas. The idea of doing the entire Deathwing and Ravenwing is beginning to breeze about my mind. . .

Free: A business theory book (yeah, you can get into some pretty dry reading when you run a company) that looks at various companies that give things away for fre and yet somehow still make a profit (Google is the big one). Has started me thinking about how we can do similar things with games, but this won't be rushed.

Fringe: Second series has started here in the UK, though I am a few episodes behind. Again, watchable, but the first few seasons of X-File were so much better. Speaking of recent TV series, I am still reserving judgement on Flashforward and True Blood.

Battles BC: On the History Channel, not much of interest as battles of the Biblical era have never really grabbed be (something about the armies - they just don't fire me). However, they did a very good episode of the Battle of Alesia, where the might of Rome crushed Gaulish resistance (you can guess which army I play in Ancients).

Well, got to get back to work now. The forthcoming State of the Mongoose won't just write itself, and we are right in the middle of pushing through a few deals we are hoping to announc at the end of this month!