Just a quickie. . .

We ahve just taken delivery here in the UK of the Judges' Handbook, Namegivers of Barsaive, the Gvurrdon Map Pack and the RQII GM's Screen. Preorders for these will be going out tomorrow (if you are in the UK, you _may_ see a cool package coming your way on Saturday, Royal Mail permitting), and we have enough stock for everyone else!

Just a quickie - the Monster Coliseum for RuneQuest II is finally going off to print. This book has grown somewhat during development (part of the reason for its display), and this has necessitated a small price increase. Still, you are getting more creatures for your cash!

If you have already pre-ordered this book from us, don't panic, your order is secure at the old price. Call it a bonus for haviong faith enough to pre-order! If you didn't, apologies, but you have to be quicker than that!

Development is really hitting its stride on this book at the moment. Ostensibly, it adds a range of new character classes to the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook (RPG). There will be more to it than that (such as a greatly expanded equipment list and a few other bits and pieces), but I think most people are going to be interested in the new classes!

With that in mind, this is the current list that is making its way into the book. If there is anything not here that you think absolutely should be, pop along to our forums and let us know!

Border Ranger of the North: Valiant soldier of the realm, specially trained for the protection of his people against the many dangers of half-civilised lands.

Brother of the Crystal Star: A student from the Magician’s Guild of Toran, learning the greatest magical secrets available to the mortals of Magnmund.

Dwarven Gunner of Bor: These trained soldiers have a tradition of mercenary work and often wander from their homeland to sharpen their skills in the outside world.

Herbwarden of Bautar: A druids, a nature priest whose abilities and secret knowledge have helped turn his land into a natural paradise.

Ice Barbarian of Kalte: Naturally accustomed to the harshest living conditions in Magnamund, ice barbarians have become an extremely hardy people, among the wildest, strongest warriors to be found.

Kloon Sage of Chaman: Learned in hundreds of subjects and willing to share his knowledge with anyone deserving of it, the Kloon sage is tasked with protecting the world’s ancient lore from loss.

Knight of the White Mountain: His strength of character is legendary, as is his efficiency and trustworthiness; these knights are also known to be steadfastly honest with a dour disposition.

Magician of Dessi: One of the last survivors of the Elder Magi, the Magician of Dessi has access to the purest forms of magic.

Shadaki Buccaneer: Honest people, working the winds and sailing their coastal waters in search of trade and adventure, though some are black-hearted brigands with a thirst for blood.

Sommerlund Knight of the Realm: One of the staunchest defenders of Sommerlund, the Knight of the Realm is a noble warrior and skilled leader of men.

Telchos Warrior: A primitive but fierce warrior who gains supernatural powers through her worship of the Goddess Ishir.

Vakeros Warrior-Mage: Trained to fight and kill Darkspawn, the warrior-mages are an elite force of supernatural warriors charged by their demigod rulers with the protection of their realm.

Time for a quick update on various projects, I think!

We have been very pleased with the take up on two of our recent releases especially - Runequest II and the first of the Mega-City One Archives. The first is just a gorgeous looking book, and Lawrence Whitaker has done a great job in updating the game. It is the perfect platform for all kinds of fantasy settings, the first two of which are now well into production. The main Glorantha book has just gone off to print, and Deus Vult is in the final process of layout and proofing.

Getting these books 'just right' has caused a little turbulance in our production schedule (as those of you waiting for Arms & Equipment and the Monster Coliseum will know!), and we are in an odd position at the moment. All the releases from March onwards are well on track (some have even gone off to print!), but we still have some books that should have appeared this month or last in the production cycle - the issues behind these have now been resolved, but if you are waiting for a certain title, I can shed some light on it;

Arms & Equipment: This has now gone off to print, and should be appearing early to mid March.
Monster Coliseum: This is fast on the heels of Arms & Equipment, and will be a week or so behind it.
RuneQuest II GM's Screen: Screens are the one product we do not print in the US and, predictably, this screen is currently held up in Customs!
High Programmers/White Washes: Approval took much longer on this title than expected, but it is now all cleared and has been at print for some time - we'll likely be getting our copies towards the end of this month, but it will probably lap round into early March before it appears on shop shelves (worth waiting for though - this is a good 'un!).

We also have quite a long list of books that are in the final stages of layout and proofing (and, thus, will be off to print within the next week), including Deus Vult, the Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook, Necromantic Arts, Reft Sector, Mr Bubbles, and None of This is my Fault (a Paranoia scenario).

After this, we enter a new phase in our book prep system, whereby an extra month is built into the production schedule for every book, so these slippages should be a thing of the past.

We have recently booked Mongoose into a brand new UK convention, Con-Quest, held in Derby on April 10th. We will be there in force, so if you want to come and hassle us over anything, we would be more than pleased to see you!

The saga of the new web site continues ever onwards, with the latest news being that there will be a solid version of it up and running at the beginning of March. At that point the Mongoose staff will be swinging into action, updating every area we can to make it a brand new place for you to swing by and check out what we are doing, day by day.

We have been getting a lot of questions lately about our forthcoming miniatures games. Right now, we are prepping some new ranges and are getting excited by the imminent arrival of a lot of new sculpts. However, we are taking this slow and steady, so it is likely to be the bottom end of this year before you see anything new (well, unless you visit the games club Mongoose opens its doors to every Tuesday evening!).

Our current office campaign is running WotC's downloadable Dawn of Defiance for Star Wars, and we are enjoying it a great deal. This method of providing adventure and campaign support for a game (completely free to download!) is something I am finding very attractive - the ability to seperate pages into distinct piles behind the GM's screen is a definite plus, and I _love_ the ability to write notes on the adventure itself during play. Expect to see something similar appear for Mongoose's games throughout this year.

Speaking of campaigns, we had the trial run of Living Traveller last month at Conception, and we managed to garner plenty of feedback from the players involved. We are currently tweaking the system (as well as integrating it with our new web site), and will be up and running with both this and Living Glorantha at Continuum in July (incidentally, Continuum is a fantastic residential convention, and if you can make your way to Leicester, I thoroughly recommend it).

We are also planning another Traveller Open Day, but no dates have yet been set - keep an eye on this space!

Been a busy time for events recently!

Last weekend, we were up in York for Vapnartak (think I got the spelling right). Primarily it is a wargames convention, but it was very well laid out (our first time there - been going for a while, I am led to believe) and well-attended. The RPG crowd was not huge, but we will certainly be going back there when we are armed with miniatures!

The week before that was Conception, down in Barton-on-Sea, a four day residential con. We had a trial run of the Living Traveller campaign while we were there (lots of useful feedback for our main launch at Continuum!), and our staff were kept fairly busy at the stand. We can wholeheartedly recommend this convention if you are a roleplayer. Whether you come for all 4 days or just the weekend, there is always plenty to do.

The next convention on our list is the brand new Con-Quest in Derby. Check it out if you have a chance, as it is fairly central, and new conventions need all the help they can get. We'll be there in force, so hope to see you!