Yes, sorry, you are right. You didn't say anything bad. I should had been more precise. Sorry once again.

But the fact is that Richard Ford came up publicly sayng he wasn't writing anything else for the Lencian trilogy. His exact quote: "As of about two years ago, The Shadow and the Skull, sequel to The Dragons of Lencia, is about halfway completed. I won't be writing any more of it until we can get some decent distribution (and remuneration) sorted for the first book, since I'm not in the habit of writing books for free."

This was posted on August 1st 2011, on page 4 of the thread about The Dragons of Lencia on these boards. So unless this is sorted, I can say good bye to at least 2 books that I've already paid for.

Well, if you are telling me that Mongoose have the scripts of your two remaining novels for the Agarashi trilogy, I still have hope that they will be published one day (which might take another 5 years at this rate) and I will be a moderately happy costumer (I'll be a fully happy costumer only when I get ALL the books that I've paid for).

Not to worry; I took absolutely no offense and I actually agree with you on your original point. As someone who was assured was essentially signed in as a Mega-Deal customer I am not not terribly thrilled with the way it's all gone down. I just have a lot of sympathy behind the scenes for Mongoose as I know many of the delays have been far outside their control. I also feel for Joe, a man who has been amazing and amazingly professional through all of this.

Work is proceeding. The game books are coming. All three of my novels are written and the second one is in the completed and in editing stage with the publisher. Unfortunately that's _all_ I can tell you.

Long Live the Kai!
-A

Of course they're free to offer 'similar/different' deals whenever they want. I never made any statements that indicated otherwise.

But the fact remains that I paid their company a great deal of money several years ago. I did so under the soft terms of a contract. Because the contract was 'soft' (with no hard assurances on publication dates and such), I'm not pitching a total fit and contacting their legal department to return my money for their material breach. In fact, I would love nothing more than to see them uphold their original terms of the agreement, as they were presented when they enticed me to sign up for the deal.

I am only lodging a mild complaint in response to Sprange's rationale that 'old deal' customers don't deserve any of the benefits of the 'new deal' because we already reaped the benefits of cheaper pricing. His point is certainly valid, mind you. And Mongoose are well within their rights to take that position. I just think it constitutes disappointing customer service.

IF we had gotten even half of the novels we were promised, IF the books we have received were not riddled with errors and printing flaws, IF the release schedule was not YEARS behind what we were promised (which was stated to be absolutely no less than one book every 6-8 weeks), then I'd have absolutely no room to voice complaint about not being offered the benefits of the new deal.

I just feel that, with as far south as the original megadeal has gone over the past 5 years, it would have been a gesture of professional courtesy to extend us the same benefits that the new deal people get. Of course Mongoose has no legal compulsion to make that extension. I just wish they felt an ethical compulsion to do so.

Because right now, given the current state of the 'Mega Deal' I signed up for five years ago, I have a pretty dim view of Mongoose as a publisher. I'm not trying to cancel my mega deal and get a partial refund or anything (not even sure if that is possible), because I still have faith that EVENTUALLY-hopefully before I actually lose my sight and ability to enjoy a good book- the remainder of the books will arrive as promised. And I do want the books. I want them badly enough to keep putting up with this fiasco of a publication schedule.

It just would have made me feel a bit less taken advantage of and trodden upon as a customer if they'd extended the courtesy of sweetening the deal for all of us who put faith in them five years past and have yet to rewarded for it in any capacity whatsoever.

Wow has it really been 5 years? How time has flown.

Mind you - there has been a massive recession during that time, still is truth be told, and whilst the Megadeals have pretty much assured LW will be published, I would imagine there are still issues elsewhere (and not just with Mongoose - the books still need to be printed!) And of course who knows what JD's schedule is like?

Yes a quicker release would be nice, and it's a real shame about the novels - hope that can be sorted as I really enjoyed them. But it still something to look forward to and the quality has shot upwards of late.

Does anyone have the original Megadealconditiones to post here or send me by mail? Probably for the "second edition" of the megadeal, since I bought it approximately 4 years ago and can`t remenber to have read anything about a Sommerswerd.

Taking into account inflation and all, those who signed up earlier still paid more, and by quite a lot. At this moment I will be lucky to see Book 28 in my remaining years. I will tell my children to collect books 29 onwards if they ever materialize.

I don't think it is quite as bad as all that! Though I admit the releases are a tad on the slow side. Still they are coming out, which is good. The alternative would be no Lone Wolf period. And we wouldn't want that woudl we?

Well, given that 5 years ago we were told that we'd get books 29-32 as soon as they were published...and there is not even talk of a 29 yet, yes, it is bad. Lone Wolf was Joe's largest endeavor of the time, and now it is not. It's secondary, so if plans to write 4 books 5 years ago have yet to even produce one, well....

And the alternative of no Lone Wolf? I had all the Red Fox books. So far all we have gotten is a hard cover (which with the tight binding makes it a bit harder to play through than a softcover flip-style) with new pictures, fan-generated stories which anyone could do and present to the online community, and an expanded book one, five years ago.

I don't want a refund, either. I paid for it; I will get it. I'm a book collector and Lone Wolf fan, and this satisfies both, yet the mega-deal I signed up for has morphed into a mediocre-deal at best.

----------
My epitaph, decades from now:
Here lies KaiLord
His megadeal fell through
He didn't get a Sommerswerd
And only made it to twenty-two.

I know Joe at his health scare some time ago, but the last I heard the new books sounded (plot-wise at least) nearly done. Assuming of course the history with the 2nd Kai Monastery etc. was real.

I'm hoping book 17 will be out soon at any rate.

I do like the new stories - whilst a fan can write their own (heck - I've written 3) these are good quality adventures and far better than nearly all fan-work I have seen - it's worth it for that.

A lot of the original mistakes seem to have gone - better maps, better books and fewer errors (though the errors really shouldn't have been there to begin with). The release dates are pretty poor, but what can you do?

I'm not a Megadeal customer as I couldn't afford it at the time, which is probably why I'm reasonably happy to wait until they come along. It is still annoying when the release dates slip by months and months at a time, but at least they are still being published.

The only thing I can say is hang in there and looking forward to Book 17.

Actually I have only just read the State of the Mongoose - and a lot of the reasons for delays are in here:

viewtopic.php?f=116&t=49405

Persoanlly I find it quite encouraging, so worth a look at.

I found this: http://magnamund.livejournal.com/
So it is 38 books. No Somerswerd.

IIIRC the idea for the Somerswerd was floated but was never actually offered.

_________________
"Bringer of Warmth, Carrier of Carrion, Prophet of Dilgarness, Speaker of all thing Llort!"

Part-time Narn.

ACTA playtester
Victorious Grand Admiral

All I can find is this, from 2006 :

http://projectaon.proboards.com/index.c ... thread=764

It's a post on the Aon forums announcing Mongoose's new releases. It doesn't say anything about a Sommerswerd replica. Unfortunately, the new gamebook series in Magnamund, the adventures featuring Banedon and the missing New Order books seem to have been vaporware slightly premature announcements.

Is there a way to buy volumes 11-15 as a deal or do I ahave to buy them seperately?

_________________
We endanger species!

From S&P Roleplayer 39 (circa December 2006):


And from S&P Roleplayer 45, which has a full page ad for the Mega-deal:


So, while the Sommerswerd replica was initially advertised, it was never actually part of the Mega-deal.

_________________
"Bringer of Warmth, Carrier of Carrion, Prophet of Dilgarness, Speaker of all thing Llort!"

Part-time Narn.

ACTA playtester
Victorious Grand Admiral

Hello all,

I do think it's very important to remember in the midst of all this that while there have been a few delays, some of them quite serious, the books are still coming out and the quality's getting even better over time.

Lone Wolf is worth the wait, it's worth the trouble and every new book is wonderful when it gets to us. I know I look forward to mine every time and I'm sure you all do too.

Who's with me?

For the Kai!
-A