State of Legend

Prime_Evil · **Joined:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:41 am **Posts:** 837

Dan True wrote:

Personally I've gone over to RQ6 at this point, running it parallel to my Legend Pirates campaign. I will however keep buying Legend products as they are highly compatible, and I wish to support Mongoose in trying to make this line worthwhile.

I'm on the fence about this one. RQ 6 is a fantastic game, but I think that I will freely combine elements from it and Legend interchangably. The Open Game Licence is one feature of Legend that RQ 6 doesn't have and I tend to favour open games on ideological grounds, but each to their own - the sheer quality of RQ 6 justifies the price difference for many folks. However, I'm still interested in whether Legend can act as the "gateway game" that lures gamers away from d20 derivatives...

Dan True wrote:

I must admit that I have also been disappointed by the Legend line to some extent - I was especially disappointed by seeing Pirates of Legend was essentially the MRQI book with new layout - still being rules leftover from MRQI and lacking introduction of say available combat manoeuvres on the weapons.

I suspect that when Legend was published, Mongoose approached it as a straightforward reporint of MRQII with the serial numbers filed off. It was essentially intended to keep the product line in print, along with a couple of the most popular sourcebooks. Mongoose deserves some credit for this decision because the people in the company still believed in the system in the face of struggling sales. Once the rulebook was out there and started selling strongly, Mongoose adjusted their plans accordingly. However, because of the lead time required to write and edit new material, we may be stuck with reprints for a while yet. However, I suspect that we may see a wave of new Legend products in 2013 - I think its likely that we will see an announcement about upcoming products around the time that Matt's annual State of the Mongoose address for 2012 is published. My is guess that 2013 will see a couple of additional reprints under the Legend branding plus 4-6 new products.

warlock1971 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:46 am

I'm hoping to see the line grow, as I am one of those people attracted to the D100 Family of games by the Legend "Gateway" RPG.

Prime_Evil · **Joined:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:41 am **Posts:** 837

warlock1971 wrote:

I'm hoping to see the line grow, as I am one of those people attracted to the D100 Family of games by the Legend "Gateway" RPG.

The D100 family are still able to offer a streamlined experience to people burned out by the complexity of D&D and Pathfinder. Many people have forgotten just how popular these games once were - especially in the British market. And the nostalgia factor might be used to lure some older gamers back into the fold...

Dan True · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:15 pm

Prime_Evil wrote:

I suspect that when Legend was published, Mongoose approached it as a straightforward reporint of MRQII with the serial numbers filed off. It was essentially intended to keep the product line in print, along with a couple of the most popular sourcebooks. Mongoose deserves some credit for this decision because the people in the company still believed in the system in the face of struggling sales. Once the rulebook was out there and started selling strongly, Mongoose adjusted their plans accordingly. However, because of the lead time required to write and edit new material, we may be stuck with reprints for a while yet. However, I suspect that we may see a wave of new Legend products in 2013 - I think its likely that we will see an announcement about upcoming products around the time that Matt's annual State of the Mongoose address for 2012 is published. My is guess that 2013 will see a couple of additional reprints under the Legend branding plus 4-6 new products.

My problem wasn't that it was a MRQII reprint. But that it was a MRQI reprint - complete with different combat rules, notions of skill penalties for armour which don't figure anywhere else etc.

Mind you, I know why it is so and can work around it. But people coming from outside might look at the book and be scared away by the weirdness and lack of editing. I'm just disappointed that I bought a book I already have, where essentially nothing was changed - where I thought I would recieve an updated book ready to be used with Legend.

- Dan

DamonJynx · **Posted:** Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:21 pm

I concur with Dan here. Products that were specifically written for MRQ1 that are re-released for Legend, need to be properly updated and edited. IMO this is inexcusable; confusion among those new to the game will be the biggest deterrent to its longevity and popularity, not to mention the effect on Mongoose's (according to some) already tarnished rep. I sincerely hope this is the case with Samurai's of Legend.

I would also like to see at some point the Lankhmar books re-tooled for Legend.

All in all though, I think Legend and D100 games in general will continue to grow as more and more people become disenfranchised with the D&D3.x and 4E. I'm certainly looking forward to some 3rd PP coming on board!

msprange · **Joined:** Mon Aug 18, 2003 4:25 pm **Posts:** 12302

DamonJynx wrote:

I concur with Dan here. Products that were specifically written for MRQ1 that are re-released for Legend, need to be properly updated and edited. I

From Samurai of Legend onwards, we have completely changed the team (both writer/developer and editor) of the Legend books. Not saying we will always be perfect, but you should see a big difference

We will also be going back to Pirates and making the relevant corrections, likely as soon as we have finished the current project, Gladiators of Legend (which is looking like a really spiffing book and no, it is not based on anything from Monster Coliseum).

Dan True · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:05 am

msprange wrote:

From Samurai of Legend onwards, we have completely changed the team (both writer/developer and editor) of the Legend books. Not saying we will always be perfect, but you should see a big difference

We will also be going back to Pirates and making the relevant corrections, likely as soon as we have finished the current project, Gladiators of Legend (which is looking like a really spiffing book and no, it is not based on anything from Monster Coliseum).

Sounds good. Because I will likely be using Legend products for my RQ6 game, as they are so highly compatible.

- Dan

GamerDude · **Posted:** Fri Nov 23, 2012 12:50 am

DamonJynx wrote:

I concur with Dan here. Products that were specifically written for MRQ1 that are re-released for Legend, need to be properly updated and edited.

*scratches head* I bought the first six PDFs (Core, Arms of, Monsters of, Vikings of, Blood Magic, Spirit Magic).

Are these effected by the "MRQ1 stuff released as Legend" issue everyone is talking about? If so have they been updated?

Thanks
Al B.

LegendaryJWP · **Joined:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 7:35 am **Posts:** 27

GamerDude wrote:

DamonJynx wrote:

I concur with Dan here. Products that were specifically written for MRQ1 that are re-released for Legend, need to be properly updated and edited.

*scratches head* I bought the first six PDFs (Core, Arms of, Monsters of, Vikings of, Blood Magic, Spirit Magic).

Are these effected by the "MRQ1 stuff released as Legend" issue everyone is talking about? If so have they been updated?

Nah - most of these were MRQ II, with the Glorantha-specific IP stripped out of them, cleaned up, and re-released.

taxboy · **Posted:** Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:17 am

Dan True wrote:

msprange wrote:

From Samurai of Legend onwards, we have completely changed the team (both writer/developer and editor) of the Legend books. Not saying we will always be perfect, but you should see a big difference

We will also be going back to Pirates and making the relevant corrections, likely as soon as we have finished the current project, Gladiators of Legend (which is looking like a really spiffing book and no, it is not based on anything from Monster Coliseum).

Sounds good. Because I will likely be using Legend products for my RQ6 game, as they are so highly compatible.

- Dan

plus 1

GamerDude · **Posted:** Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:12 am

LegendaryJWP wrote:

Nah - most of these were MRQ II, with the Glorantha-specific IP stripped out of them, cleaned up, and re-released.

Ahh good. If it were the case the update of the PDFs would be automatic but having to re-aquire the books would be unfun.

Thanks

Olaus Petrus · **Joined:** Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:48 pm **Posts:** 145

Personally I think that some repacking has been done well. Legend core rules and Arms of Legend are well made and actually fix some of the mistakes of original MRQII books. On the other hand Monsters of Legend is extremely bad, because it sometimes doesn't include essential monster information like how some attack works. Monster Coliseum had that information, so it's editor's mistake. Blood Magic has similar issues, although in lesser extent. Book makes several references to totemism and blood lines, but those chapters were cut off from the final product. Unfortunately editor didn't remember to remove those references. Otherwise it's a great book which offers very interesting magic rules.

I have discussed about this with other players and GMs and all seem to think that rules are great, but bad editing has been biggest issue with Legend books and it discourages many.

However I got my copy of Secrets of the Steppes (First Elric book in Legend format) this week and I've got to say that it's a solid work and offers material for many good adventures. If the future Legend publications keep that quality, then there's nothing to worry about.

msprange · **Joined:** Mon Aug 18, 2003 4:25 pm **Posts:** 12302

Olaus Petrus wrote:

However I got my copy of Secrets of the Steppes (First Elric book in Legend format) this week and I've got to say that it's a solid work and offers material for many good adventures. If the future Legend publications keep that quality, then there's nothing to worry about.

Secrets had half of the new team that is on the job from Samurai onwards (same editor, different writer), so a good sign

Prime_Evil · **Joined:** Thu Oct 13, 2005 3:41 am **Posts:** 837

msprange wrote:

From Samurai of Legend onwards, we have completely changed the team (both writer/developer and editor) of the Legend books. Not saying we will always be perfect, but you should see a big difference

We will also be going back to Pirates and making the relevant corrections, likely as soon as we have finished the current project, Gladiators of Legend (which is looking like a really spiffing book and no, it is not based on anything from Monster Coliseum).

That sounds great. Can you give us a rough idea of when you think Gladiators of Legend will be ready - I had presumed that it would rework the material from Monster Colliseum? Also, are you considering shorter PDF-only works for Legend similar to those that you've released for Traveller? And is there a chance that will we see Legend version of other MRQII books (Empires, Necromantic Arts) further down the track?

msprange · **Joined:** Mon Aug 18, 2003 4:25 pm **Posts:** 12302

Prime_Evil wrote:

That sounds great. Can you give us a rough idea of when you think Gladiators of Legend will be ready - I had presumed that it would rework the material from Monster Colliseum? Also, are you considering shorter PDF-only works for Legend similar to those that you've released for Traveller? And is there a chance that will we see Legend version of other MRQII books (Empires, Necromantic Arts) further down the track?

1. I would like to say before Christmas. The writer is on the last chapter at the moment, but it is the most complicated one. It is not a rework of Coliseum.

2. We would certainly consider them, if someone was to write them

3. I think there is every chance of those books being converted (they are the easiest books to convert), but we want to mix them up with some other material as well (such as Gladiators of Legend).

State of Legend

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