Elric of Melniboné

[Prime_Evil]

Any news on the state of the licence, Matt? Shame if it goes, especially as it would mean the end of Eternal Champion RPG support for the foreseeable future.

Marcus

I hope not - I'm STILL waiting for a Corum game for Legend

 

[havercake lad]

Any news on the state of the licence, Matt? Shame if it goes, especially as it would mean the end of Eternal Champion RPG support for the foreseeable future.

Marcus

I hope not - I'm STILL waiting for a Corum game for Legend

I offered to write one before the hiatus started. Time will tell. I had personally envisaged a source book for each of the Corum trilogies and then a campaign book utilizing another RPG author.

 

[danskmacabre]

bumping, as I'm still curious if Elric has been dropped by Mongoose.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Or if Michael Moorcock has withdrawn the licence?

 

[tarkhan bey]

Yeah, colour me interested as well.

 

[danskmacabre]

Or if Michael Moorcock has withdrawn the licence?

Perhaps, but why would he after all this time?

If it has been dropped, and TBH I think Mongoose has, seeing as it no longer appears on their website front end, it's probably due to poor sales, or at least not making enough money to justify keeping it going maybe.

Whilst it'd be a shame to lose the license, there's so much stuff for Elric out there anyway, it's not the end of the world and it's 100% compatible with Legend anyway.

It would have been nice to have the Elric book in one of those mini Legend rulesbooks tho.

Maybe a fresh new look at a rule set with another company wouldn't be such a bad thing anyway. I'd buy it, seeing as I've bought pretty much every incarnation of the Elric/Stormbringer rules since 1st Edition wayback when..

 

[Big Orc]

I would like to add my regrets, if Mongoose decide to give it the heave ho, because the material that has been published already in the Legend format has, imo, been in keeping with the flavour of Moorcock's works whilst allowing the flexibility gamers require to make the world their own.

There is also the question of those of us who have pre-ordered 'Talons of Winter', I did this back in June 2012, and would be disappointed if I were to miss out on this book.

 

[danskmacabre]

There is also the question of those of us who have pre-ordered 'Talons of Winter', I did this back in June 2012, and would be disappointed if I were to miss out on this book.

Have you asked about it yet?
I would post a question in this forum or email Mongoose with a question?
I believe they refunded people who had issues with the Lonewolf books.

 

[Prime_Evil]

There is also the possibility that the book may have simply been delayed - Mongoose have just started updating their release schedule for the remainder of the year and it looks like many RPG products have slipped back a bit. Mongoose seem to be focusing on their successful miniatures lines at the moment and have a few big releases on the horizon - it may simply be the case that something had to give and the Elric line has a lower priority because it isn't generating as much revenue as the miniatures games. Stranger things have happened.

 

[Olaus Petrus]

I'm awful at soothsaying, but must say that this extended period of silence doesn't bode well for the continuation of Elric license.

Elric was what got me into MRQII/Legend in the first place and is the main reason why I have stayed here rather than moved to RQ6. I hope that, in case if Mongoose doesn't keep the license, company like the Design Mechanism would get the license, because I really don't want to see new d20 version of Elric.

Currently situation with Legend books doesn't look that interesting as most of the interesting MRQI and MRQII settings have disappeared and there's nothing to replace them. I would really love to see Legend versions of Hawkmoon and Lankhmar, but I doubt that it will ever happen.

 

[strega]

I think you can still pick up one of the remaining copies of the Lankhmar Unleashed MRQII book and the errata that properly does the conversion for the NPCs from MRQI from MGP. It's pretty close to an ideal setting book for Legend although I suspect that many gamers who don't remember TSR's version or the later books in the series which were published as late as the late seventies IIRC will not appreciate the setting. The lack of PC magic users is going to put off a lot of people as well although the more recent upsurge in interest in 'proper' swords and sorcery with the conversion of the Xoth material might help.

 

[Prime_Evil]

There's a very good series of ongoing blog posts over at tor.com about the Elric series:

• Welcome to the Elric Reread!
• The Elric Reread: Elric of Melniboné
• The Elric Reread: The Weird of the White Wolf
• The Elric Reread: The Sleeping Sorceress
• The Elric Reread: The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
• The Elric Reread: The Fortress of the Pearl

Also, one of their weekly Advanced Readings in AD&D blog posts covers the Elric series - the rest of the posts is also interesting, although I don't always agree with their conclusions:

• Advanced Readings in D&D: Michael Moorcock

 

[Marlow Kurtz]

MRQI and MRQII settings have disappeared and there's nothing to replace them. I would really love to see Legend versions of Hawkmoon and Lankhmar, but I doubt that it will ever happen.

Mongoose might argue that Xoth has been offered as at least some kind of replacement, although worthy as it is and certainly Legend, is more a replacement for Conan than for Elric or Hawkmoon or Lankhmar. Also, it's line seems to have come to an impasse, if not an end.

I prefer both Hawkmoon and Lankhmar over Elric, but as Elric looms much larger in the popular imagination, if it's not getting an rpg gig, then we can pretty much forget about the other two. In another thread Matt listed some upcoming Legend product by title, and from memory Elric was not mentioned.

 

[Olaus Petrus]

MRQI and MRQII settings have disappeared and there's nothing to replace them. I would really love to see Legend versions of Hawkmoon and Lankhmar, but I doubt that it will ever happen.

Mongoose might argue that Xoth has been offered as at least some kind of replacement, although worthy as it is and certainly Legend, is more a replacement for Conan than for Elric or Hawkmoon or Lankhmar. Also, it's line seems to have come to an impasse, if not an end.

I prefer both Hawkmoon and Lankhmar over Elric, but as Elric looms much larger in the popular imagination, if it's not getting an rpg gig, then we can pretty much forget about the other two. In another thread Matt listed some upcoming Legend product by title, and from memory Elric was not mentioned.

If I understand correctly Xoth isn't full-fledged campaign setting, but rather three adventure books with some background information. What I'm thinking is a whole setting with cult books, books describing different regions, monster books etc. Currently Mongoose's Traveller has plenty of interesting settings, but it seems that every other MRQII/Legend setting except Deus Vult (and current book situation for Deus Vult doesn't look too promising, although if I understand correctly they plan to fix that issue) got scraped and there's nothing to replace them. What annoys me most was that they announced that they're going to publish more Elric stuff, but then decided not to.

If they don't publish new campaign settings (or revive old ones) for Legend then people are going to move to other BRP variants, like aforementioned RQ6 which is basicly updated version of Legend, because I don't believe that people buy games just for rules if there's no other content.

 

[Marlow Kurtz]

Yes, you're right in that respect. Xoth is a bit vague on elements of setting, but I think that's largely intentional on the part of the writer.

As for the absence of any other Legend setting, I doubt you'll get any argument on that issue. Only a few years ago Mongoose had the S&S rpg market cornered with the rights to Conan, Elric, Hawkmoon and Lankhmar, and now there's nothing of the sort. RQ6 doesn't have a major setting either, with Monster island and Book of Quests similar in product to SGB. I find myself toying with the idea of CoC 7e and Primeval Thule, because I'm sure that will be out this year...

 

[strega]

Err CoC 7e isn't out until next Spring so you'll be disappointed on that score as well. Perhaps Shadows of Esteren but that's coming out in dribs and drabs unless you are a French speaker.

 

[Marlow Kurtz]

I meant Primeval Thule to be out this year. One of it's Kickstarter stretch goals was a CoC 7e "conversion document", which hopefully will be sufficient to engage Legend and/or RQ6. Interestingly, the base setting will be produced in PFRPG, 13th Age, and 4e versions, plus the CoC 7e conversion. Legend could have had a piece of that.

 

[strega]

According to Rich Baker he's just "finishing up the outline, the storyboard, and the art allocation." Art orders have just gone out so it might be wishful thinking to hope to get a hard copy or even a PDF by year end 2013 with only three months left.

P.S. Information from Rich's blog.

 

[Marlow Kurtz]

Backers were recently told "Estimated Delivery: November 2013". Lies, damned lies and Kickstarter estimated delivery dates.

This weekend RQ6's boards mention a new, or at least re-published, setting - Empires Rising. Core book, adventures and a campaign in the pipeline, which perhaps addresses the issue Olaus Petrus brought up. The wheels are turning. Probably. It's hard to tell with the naked eye.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I think that the various d100 publishers have spent most of the past few years getting rule systems into print and their attention is only just starting to turn towards campaign settings and adventures. It wasn't that long ago that Runequest was out of print and forgotten by the majority of gamers. For a long time, Call of Cthulhu was the only game based upon the d100 system with an active publishing schedule. But today we have an embarrassment of riches - Legend, RQ 6, BRP, OpenQuest, Renaissance, etc. And now that the rules are out, people are starting to seriously think about what they can do with them...