SteveMND said:
Of course you can. It is done every day by many companies in our economy. Its called marketing.
Well, I didn't want to come right out and say that, as I have been trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Probably the best way to describe Mongoose's is 'opportunisic' (which has both good and bad connotations).
They saw an established product line (Glorantha) that had gone into lapse, and picked it up. Along with this there was the serendipity of the RQ trademark being available, so they grabbed them up to create a new product line.
And, instead of just making a Glorantha-specific rpg, they decided to make an open system and leverage it for other settings as well.
Finally, they have made the choice to break the rules across several books, which has the effect of creating lower individual price-points, but a higher total cost.
I think it's pretty evident that the majority of Mongoose's RuneQuest decisions have been made with the bottom line a priority. Again, this is not a problem in itself, but can be a problem if the product suffers from decisions made this way.
I think there are some legitimate gripes about the way Mongoose has handled RuneQuest, especially given the marketing (RQ is back!) compared with various statements from Mongoose staffers saying they were aware that the "old guard" may be unhappy.
To this end, people are reporting what appears to be an okay game, but with an weird vibe -- I expect this is a combination of new players not understanding the weird Gloranthan mechanics that are there, as well as veteran RQers not quite understanding the changes and omissions. And the poor editing doesn't help)
I guess time will tell if MQ is Chocolate + Peanut Butter, or Chocolate + Ketchup...