Wow. I leave for a while, and look what happens.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys. Yes, that was sarcasm.
Look... anyone what knows me, and has read my posts on this forum (from a long while back...) knows my feelings towards Mongoose. I think they are well-meaning, and decent fans. But they have very little regard (or perhaps time, or even talent) for quality control. The editing of their material is sub-par, to say the very least. When they have outright errors in thier books --
I am not talking about differences of opinion, but verifyable facts -- pointed out to them, they hem and haw and talk around the topic. They can even get insulting and twist the facts (I seem to recall one post on these boards where someone claimed that Mongoose had done everything by pat me on the back for all of the comments I had made; a strange way to characterize being told words to the effect of
we are not going to fix it, so please stop complaining about it).
This is just another bullet in a long list of ways that Mongoose, for all of their good intentions, has not been a good steward of the license they were granted.
It was the reason I left these boards, sold all of my B5 stuff and refuse to purchase more. But this is not why I have chosen to post this. Here is why:
I think that Mongoose has been acting in good faith.
JMS is a man that loves a good debate. He may be upset, he may even have grounds for it. I don't know. I have no idea becasue I was not there when the discussions were made (or
not made, as the case may be). Mr. Sprange and I have had our differences to be sure. We do not see the B5 universe the same way, we disagree on how it should be portrayed in the d20 system and in a starship combat game. But...
Nothing I have ever read, seen, or discussed with him or anyone else at Mongoose leads me to believe that they would do anything while believing that they were not following the rules as laid out before them.
Does this mean they they are right? No. Does this mean that they are wrong? No. It means that they were being
ethical -- the right and wrong of it is for them, JMS, and Warner Brothers to decide.
In the mean time... buy Mongoose products, don't buy Mongoose products; ignore the whole thing -- all of these are well within your rights. But purposefully going out of your way to attempt to stir the s***-storm on this one is just not the right way to handle anything, I don't care who you think you are.
Mr. Sprange: good luck with this. I think you may be in over your head with someone like JMS -- he can hold a grudge, last time I checked. And regardless of his current relationship with WB, he pulls some weight. I just hope you come out of this alright.
Take care everyone.
KDL -- out.