Spellbook - anyone seen it yet?

[gamesmeister]

What a bizarre attitude :?

Mongoose (and you for that matter) can help half of their customers, or none of their customers...which is better customer server?

 

[RosenMcStern]

Nope. The choice is half or all, not half or none. Remember that both halves can download the PDF update for free.

 

[gamesmeister]

Yes but it's far better to have those updates integrated into the rulebook, so you don't have two separate documents to contend with. If you can help half your customers by integrating the changes into the PDF, why wouldn't you do it? Ok, if there were a lot of changes that required a lot of time and effort, that's one thing, but to not do it because you can't help all your customers...well that just strikes me as really odd.

I bought the book, but I wouldn't sit there grumbling that PDF customers got a better deal than me - I'd probably find myself thinking about buying the PDF so I get a permanently up to date set of rules.

 

[RosenMcStern]

Do not forget that the deluxe edition includes all the changes.

 

[Magistus]

Do not forget that the deluxe edition includes all the changes.

You are correct, but also the three books that make up Deluxe really should have all been together as one book to begin with.

 

[gamesmeister]

Do not forget that the deluxe edition includes all the changes.

That doesn't change the fact that it would be good customer service to update the existing PDF to include the new rules, particularly as they are still offering it for sale.

 

[captrooper]

Do not forget that the deluxe edition includes all the changes.

That doesn't change the fact that it would be good customer service to update the existing PDF to include the new rules, particularly as they are still offering it for sale.

While I love Mongoose and thier games (I have 28 Mongoose books plus two boxed games and a whole bunch of minis... many mins) customer service is not their best thing. I accept they are only a small company, and that makes it difficult, but hell, sometimes I tear my hair out when I compare them to real players in the field (think of one major UK minis company and their service... 25 years, two problems ever, which were very quickly sorted for me). Mongoose.. well, they are much smaller and need some slack. I've had two problems in the past two weeks. I can handle that - their products deserve it.
And I'd also like to hear Matt's input on this, as they maybe are updating the PDFs - how do we know that the old ones are not just an amount of product that was pre-sold by a prior agreement - just like if they had physical books? In that case the seller won't buy the new version until the old is sold out. It's also possible that the separate books will no-longer be available in the future and the deluxe will take over.

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Do not forget that the deluxe edition includes all the changes.

How could we forget that not only were we sold overpriced, undersized rulebooks, they were rushed out before they had spent sufficient time in playtest/edit/proofreading! It's great that the Deluxe rulebook contains all the updates and all the core books, but I'd still rather have been able to buy that as the "base" from day one. It's not like the incomplete and incoherent nature of the rule book weren't immediately obvious...

 

[Stormwalker]

While I love Mongoose and thier games (I have 28 Mongoose books plus two boxed games and a whole bunch of minis... many mins) customer service is not their best thing.

Having just had a problem sorted out pronto I'm more then happy with the customer service I've had from them so far - Credit where credit's due and all that!

 

[captrooper]

Well, my problems are being solved, so they do sort it out. It's just I'd prefer not to have the problems in the first place. I think they're getting there though. Credit where credit is due, when they do screw up bigtime (the whole bent book thing) they own up and do something about it.

 

[Stormwalker]

Yeah, the bent book thing put me off buying for some time. Problem is, now they've got it sorted I've got lots of catching up to do! ( == expensive )

 

[CthulhuFnord]

The book was a bit larger than I expected. I was thinking it would be simular in size to the companion, when in fact it's larger than the core book. :shock:

The magical Backgrounds and Professions are pretty neat. I'll defiantly be using these. There is an absolute truckload of spells in the book, some good others not so good. I wish Sorcery got some more love in this book, but then again it's pretty much the only magic system I use. :wink:

Both Rune magic and divine magic got some neat little 0 magnitude spells. There were a few spells for sorcery that I felt would fall under this catagory too. :roll: There was some other odd stuff for Rune magic, Duplex spells. Rune magic spells requiring that you have two of the runes indicated to cast the spell. :?

 

[Magistus]

Rune magic spells requiring that you have two of the runes indicated to cast the spell. :?

I like these, it's obvious only more advanced characters will be able to cast these spells because they will more likely have access to multiple runes.

 

[Vivamort]

I went on a mad buying spree and got the spellbook among others. I'm glad I did. My players had gotten fat and happy thinking they knew all the spells they were likely to be hit with, but now that fear of (insert deity name) is back in them as it should be.
Good work Bry.

My only complaint as such is that the front cover of the book is warping for some reason....that is the first time I've had that issue out of the 15 or so Mongoose books I've gotten.

 

[Halfbat]

[About mongoose...] customer service is not their best thing

I also have to disagree with this statement. I've had excellent, pro-active customer service from them, even to the extent of _being_ contacted when my wife ordered a book for my birthday that I had just ordered (or vice versa, can't remember the sequence, but they were very helpful).

[wrt bendy covers]

Matt S has said several times (and it's on the website, iirc, that ANY books with quality problems will be instantly replaced foc - just get in touch.

 

[elgrin]

Got to agree with Halfbat, any problems I have had have been courteously and quickly dealt with, and with the amount of MRQ stuff I am buying I am thinking of getting a direct haulage system set up.

elgrin