The Lone Wolf Mega-Deals are Back!

[MongooseMatt]

After being fairly bombarded by requests, we have brought back the Lone Wolf Mega-Deals, letting you get hold of lots of Lone Wolf and Magnamund goodness at a discount worthy of a Kai Lord!

We have re-jigged the way these deals work, and can now present four new options, from the action-packed Kai Lord Mega-Deal which gives you the first five books, to the mighty Magnamund Mega-Deal which gives you, well, everything from the solo gamebooks, pre-release access to books 29-32 and the Multiplayer Gamebooks as well - you will never be without something new from Magnamund!

You can find all the Mega-Deals here;

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/novels/lonewolfmegadeals.html

Lone Wolf
Launched in the 80's, the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks quickly became firm favourites among a growing fan base, with over nine million copies sold. Alone among the gamebooks of their day, Lone Wolf was the only one to feature a cohesive and exciting world, and an extended campaign in which your character could grow and expand as he travelled through all 28 books of the original series. This was the first true mega-campaign!

Prepare to return to the world of Magnamund. The original gamebooks are being revised and updated with additional storylines, quests and adventures, together with stunning new artwork. The series kicks off with Flight From the Dark, now weighing in at a massive 450 pages. No longer left for dead at the Kai Monastery, Lone Wolf has to fight his way clear to raise the alarm.

 

[BlackCat]

Cool! Except that... I registered for the Magnamund Mega-Deal when it was first announced (which was, like, nearly 4 years ago?). We were promised every books listed in this new iteration, except the LWMPGB books, but we were told that we would get something "special" (there was once talks about a Sommerswerd replica, but the idea never became reality). I never got that "special" thing, and now I see that people that register for this new Megadeal will get all the LWMPG supplement until book 32 is out.

Will those who registered for the Magnamund Mega-Deal years ago get the LWMPG supplements too?

 

[MongooseMatt]

Will those who registered for the Magnamund Mega-Deal years ago get the LWMPG supplements too?

I regret not - but you _did_ pay less

 

[KaiLord]

Yeah, I just did the math and research. We paid approximately $30 dollars less. So, if we original mega-dealers pay $30 extra, that should be fair to get the RPG materials, eh?

 

[RatedRWolf]

Nice news, but what about books 29-32? Are there any news about them? I think that customers need whole and as detailed as possibile information in order to choose the complete Mega-Deal...

 

[MongooseMatt]

When we have news on 29-32, so will you!

 

[Oiseau]

When we have news on 29-32, so will you!

Uh… what ? You mean you have no news ? You don't know anything ? It seems like only two years ago you were saying you had the manuscript and it was nearly ready to go. Where is that manuscript now ?

 

[MongooseMatt]

Where is that manuscript now ?

It will be on Mr Dever's desk...

 

[RatedRWolf]

I purchased the Magnakai Mega-Deal, but I have a simple question: are the volumes the same ones sold some months (or years ago), containing some issues (for example book 7 with the wrong equipment section, or 12 with the spelling typo on the spine) or have they been reprinted and corrected, at least for these big mistakes?

EDIT: having just received the books, I can answer myself: every single mistake pointed out in the past is still present, exept for books 3 (missin section 192) and 4 (no equipment): still book 5 without and 7 with wrong equipment, and a quite annoying "maters" watching me from the spine of book 12. I'm a bit disappointed, not completely after all, cause these CEs are really wonderful on the bookshelves, but it's not what I hoped; hopefully, as you'll reprint the books you'll send the megadealers a corrected copy of these 3 books, or at least books 5 and 7...

 

[Clegane]

Will those who registered for the Magnamund Mega-Deal years ago get the LWMPG supplements too?

I regret not - but you _did_ pay less

Yeah. We paid a tad bit less.

And have already been kept waiting for years past the original timeline that was provided when we wrote our big checks.

Oh...and we have shelves full of misprinted, error-rife, unevenly-bound (my 1-4 don't synch up with my 5-16) books that arrive on a schedule more erratic and messy than my old grandad's bowels.

Which is not to speak of the novels that were promised, only two of which have materialized at all and those four years ago now.

Seriously. It isn't even that my grapes are all that sour. I take my licks like a man and own up to my various terrible consumer decisions...and I've made several over the years, including this mega 'deal' that I signed on for all the way back in 2006. I feel I've done a pretty commendable job of rolling with the punches and not getting my panties in a bunch over the whole 'mega deal' mega-disappointment.

But to now be told that those of us who backed your play in good faith half a decade past are being denied swag because we paid a little bit less? PPfft. Mildly insulting, sir.

 

[burns flipper]

You're not being 'denied swag', you're receiving what you signed up for at the time. Mongoose are free to offer similar/different deals whenever they want.

Also, the original deal in 2005 included all 6 books in the two novel trilogies Dragons of Lencia/Rise of the Agarashi, which isn't something the new deals have.

 

[SnowShadow]

Also, the original deal in 2005 included all 6 books in the two novel trilogies Dragons of Lencia/Rise of the Agarashi, which isn't something the new deals have.

Well I only have Book 1 of each, nice though they are.

 

[BlackCat]

You're not being 'denied swag', you're receiving what you signed up for at the time. Mongoose are free to offer similar/different deals whenever they want.

Also, the original deal in 2005 included all 6 books in the two novel trilogies Dragons of Lencia/Rise of the Agarashi, which isn't something the new deals have.

Indeed, but will the remaining four novels be ever written? The authors have claimed to have stopped working on them since they are not satisfy with the pay and distribution. And seeing that the new Mega-Deals don't even include them tells me that Mongoose doesn't have any plans to release them anytime soon (unless Matt claims otherwise).

Also, when I signed, it was clearly written that we would get the gamebooks at a faster pace than two books a year. And like I said earlier, we were told that we would get something else, altough it wasn't clear at the time. There was talk of a SS replica, but the idea was abandonned.

I'm satisfy with the gamebooks, but the other things that we were promised in my old Mega-Deal are disappointing.

 

[August1]

Hang on. Don't put words in my mouth, please. I already have a lot of them in there.

I won't speak for Richard Ford; he's a great guy and can do that himself.

But what I will do is explain exactly where I am in the novel process.

All three books are written. Sand and Sorrow was sent in for edits and approval two years ago. At the current time, Mongoose Publishing has the manuscript and any further details rest with them. I could not possibly comment on the matter from there but I assure you, my end was upheld. I did not have an issue with pay/reimbursement that kept me from writing them.

I love Mongoose and I love Love Wolf. Always have, always will. I just wanted to clarify.

Thankies,
-A

 

[KaiLord]

You're not being 'denied swag', you're receiving what you signed up for at the time. Mongoose are free to offer similar/different deals whenever they want.

Also, the original deal in 2005 included all 6 books in the two novel trilogies Dragons of Lencia/Rise of the Agarashi, which isn't something the new deals have.

The original deal that many signed up for included an announced Sommerswerd replica, novels, and the new gamebooks as soon as written. Oh, and by 2010, ALL the books were supposed to be republished. A new book ever one or two months....

After the "overwhelming" response, we got an initial run of books that were not formatted properly, only two novels, no replica sword, and a continuing "it'll be next month" release date fiasco, which has led to the current "we'll announce when we have it", which is basically every 4-9 months now. I've gotten 2 or 3 in the last 2 years, since changing addresses.

So, yes, we were already denied swag in a way, because what we signed up for was supposed to be a MEGA deal, and has since been a joke in many ways. So, when Mongoose announces that anyone who jumps on this now, after all their mistakes and deadline failures and so on, will get a lot of new material already published for free, yeah, we--the original people whose response made THIS mega deal possible--feel kind of jilted, especially when the difference is 4 years of our time for only half the series, and seeing anyone who signs up now getting lots of items we'd have to pay hundreds of dollars more to obtain.

 

[BlackCat]

Hang on. Don't put words in my mouth, please. I already have a lot of them in there.

I won't speak for Richard Ford; he's a great guy and can do that himself.

But what I will do is explain exactly where I am in the novel process.

All three books are written. Sand and Sorrow was sent in for edits and approval two years ago. At the current time, Mongoose Publishing has the manuscript and any further details rest with them. I could not possibly comment on the matter from there but I assure you, my end was upheld. I did not have an issue with pay/reimbursement that kept me from writing them.

I love Mongoose and I love Love Wolf. Always have, always will. I just wanted to clarify.

Thankies,
-A

Yes, sorry, you are right. You didn't say anything bad. I should had been more precise. Sorry once again.

But the fact is that Richard Ford came up publicly sayng he wasn't writing anything else for the Lencian trilogy. His exact quote: "As of about two years ago, The Shadow and the Skull, sequel to The Dragons of Lencia, is about halfway completed. I won't be writing any more of it until we can get some decent distribution (and remuneration) sorted for the first book, since I'm not in the habit of writing books for free."

This was posted on August 1st 2011, on page 4 of the thread about The Dragons of Lencia on these boards. So unless this is sorted, I can say good bye to at least 2 books that I've already paid for.

Well, if you are telling me that Mongoose have the scripts of your two remaining novels for the Agarashi trilogy, I still have hope that they will be published one day (which might take another 5 years at this rate) and I will be a moderately happy costumer (I'll be a fully happy costumer only when I get ALL the books that I've paid for).

 

[August1]

Well, if you are telling me that Mongoose have the scripts of your two remaining novels for the Agarashi trilogy, I still have hope that they will be published one day (which might take another 5 years at this rate) and I will be a moderately happy costumer (I'll be a fully happy costumer only when I get ALL the books that I've paid for).

Not to worry; I took absolutely no offense and I actually agree with you on your original point. As someone who was assured was essentially signed in as a Mega-Deal customer I am not not terribly thrilled with the way it's all gone down. I just have a lot of sympathy behind the scenes for Mongoose as I know many of the delays have been far outside their control. I also feel for Joe, a man who has been amazing and amazingly professional through all of this.

Work is proceeding. The game books are coming. All three of my novels are written and the second one is in the completed and in editing stage with the publisher. Unfortunately that's _all_ I can tell you.

Long Live the Kai!
-A

 

[Clegane]

You're not being 'denied swag', you're receiving what you signed up for at the time. Mongoose are free to offer similar/different deals whenever they want.

Also, the original deal in 2005 included all 6 books in the two novel trilogies Dragons of Lencia/Rise of the Agarashi, which isn't something the new deals have.

Of course they're free to offer 'similar/different' deals whenever they want. I never made any statements that indicated otherwise.

But the fact remains that I paid their company a great deal of money several years ago. I did so under the soft terms of a contract. Because the contract was 'soft' (with no hard assurances on publication dates and such), I'm not pitching a total fit and contacting their legal department to return my money for their material breach. In fact, I would love nothing more than to see them uphold their original terms of the agreement, as they were presented when they enticed me to sign up for the deal.

I am only lodging a mild complaint in response to Sprange's rationale that 'old deal' customers don't deserve any of the benefits of the 'new deal' because we already reaped the benefits of cheaper pricing. His point is certainly valid, mind you. And Mongoose are well within their rights to take that position. I just think it constitutes disappointing customer service.

IF we had gotten even half of the novels we were promised, IF the books we have received were not riddled with errors and printing flaws, IF the release schedule was not YEARS behind what we were promised (which was stated to be absolutely no less than one book every 6-8 weeks), then I'd have absolutely no room to voice complaint about not being offered the benefits of the new deal.

I just feel that, with as far south as the original megadeal has gone over the past 5 years, it would have been a gesture of professional courtesy to extend us the same benefits that the new deal people get. Of course Mongoose has no legal compulsion to make that extension. I just wish they felt an ethical compulsion to do so.

Because right now, given the current state of the 'Mega Deal' I signed up for five years ago, I have a pretty dim view of Mongoose as a publisher. I'm not trying to cancel my mega deal and get a partial refund or anything (not even sure if that is possible), because I still have faith that EVENTUALLY-hopefully before I actually lose my sight and ability to enjoy a good book- the remainder of the books will arrive as promised. And I do want the books. I want them badly enough to keep putting up with this fiasco of a publication schedule.

It just would have made me feel a bit less taken advantage of and trodden upon as a customer if they'd extended the courtesy of sweetening the deal for all of us who put faith in them five years past and have yet to rewarded for it in any capacity whatsoever.

 

[WritingWolf]

Wow has it really been 5 years? How time has flown.

Mind you - there has been a massive recession during that time, still is truth be told, and whilst the Megadeals have pretty much assured LW will be published, I would imagine there are still issues elsewhere (and not just with Mongoose - the books still need to be printed!) And of course who knows what JD's schedule is like?

Yes a quicker release would be nice, and it's a real shame about the novels - hope that can be sorted as I really enjoyed them. But it still something to look forward to and the quality has shot upwards of late.

 

[pjagum]

Does anyone have the original Megadealconditiones to post here or send me by mail? Probably for the "second edition" of the megadeal, since I bought it approximately 4 years ago and can`t remenber to have read anything about a Sommerswerd.