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Mongoose Publishing

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Mongoose Publishing
Company typeGame Publisher
IndustryRole-playing, card games and miniature wargaming publisher
Founded2001
Headquarters
Swindon
,
England
ProductsTraveller, Judge Dredd, Starship Troopers, Conan the Barbarian, RuneQuest, Paranoia role-playing games
Websitewww.mongoosepublishing.com

Mongoose Publishing is a prolific British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, actively publishing material since 2001. Its licenses include products based on the popular science fiction properties Traveller, Judge Dredd, and Paranoia, as well as fantasy titles Conan the Barbarian and RuneQuest.

History

Mongoose Publishing grew out of the d20 System boom sparked by Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition, quickly achieving popularity and notoriety in equal measure by virtue of the sheer volume of its releases, and the early successes of its initial lines. Early product lines were aimed directly at supplementing the Dungeons & Dragons game. The first releases, the Slayer's Guides, concentrated on different monster types for the d20 system, while the subsequent Quintessential books, detailing specific character classes, went on to become one of the best selling D20 lines outside of Wizards of the Coast. The latter were to span three years and thirty-six different titles.[1]

Mongoose was to gain a reputation for being 'predatory' and targeting other publisher's release schedules by producing similar books at the same time. However, Mongoose later denied any malicious intent, and said that with nearly 100 D20 publishers all producing books at the same time, such clashes were inevitable.[2]

Later, as the company's fortunes solidified, Mongoose began an aggressive pursuit of licensed properties, acquiring the rights to the popular British comic series Sláine and Judge Dredd in 2002 and the landmark television series Babylon 5 in 2003.

2003 also saw the release of the magazine Signs and Portents, a house organ aimed at supplementing and supporting Mongoose's growing range of products, as well as a range of generic standalone products based on the d20 System, collectively known as the "OGL series". Further acquisitions followed in 2004, including the rights to a roleplaying game based on Conan the Barbarian, the defunct roleplaying game Paranoia, and a joint venture with popular d20 System portal EN World, the EN World Gamer quarterly magazine. Signs & Portents was turned into an online magazine after two years, which saw its popularity increase to over 50,000 downloads a month.[3]

As of 2007, Mongoose Publishing has released role-playing and miniatures games based on the Starship Troopers license, as well as the rights to RuneQuest and Traveller.

In 2008 Mongoose announced that it was ceasing production and marketing of its miniatures ranges and would, for the time being, concentrate solely on the production of RPGs and miniatures rules.

In September 2008, Matthew Sprange announced that Mongoose Publishing had "joined the Rebellion Group, becoming a sister company to Rebellion itself."[4]

In October 2008, Matthew Sprange announced that Mongoose Publishing would be publishing the new Lejendary Adventure line for Gygax Games.

In May 2011, Matthew Sprange announced that Mongoose Publishing and Issaries Inc had parted ways, meaning that Mongoose will cease to produce RuneQuest and Glorantha, though they retain the RuneQuest II core rule system which will become Wayfarer later in 2011.

Core Rules Systems

Since obtaining licenses for the Traveller and RuneQuest role-playing games, Mongoose Publishing quickly established them as in-house core rules systems -- Traveller for science fiction, and RuneQuest for fantasy. This allows a faster time-to-print for the development of new licenses, as well as permitting the fast production of minor or one-shot licenses. For example, Hammer's Slammers was produced as a one-book release; relying on Traveller for its core rules allowed the product to focus on setting-specific rules and colour.

Games which already use another rule system, however, have not changed (for example, Conan and Paranoia) as there is no desire to change systems, but rather to have core systems that facilitate the production of new properties which fit sci-fi or fantasy settings.

Games and products

Miniature Games

Role-playing games and supplements

Periodicals

  • Signs & Portents
  • EN World Gamer

References

  1. ^ www.mongoosepublishing.com The Quintessential Series.
  2. ^ www.mongoosepublishing.com Signs & Portents Origins Article.
  3. ^ www.mongoosepublishing.com Signs & Portents.
  4. ^ Mongoose Joins Rebellion, ICv2, September 2, 2008.
  5. ^ a b [1] archived link
  6. ^ STURROCK Ian, Conan, el juego de rol, Edge Entertainment, Seville, February 2005, translated from English into Spanish by Antonio Rico, 352 p., 27x21 cm, hard cov., ISBN 84-95830-47-7
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