Halloween '16 OBS Trick or Treat and End of Mongoose 2000AD RPGs

Today's topics have one central tie: OneBookShelf Publishing (ie DriveThru RPG, DriveThru Comics, DriveThru Fiction) and the topics are Halloween-related and the end of a licensing era.


Going to start off with Halloween. Sure, OBS has a sale. I'm not talking about that. No, it's more important than that. The annual Trick or Treat search-a-thon has begun! Okay, like last year, it seems more treat than trick; but I haven't checked any of the offerings. For those not in the know, one searches through the site looking for a Halloween-themed icon. Until this year, it was just jack o' lanterns but they must've decided to spice things up this year. Ghosts, witches hat, candies, and bats are additional icons. As I have participated a number of times, I didn't perform a pain-staking search. Six or seven treats (?) were all I was able to find at each of the storefronts. Yep, each storefront has it's own offering although I'd hazard to guess RPGNow mirrors DriveThru RPG. In years past, there were generally eight goodies but I stopped after the above number. While I plan on providing a list of each the treats*, I won't reveal the location. Why ruin half the fun? It is a scavenger hunt after all! Scavenger hunts do seem odd for Halloween but perhaps that's the trick. Oh, if you find more than what I found, thumbs up!


DriveThru Comics - The Sting of Death: A Savage Worlds Superhero Adventure (yeah, the RPG/Comic/Fiction aren't a hard split), The Mad Mummy #1, The Valiant Volume One (if there was a trick this would be my guess...), Unstoppable Comics Character Guide #1, Think Tank: Fun with PTSD (gallows humor/horror?), and Channel Evil issue 1.


DriveThruFiction - The Ghost Story Megapack: 25 Classic Tales by Masters, Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer, The Black Spot, Predator & Prey Book 1: Vampire , Hard Times in Dragon City, and Apex Magazine -- Issue 25.


DriveThru RPG- Horror at Gravehollow Hill: A Short Adventure Module, vs. Ghosts, ICONS: Devil's Night, Pixel Dungeon: Zombies!, Haunted Locales, Haunted Locales, and Swashbuckling Adventures Core Rulebook (might be a trick...)


Now, for the other topic. Just learned that in a way Halloween marks the end of an era as Mongoose publishing's license for 2000 AD (Judge Dredd, Slaine, Strontium Dog) expires at the end of the month. Mongoose was an important RPG publisher for me back during the days of the OGL heyday. Loved their Conan RPG. Their Mongoose Runequest (now Legend) and Traveller lines intrigued me. The 2000 AD lines called to me, Slaine with its celtic tone particularly. Included a link to Mongoose's home page on this very blog! Unfortunately, my gaming group soon reached its zenith as far as RPGs were concerned so new gaming systems such as Runequest were out. Licenses require some interest on the part of the players and my gaming group weren't huge 2000 AD fans. Well, I didn't know if they were... So... We were going to try Traveller but that simply wasn't meant to be. As a result, I never picked up any of the 2000AD RPG books in physical form and very little reason to pick up digital. Must confess I stopped visiting Mongoose's site years ago. So I didn't know the license was ending until today via an announcement from OBS - along with a 75% discount. Needless to say, I stocked up on all the Strontium Dog and Slaine books available while picking up the majority of the Traveller version of Judge Dredd. I picked up the OGL D20 version of the Judge Dredd core book for curiosity's sake. Perhaps, one day I'll provide a review. Certainly, I can count it as part of my Year of 2000 AD/ celebration of 2000 issues.


well happy gaming