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

My Reaction to WotC's PDFgate Part 1

When I read over on James Mishler's blog that WotC had pulled its PDFs from OBS, I was irked. As time grew and I learned more, I became upset. I am an example of a customer who purchased legacy D&D PDFs. WOTC's removal of the ability to use up the remaining downloads of those legacy products, as well as purchase of other legacy products, irritates me. This irresponsible action hinders my ability to download replacement copies, purchase other old products, and harms my faith in OBS. If WotC can do this, what's to stop other publishers from doing this as well? Heck, I have been considering purchasing PDFs of the soon-to-be-discontinued Dying Earth RPG. Can I trust that those Dying Earth files that I purchased will be available past the end of April? And the source of this lack of confidence, an attempt to prevent piracy. By removing a legal avenue for PDFs, piracy will be fought. Mind-boggling.

All that said I could see how all the anger towards Wizards was overblown. And I'll make those comments in a month or two. If I care enough to remember to post, I am one of the affected customers. I don't want to waste my energies defending Wizards.

Sadly it was along my desire not to defend Wizards that eventually led to me desire to make this post. Over in the comments section of the OBS rant, James Mishler made a couple comments that shattered my attempts to remain calm and rational about the PDF situation. I have known and gamed with James for about four years. During this time, I played the role of devil's advocate. When 4E was announced and coming, I practically played the role of a patron saint. From personal experience, I knew that at the Tuesday game there would be a rant against WotC. With history as a guide, I would defend Wizards. Didn't I say that I didn't want to defend them. So irrationally I became upset.

I remained upset such that I was unable to make my comments until now. Taking a sabbatical from all forms of D&D was looking like the only option. Yep, 'don't sweat the small stuff' is not my forte. Although I will admit I had reached my acceptance phase when I went to tonight's game. After all by that point in time, I had purchsed a 3.x D&D book. So I doubted that any sabbatical would last. One of the pick up games is D&D. My resolution was looking more and more childish. By the time I got to where we game, I had decided that there wouldn't be any sabbatical. There the general consensus was that it didn't pay to be angry over the latest angering move by Wizards/Hasbro. Why sweat over what is unimportant in the long run?

Two positives have emerged. As Zachary the First mentions, with links, on his blog, other companies are offering deals on some PDF products. Hopefully, more bargains will be offered in the future. Perhaps more silver linings will emerge from this cloud?

The second positive that has emerged from this ... event... is that I am now willing to make a Classic Traveller character. So I wouldn't mind if we played some Classic Traveller instead of AD&D 1E. I have always wanted to play Traveller, especially the classic version given my current interest in older games. My only obstacle was that I didn't want to make a character. After all, why make a CT character when we could play 1E instead? Hopefully, this event will lead to some CT playing. I know the other players and James have invested a lot of time and effort into a Traveller campaign that hasn't been played.

I think its about time that changed. That is if everyone is willing.

Mongoose Traveller...

I now own a copy of Mongoose Traveller after acquiring it at a rather decent discount along with several other products at the same discount. Unfortunately, it took a local game store to close in order to get said products at that discount. The only bright side was that I was able to buy Traveller (Mongoose version) around what I would have paid for a PDF from RPGNow.

So there will be some commentary on MT (Mongoose Traveller) from me this year. A resolution of sorts to actually read the book this year.