Mongoose RuneQuest II to become 'Legend' with an 'Open' License

Instead of renaming their RuneQuest II system 'Wayfarer', Mongoose instead has opted for (the vastly superior, in my opinion) name 'Legend'. Moreover, it will be released under an 'open' license!

From here:

Henceforth, the core RuneQuest II rules will be known as Legend.

We are still putting together the release schedule of this line for 2012 (though it is filling up fast!), but we can reveal the following books and their availability;

October

Legend: The core rulebook, providing all the mechanics you need to start playing - these rules will be 100% compatible with the current RuneQuest II line and _nothing_ will be invalidated. If you are using it now, you will be able to make the switch to Legend in October without so much as fluttering an existing campaign. They are the same game.

Monsters of Legend: The central bestiary for the game, it will draw material from all RQII settings thus far, plus include a few surprises you have not yet seen.

November

The Spider God's Bride: A real Hyborian-esque sword & sorcery romp with a classic extended adventure.

Rouen - City of Sanctified Sinners: A brand new supplement for Deus Vult, detailing the city of Rouen and the movers and shakers that trouble the people there. If you have read Sister Devout, you will know what to expect!

January

Arms of Legend: Every piece of equipment your fantasy or historical adventurer could ever need will be in these pages!

February

Vikings of Legend: We have a soft spot for these guys, so RQ Vikings will be converted into the new format sooner than most.

There will be many more brand new releases for Legend, but these are the ones we have currently locked into the schedule.

Three more points to be made...

First off, we have to stress that Legend will be 100% compatible with your current RQII books. If you have an RQII book now, you will be able to use it with Legend. If you buy a Legend book, you will be able to use it with your RQII books. So it is written, so it shall be.

We have had a few requests about tweaking the core RQII rules or adding some bits and pieces to them, and we are considering this. However, _if_ we add or change anything to RQII (and _if_ we do, it will be minor) then we will post any such changes, in their entirety, on our weeb site for free download. We are not looking at doing this lightly but where a tweak will make for a better game, we will have to consider it.

Second, All Legend books will be in 'digest' format, literally half the footprint of the current RQII line. The maximum price for these books will be $19.99, and a few will be less than that.

Finally, we have decided to proceed with an 'open' licence for Legend. This will allow anyone to publish pretty much anything they like using the RQII/Legend mechanics.

However, we are going to make it easier to operate and be a part of. There will be no registration required and no complicated contracts or agreements. You will simply abide by a few very easy rules (such as not copying the front cover designs of our books), put a Legend Compatible logo on the front, and you will be good to go! There will be no SRD - instead, you may freely use anything that appears in the core book range - from the schedule above, this will include the main rulebook, Monsters of Legend, Arms of Legend and Vikings of Legend. And yes, when they appear (likely in summer 2012), Samurai and Pirates of Legend too!

So, if you want to construct your own Viking saga, for example, you can do so using Vikings of Legend as the foundation, and then publish it alongside our core book. We recommend sticking to the digest format, but there is absolutely no requirement to do so.

We have lots more coming up for Legend, material both old and brand new, and we will be revisiting classic settings while exploring all new ones. The future is looking good!

I had been quite pessimistic about the future of 'Wayfarer-now-Legend', doubting Mongoose's commitment to the system. But this is very good news, and I'm feeling much better about the future of the system now!

My only disappointment with this announcement is that there is no mention of any future 'Eternal Champion' books. If Mongoose has no intention on producing any future Elric, Hawkmoon, or Corum supplements, I wish that they would simply drop the license so that someone else could give it a try. But perhaps I'm being too pessimistic again, and will be pleasantly surprised in due course...

I am very much looking forward to the 'Legend' version of The Spider God's Bride, and will definitely be picking it up once it becomes available.

Finally, as had been noted widely when Mongoose first announced their new name for MRQII, there already exists a 'Wayfarers' FRPG. It looks like Mongoose will be publishing and distributing the original Wayfarers for Ye Olde Gaming Companye:

Wayfarers RPG

First up, we have been chatting to those nice chaps at Ye Olde Gaming Companye and found out that they were not only prepping a new version for their Wayfarers RPG but that they were in need of distribution. Being familiar with their game and seeing they were obviously such nice chaps, we immediatly offered to print and distribute their game!

The Wayfarers RPG will be released by Mongoose in December this year, likely in the second week. We will be following it up with the first supplement in January, World of Twylos. Look for them in all good game stores.

I own the PDF for Wayfarers and quite like it, so I'm happy to learn that it will be enjoying greater distribution in the future.

In short, lots of unexpected good news over at the Mongoose website today!