An Open Letter to Fantasy Flight and Cubicle 7 -- Cut the "Foreplay" and Give Us the Good Stuff

[TrippyHippy]

To be honest, all I am seeing is the same complaints rotating over and over again. Hence my frustration. As far as I can see, the only reasonable solution to the issue is those people who want to play fully fledged Jedi like in the Prequels will either have to carry on playing the games they have done already - and there are loads of them - or they can wait and see what FFG have planned in the future game about them.

What I object to, ultimately, is the tendency of complainers to present themselves as speaking for a majority view and to insinuate that the game company is either being dishonest or failing to understand their own brand and/or market. Both of which some posters have insisted on this thread.

Beyond that, I'll remember to stick more smiley faces on my 'scornful' posts in future to signpost everybody to my use of irony.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I am guessing that the protest of 'Everyone will be a Jedi twink, hence there should be none' probably comes from experiences with bad players or poor GMing.
I have found that there are players that are going to try to do that in ANY GAME.
"I want my Halfling Paladin to dual wield flaming vorpal greatswords without following any code of conduct"
"I want to cast Finger of Death At-Will every round"
"I want to emulate all the powers of (insert video game) right after character creation"

The last Star Wars RPG I played (maybe close to 20 years ago), the party decided they wanted to help out the Rebel Alliance by robbing Imperial Banks. Yep, the campaign totally went to Ambushes and Heists. I didnt really think it fit the Star Wars vibe, and so that was the last game. Strangely enough, that would seem completely appropriate for Edge of the Empire.

I'm frankly kind of interested in the game, but doubt it would go over well in our gaming group, and hence would be another book to sit on the shelves.

And if someone can verify that its possible to go blow Jar Jar Binks away, I'm buying the book and making an Assassin Droid!

~Desh

 

[TrippyHippy]

I am guessing that the protest of 'Everyone will be a Jedi twink, hence there should be none' probably comes from experiences with bad players or poor GMing.
...
The last Star Wars RPG I played (maybe close to 20 years ago), the party decided they wanted to help out the Rebel Alliance by robbing Imperial Banks. Yep, the campaign totally went to Ambushes and Heists. I didnt really think it fit the Star Wars vibe, and so that was the last game. Strangely enough, that would seem completely appropriate for Edge of the Empire.

I'm frankly kind of interested in the game, but doubt it would go over well in our gaming group, and hence would be another book to sit on the shelves.

And if someone can verify that its possible to go blow Jar Jar Binks away, I'm buying the book and making an Assassin Droid!

~Desh

I'd imagine you'll probably get opportunities to blow Jar Jar away. Indeed, if I were FFG, I'd publish an entire scenario about it...

Anyway, it probably is worth pointing out again that there is an entire chapter on Force-using characters in the book - but true to the Original Trilogy setting, Force Sensitives are rare and persecuted. You can however, create characters that can become Jedi over time. Again, this is authentic to the original source. As is the idea of playing roguish smugglers (Hans Solo and Chewbacca), bounty hunters (Boba Fett), persecuted politicos (Princess Leah), lost farm boys (Luke Skywalker) and secretive force sensitive exiles (Ben Kenobi). Characters can do and be pretty much what they were in the WEG version of Star Wars.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I'd imagine you'll probably get opportunities to blow Jar Jar away. Indeed, if I were FFG, I'd publish an entire scenario about it...

Anyway, it probably is worth pointing out again that there is an entire chapter on Force-using characters in the book - but true to the Original Trilogy setting, Force Sensitives are rare and persecuted. You can however, create characters that can become Jedi over time. Again, this is authentic to the original source. As is the idea of playing roguish smugglers (Hans Solo and Chewbacca), bounty hunters (Boba Fett), persecuted politicos (Princess Leah), and secretive force sensitive exiles (Ben Kenobi). Characters can do and be pretty much what they were in the WEG version of Star Wars.

I am ok with starting out with Force Sensitive Characters, it makes sense to me that a story about a Force Sensitive should progress. If they are putting out a Jedi book later, great.
coming from playing D&D, and then AD&D (all "1st" edition before there were "editions"), if it is not in there, feel free to use your imagination (thats what we did before there were rules for everything):
-Make the power creep/advancement over time slow and steady ( and consider the character probably doesnt have a teacher).
- Be prepared to re-tool your PC when the Jedi book comes out.
- Be prepared that if someone uses Force Lightning or Force Choke (any Overt Force Power) and anyone or any kind of surveillance system picks up on it, you're screwed. End whatever other adventure you were on, and that goes for your party members because they were sympathizers.

I WISH FFG would do a Kill Jar Jar Binks scenario...I bet if they Kickstarted it, they could hit a $100,000 EASY. I would throw in that maybe someone cloned Jar Jar Binks, that way you get to kill him over and over!

Damn it. I might have to make a trip to the FLGS today!

~Desh

 

[JZavoda]

I don't want to pay $60 for a book and then sit down and do the designers job for them. If I had that kind of time and talent I'd publish an RPG myself. I don't so I want to pay other people to do it for me.

I wouldn't want to pay $60 for an RPG that didn't encourage me to use my creative imagination. Unless you play nothing but scenarios designed by someone else and use rules that are not geared to your gaming group then you are at the mercy of a game designer, who is simply another gamer who actually does use their imagination.

At some point you have to step out beyond the bounds of what someone else thinks and dreams and think and dream for your self, which I promise you is much, much more satisfying.

 

[Henry]

A couple of points to throw out that i maybe missed:
1) star wars revenues did not diminish after episode 1 - according to
http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/star-wars-revenues-tech-cx_ag_0524money.html
It made up to 15+ billion dollars as of 2007, and given box office revenues and toy revenues most of that has come in later years, not pre- 1999.
2) edge of the empire DOES have the ability to create jedi pupils just starting their paths - in an interview with company vp steve horvath, he's playing a luke type character on his hero's journey. So you can be a jedi, just only as badass as luke was in Ep. 4.
3) yes, it still sucks you cant play jedi in this game yet. That's like saying in a star trek RPG that you can play a romulan crew or a kingon scout crew - you just cant play Federation members yet until the expansion next year.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I wonder if part of the issue is that people who are upset at hearing "no Jedi" think that means "My character can't a) use the force and b) weild a lightsaber," while the people who are happy to hear "no Jedi" think that means "That other guy's character a) can't wipe out 100 clone troopers in a single attack and b) leap tall buildings in a single bound."

I actually think that's a false dichotomy, and I'm perfectly content with the idea that I could play a low-level character as long as he could use the Force and wield a lightsaber. I'm not asking to be uber-powerful, and I don't think that's what it means to play a Jedi anyway. I'd expect that a character at low levels would be relatively weak and those at high levels would be relatively strong. But if you say "no Jedi" what that says to me is "I can't play the character concept I have in my mind." If that's not the case, FFG is doing itself a disservice with the way it's marketing this material, or at least not doing a good job in responding to concerns.

 

[Crothian]

I wouldn't want to pay $60 for an RPG that didn't encourage me to use my creative imagination. Unless you play nothing but scenarios designed by someone else and use rules that are not geared to your gaming group then you are at the mercy of a game designer, who is simply another gamer who actually does use their imagination.

At some point you have to step out beyond the bounds of what someone else thinks and dreams and think and dream for your self, which I promise you is much, much more satisfying.

What is it with people insulting people today? Just because I happen to have a job and other responsibilities doesn't mean I'm not creative or don't use my imagination. It means that there are more important things in my life then gaming. The time I do have to devote to gaming goes into the current campaign. I'm not going to waste time designing something for a game that we might never play. I realize that might be hard for people to believe but I have better things to do with my time then do the job I paid someone else to do. I can repave my driveway, but I pay someone else for that and I expect when he's done that I don't have to go in there and complete the job.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I wonder if part of the issue is that people who are upset at hearing "no Jedi" think that means "My character can't a) use the force and b) weild a lightsaber," while the people who are happy to hear "no Jedi" think that means "That other guy's character a) can't wipe out 100 clone troopers in a single attack and b) leap tall buildings in a single bound."

I actually think that's a false dichotomy, and I'm perfectly content with the idea that I could play a low-level character as long as he could use the Force and wield a lightsaber. I'm not asking to be uber-powerful, and I don't think that's what it means to play a Jedi anyway. I'd expect that a character at low levels would be relatively weak and those at high levels would be relatively strong. But if you say "no Jedi" what that says to me is "I can't play the character concept I have in my mind." If that's not the case, FFG is doing itself a disservice with the way it's marketing this material, or at least not doing a good job in responding to concerns.

I don't think it's so much that FFG showcased their game badly, but rather that a lot of people are responding in a knee-jerk fashion to information that didn't come from FFG in the first place. Just in case that's what's going on here, I'll go ahead and link a couple of the things FFG put out there leading up to the game's release.

This is a video that, among other things, explains why there are three games coming instead of a single one:

[video=youtube;aRRtP3m-Scw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRRtP3m-Scw[/video]

And here is an article from the game's official site that details how the Force works in EotE:

Hokey Religions and Ancient Weapons

 

[JZavoda]

What is it with people insulting people today? Just because I happen to have a job and other responsibilities doesn't mean I'm not creative or don't use my imagination. It means that there are more important things in my life then gaming. The time I do have to devote to gaming goes into the current campaign. I'm not going to waste time designing something for a game that we might never play. I realize that might be hard for people to believe but I have better things to do with my time then do the job I paid someone else to do. I can repave my driveway, but I pay someone else for that and I expect when he's done that I don't have to go in there and complete the job.

I will say that even repaving your driveway, yourself, can give you a good sense of satisfaction, but trying your own hand at imagining and creating can be one of the best things about any RPG.