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

[TrippyHippy]

Except if you totally ignore what else it says the part I'm referring to. pg 276 for third time

"If any survive they (the Jedi) do so in hiding at the farthest edges of the galaxy"

That line opens up the possibility of their being Jedi.

Well, I simply quoted the text as you denied that my reference to 'brink of extinction' was even mentioned before - yet it's mentioned in the first line of the text. You've also ignored what I actually said, which is that there may be some scattered remnents of Jedi hidden in the universe - which presumably is what the third book in the series will be about.

 

[Umbran]

The IP owners control what the companies release and when. The IP owners want a steady revenue stream throughout the period of the licence and in order to guarantee that steady income stream the material is approved in such a way as to maximise that outcome.

I would expect a bright IP owner, dealing with a niche market product like an RPG, would go for something far more predictable than sales-based payment on that license. If you know the product will be a huge hit, then you take a percentage. But if it is small potatoes (as an RPG would be as compared to the whole of the Star Wars property), you'd go with something more like a flat fee. And while I am sure the owners hold a right to review content published using their IP, dictating exact product and schedule is likely outside the terms of a sane licensing agreement. The IP owner, honestly, probably doesn't know enough about the market and product to exercise that kind of control.

Remember, a license is what you do when you don't want to bother or hassle over a product, but want to get *some* money out of the property. If you really want control, you do it yourself.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

And while I am sure the owners hold a right to review content published using their IP, dictating exact product and schedule is likely outside the terms of a sane licensing agreement. The IP owner, honestly, probably doesn't know enough about the market and product to exercise that kind of control.

Remember, a license is what you do when you don't want to bother or hassle over a product, but want to get *some* money out of the property. If you really want control, you do it yourself.

Normally I'd agree, but isn't this basically what happened to MWP with Marvel? The license owner limited them in the material they could publish based on the direction Marvel was taking with other aspects of the brand. Maybe FFGs license is limited similarly to coincide with the direction Disney is taking with Star Wars.

 

[billd91]

Normally I'd agree, but isn't this basically what happened to MWP with Marvel? The license owner limited them in the material they could publish based on the direction Marvel was taking with other aspects of the brand. Maybe FFGs license is limited similarly to coincide with the direction Disney is taking with Star Wars.

I'd also mention that FASA faced substantial interference from Paramount in the last years of their license. So I wouldn't assume that a corporation who felt they had valuable properties wouldn't keep a tight rein on their licensees. From our perspective, that may not be money and effort wisely spent, but I'm sure they feel the opposite.

 

[dm4hire]

Normally I'd agree, but isn't this basically what happened to MWP with Marvel? The license owner limited them in the material they could publish based on the direction Marvel was taking with other aspects of the brand. Maybe FFGs license is limited similarly to coincide with the direction Disney is taking with Star Wars.

The license to Star Wars transferred long before the Disney buyout occurred. If anything FFG needs to stay on the ball before Disney pulls the license. Another reason not putting at least a small portion of Jedi stuff could be bad news. It wouldn't be the first time a license got pulled on a RPG, leaving fans hanging with products pending. WotC's recall over their licenses rings a bell. Even FFG is party to a sudden decision to change licensee considering the sudden loss Green Ronin faced with Warhammer.

 

[Scars Unseen]

The license to Star Wars transferred long before the Disney buyout occurred. If anything FFG needs to stay on the ball before Disney pulls the license. Another reason not putting at least a small portion of Jedi stuff could be bad news. It wouldn't be the first time a license got pulled on a RPG, leaving fans hanging with products pending. WotC's recall over their licenses rings a bell. Even FFG is party to a sudden decision to change licensee considering the sudden loss Green Ronin faced with Warhammer.

It's true. Disney could pull the license. You can't base a product development schedule on the fear of the possibility that your license could be taken away though. If anything, that would simply be an argument against publishing licensed IP in the first place.

 

[Agatheron]

Not having seen the actual licensing contract, we don't know the fine print. It is likely that it has been signed for a term that is longer than the anticipated three year release schedule that FFG has put forward. Disney also tends to be hands off separate intellectual property areas (Marvel). All told, I think this isn't something we need to be worried about relative to the discussion at hand.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

All I know is that Jedi are coming in the third game. I've seen nothing from FFG that says the reason they are delaying Jedi is to take the time and do it right. So, I'd love to see your source for that.

I think Jay Little, Senior Game Designer, addresses this in the following video. (YMMV):
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4228

 

[JZavoda]

The point is that with campaigns potentially laden with such rich source material . . . why is a significant portion of that source material ignored in the initial product offering?

My answer is bluntly and more than a bit cynically, because the companies making the games on which the source material is based think they'll make more money doing it this way. To me, it feels manipulative and disingenuous. "Oh hey, look! You know that stuff you really wanted out of the gate? Yeah, give us another $100+ of your cash, and maybe you'll get it!"

If Edge of the Empire is to your taste out of the gate, more power to you. All I know is that when I heard the phrase "multiple product release cycle," my interest in Edge of the Empire went from moderately excited to extremely disappointed.

I think it is more likely that FFG is trying to do something that hasn't been done and done before. Someone mentioned that there hadn't been a comprehensive LotR RPG, which I find bizarre. MERP was extraordinarily comprehensive and successful. It covered a vast amount of material and now commands high prices for these old products. Star Wars is the same, though most of the older WEG products are fairly cheap they covered quiet a bit from the original 3 movies.

But my point is that it shouldn't be hard or that time consuming to simply create from the rules mechanics and existing source material the kind of characters and adventures that you want. Is there something about these rule systems that makes this inordinately difficult to do?

 

[Super Pony]

But my point is that it shouldn't be hard or that time consuming to simply create from the rules mechanics and existing source material the kind of characters and adventures that you want. Is there something about these rule systems that makes this inordinately difficult to do?

I think the point that was being made a few pages back is that people don't want to have to pay for a game and then design the game they actually want out of it. I totally get that. It's just hard for me to get too worked up because I am kind of like that spoiled little brat that just got everything they wanted for Christmas while the kid next door got a Slim Jim and a half melted copy of Naked Lunch on VHS from their creepy uncle