Star Wars - News?

[Angel Tarragon]

Okay, so I forgot to ask the WotC employees working the booth at GenCon what the deal was with Star Wars. Anyone hear anything they'd like to share?

 

[Vexed]

I was at the Q/A for SW RPG at Gen Con.
As far as new product, he gave the same canned answer we have been getting. They have no plans at this time for any new RPG content. However, they will still update the RPG site... for now. Emphasis they have is on selling minis currently, because they are doing so well. In a nut shell... nothing new on this issue.

He said living force is going away. One reason why this is happening is because it is set in a time shortly before the Jedi Purge.

Someone brought up a question regarding the TV show. And he seemed anxious regarding the amount of email questions he would receive once that happened.

I got the idea it is/was really hard for the designers to get things done regarding new material or updates with some things as they have to send everything through two "middle men" to get it to Lucas people, and then they may have a short turn around time on it, or it could take a sig amount of time. Depending on who repsonds, etc... From what i recall the Jedi Council stuff is like 4-5 behind do to the time it takes for procedures, etc.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

It's gotta be rough to for anyone doing licensed IP stuff, doubly so if you are dealing with Lucas. It would be nice to see a RotS book as a wrap-up, though. Oh well. At least with the TV show(s) we'll have a steady source of new material. Even if we have to incorporate it and stat it out ourselves, at least we won't be totally cut off.

(BTW, your .sig should credit W.B. Yeats , not Frank Black )

 

[kenobi65]

He said living force is going away. One reason why this is happening is because it is set in a time shortly before the Jedi Purge.

Living Force was going to be going away, anyway. It had, from the start (2001) been planned as a five-year campaign, to wrap up at the end of 2005 (though, the final trilogy now looks to be released at Winter Fantasy in February '06). The final modules are likely to be set during, or shortly after, the events of RotS.

The pending question is, "will RPGA do a second Star Wars campaign after Living Force wraps up." While there was some initial planning that was being done for such a follow-up campaign last year, when WotC put the SWRPG on hold, "Living Force II" also got put on the shelf. While no formal announcement on Living Force II, one way or the other, has been made (to the best of my knowledge, and I know the campaign staff pretty well), it doesn't look promising.

 

[Iron_Chef]

I heard WoTC can only release 4-6 Star Wars products per year by the terms of their license with LucasFilm, and the Star Wars Minis game is making too much money to "waste" a release on a Star Wars RPG product. We don't really NEED any new books anyway, except a Revenge of the Sith one (maybe). However, SW gamers all WANT new books and would buy them if they were made available...

The good news is that all the SW Minis are totally useful to the RPG. I hate randomized booster packs, though, and thus was forced to buy all of mine on eBay as single figures or multi-figure sets of the same figure. Before SW Minis, there was very little to choose from for SW miniature figures. They've by and large done an excellent job with the sculpts and paint jobs. I now prefer soft plastic, prepainted minis to metal ones I must paint myself... something I never thought would happen, because I scoffed at the D&D Minis a few years ago with their ugly paint jobs and lame sculpts. WoTC has made a lot of progress in this area in the intervening years; enough to convince an old grognard like me to switch (of course, I didn't really have a choice when it came to Star Wars)!

 

[Henry]

I heard WoTC can only release 4-6 Star Wars products per year by the terms of their license with LucasFilm, and the Star Wars Minis game is making too much money to "waste" a release on a Star Wars RPG product. We don't really NEED any new books anyway, except a Revenge of the Sith one (maybe). However, SW gamers all WANT new books and would buy them if they were made available...

Actually, this supposition is in dispute. In a previous thread here, Darrin Drader stated that this was not correct, though he couldn't state what he DID know of future Star Wars material, he said that the Minis stuff and RPG releases were not necessarily tied together license-wise, clearing up some speculation by Gary Sarli. There IS a reason, but no one's talking, which makes the fans even more disgruntled.

I really wouldn't mind an Ep 3 product, but past that I really don't have need for a lot of Star Wars material, seeing how the existing stuff covers a pretty wide range of options.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Aha! I knew felt a disturbance in the Force when I first heard that excuse! I thought it had a false ring to it... It just didn't make any sense. You can't even DISCUSS the future of the Star Wars RPG over on the WoTC Star Wars forums (except for what products you'd like to see). That's not cool, but it's their site/their rules.

HOWEVER, there is an online petition to save the Star Wars RPG and get WotC to start releasing new product. Over 800 signatures have been collected so far. I hope some of you reading this will slide on over and sign the petition... With enough signatures, maybe we can convince WoTC to release some new material. It's better than just sitting around bitching about it.

Link to Save Star Wars RPG Petition:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=477721

As to new material, we need a Corellia and the Mid-Rim Worlds book, an "official" KOTOR sourcebook, a revised DSSB, and revised Starships of the Galaxy. PotJ needs to be back in print, too.

 

[Timeron Malachi]

I'd really like to see the Dark Side Sourcebook re-released, without so much of the "Alright, this is a book to play evil, but make sure the PC's lose" slant.

Also, I'd love to see core classes for Sith and Dark Jedi Guardians/Consulars.

 

[wingsandsword]

You can't even DISCUSS the future of the Star Wars RPG over on the WoTC Star Wars forums (except for what products you'd like to see). That's not cool, but it's their site/their rules.

It didn't come to that overnight, in fact it built to it over a long time. For quite a while questions/speculation/discussion of the lack of products was such a common topic and there were so many threads about it, that it literally was choking the boards of other topics (sort of like the Sci Fi forum here had a temporary ban on new Star Wars threads after Episode III came out because of the same thing). So they consolidated it down to one thread, which went for a very, very long time until it degenerated into poor behavior (flame war/threats/accusations), which got it closed, and the topic closed pending new information. After Gen Con with what little Gary Sarli was able to announce and other announcements the subject was temporarily reopened. It really upset me when they banned the topic too, but from a moderators seat, it was the only way to keep things from exploding (like they already had several times).

As to new material, we need a Corellia and the Mid-Rim Worlds book

Uh, Corellia is a Core World. It's even in Coruscant and the Core Worlds page 68.

Personally, new books I'd like to see printed for the SWRPG:
Episode III/Clone Wars/Rise of the Empire Era Sourcebook
Ultimate Starships of the Galaxy (SotG updated for RCR)
Ultimate Dark Side Sourcebook (DSSB updated for RCR, with expanded info from the prequels and KotoR).

 

[wingsandsword]

I'd really like to see the Dark Side Sourcebook re-released, without so much of the "Alright, this is a book to play evil, but make sure the PC's lose" slant.

Also, I'd love to see core classes for Sith and Dark Jedi Guardians/Consulars.

Star Wars is about the villains losing, at least eventually. It is a setting about heroes and villains, good vs. evil, the bad guys will lose eventually, and you can be sure that no LFL approved Star Wars product will be about bad guys getting to win in the end.

Also, there already are core classes for Dark Jedi, it's called Jedi classes. Just because you have Dark Side points doesn't mean you deserve a new core class. Especially since characters start with 0 DSP and have to have them granted for atrocities and violations they perform. Also, Sith characters usually don't begin as Sith, they are trained and inducted into the order from other walks of life typically, typically a Fallen Jedi (since exiled and fallen Jedi founded the Sith Empire and later the Sith Order). Even Darth Maul, raised almost from infancy to be a Sith Lord, was first taught how to be a warrior first, then and only after he was taught to fight (well enough to survive for years on a planet full of hostile native life) was he given any instruction in how to use the Force.

If you really want a Sith core class, do what they did in the OCR rules before they had any Prestige Classes, just use Jedi classes. The original write-ups before the Dark Side Sourcebook introduced Sith prestige classes for Palpatine was Noble 3/Jedi Consular 17, and Darth Vader was a Fringer 1/Jedi Guardian 16. In the end, the basic skill set of a Jedi and Sith, especially from a game-mechanic standpoint, is quite similar, they both are members of a force-using warrior order, with a lore-oriented aspect, who master the use of lightsabers.