Final Fantasy XIV Getting an Official TTRPG

Square Enix leaked a pre-order page for Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG Starter Set on their online store on Wednesday morning before taking it down that afternoon and putting it back up again overnight.

The order page for the new TTRPG went live on Wednesday for around 6 hours before being taken down, but not before being archived via the Wayback Machine. It's likely the game was scheduled for announcement during the Letter from the Producer event on September 23 but was posted live by mistake. As of Thursday morning, the pre-order page is live again on the site along with an announcement page confirming a player and GM core rulebook along with an official preview page.

The new game will be based on the MMORPG video game Final Fantasy XIV, which currently has over 3 million active daily players available on PC, macOS, and PlayStation. This marks the first official adaptation of the popular and long-running Final Fantasy video game franchise to tabletop RPGs. From the product description before it was removed:

Based on the hit MMO Final Fantasy XIV, the FFXIV TTRPG is a tabletop roleplaying game that lets you experience Eorzea from a whole new perspective. Step into the shoes of a heroic adventurer or assume the game master's mantle, then cooperate to forge your own unique stories within the vast and exciting universe of Final Fantasy XIV. The Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG Starter Set comes with everything you need to dive into the game and includes both the Player Book and the Gamemaster Book. Gather your friends together to explore, battle, and roleplay--the only limits are your imagination, and the only goal is to have fun. Discover a realm of adventure reborn!

The Starter Set will include a Player Book, Gamemaster Book (including three scenarios tying into the FF14 main story), four pre-generated characters (Warrior, White Mage, Dragoon, and Black Mage), Rules Summary & Strategy Guide, encounter maps, character tokens, and ability markers. The set will also include custom numeric dice - 6d20 total (two red and one each of green, blue, black, and clear) with the Final Fantasy XIV logo in place of the 20 and 10d6 (four red, two each of blue and green, and one each of black and clear). No further information about the game system is available at this time.

The set is scheduled for a May 2024 release and is available for pre-order for $59.99.

Note: This article has been edited to update with new information as the pre-order page was taken down, then put back up again, then an official announcement and preview page released.

 

[Reynard]

I wonder how quickly a complete game will follow. I feel like you only have a few months to capitalize on a starter set release.

 

[CleverNickName]

It's probably (hopefully?) already in the works.

 

[beta-ray]

I've never actually played a Final Fantasy game (have played a couple of Dragon Quest games though), but am always at least interested in a game with Japanese flavor. Wonder how this one compares to Fabula Ultima?

 

[Parmandur]

Kind of bizarre that there has-been a FF TTRPG in the past 30 years already?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Today lots of players would rather to use a precreated game system than learning from zero a new one.

A partnership between Hasbro and Square Enix is possible, but it should be better starting from zero a new IP. Maybe in FF18, but both companies would rather to enjoy total creative control on their IPs.

Sourcebooks about the lore aren't so easy to be sold when players can read the fandom wiki. But if those books are written to be agnostic system, then it could be for no-rpgplayer collectors.

 

[UnplayedRanger]

This will be an auto-yes for me. Love FF14, and when I was deep into it I thought it would be perfect for a TRPG. I mean, the classes and abilities are right there!

 

[Aldarc]

I'm still not convinced most of the people that backed that KS even cared what system it was.

So they wouldn't have cared if it was 5e, which doesn't speak to 5e either.

 

[Reynard]

So they wouldn't have cared if it was 5e, which doesn't speak to 5e either.

Im not sure what this means.

For millenials in particular, Avatar is a major touchstone and this game was pretty well destined to be huge regardless of who made it or what underlying system it used.

 

[Lupin]

Kind of bizarre that there has-been a FF TTRPG in the past 30 years already?

You must be referring to that little-known game Dungeons & Dragons, of which Final Fantasy (1) was a pretty direct copycat, right?

(Or did you mean "hasn't been"? On that point, I would agree, it's a weird merchandising oversight. Maybe they felt TTRPGs were not their forte or a profitable medium. Or maybe they just felt outclassed by—and perhaps too similar to—Sword World & D&D.)

Edit: Can I also note that I kind of hate that they're using the acronym TTRPG, and with that big first "T" like it's a word and not an abbreviation? Kind of an eyesore on such an otherwise beautiful box. But this is also the company that got us game titles like Dissidia [duodecim] 012 Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, so I guess it's par for the course.

 

[Reynard]

You must be referring to that little-known game Dungeons & Dragons, of which Final Fantasy (1) was a pretty direct copycat, right?

(Or did you mean "hasn't been"? On that point, I would agree, it's a weird merchandising oversight. Maybe they felt TTRPGs were not their forte or a profitable medium. Or maybe they just felt outclassed by—and perhaps too similar to—Sword World & D&D.)

Does anyone know whether there was ever a FF ttrpg in Japan?