No more Star Wars RPG - It's Official

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I dunno, the d20 StarWars line always seemed ... floundery.

The first edition needed lots of work, so much that they needed to rewrite about half the rules.

So after they've released some books, they change quite a bit of the system and re-release it.

After that they STILL have some problems, and now we've got basically two versions of the same game pretty close to one another in function and time.

And alot of things seriously needed to be changed in that version, as well.

So mechanically, it never really felt all that solid to me. They always seemed to be working with it, working on it, and releasing products as they did so.

--fje

 

[Ranger REG]

I dunno, the d20 StarWars line always seemed ... floundery.

The first edition needed lots of work, so much that they needed to rewrite about half the rules.

So after they've released some books, they change quite a bit of the system and re-release it.

Which is a good thing. They took fan feedback to make RCR. They didn't have to, but they did.

 

[Banshee16]

This seems like such a bad idea by WOTC. If they had only included the RPG stats with the Star Wars minatures (like the D&D ones), I'm quite sure that many people would have picked up the RPG.

Here's to some company picking up the RPG license and getting it right.

So, the two biggest licenses, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have both failed. Actually, they've both failed twice?

Maybe the "take" that Lucasfilm and the Tolkien estate want are too much? Or is it something else?

I liked the Star Wars RPG. I never got to play, but I have a few of the books, and it seemed cool. It's really too bad.

Banshee

 

[Teflon Billy]

I still have my Star Wars d6, I'm happy with that

Ditto. That product line ruled

 

[Alzrius]

So, what does this mean for the website content?

I don't just mean web enhancements and such. Colums like Jedi Counseling, and the recent articles on Episode III were absolutely great. Does this mean that no articles will be written anymore? Will existing ones be taken down?

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'm not sure one can get it right, I've heard Lucasfilms is really tough to work with

LOL!!! If that isn't the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.

As between licensors, there is no question that WotC is more difficult to work with than Lucasfilm. It is not even remotely a contest.

WotC would make these books if they sold in numbers large enough to justify the resources for a large publisher like WotC. Either the sales are there for them in the numbers WotC requires - or they aren't.

They simply aren't.

 

[Steel_Wind]

So, the two biggest licenses, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have both failed. Actually, they've both failed twice?

Maybe the "take" that Lucasfilm and the Tolkien estate want are too much? Or is it something else?

I liked the Star Wars RPG. I never got to play, but I have a few of the books, and it seemed cool. It's really too bad.

Banshee

Not really accurate. West End failed for reasons relating to retail shoe stores - not D6.

Similarly, ICE failed for reasons of a large CCG (LOTR as it turns out) inventory and Tolkien Enterprises who actively opposed restructuring so as to escape a 15 year old license with ICE.

While it may be fair to say that the profits were not sufficient to justify the development of products to either WotC or Decipher - I think in both cases, a smaller RPG publisher who would have focussed on both licensed lines as its core business could have made a go of it.

Considering that ICE ran with LOTR until there was no where left to run with it for 15 years and that LOTR minis made Games Workshop a few hundred million in sales...it's hard to suggest LOTR was a bad product to license.

 

[LostSoul]

Which is a good thing. They took fan feedback to make RCR. They didn't have to, but they did.

There's another way to look at that.

I don't really care that WotC lost the license. I've played so much Star Wars that I've got my own spin to put on it. I'd rather play in my Star Wars universe than Georgie's or WotC's. And there are tons of rules out there for Sci-Fi d20 systems that you can apply to Star Wars.

 

[likuidice]

When you say that only the minis will be continued, does this also include the CCG? I shall be a mite annoyed if, after they killed the decipher license and refused any negotiation on it, they now do nothing with the CCG side of things.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

This is a surprise? To anyone?

I have the revised d20 Star Wars core book. It works for me - I've never felt inclined to purchase anything else (excpet the Alien Anthology). Never liked the old D6 version.