No more Star Wars RPG - It's Official

[JVisgaitis]

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

Maybe its just that there is so much established in those worlds that people are more prone to be the characters in the movies/books as opposed to their own characters playing around in the same world. Personally, I would never want to be mucking around as some side character in Lord of the Rings.

This is just my take and why I didn't play in either. One interesting thing that kinda supports it, is that the miniatures versions of Lord of the Rings by Games Workshop and Star Wars Miniatures by Wizards which allow you to play as the characters are doing very well.

Don't what this means or if it means anything at all, but its certainly a common thread.

 

[Staffan]

Maybe its just that there is so much established in those worlds that people are more prone to be the characters in the movies/books as opposed to their own characters playing around in the same world. Personally, I would never want to be mucking around as some side character in Lord of the Rings.

I think Star Wars has a lot more room for other heroes than Lord of the Rings does. The Galaxy is pretty much open-ended, while Middle-Earth is very heavily defined.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I think Star Wars has a lot more room for other heroes than Lord of the Rings does. The Galaxy is pretty much open-ended, while Middle-Earth is very heavily defined.

True and with the great story that was in KOTOR, one would think it would be easy to start a campaign around. I dunno what it is, but that very well may have been LotR's fate.

 

[Coredump]

A different question.

Regardless of whether WoTC publishes or drops SWRPG.... why does that mean no more Living Force campaigns? The same material is out there, why can't they do another one, since the first was was 'wildly successful'? Who makes that decision?

 

[philreed]

Regardless of whether WoTC publishes or drops SWRPG.... why does that mean no more Living Force campaigns? The same material is out there, why can't they do another one, since the first was was 'wildly successful'? Who makes that decision?

The entire point is to sell books. If new books aren't being made there's no reason to invest resources in promoting it. It is far easier to dump stock through a liquidator and be finished with the line.

 

[MerricB]

The other reason to abandon Living Force is because the approvals process is so involved. All adventures have to be approved by LucasFilm. When you're talking about a bunch of them being written by the fans... hmm.

The replacement campaign will use the d20 Future rules, although not the setting. We don't know much more than that. (Well, August Hahn does, but he's not telling). However, it should prove much more amenable to getting adventures out.

Cheers!

 

[kenobi65]

The other reason to abandon Living Force is because the approvals process is so involved.

Well, that's true, but...

The esteemed Mr. Reed got at the real reason. The real reason RPGA isn't pursuing a "Living Force 2" is that WotC won't let RPGA start up a new campaign for a game line that they (or some other game company) isn't supporting any longer.

The LF campaign staff had, last year, begun work on "LF2", and, earlier this year (once the RPG line was placed on hold), the staff was told to stop work on it. Those of us who play LF regularly, and follow the LF Yahoo Group, knew that "LF2" had been shut down months ago...this announcement simply makes that official.

As has been pointed out previously, RPGA is part of the WotC RPG marketing department. RPGA exists to promote play of WotC games (and, secondarily, games published by other game companies that use the d20 system, like Living Spycraft and Living Arcanis). RPGA is, fundamentally, a marketing expense for WotC.

With SWRPG no longer being supported by WotC, it makes no business sense at all for them to be spending money on supporting organized play of the SWRPG. Plain and simple, unfortunately.

 

[frankthedm]

GREEDTALITY!

 

[amethal]

I still want my Rise of the Empire era sourcebook.

Looks like I'm not going to get it.

Oh well, I've never had a chance to play the dratted game anyway, so it would have been another book gathering dust on my shelf.

I hope the person who spent so much money on eBay buying my out of print d20 Star Wars collection is getting some use out of them.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Sadly, I never recall an RPG that had great long term success that was tied in with a series of movies. I think that it may have something to do with people feeling that they are tied to the setting's doctrine or set characters.