No more Star Wars RPG - It's Official

[wingsandsword]

Does anyone have any idea why Lucasfilm would do that? I don't see how it would do them anything but good.

Simple, the cards only have two sides, and one side was taken up with minis game stats.

Lucasfilm wanted a big picture of the subject on the other side, so that it would be like conventional trading cards, with a picture on one side and information on the back. They decided that having a big picture of the subject was more important than stats for a related game.

From our perspective it seems outright boneheaded, but it was something up to LFL's discretion, and what they said WotC has to do.

 

[johnsemlak]

Simple, the cards only have two sides, and one side was taken up with minis game stats.

Lucasfilm wanted a big picture of the subject on the other side, so that it would be like conventional trading cards, with a picture on one side and information on the back. They decided that having a big picture of the subject was more important than stats for a related game.

From our perspective it seems outright boneheaded, but it was something up to LFL's discretion, and what they said WotC has to do.

It probably made a lot of sense from the LFL side.

Lucusfilms doesn't have a priority of supporting the SW RPG. Yes I'm sure they want all their products to do well, but the SW RPG must have been a very small bit in the entire SW prodcut range.

On the other hand, WotC does have a priority in supporting the D&D RPG, because D&D is one of WotC's most recognizable brands. So for WotC using the D&D minis, which apparently sell very well, to support the RPG makes sense.

Bottom line--just because having the D&D Miniature cards dual-statted made sense for D&D doens't mean it makes sense for SW.

 

[woodelf]

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

WEG failed; Star Wars just went with it. And my understanding is that MERP was doing just fine and it was, again, ICE that failed. Now, arguably, the latest LotR and Star Wars games actually did fail, since in both cases the company is still going strong.

And while we're cataloguing failed RPGs that should've been a license to print money: Decipher has just killed at least the 3rd Star Trek RPG. I've heard mixed reports on whether the LUG game was doing well, and whether or not LUG was doing well, so i dunno whether the game failed, or was doing just fine and LUG failed, or both were healthy and WotC [perhaps inadvertantly] killed them.

Sadly, we have very few "pure" case studies of licensed RPGs--most have been tainted by either onerous licensing requirements, meddlesome licensors, or licensees that died for unrelated reasons. OTOH, both MERP and WEG Wars seemed to be going strong despite the licensors, so maybe a well-done well-supported licensed RPG can do well for the company, and the latest versions fail one or both of those criteria. Or the licensors have gotten more difficult to deal with.

 

[woodelf]

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.

Ah, for the days when the RPGA was an organization for roleplaying. But i suppose that's a bit like pining for the days when the RPGA and Dragon admitted the existence of other games than D&D/D20 System.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

So, not to belabor a point or anything, but...

We've had confirmation of a starship scale minis game, and considering how closely that's being released after the Bounty Hunters expansion, its more likely a whole new game than another expansion of the ground based game.

Is there anywhere on the 'net that actually has a statement to this effect? I believe you that it was mentioned at GenCon (etc.), but I'm looking for more info, as well.

A StarWars ship-based game (maybe along the lines of the Pirates of ... Series) would be right up my alley.

 

[jeffh]

Ironically, the original Star Wars RPG did well commercially (earned money, that is) for more than a decade. That said, it's the only licensed RPG that I've seen remain wildly popular for an extended period of time (this includes games based on televeision shows, novels, etc). The Amber DRPG comes in a close second in terms of longevity where RPGs based on licensed property are concerned. It seems that most licensed games are fated to be crazy popular for a few brief years (if that long) and then silently fade away.

How long was MERP around? It's got to be comparable to SWRPG.

 

[EditorBFG]

No doubt. The minis seem to be selling like crazy. I wonder, is this another fad, like Magic?

Probably.

WotC likes fads.

ALOT.

 

[Dr. Harry]

How long was MERP around? It's got to be comparable to SWRPG.

IICE began puclishing MERP stuff in the early 1980's (a couple in 1982 and several more in 1983), and this kept going until 1999, when the relationship was terminated, so ... 17 years.

http://asp.merp.com/icemerp.html

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Of all the people lamenting of the death of the Star Wars RPG (well, not the death, but you know what I mean), I am justnot sure how many products could be put out in the future anyway. You are given a setting book and some extras to go with it. Surely with a world as rich as the SW universe there would be no shortage of ideas that come with it for a good GM.

The most successful licensed campaign setting/game was probably Marvel Super Heroes from the late 80's. It was a great game but it eventually ran out of good products to put out and just began relying on less than stellar ones. I guess for some licensed products I attribute a certain 'Elvis Factor' to them: I would rather see them go out on top rather than a bloated parody of itself with limited value.

 

[Xath]

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

I definitely prefer the d6 games I've played to the d20. I like rolling 14d6 for damage as a start-out character.