WFRP/40K games shut down by GW [merged]

[BryonD]

What's the relationship of BI and Green Ronin? Is GR just the subcontractor who writes the WFRP books?

I believe this will have no effect on them at all unless you count maybe losing a client......

 

[Douane]

What's the relationship of BI and Green Ronin? Is GR just the subcontractor who writes the WFRP books?

Chris Pramas posted on the GR forums that their contract with BI "concluded last year".

Today Games Workshop announced that it is shutting down Black Industries, its roleplaying wing. Green Ronin worked with BI for many years as a design house and put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the products we created for them. Getting to design the new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was in many ways a dream project for me and seeing it become the #2 fantasy RPG on the market was pretty gratifying. It is sad to see WFRP come to an end yet again, though I'm sure the fan community will keep it going for many years to come.

Many people have asked me what this means for Green Ronin and if the closure of BI will adversely affect us. There's nothing to worry about on that score. Our contract with them concluded last year and we turned over the files for Thousand Thrones last month. We knew this transition was coming and were ready for it. We just didn't realize that WFRP itself would not be moving forward. At least the line is going out with a bang though. Thousand Thrones is a huge adventure that'll take a long time to play through. It seems like an appropriate way to send things off.

Best of luck to the GW folks affected by this. I've been through similar days and they are never fun.

Source: Green Ronin and Black Industries

 

[Deset Gled]

Does anyone know what this means for Talisman? According to the web site, the game is sold out, and Black being out of business makes it seem unlikey there will be another run. But according to Wikipedia ( http://www.zshare.net/download/69537645909a20/ ) there's a video game version on the horizon. Will there by another reprint with it under Game Workshop? Why was Talisman done under the Black Industries name this time around, anyways?

 

[scourger]

In other news...Matt Sprange was seen frantically rushing towards BI with contract papers in hand...

Don't even joke about something like that. Maybe if it was the quality of the Judge Dredd game that Matt actually wrote, but not on the likes of other Mongoose products.

Green Ronin would be a great successor for 40KRP. We had fun with WFRP, athough it was short-lived for us. I kept Karak Azgal for hopeful future use with a different rules set.

I just hope amazon gets me my copy of 40KRP. I have next to no interest in the minis game, but the novels are entertaining. The RPG I have been waiting to get. I lament that the other 2 won't see print in 18 & 36 months. It was an ambitious product development schedule.

Best wishes to anyone adversely affected by this decision.

 

[Glyfair]

What is going on over at Games Workshop?

According to the ICV2 announcement:

Kevin Roundtree of BL Publishing, while noting that some Black Industries' properties such as the Dark Heresy RPG and the Talisman Board Game have been successful, explained that the decision to discontinue the Black Industries line was based on a desire to focus the company's efforts and energy on its even more successful Black Library line of novels based on the 40K and Warhammer properties.

 

[Psyckosama]

Back on the BI forum there is serious talk of a Boycott. I'd like to ask people who favor this idea to refrain from buying from BL Publishing which means Black Library, Black Flame, Solaris, and if you really want to stick it to them, GW in general

Feel free to keep buying BI products until the end. It would be damned amusing if BI ends up being the only BL subsidiary to be pulling a profit when the hatchet drops.

 

[Cergorach]

Bad news! Especially if you hoped that stores would actually have these kinds of books on the shelves. Reprints suddenly seem less likely, and store owners less interested in a RPG line that is already defunct...

Why would you want to boycott BL? I'm pretty sure they didn't make the decision, even if the press release hints at this, generally this comes from the strategic level and not the tactical level of decision making. As BL is a subsidiary of GW, expect that the strategic decisions are made at GW higher echelons. A boycott will only make the success of BL more difficult, as well as a return of WFRP and W40KRP. It was indicated that this might only be a temporary thing, GW acts in cycles, so it might return in a year or two...

While I'm not always happy with the way GW handles it's business (or it's pricing policies), last year was an excellent year for that hobby. Mighty Empires returned (with awesome plastic hexes), while the rules were almost non-existent, they did release the original rules in PDF online for free. Apocalypse returned W40K to a hobby game instead of a tournament style game. And an awesome plastic Baneblade (enormous tank), and a plastic dragon (with rider).

I started with the hobby when I bought WD 98 (UK), I loved the shift to exclusive use of GW IP a couple of issues later. While it has turned into more of a catalogue for their products, currently there's enough interesting material in it to justify the 2-year subscription. WD currently has a three month cycles, with each month focusing on one of their core lines (WHF, WH40K, LotR), with articles in each issue of each system. That coincides with their release schedule for miniatures and expansions.

I'll probably order the WH40K RPG asap, and am concidering ordering the entire WHFRP line, even though I haven't got the shelf space to put them on.

Ps. If you like WHFRP, you might want to take a look at Cadwallon from Rackham. I couldn't sleep last night (was suddenly awake at 3:00) and started reading. It's pretty grim like WHFRP (I only really know 1st edition), but instead of being low-magic, it's pretty high-magic (but in a different way to most D&D high-magic settings). The art is awesome!

 

[Spell]

This clinches it, I'm going to have to run down a couple copies of DH. These sort of things you either pick up on the spot or just never see them again. A decade from now these things will be selling for half a dozen times what they cost as collector's items.

i don't know, though... is people buying the first edition of warhammer?
from what i can see from ebay, the very few copies in circulation are nowhere near a price that would be worth storing 2 or 3 copies in a good, safe, dry place away from the sun for 10 years.

i know the prices might vary, but even other complete games that are much more popular (D&D rules cyclopedia, for example) that i checked out are pretty much close to the original cover price, or slightly overpriced.

i have bought one book, and i will buy whatever supplement i can get my hands on... but i don't think buying stocks of it (or even 1 or 2 more) is a good investment.

having said that, for those tht wanted the book, but can't find it either online or somewhere else, there's two shop close to uni that had about 20 copies between them this weekend. if anyone is interested, i might be talked into buying them and ship them oversea. the cover price is £35.

 

[Pramas]

What's the relationship of BI and Green Ronin? Is GR just the subcontractor who writes the WFRP books?

Green Ronin was the design house for the WFRP line. We put the books together (writing, editing, art, layout, etc.) and delivered files ready to go to print to BI.

 

[D.Shaffer]

...Eesh.

Well, as much as I'm a bit sick of GW's 40K game in general, I always did like the background. It's a pity they decided to do this with the RPG, I know a LOT of people have been waiting for a good write up. That they cancelled it before they hit the Space Marines seems to be a bad decision. They didnt even have proper write ups for Orks.

I'm also a bit worried about what this might mean for other GW owned companies, like Sabertooth. I'm a big fan of the UFS CCG line.