Who Should Make The Next Star Wars TTRPG, And What Should It Look Like?

[Bill Zebub]

The game would work fine, yes. But that's not IMO a good reason to not make more material.

I always love more material, although I vastly prefer setting/adventure/"monsters" over more character options. Maybe because I like games that aren't so heavily based around character builds.

 

[Bill Zebub]

And there are plenty of examples of Star Wars characters working around Jedi without being completely overshadowed.

Although sometimes that's accomplished by splitting the party. Luke is off doing Jedi things, while the rest of the cast muddles through their own sub-plot with wits and blasters.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I always love more material, although I vastly prefer setting/adventure/"monsters" over more character options. Maybe because I like games that aren't so heavily based around character builds.

I feel the character options work best when they're a natural outgrowth of the setting/adventure/monsters the book is otherwise focused upon, not the star of the show. It's not like players buy all these books typically anyway. I like a stronger GM focus on publishing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Although sometimes that's accomplished by splitting the party. Luke is off doing Jedi things, while the rest of the cast muddles through their own sub-plot with wits and blasters.

Splitting the party is underrated IMO. The GM just needs to run them back and forth and do some multitasking. Better that I think than forcing physical party cohesion for against setting logic.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Splitting the party is underrated IMO. The GM just needs to run them back and forth and do some multitasking. Better that I think than forcing physical party cohesion for against setting logic.

Now I'm imagining game mechanics built around party-splitting. Like, something that happens in sub-group A generates a resource or moves a needle that influences what's happening in sub-group B.

Simulationists wouldn't like that, but I think it could be fun. Sort of reminds me of the mechanics added to TOR that kicked in when a party had a mix of high and low level characters (TOR is level-less, but you know what I mean). Just made it easier to run the game in non-standard (party is all together and similar level) mode.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Now I'm imagining game mechanics built around party-splitting. Like, something that happens in sub-group A generates a resource or moves a needle that influences what's happening in sub-group B.

Simulationists wouldn't like that, but I think it could be fun. Sort of reminds me of the mechanics added to TOR that kicked in when a party had a mix of high and low level characters (TOR is level-less, but you know what I mean). Just made it easier to run the game in non-standard (party is all together and similar level) mode.

I could see that being a good play time, even if I doubt I could square it personally with my simulationist mind.

 

[nyvinter]

In some cases, yes. They've managed to put out a steady (if slow) stream of TOR supplements.

They're the publisher of the One Ring, a lot of the work isn't made by them. Same as with Outgunned and the Mörk Borg stuff. For their own things they seem more interested in working on new IPs than the one they already have.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They're the publisher of the One Ring, a lot of the work isn't made by them. Same as with Outgunned and the Mörk Borg stuff. For their own things they seem more interested in working on new IPs than the one they already have.

I've always felt the personal irony of loving TOR but not caring for any of the games Free League actually makes themselves, mostly for mechanical reasons.

 

[Cergorach]

And how many years has it been?

In 20 days, 6 years. (Starships and Speeders)

FFG (and it's spinoffs) has had the license for board/card/miniature/RPG games for almost 15 years, which is longer then WEG (11 years) and WotC (10 years).

Looking at the Asmodee situation, the pandemic didn't help, the sale to Embracer didn't help, nor the split to FFG/Edge/Atomic. I would even go as far to say that things started to turn bleak after the CEO (the former owner) left at the end of 2018.

Asmodee has limited funds available, and has had issues with turning a profit, so they're concentrating on the products they expect the highest return on investment. That's obviously NOT pnp RPG books, and reprinting books gets them a return on investment pretty quickly (offloading to distributors) on sometimes more then a decade old books. Compare that to card games or miniatures (sell the same mini more then once to the same person), and you'll notice huge differences in return on investments.

Disney is seeing a steady paycheck from Asmodee, so why rock the boat?

Personally, I don't know if we really need another new version of SW, between all the different versions from three different publishers over 39 year. Oodles of SW esque official RPGs with serial-numbers filed off or fanmade adaptions. I would see very little benefit in getting a new SW system from yet another publisher unless it would fit in my very specific niche: Getting official Foundry VTT modules, and/or official PDFs... And I don't see that happening with new publishers either.

 

[Micah Sweet]

In 20 days, 6 years. (Starships and Speeders)

FFG (and it's spinoffs) has had the license for board/card/miniature/RPG games for almost 15 years, which is longer then WEG (11 years) and WotC (10 years).

Looking at the Asmodee situation, the pandemic didn't help, the sale to Embracer didn't help, nor the split to FFG/Edge/Atomic. I would even go as far to say that things started to turn bleak after the CEO (the former owner) left at the end of 2018.

Asmodee has limited funds available, and has had issues with turning a profit, so they're concentrating on the products they expect the highest return on investment. That's obviously NOT pnp RPG books, and reprinting books gets them a return on investment pretty quickly (offloading to distributors) on sometimes more then a decade old books. Compare that to card games or miniatures (sell the same mini more then once to the same person), and you'll notice huge differences in return on investments.

Disney is seeing a steady paycheck from Asmodee, so why rock the boat?

Personally, I don't know if we really need another new version of SW, between all the different versions from three different publishers over 39 year. Oodles of SW esque official RPGs with serial-numbers filed off or fanmade adaptions. I would see very little benefit in getting a new SW system from yet another publisher unless it would fit in my very specific niche: Getting official Foundry VTT modules, and/or official PDFs... And I don't see that happening with new publishers either.

So, if we aren't getting a new game, and we're not making new product for the last game, is the property just on reprint life support forever?