Wither Star Wars d20?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Really, that doesn't add anything new to the table. Star Wars is still in limbo, and its no surprise that the Living Force game would do the same once it came to its end.

 

[Kanegrundar]

There have been a few Living games that have carried on and found a way to breathe new life into supposed dead settings before. If it was still being played by a large group, like the RPGA, then I'd feel good knowing that the SWRPG still sees some game time where a lot of people can see it and try it.

Kane

 

[kenobi65]

There have been a few Living games that have carried on and found a way to breathe new life into supposed dead settings before. If it was still being played by a large group, like the RPGA, then I'd feel good knowing that the SWRPG still sees some game time where a lot of people can see it and try it.

Unfortunately, these days, the RPGA doesn't seem to be into supporting such anymore. With one exception (Living Death, which is now the oldest RPGA campaign), every current RPGA campaign is in support of a currently-published game or setting (be it published by WotC or a third party).

If WotC does decide to shut down the SWRPG, the RPGA's support of it will almost undoubtedly end, as well. Unfortunately, given the licensing issues, it's highly unlikely that a member-run effort would be given the permission to run a campaign, either.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I guess that's the way the business behind the games are played these days. It's a crying shame actually.

Kane

 

[kenobi65]

Well, consider that the RPGA is now a marketing expense for WotC. (It no longer charges a membership fee, or anything like that.) It exists to promote play of RPGs, specifically d20 based RPGs (thus, RPGs that, directly or indirectly, WotC sells).

If a game is no longer being supported / produced by WotC, there's no financial sense in spending money via the RPGA to promote play of that game.

Until recently, the RPGA had a campaign called Living Dragonstar, based on Fantasy Flight Games' Dragonstar campaign setting. FFG pulled the plug on Dragonstar in May of '04 (and, thus, cut the small amount of support they were providing to the LDS campaign); the campaign was cancelled within a few weeks thereafter.

 

[humble minion]

It seems pretty hard to believe that WotC is the slightest bit interested in taking the Star Wars RPG line further when there's absolutely nothing on the production line to be released along with Return of the Sith. It's not like they can a) find some writers, since all the SW material is contracted out now, and b) get a book together in the less-than-two months they have left. Besides, if you can't sell Star Wars books when a brand new movie is showing the you're hardly going to do any better another six months down the line.

I think WotC may have realised that the SW system has some major rough spots (stun damage, starship combat, attack bonus/defense score divergence), and needs a fair bit of a reworking before it is robust enough to warrrant much more in the way of support. Not much point in propping up a flawed system, after all. My guess is that either d20 Star Wars is utterly dead, or that the next product we see will be a new from-scratch revision of the core book.

 

[Ranger REG]

I think WotC may have realised that the SW system has some major rough spots (stun damage, starship combat, attack bonus/defense score divergence), and needs a fair bit of a reworking before it is robust enough to warrrant much more in the way of support. Not much point in propping up a flawed system, after all. My guess is that either d20 Star Wars is utterly dead, or that the next product we see will be a new from-scratch revision of the core book.

With all due respect, we're not complaining about the system as it is, we're complaining about the lack of new product release, to show some kind of sign that they're still supporting their RPG consumers who have Star Wars d20.

Now, I don't mind WotC selling licensed minis and their TCGs, but we should have one new RPG-only product (not RPG tie-in with minis) -- just one -- last Fall or Winter 2004. It would have quieted most of the vocal concerns perhaps one volume level down.

Flawed or not, at least show some consistencies.

I'm being patient for now. I'm thinking that the way George Lucas work, he is probably editing the last film as we speak, so nothing is final yet. It's better to let game designer see the finished piece before they put what they see on paper, rather than put stuff that would later end up in the cutting room (unofficial stuff).

Then again, perhaps they must have realized that the licensing only calls for the Original and Prequel Trilogies only, outside of that is off-limit, to which I can honestly comment, "they're screwed."

 

[humble minion]

With all due respect, we're not complaining about the system as it is, we're complaining about the lack of new product release, to show some kind of sign that they're still supporting their RPG consumers who have Star Wars d20.

Now, I don't mind WotC selling licensed minis and their TCGs, but we should have one new RPG-only product (not RPG tie-in with minis) -- just one -- last Fall or Winter 2004. It would have quieted most of the vocal concerns perhaps one volume level down.

Flawed or not, at least show some consistencies.

I'm being patient for now. I'm thinking that the way George Lucas work, he is probably editing the last film as we speak, so nothing is final yet. It's better to let game designer see the finished piece before they put what they see on paper, rather than put stuff that would later end up in the cutting room (unofficial stuff).

Then again, perhaps they must have realized that the licensing only calls for the Original and Prequel Trilogies only, outside of that is off-limit, to which I can honestly comment, "they're screwed."

Hey, i'm right along side you there. I'd still kill (people I don't like much anyway ) for Ultimate Starships, even f I don't care much for how the system handles that sort of thing. But I was speculating that perhaps the issues with the system are becoming a bigger and bigger problem for people trying to write new official 'crunch'`. Look at the amount of major mechanical changes that are suggested/recommended in the errata file, for instance. What does a writer do when using stun damage, or Fear, or Friendship, or whatever in their brand new module/sourcebook/etc?

Of course, nothing I've said would have the slightest effect on a hypothetical book of background material. So somehow I doubt this is the entire reason for the slow-down. The utter lack of new web material in recent months that isn't sheerest transparent mini-advertising has me feeling rather pessimistic, to say the least. Look back to the Ep II release, and the WotC marketing machine was really going into overdrive getting the word out about the new books coming down the pipe. the hype bugged me a little at the time, but it's sure preferable to what we're (not) hearing now...

 

[Ranger REG]

Hey, i'm right along side you there. I'd still kill (people I don't like much anyway ) for Ultimate Starships, even f I don't care much for how the system handles that sort of thing. But I was speculating that perhaps the issues with the system are becoming a bigger and bigger problem for people trying to write new official 'crunch'`.

It's always a concern whenever the series is still ongoing, and the writers of film or TV do not follow the game rules convention, they only follow the show's bible. The game designers will always have to give themselves some elbow rooms, because what they thought certain powers or effects work one way, may suddenly become different if shown different other ways in the show.

It's that additional level of headache when publishing licensed products based on an ongoing franchise.

Besides, I doubt we will have the one perfect ruleset that is adaptable to all future programs, but we -- fans and designers -- will continue to fine-tune it as close as possible. Just don't forget to have fun along the way.