Wither Star Wars d20?

[Maggan]

Ratio is 1 to 5

Yeah, MOST people don't buy adventures, yes, we know that but for every 2 people who don't buy adventures there is one that does. Adventures SELL systems. Where would Shadowrun be without Dreamchipper? Probably canned LONG ago.

Jason

From my experience with working for publishers of RPGs in Sweden, adventures are bought by 1 out of 5 gamers.

I suspect the ratio to be similar in regards to US sales.

As for Star Wars d20, I'm hard pressed to see what besides info on the new movie that needs to be added. I like the d20 version, I loved the d6 version, but neither version has seen much play at my table.

I want it to go on though, otherwise I'll be hearing detailed theories that it was the d20 system that did the Star Wars line in from vocal critics in my local gaming community.

Cheers!

M.

 

[Kanegrundar]

There will always be the stupid D20 vs. D6 debate. Niether system or publisher handled the lisence poorly. Both have had their highs and lows. SW is a finite setting unless the publisher is allowed to expand beyond the books and movies, even then they run the risk of offending the SW fans' sensibilities (sometimes that isn't very hard at all to do).

Kane

 

[teitan]

If you think there isn't enough material being published for WOTC to work with you really are forgetting probably the single most important part of the Star Wars canon outside of the movies... the comics. The Star Wars comic books have been VERY influential in what George Lucas is doing in the prequels. He has taken the good stuff and expanded on it and reworeked it in interesting ways. The comics seem to be the primary resources for the Dark Side Sourcebook and the Power of the Jedi and a LOT of the history of the SW UNiverse. Names like Darth Bane, Ulic Qel Droma, Cay Qel Droma, Nomi SUnrider etc. all come from the comics and not the novels! Unlike the novels, LUcas has made more subtle references to the comics than the novels and the only novel reference I can really think of that wasn't part of his original vision was the name of the capital, Corsuscant, which Zahn came up with.

Jason

 

[Sketchpad]

While I'm not privy to any of the license details so I'm purely guessing, I'd be surprised if the terms allowed WOTC to think out of the box very much. When WEG first got the license, the three movies were basically all there was. So the license they got was very open-ended, they had a lot of freedom in terms of what they wanted to cover and what new stuff they wanted to add. WOTC got the license under much different circumstances, the prequel trilogy was actively in development and the post-Rebellion era had been pretty well defined in the novels. I would imagine that Lucas specifically wanted them to tie their products to the new movies as part of an integrated marketing strategy, and didn't want them to mess with any of the other licensed parts of the history. So they probably don't have the same freedom to do their own thing as WEG.

You're probably right here ...

You mean they should offer a radical game system apart from d20? Isn't that like something TSR have done that nearly did them in? It's not like I have seen WEG offer RPG products other than their own in-house d6 System.

Nope ... I think that they should deviate from the norm with their books. SWB's probably got it right with their licensing terms, but I'd love to see them cut some new ideas within the SWRPG ...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Nope ... I think that they should deviate from the norm with their books. SWB's probably got it right with their licensing terms, but I'd love to see them cut some new ideas within the SWRPG ...

But there IS new stuff all through the books. Pretty much every single book has things created by the WotC team. Heck, both Coruscant and the Core Worlds and Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds have brand new planets.

The problem with the WEG approach is that they had so many ideas that were TOO different that they really didn't feel like Star Wars anymore. It was more like generic Sci-Fi. WotC had the right approach in keeping the majority as already estabolished material(of which there is still a huge amount uncovered, mostly New Republic Era), but still throwing in their own elements to keep things fresh.

From what I remember being told by the WotC employees a while back, Star Wars d20 was only second to D&D in sales. Of course, it still wasn't that great. Despite everything, though, the game isn't dead yet. Kind of an eternal stage of limbo.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I doubt that WotC will lose the lisence any time soon thanks to the popularity of the Minis game. That at least leaves the door open for something in the future for the RPG line...that is as long as the two are wrapped up in the same deal.

Kane

 

[Michael Tree]

There are probably far more people who were buying SW than were buying any of the other non-D&D books wizards puts out.

Possibly, but I wouldn't count on it, especially for the supplements. But even if SW sales are larger, the Star Wars license is probably extremely expensive, so the profits may be smaller than the other d20 books.

 

[Narfellus]

All this SW talk makes me wish i was playing it again. I just don't have the player base interested in it, which sucks, because i own about two dozen books. But for anyone who hasn't seen the battleship and scifi combat maps on RPGnow you should check them out. They are fantastic and make great SW accessories.

 

[Breakdaddy]

Not while his children are alive and declared heir-trustees of his trademarks. It's understandable. If I have something like that, I'd like to entrust it to my children to secure their future when I'm gone.

That is what JRR thought about Christopher. Cash is the best narcotic, no?

 

[Ranger REG]

Then we should thank JRR for having the doubt about LOTR being filmable. Otherwise, Christopher would have been controlling the four famous books under the Tolkien Estate.