Now that I'm done gasping with delight, I will read the announcements and see if I want to drop $30 on this. Hmm. Yay RPG!

Yes! News on a Star Wars ROG!!! It does sound awesome!

I'm sorry to be geek picky here, but it is spelled "Utinni!"

I did a quick search on Google, and there was a website called ootini.net that said otherwise. I won't argue with you though.

So now that I'm thinking about it, I don't like the idea of FFG charging $30 for a beta book. Why not release it online as a free PDF download? Otherwise, there should be incentive, like those who buy the beta book get that a significant discount off the hardback through FFG's store or the like. Granted, the incentive that you can see and play the rules NOW is cool, I just think I'm not going to be interested in checking it out.

 Some of my best gaming memories are from playing Star Wars 2nd edition by West End Games.

This mean that my firends character Milvaine Vile may come back to fight the dark side.

They probably released it as a book so more people could enjoy it.  Most don't want to sit in front of a laptop and read for hours maybe they should of just released both. 

Gambin said:

I agree, it'd be nice to have the hard copy, but I love having any and all rulebooks accessible on my iPad in .pdf form. So much easier in a lot of respects.

 At the pannel it was suggested that LucasArts frowned on the PDF download. 

cetiken said:

Ah, makes sense.

Slipstream said:

Don't forget that $11.05 minimum shipping cost that jumps the cost of one book to $41 total. Bit of sticker shock, that.

NathanPButler said:

True. Best to encourage your FLGS to get in stock for the cheapest route. Plus it gets interest in your local area.

Slipstream said:

Done and done : )

awayputurwpn said:

They didn't just frown - they vetoed any PDFs of the rules, as PDFs aren't covered by their RPG licences. It's the same reason why PDF versions of the Saga stuff were never released.

MILLANDSON said:

It's probably their fear of piracy. Same as why their old PC games were released only on DRM-ed platforms (not that it stops piracy, but that is for another thread).

They're just being ridiculous.

klaymen_sk said:

Indeed - ALL of SWSE was PDF'd by pirates within weeks of release. By not offering a PDF option, they're feeding the pirates, forgoing the royalties, and cutting off those of us with no more space for dead tree.

Heck, almost all of d6 was pirate scanned, too. Someone with a license needs to point this out to Lucasfilm… PDFs are a way to recapture some of the losses to pirates, far more than a vector for pirates to spread from.

In fact, a lot of things available in legal PDF are NOT readily available in pirate scans, or the pirates scan the dead tree. Not everything. And for SW, it's not unlikely someone in the print bureau will grab the files and share them.

Unfortunately, the PDF issue is not unique in cases where a massive license like Star Wars is involved. 

Cubicle 7 seems to have run into a similar issue, and all of their PDFs have been pulled and all future PDFs on hold for their Tolkien based The One Ring RPG.

While I recognize that LucasArts, Tolkien Estates/Enterprises, and others of their ilk, rely heavily on their partners to find a way to meet the needs of their fanbase within the bounds of the license, excluding PDFs from a 'gaming' license is just plain being out of touch, in my opinion.

I can fully understand your wish for a (beta) pdf version although I appreciate paper. Pdf has much more handling/review capablities. I don't know why it wasn't done (enough raesons were mentioned).

At the moment I don't have access to a copy . Is it worth the price for a beta-book?

I am very happy with the book. I bought it at Gen Con and am really liking what I have read so far. Should have a group up and running soon and to me the $30 is worth being able to play the game early.