UncleArkie said:

Force Powers and lightsabers are in this edition of the book, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 The only way it WILL be an issue is if they want to play as full-fleged Jedi or Sith.

daddystabz said:

Well yes, but they shouldn't be all that common at all, since it's the middle of the Imperial era.

Ragnvaldr said:

I just kickstartered the new 5th edition of Traveller which I was going to make a star wars game from, so I'm not going to get this. And I only mention it because they also charged $30 for their beta. It got exclusively long term fans in as the play testers and fact checkers. And they all are receiving the PDFs of the rule book free. Not sure if they got a discount on the dead tree edition.

Another thing about traveller 5 is that it's a 500+ rule book, I'll let you know how the bindings on that hold up. Maybe more books will be better

Another

I agree entirely but still a lot of people will complain nonetheless.

MILLANDSON said:

 Move along. 

In my view Christian Petersen either needs to take hold of his staff and sort them out, or resign. This was a company I used to respect. Now it's a company that abuses that respect and makes me feel like thy've got their hand permanently in my wallet. This all round is an appalling decision and anyone supporting this deserves all the criticism they get for perpetuating these dreadful business practices. If you want to make money Mr Petersen, be a banker. This is a hobby, not wall street, and it will exist long after you and your grubby paws have been prised loose.

 It's not a hobby to them, it's work, they are a company and their goal is to create entertainment in order to generate profit so they can pay their bills. Trust me no one gets rich working in publishing of any kind unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowlin or R.R. Martin, by the way if you want a good inside view on publishing read Charlie Strosses blog on it.

As with Only War, I'm going to pass on the Beta and skim the finished copy at my FLGS if they carry it.  I don't pay for beta software, why should I pay for an unfinished manuscript?

Okay, with that out of the way, I admit I'm sort of on the fence.  On one hand, special dice.  On the other, YAY NO JEDI!  Much like Space Marines… well, I'm just not a fan of that kind of character.  Been on the recieving end of too many min-maxers and freeforming godmodders to not look at Space Marines and Jedi with anything other then a cynical sneer.  So "forcing" players to look at the puny mortal options like the Fringers works for me, I always thought Han Solo and Chewie were more interesting characters anyway.  Starting off with characters on the edge just feels better to me.

 I do agree that putting Jedi in their own, separate game makes sense. But I would like to know to what extent each game is being tied to the Rebellion Era. There are two campaigns that I've wanted to run for years, but held out in order to see what FFG could offer me, and neither of them take place in this period. This will admittedly only become a major issue with Force and Destiny, due to the implications of being a Jedi in the Rebellion Era.

While making people wait to play a full "Force Users" campaign, ala Old Republic is probably fine in theory, particularly if you're of the "Space Marines ruin 40K RPGs vein", I do think it's going to cause a rift in the community.

Why?  Because according to the day 3 Gencon video, the full power of the force isn't officially available until 2015. 

So essentially an entire segment of the fan base is either forced to play a version of Star Wars they are not interested in, or they won't play at all, and they'll wait until the version they like comes out.

Personally, I think that's unfortunate. There is enough 'canon' out there now where a core rulebook could have had the rules material required to run Star Wars in any era, and leveraged sourcebooks to enhance the experience of a specific era, much like Saga Edition did. Now, I get that rehashing that release model puts FFG in an awkward situation where they have fans who will have both versions in their collection, but I think ultimately it would have been a whole lot better than having people wait years to get a full ruleset.

Having not seen the Beta rules ($40 plus exchange rate is a bit rich for me for a beta) I'm willing to be proven wrong on the flexiblity and completeness of the rules, but I'm not holding my breath.

VagrantWhisper said:

Well as you allude to it is what they started out with in 40K and it seems to have worked.  Started with 'normal' humans in Dark Heresy as the lower power setting and built to Death Watch as the third release which introduced Space Marines.  At the start a lot of 40k fans were frothing at the mouth about no Marines and were calling it commercial suicide not to start off with the 40K poster boys.  The analogy is pretty strong, just change super human god like Marines to super spiritual warrior-monks.  Personally Dark Heresy remains my favourite of the 40K settings.

Interesting that they inherited this approach from Black Industries and ran with it.  How different things may have been for both 40K and Star Wars without Black Industries. 

Replicant253 said:

Oh don't get me wrong, I certainly appreciate the irony in my own concern. While it seems to be working for 40K, I wonder how well though, and for how long. Some may recall that Only War was originally a Dark Heresy supplement, and not a whole line, and there's certainly a lot of concern that it may be an indication of FFG finally jumping the proverbial 40K shark.  For all intents and purposes it remains to be seen if Only War isn't actually an unofficial Dark Heresy 2.0 and releases for DH stop after Only War's release.

The releases for the older materials has slowed down substantially, and even the new lines are starting to feel like they're dangerously close to rehashing the same materials/format (GM Screen, Player Supplement, 3 part adventure, Bestiary, random assortment of supplements). As someone who has the complete collection of all the 40K products I know first hand that it's no small feat to invest in a setting with multiple "Core lines", and I also know first hand that getting buy in for play of the entire collection is generally difficult with a single group. 

I also don't believe that FFG will hold themselves to the 3 Core Line format.  The 40K line started as a trilogy as well, and was proclaimed as such across multiple media types by then head of the line Ross Watson.  Look where the line is now.  I, personally, don't need another 50+ book RPG line just because I'm a setting junkie and want all of the options.

I suppose it's safe to say then, that while I have little concerns over the actual gameplay, I do have concerns that FFG has a cash cow on it's hands, and they will either intentionally, or accidentally, handle the line knowing that all it will take is for them to build it, and the fans will come.

 Hey folks,

Though a complete newbie to the Fantasy Flight forum, I am nevertheless a long time player of several of their game lines. I just wanted to begin this post by voicing my support of both them, their previous games, and their future endeavours.

On the subject of the new Star Wars game, I'm in full support of everything that I have read so far. Their decision to release it in three separate books, whilst disappointing to those who wanted a more expansive, singular rulebook from the off, does allow for the designers to give more focus to the three "principle" areas of the classic era: that of smugglers/bounty hunters/fringe elements, the Rebel Alliance, and the Jedi and other Force traditions. Some would argue that this means putting restriction upon character options, and maybe it does - but the fact that the three books use a universal system means that you will be able to incorporate anything/everything, if only at a later time. And to those who detest the idea of waiting longer for such options: FFG could just as easily have not began work upon a Star Wars RPG until further down the line; at least this way, you have SOME access to the Star Wars galaxy.

The fact that it's costing so much for a beta does, I'll admit, irk slightly, but it's an irk that I can understand, given the nature of the industry, and the fact that such an annoyance is off-set by one very valid benefit: I'm gaining early access to an RPG that would otherwise be outside of my reach for the next few months. If this is not a big enough boon to some, then the alternative is simple enough - just wait the required time and purchase the full rulebook. No dramas.

Custom dice: I will admit that I was initially worried about how essential these would be to playing the game (in the sense of them being the kind of dice that are 100% required in their individual format), but the fact that they can easily be replaced by your common, very-likely-to-be-on-hand standard dice means that this problem is… well, it's as much of a problem as you want to make it. I know that I, myself, will simply copy out the conversion table and crack on. Besides, we're RPGers - how long will it really be before we memorise the table and conversions and begin rattling off the info with a moment's thought? It happens with Warhammer, it happens with DnD; I'd be very surprised if it couldn't happen here.

The long and short of it is that you are NEVER going to get a game system produced by a company that fits everyone's expectations, that ticks every box on the great, expansive "Player List of Demands". All that any company can do is try to make a game that it thinks allows for its followers to tell the kind of story that their game is supposed to tell. If FFG achieves this with their upcoming titles, and we all find ourselves able to map out and enact incredible Star Wars epics, then does it really matter whether you did so with funky dice?

And if that's really not enough, there's always D6 or D20 available for those who remain less-than-satisfied. For the rest of us, we have a brand new system on hand with which to play in a galaxy far, far away. ;)

  TThings I hope to see in the end product:

 
•         Special dice, cards and party mechanics (like in the new Warhammer RPG).

•        All Force Powers should have its origin from the movies, books or comics (like the spells in Deciphers LOTR RPG). And let them work as they do in the original source – for instance “force lightning” stuns a person when hit by it – except if you parry it with your ligthsaber or (if you are Yoda) with your hand or dodge it (never seen that happen though :D). And it kills you slowly and painfully.

•        Character powers are not necessarily balanced in a game term sense with regards to classes, races, skills, ect. But more “in touch” with the world (like the deadly spells in Mongooses Conan RPG).

•         More “hard-core” rules less “flavour text” stories. For instance: How can you create a PC/NPC like General Grievous – what are the pros and cons? How does the Bothan spy network work in the game? Not just background stories about it. What happens when your arms and legs are cut off (and you are a force user)? Flying through asteroid fields, creating a base on Hoth, racing a pod race, how do you blow up the Death Star? How do you jam a signal? How do you live as a trader/smuggler? ect.

•         Starting (level one?) Sith players NOT being able to cast force lightning or other similar stuff.

•         A good explanation why it’s better to wield a single lightsaber with two hands (like a majority do) and not attack with your “choke powers” while in a lightsaber duel. 
 
           Being able to play in any setting (Old times, clone wars, the original triology, and after) And be able to play good, neutral or evil.

I really hope you think outside the box and not just make a balanced “MMORG” RPG where we have our tank, controller and assassin characters  but instead make a game that bring us, mentally, into a galaxy far far away.

Regards,
Ryan