Lack of supplements

By knasserII, in Star Wars: Age of Rebellion RPG

Hi. I have EotE and most of the supplements for it. I really like it. I have toyed with getting AoR at some point and may well do so. But there seem to be far fewer supplements for it than EotE. Obviously it is newer so I would expect there to be less. But it seems to be getting almost none whilst since AoR has been out, EotE has had several.

Anyone know what the plan is for this? Are they going to finish up all the supplements for EotE before really getting started on the AoR supplements? Or was there a really long lag time for supplements for EotE as well and we're just seeing the same with AoR?

In short - when will AoR have several career books and a Jewel of Yavin and a Suns of Fortune of its own, et al?

It's early days, I think. AoR only came out last summer after all.

That said, things do seem to have slowed down a little - they are obviously spreading their resources over all three games now.

However, they seem to be bringing things out steadily. EoE now has three career books and a fourth coming soon, as well as new area books.

It's not a deluge of releases, but it seems fairly steady. At least there IS stuff coming out, unlike, say, D&D 5th, which looks increasingly like the tabletop game will not be developed, in favour of minis, boardgames and the MMO. Yes, things like X-Wing, Armada, Imperial Assualt and the card-games are going to be FFGs focus, but they don't seem to be completely neglecting the RPG either.

I really hope that they at least finish the career books before the line ends, and I hope it continues for a few years. I'm always frustrated by game lines like WHFRP3 that never really feel 'finished'.

Also, most of the material for - say - Suns of Fortune could easily be used for an AoR campaign. There's all kinds of ways to fight the Galactic Civil War that don't include direct military engagements.

Plus, we always need new stuff to talk about on the forum! :)

Edited by Maelora

Yeah, I suppose. EotE had four hardback supplements released in 2014, I think. AoR has had none. Though you're right - AoR only came out mid-way through last year. Still, I'm used to seeing supplements follow soon after a product. I guess it just seems rather sparse right now.

That said, every one of the supplements I have bought for EotE so far has been very high quality, so I suppose I shouldn't complain if they take time.

Thanks for the reply.

Hmm, since its release last summer AoR has had the GM Screen, Onslaught at Arda I and Stay on Target. About on par with EotE when it released the year before at the same time. The only thing lacking at the moment is information on any upcoming releases for AoR. We are getting the Nar-Shadda book at the end of the month and the next book will be Fly Casual for EotE, but we haven't heard anything about the next AoR book.

There will be more supplements for AoR in time. If I were to guess you'll probably see three career books in 2015 and an additional adventure book.

It all comes down to staffing. If the line has been profitable FFG may have some staff working on EotE, AoR, and F&D simultaneously. However, if they have the same people covering all three lines that may lead to some slowdown in AoR releases when F&D ramps up.

These are just my opinions. None of it is justified by prior comments from developers. I'm going off intuition here.

Didn't Wizards of the Coast just announce a new adventure for D&D 5th Edition?

5th Edition has only been out since August, not that much longer than Age of Rebellion.

It seems premature to say that it "looks increasingly like the tabletop game will not be developed".

Have they made some kind of statement supporting that?

We are getting the Nar-Shadda book at the end of the month and the next book will be Fly Casual for EotE, but we haven't heard anything about the next AoR book.

It was kind of like that at the start for EoE, wasn't it? I remember we were rather directionless when it came to what would come next for supplements until there were at least a couple of books out. I feel like AoR is definitely on track, and if they're slow with releases or information right now, it's only because the product is still so new.

Progressions, they have an adventure planned, but the two thus far have been fairly poor. What a lot of fans are annoyed about is that the planned Players Option book that was to accompany the adventure has been cancelled. Also, some important recent layoffs to the staff; having layoffs and book cancellations doesn't look healthy in the first year of a new game.

Mike Mearls has said he feels the D&D game should be like Monopoly or Settlers of Catan, without (m)any upgrades and additions. The emphasis seems to be on the minis, MMO and board games. The Core Rules and the odd adventure will comprise the game. Also, there's no online articles or magazines like the old Dungeon/Dragon, not even a character generator. So there is no means to give us new classes or character options. They have said they'll do a free PDF for a few races, but that's all.

Maybe it's premature, we will see - I'll have another look at it at the end of the year, see if it feels like they are developing it. Until then, another company will get my money.

But that's all off-topic. FFG seem to be supporting the SW game, and that's okay for me. I don't need rules-creep or a deluge of bloat, just some sign that stuff is coming out.

Who knows what will happen next? Maybe the new movies will see a huge shift in direction with some new company doing a completely different game? I'll be personally happy if things continue at the same steady pace they went last year. If we reach a stage when they're not telling us what new things are coming out, then I might feel 'the sky is falling!'

As of now, we have a new setting book, a new career book, and the F&D Beginner set and Core Book. Seems very healthy to me.

Edited by Maelora

I thought I had heard that D&D 5th Edition was a big success, but I probably don't follow that stuff very closely. I've certainly enjoyed playing it, and I don't have any problem with the idea that the game should stand on its own merits and not require dozens of supplements to make it interesting.

That said, I love the SWRP supplements :) They're developing three lines simultaneously so I'm sure they have more AOR books planned.

To each his own; I don't like systems that are not being supported, even if the basics are good (which they are with D&D 5th). If Hasbro don't want my money, someone else can have it.

One of the main things I like about this game, in fact, is the steady (but not overwhelming) flow of new stuff.

Chess and Go are fun games but they really need to come out with supplements or why bother!

To each his own; I don't like systems that are not being supported, even if the basics are good (which they are with D&D 5th). If Hasbro don't want my money, someone else can have it.

One of the main things I like about this game, in fact, is the steady (but not overwhelming) flow of new stuff.

:)

but I hope it doesn't go the mini rout. that was one of the design choices that tanked 4e.

as for topic, I am quite happy. in the last 6 months, we've had the beta and beginners of f&d, two supplements for aor, with a third close, an adventure and 2 or 3 supplements for eote. plus cards. all this on top of them being active in the forums. I do not feel shafted by ffg in the slightest, and am laughing at the suggestion.

edit: with the support of this game, and I do consider all 3 of these the same game, just focusing on different aspects of it, I've been heavily considering saying no to dnd, im going anima.

Edited by miishelle

Chess and Go are fun games but they really need to come out with supplements or why bother!

That's not the same and you know it. You're better than that.

An RPG is ideally a 'living' document, with the expectations of more stuff to come. Done right, it stimulates the game and keeps it alive. Yes, you can go back and play AD&D, but even that had plenty of options and supplements in its day.

And if we must continue that tortured analogy, this is like Chess being released without rules for knights, and Mike Mearls telling everyone that you don't need those rules because Chess plays perfectly well without Knights, and if you really must have rules for Knights, you should just make them up, and play 'Chess: the Card Game' or 'Chess: the MMO' instead...

I just don't really agree, it just seems like it's still possible and fun to play D&D 5th Edition, and it's only been out for a few months.

They seem to be releasing stuff for it and time will tell if they never release any sourcebooks but I'm not too worried about it, and it doesn't really impact my decision to want to play D&D or not.

It's certainly fun to get new sourcebooks for SWRP, but the real thing that makes it fun for *me* to play is that the system is well-designed and has a really strong foundation to tell stories in.

Chess and Go are still fun to play because they likewise have strong foundations. I'm just more interested in whether I find the game fun to play than whether there are a lot of new supplements coming out for a game which has been on the market for only six months.

They promised D&D 5th would include 'modules' for different types of play, and that it would be an edition that would bring together the fans of various older editions. As a start, it looks fine, but it's far from finished there, and now we discover that we didn't get an RPG, but a holy book that is 'perfect for all time' and written on stone tablets Mike Mearls found on Mount Sinai.

Or maybe not. Who knows? I'll take a look in a year's time and shelve our fantasy game until then. Maybe Mearls might find some money down the back of his couch or something in the meantime.

The only real reason I mentioned the D&D debacle was that FFG are actually telling us there's stuff coming out for SW. And hopefully we won't end up with a situation like WHFRP3 which finishes its run without letting us play elf wizards.

I am quite happy. in the last 6 months, we've had the beta and beginners of f&d, two supplements for aor, with a third close

You know something I don't? I'm not aware of any announced AoE supplements after SOT...

You know something I don't? I'm not aware of any announced AoE supplements after SOT...

Announced? Maybe not. But we do have a good idea of what they’ve got planned, and there are plenty of people on this forum who are alpha testers and/or contributing authors. And you never know where the official FFG folks might be lurking.

So, unless I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume that they are generally on schedule for what we know of what they have planned, and given that there are a couple of books that have recently made the transition from being “at the printer” to being “on the boat”, this would be a good time for a couple more books to get into the pipeline — presumably at least one of which would be AoR.

Edited by bradknowles

sorry, with the commanders splatbook thread, I forgot it hasn't been announced yet.

still doesn't change the main point of my post. Forrest for the trees.

They promised D&D 5th would include 'modules' for different types of play, and that it would be an edition that would bring together the fans of various older editions. As a start, it looks fine, but it's far from finished there, and now we discover that we didn't get an RPG, but a holy book that is 'perfect for all time' and written on stone tablets Mike Mearls found on Mount Sinai.

Or maybe not. Who knows? I'll take a look in a year's time and shelve our fantasy game until then. Maybe Mearls might find some money down the back of his couch or something in the meantime.

The only real reason I mentioned the D&D debacle was that FFG are actually telling us there's stuff coming out for SW. And hopefully we won't end up with a situation like WHFRP3 which finishes its run without letting us play elf wizards.

I honestly feel this is a modular game. you can take a species from eote, and a career from aor and specialization from f&d. and adventure wise too. you can be a smuggler one week, that joins the rebellion the next and is sent on a mission to rescue some Jedi held captive by a dark acolyte. that's one of the things I love about these games

Trust me, AOR supplements are being written, they just haven't been announced yet. Consider that you have to make some room for Edge supplements and the upcoming F&D stuff. It'll come, just give it time.

Thank you for the reassurance, Brad and KRK (and Miishelle, sorry if my post came off a little rude - wasn't my intent). I guess it's just because this is the first time there hasn't been something 'on the horizon' for any of the FFG products I follow. Seems like they normally have one product ready to drop, and another in the distant future.

Of course, stuff happens, I know. Plus, they might not want a new AoR announcement to distract from the F&D launch (as if it would :P).

Happy to wait a little extra time for more fine products. :)

Edited by I. J. Thompson

As far as D&D 5th goes, it could be that they're trying to go the opposite tact from how they handled 4e, which had new crunch coming out every single month, and frankly caused a fair number of players and GMs to start feeling overwhelmed with all this new material, be it class powers, racial powers, themes, magic items, or what-have-you.

I think Midnight_X2 has the right of it in that there's only so many people that FFG has on staff to coordinate and develop the books for all three Star Wars RPG product lines. Rodney Thompson ran into a similar issue when he was heading up Saga Edition for WotC, in that he had very limited staff resources for his product line in contrast to D&D which pretty much ruled the roost.

Once Force and Destiny is out, we'll probably start seeing more products for AoR as well as FaD and EotE, but also remember that EotE has been a "finished" system in terms of getting the core rules out and on shelves far longer than AoR. Plus, FFG seems to play its cards close to the vest in terms of upcoming products, so there may be more in the pipeline than what they're comfortable announcing just yet.

I actually emailed FFG about this exact same thing concerning AoR. I can't put screenshots in a post, but here's what they said:

"Thank you for contacting Fantasy Flight Games. We have no plans at this time to cease creating things, but at the same time, we have no announcements about upcoming product. I apologize that that's both sort of encouraging and discouraging. But I wouldn't worry. :)"

As far as D&D 5th goes, it could be that they're trying to go the opposite tact from how they handled 4e, which had new crunch coming out every single month, and frankly caused a fair number of players and GMs to start feeling overwhelmed with all this new material, be it class powers, racial powers, themes, magic items, or what-have-you.

Cutting back on power-creep and system bloat is admirable. Having less stuff come out is good.

Having no stuff for the RPG is most definitely bad, however.

As to the rest of your post, I agree totally. FFG seem to be releasing things gradually and methodically and keeping their cards close to their chest, all of which is good.

As far as D&D 5th goes, it could be that they're trying to go the opposite tact from how they handled 4e, which had new crunch coming out every single month, and frankly caused a fair number of players and GMs to start feeling overwhelmed with all this new material, be it class powers, racial powers, themes, magic items, or what-have-you.

I think Midnight_X2 has the right of it in that there's only so many people that FFG has on staff to coordinate and develop the books for all three Star Wars RPG product lines. Rodney Thompson ran into a similar issue when he was heading up Saga Edition for WotC, in that he had very limited staff resources for his product line in contrast to D&D which pretty much ruled the roost.

Once Force and Destiny is out, we'll probably start seeing more products for AoR as well as FaD and EotE, but also remember that EotE has been a "finished" system in terms of getting the core rules out and on shelves far longer than AoR. Plus, FFG seems to play its cards close to the vest in terms of upcoming products, so there may be more in the pipeline than what they're comfortable announcing just yet.

Seeing what has happened with fans at sites like Pinnacle (creators of Savage Worlds), I can understand the general reticence towards releasing information prematurely. Ideas get thought up, worked on a bit, then, in a lot of cases, cancelled. Fans can't seem to understand that something might not come out or they get a sense of entitlement about things (check out the Chiss Charicters [sic] thread in the EotE to see what I mean) and only want things there way... So, Pinnacle doesn't talk about something until it is near ready to ship (or they launch a kickstarter and don't have to do anything if that fails, heheh). Seems like FFG is doing the same.