So recently I purchased the Force and Destiny beginner box from FFG's website. I've since received the game, contents, and have played a game with a group of people who've never role played before. They've enjoyed it so much and I've decided I want to purchase one of the rulebooks. Unfortunately, the website is out of stock and won't be getting any for quite some time. The one close to being ready for shipping is Age of Rebellion, which I am fine with. However, that book is far from being ready for purchase through FFG's website and I don't want to keep them waiting too long. So now that all this has been explained...

Now to my question...

I know there are people who have published this very same game by companies other than FFG.

1. How can I tell which publisher the core book is printed from?
2. Is there any differences I should be aware of? ex. Paper quality difference, missing texts, etc.
3. Would anyone recommend buying a core book , new , from Amazon?
4. Would anyone know of places I could buy a corebook besides Amazon?
5. I know they are doing a reprint of the corebook now and I was wondering are there going to be any updates to that book?
6. Should I just wait for the most up to date printing from FFG?

Thoughts, comments, advice, always appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Trooper

P.S. - I know I bought a Force and Destiny Beginner Game, however we all really want one of the Edge of the Empire core rulebooks as the over all themes of that type of campaign seem much more appealing to us.

I've bought several books from Amazon and never had a problem.

All three Core books use the same game mechanics. The differences being the focus of the setting for your particular gameplay. EoE is Star Wars from the perspective of Han Solo and Boba Fett, experiencing the scoundrel smuggler type stuff. AoR is from Ambassador Leia or Biggs and Wedge's POV, dealing with the Imperial vs Rebellion type stuff. And F&D is all about the Force, mostly Jedi but there is room for the other Force traditions. If you really want the full experience with Han, Luke, and Leia, then you'll need all 3 books.

1-2) I'm not sure what other publishers you're talking about, unless you're just referring to the other Star Wars themed RPGs that have come and gone over the years. Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeons and Dragons) made a couple of d20 variants. West End Games made a d6 variant ages ago. But I don't know of any other publishers that are making the Fantasy Flight Games version, other than FFG themselves. So if you're buying something other than FFG, you're probably playing a different game entirely.

3-4) I'd recommend shopping on Amazon. The books are cheaper than MSRP, which is what most FLGS go by. And while I'm all for supporting local business and such, my wallet prefers I get a good deal when I can. You can check the other bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Or support local business and buy from your friendly local game store!

5-6) I haven't heard if they are doing any revisions to the books, or if they just happen to be making more of what they already have. You could always hold out and see, or you could get what you can get, and print out errata as it comes. Hopefully they'll get around to revising the errata at least, instead of just assuming people will browse the forums and find little nuggets of revision scattered among the threads.

The Core Rulebooks are entitled:

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: Core Rulebook (white hardcover)

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion: Core Rulebook (red hardcover)

Star Wars: Force & Destiny: Core Rulebook (black hardcover)

These titles are exclusively used by the FFG versions of the Star Wars RPG, so buying these specific titles ensures that you get the right version (all other versions of Core Rulebooks are not FFG, are out-of-print and are unsupported). If you are unsure, just compare the item listing in the shop you're looking at, with the image of the product from the FFG website - the designs are pretty distinct.

Myself, I purchased a whole set of the three from CoolStuffInc as they were the cheapest option, but they have the highest "free shipping" minimum (it took buying all three books to reach it). The Barnes and Noble website says they carry these titles, and may be more expensive than Amazon on a per-book basis, but the "free shipping" minimum is the lowest (one book reaches it). Amazon has the middle price, but you need to buy an additional $8 or so of other items to get free shipping.

So if you're only buying one book, and under the assumption that you don't have a nearby gaming store (because you had to order the beginner game from FFG), it would appear that Barnes and Noble would be your best choice.

An alternate suggestion would be buying the EotE rulebook from Amazon plus the Edge of the Empire beginner game. This gets you free shipping (make sure you put items listed as "Price: (Price) & FREE shipping" in your cart), an adventure more suited to your group's desired theme, plus an extra set of dice (because you really need to have 2 sets minimum to run a full game once you're ready to go beyond the beginner game). Of course, the downside is that you'll be spending more than you planned. If you go this route, only purchase items listed as either "Ships and sold by Amazon.com" or "Sold by (Name of Retailer) and Fulfilled by Amazon." in order to ensure you get maximum buyer protection in case you need to complain about or return something you bought from Amazon.

Any copy of Edge of the Empire will look identical. so E-Bay, Amazon or any FLGS who have an online store will be the same thing.

If the books don't have any of "Force and Destiny", "Age of Rebellion" or "Edge of the Empire" in the title then its not published by FFG and is therefore a completely different rules system. Only FFG printed books are compatible with the FFG system, basically they made an entirely new rules system for this edition of the Star Wars RPG. its awesome and totally worth playing!

Are you able to get a copy of the Edge of the Empire Beginner Box? it will provide a great story and more dice, always useful!

Im also assuming you know about the PDF expansion module for the Force and Destiny Beginner box? its available here

Apparently they do endeavor to add errata to later printings, get the latest printing you can. Other than looking inside the book itself I've no idea how to tell who printed them.

I'm in Australia, and Amazon are pretty good apart from poor packaging which almost always seems to get books dinged up in shipping. I haven't bought anything from there in a while unless I can't get it locally. I hate having my books damaged before I can get my hands on them.

I'd try to find a FLGS near you. It will cost more than Amazon, but you'd be helping out local business and economy, and there is a chance you can find other local gamers through them. Thankfully, here in Melbourne Australia, there are at least 8 FLGS stockists for EotE I can think of.

Even your local comic book stores should be able to get it in for you if they deal with Diamond or Alliance.

The FFG folks are pretty good at labeling all their stuff. If it doesn’t say “Fantasy Flight Games” on it, then it wasn’t published by them.

With EotE, there are some older editions that were printed years ago which might be available on eBay or other sources, but so far as I know there are erratas from FFG published for those which will bring them up to date with the latest printing for that same book. So, as long as you’ve got book+errata, you should be fine.

Of course, there’s always this forum if you need further clarifications, and there’s an explicit “Developer Answered Questions” thread for questions that were posed to the devs and whatever they provided as an official answer.

Book-wise, I used to buy all mine through my “Friendly Local Gaming Store” (a.k.a., FLGS), but they don’t have the best distributors, and sometimes it’s a while before they get books from FFG for Star Wars. Lately, I’ve been buying all mine on MiniatureMarket.com, but I’ve heard good things about CoolStuffInc.com, too. Of course, if you’re located outside of the US, there may be better sources that are more local to you, and would hopefully have lower shipping costs, etc….

Specifically, Amazon has been very hit-or-miss by all accounts I’ve heard, at least with regards to buying FFG Star Wars books. I’ve bought plenty of other new and used books through them before, and never had a problem. But they don’t seem to do well in this particular space.

If you find any books published by “West End Games” (a.k.a., “WEG”) or “Wizards of the Coast” (a.k.a., “WotC”), then note that those are totally different versions of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, and not the one from Fantasy Flight. They are *NOT* compatible. It is not necessarily hard to adapt material from these other games to FFG SWRPG, if you know what you’re doing and you’re familiar with both game systems. But they are NOT the same game.

But even if they’re not the same game and you’re not familiar with the other game, you could at least use them as source books to help inform other things that you’re doing, so long as you pay more attention to their story concepts or artwork, and not necessarily so much attention to their actual in-game statistics and attributes.

There are also a bunch of other books that have labels like “Essential Guide” or “New Essential Guide” in their titles, and these are pure reference books. They don’t have any in-game statistics that go along with them, but they do have lots of cool (or maybe not-so-cool) artwork, ideas, etc… that you may or may not be able to use.

Frankly, for my bookshelf, I have all the FFG SWRPG books published so far, and I’ve got pre-orders in place at MiniatureMarket for those books that have been announced and for which pre-orders are possible, but where the books are not yet actually available. But that’s still only about one-third of my total library in this area. Another third would be various old books from WEG and WotC. The other third would be various “Essential Guide” books, the “Star Wars Atlas”, various other artwork books that have been published, and so on.

Oh, and then there are the various Star Wars books by Daniel Wallace. Genius stuff.

I've bought several books from Amazon and never had a problem.

USA?

All three Core books use the same game mechanics. The differences being the focus of the setting for your particular gameplay. EoE is Star Wars from the perspective of Han Solo and Boba Fett, experiencing the scoundrel smuggler type stuff. AoR is from Ambassador Leia or Biggs and Wedge's POV, dealing with the Imperial vs Rebellion type stuff. And F&D is all about the Force, mostly Jedi but there is room for the other Force traditions. If you really want the full experience with Han, Luke, and Leia, then you'll need all 3 books.

1-2) I'm not sure what other publishers you're talking about, unless you're just referring to the other Star Wars themed RPGs that have come and gone over the years. Wizards of the Coast (makers of Dungeons and Dragons) made a couple of d20 variants. West End Games made a d6 variant ages ago. But I don't know of any other publishers that are making the Fantasy Flight Games version, other than FFG themselves. So if you're buying something other than FFG, you're probably playing a different game entirely.

3-4) I'd recommend shopping on Amazon. The books are cheaper than MSRP, which is what most FLGS go by. And while I'm all for supporting local business and such, my wallet prefers I get a good deal when I can. You can check the other bookstores like Barnes and Noble. Or support local business and buy from your friendly local game store!

5-6) I haven't heard if they are doing any revisions to the books, or if they just happen to be making more of what they already have. You could always hold out and see, or you could get what you can get, and print out errata as it comes. Hopefully they'll get around to revising the errata at least, instead of just assuming people will browse the forums and find little nuggets of revision scattered among the threads.

I am aware that all 3 core books are pretty much the same except for classes, themes, motivator ( ex. Obligation, Duty, Morality ), etc.

I just saw alot of youtube videos where people were claiming there are copies floating around that were printed by another publisher other than FFG. I know I should try to avoid this but I was wondering how could I tell which ones are printed from these companies around launch time.

I see alot of people saying Amazon is really bad, so I will avoid that.

I don't have a local game store. Maybe one day soon I will open one once I've saved up enough money.

I see others recommending Barnes and Noble so maybe I will do that.

The Core Rulebooks are entitled:

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire: Core Rulebook (white hardcover)

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion: Core Rulebook (red hardcover)

Star Wars: Force & Destiny: Core Rulebook (black hardcover)

These titles are exclusively used by the FFG versions of the Star Wars RPG, so buying these specific titles ensures that you get the right version (all other versions of Core Rulebooks are not FFG, are out-of-print and are unsupported). If you are unsure, just compare the item listing in the shop you're looking at, with the image of the product from the FFG website - the designs are pretty distinct.

Myself, I purchased a whole set of the three from CoolStuffInc as they were the cheapest option, but they have the highest "free shipping" minimum (it took buying all three books to reach it). The Barnes and Noble website says they carry these titles, and may be more expensive than Amazon on a per-book basis, but the "free shipping" minimum is the lowest (one book reaches it). Amazon has the middle price, but you need to buy an additional $8 or so of other items to get free shipping.

So if you're only buying one book, and under the assumption that you don't have a nearby gaming store (because you had to order the beginner game from FFG), it would appear that Barnes and Noble would be your best choice.

An alternate suggestion would be buying the EotE rulebook from Amazon plus the Edge of the Empire beginner game. This gets you free shipping (make sure you put items listed as "Price: (Price) & FREE shipping" in your cart), an adventure more suited to your group's desired theme, plus an extra set of dice (because you really need to have 2 sets minimum to run a full game once you're ready to go beyond the beginner game). Of course, the downside is that you'll be spending more than you planned. If you go this route, only purchase items listed as either "Ships and sold by Amazon.com" or "Sold by (Name of Retailer) and Fulfilled by Amazon." in order to ensure you get maximum buyer protection in case you need to complain about or return something you bought from Amazon.

If I can get all 3 I wouldn't mind paying that. CoolstuffInc? I will have to check that out. If I end up with just trying to get one book I guess I could go Barnes and Noble, everyone else seems to suggest that as well.

Any copy of Edge of the Empire will look identical. so E-Bay, Amazon or any FLGS who have an online store will be the same thing.

If the books don't have any of "Force and Destiny", "Age of Rebellion" or "Edge of the Empire" in the title then its not published by FFG and is therefore a completely different rules system. Only FFG printed books are compatible with the FFG system, basically they made an entirely new rules system for this edition of the Star Wars RPG. its awesome and totally worth playing!

Are you able to get a copy of the Edge of the Empire Beginner Box? it will provide a great story and more dice, always useful!

Im also assuming you know about the PDF expansion module for the Force and Destiny Beginner box? its available here

I heard that FFG had other companies print out the early copies and I was wondering if there was a distinct way to tell which is from FFG and which is from the other guys that helped them early on.

Oh course I heard all this in a couple youtube videos so I don't know how true that might be, which is why I am here asking questions lol.

Well aware of all the extra stuff I can print off of PDF from the website, I've printed out the characters, Pon and the Consular girl, can't remember her name off the top of my head. Only reason I remember Pon is because my friend is playing him and man he gets into some scuffles hahaha.

Apparently they do endeavor to add errata to later printings, get the latest printing you can. Other than looking inside the book itself I've no idea how to tell who printed them.

I'm in Australia, and Amazon are pretty good apart from poor packaging which almost always seems to get books dinged up in shipping. I haven't bought anything from there in a while unless I can't get it locally. I hate having my books damaged before I can get my hands on them.

I'd try to find a FLGS near you. It will cost more than Amazon, but you'd be helping out local business and economy, and there is a chance you can find other local gamers through them. Thankfully, here in Melbourne Australia, there are at least 8 FLGS stockists for EotE I can think of.

Even your local comic book stores should be able to get it in for you if they deal with Diamond or Alliance.

Can anyone explain to me what FLGS? Fantasy ? Game Store?? I am lost as I am new to this myself but I've played games like Dark Heresy in the past and had a blast.

“Friendly Local Gaming Store” (a.k.a., FLGS)

Ahhh so that is what FLGS means, thanks so much hahaha.

Ok so I guess my final question and I will go ahead and do my research into Coolstuffinc and Barnes and Noble...

Where can I find the errata ? Is it here listed in this forum and I just missed it since I only read the common questions post before posting?

Thanks again, I am so hype right now to look for those books hahaha.

Just for the record I've gotten most of my materials off Amazon. I'm a prime member so it is always free shipping and they seems to randomly have FFG books at a discount. I paid less than $25 for all the source and adventure books I've picked up, and same goes for the two beginners games. I think I picked up the core rule book for around $40, and that's about what I paid for Age as well. For example I could get Edge of the Empire for $42.92 plus free shipping. These prices blow away any retailer in my area, but there could still be other sites where you can get a better deal, even if they include shipping. You'd just have to shop around. I'm really hoping they do some prime sales when they release the SW: FA blu-ray, for star wars related stuff!

Ok so I guess my final question and I will go ahead and do my research into Coolstuffinc and Barnes and Noble...

Where can I find the errata ? Is it here listed in this forum and I just missed it since I only read the common questions post before posting?

Thanks again, I am so hype right now to look for those books hahaha.

On the product page, it's found under the FAQ. Also, on this forum is the Developer Answered Questions thread where more things can be found.

Ok so I guess my final question and I will go ahead and do my research into Coolstuffinc and Barnes and Noble...

Where can I find the errata ? Is it here listed in this forum and I just missed it since I only read the common questions post before posting?

Thanks again, I am so hype right now to look for those books hahaha.

On the product page, it's found under the FAQ. Also, on this forum is the Developer Answered Questions thread where more things can be found.

By which, they mean you have to dig through a (9 page and counting) thread full of random little tidbits of information, to see if any of it happens to be applicable to your situation.

The official FAQ is much more helpful IMO, but it hasn't been updated since August 2015.

Any copy of Edge of the Empire will look identical. so E-Bay, Amazon or any FLGS who have an online store will be the same thing.

If the books don't have any of "Force and Destiny", "Age of Rebellion" or "Edge of the Empire" in the title then its not published by FFG and is therefore a completely different rules system. Only FFG printed books are compatible with the FFG system, basically they made an entirely new rules system for this edition of the Star Wars RPG. its awesome and totally worth playing!

Are you able to get a copy of the Edge of the Empire Beginner Box? it will provide a great story and more dice, always useful!

Im also assuming you know about the PDF expansion module for the Force and Destiny Beginner box? its available here

I heard that FFG had other companies print out the early copies and I was wondering if there was a distinct way to tell which is from FFG and which is from the other guys that helped them early on.

Oh course I heard all this in a couple youtube videos so I don't know how true that might be, which is why I am here asking questions lol.

Well aware of all the extra stuff I can print off of PDF from the website, I've printed out the characters, Pon and the Consular girl, can't remember her name off the top of my head. Only reason I remember Pon is because my friend is playing him and man he gets into some scuffles hahaha.

If I had to guess, I would say that they were probably talking about the Beta versions of the three books. While they were also published by FFG (as far as I know), they are not the final Core Rulebooks, even though they share the same names with them (with "Beta" added, obviously). So yeah, make sure you're getting the proper Core Rulebook and not an old copy of the beta rules.

As for errata, it can be found in the Edge of the Empire FAQ , which is accessible under "Support" on the product page. I don't think they've done one for the other two lines.

unicornpuncher, on 05 Mar 2016 - 12:23 AM, said:

Just for the record I've gotten most of my materials off Amazon. I'm a prime member so it is always free shipping and they seems to randomly have FFG books at a discount. I paid less than $25 for all the source and adventure books I've picked up, and same goes for the two beginners games. I think I picked up the core rule book for around $40, and that's about what I paid for Age as well. For example I could get Edge of the Empire for $42.92 plus free shipping. These prices blow away any retailer in my area, but there could still be other sites where you can get a better deal, even if they include shipping. You'd just have to shop around. I'm really hoping they do some prime sales when they release the SW: FA blu-ray, for star wars related stuff!

You make me sick.

Point of order...or two.
While I have nothing against purchasing gaming stuff online (Heck, I've bought more than a few things from various online shops), unless the web store has some Insanely Insane Discounts going, you really aren't going to save much. While the web store may knock, lets say $10 off the MSRP, you usually pay about that in shipping costs. Yes, I know that Amazon has its Prime deals, or whatever, but we will treat that as an exception. So, your book costs $10 less than MSRP...but shipping may cost $10 or more (depending on how fast you want it) and THEN you have to wait for the order to process...for the shipper to pick up the book...delivery times to your city...delivery to your front door... In the end, you may have 'saved' some money, only to spend it on shipping, and then get to hurry up and wait for it. Meanwhile, your Local Game Shoppe just got a new shipment in, and the book you want is sitting on the shelf, all shiny and new.
And I heard an interesting rumor, this past weekend. FFG will be sending Star Wars RPG stuff to actual B&M stores, now. During a game session at a game shoppe, the store owner was bemoaning that there are new hoops for him to jump through to prove to FFG that Yes, he is an actual shop, and No, he is not an online retailer. If its true, it could mean that Amazon may or may not be able to sell Star Wars RPG stuff. Dont know if its true or not...its just third-hand information that I got wind of. Your mileage may vary.

<snip>

<snip>

By which, they mean you have to dig through a (9 page and counting) thread full of random little tidbits of information, to see if any of it happens to be applicable to your situation.

I try and integrate all submissions into their proper groups on the first few posts.

But I'm also lazy and let them build up and submit them in batches. So at worst, you'll need to pour through the first page and the last 2 or 3. I always post an update with the submissions that I add so you can easily find the last update and read from there.

unicornpuncher, on 05 Mar 2016 - 12:23 AM, said:

Just for the record I've gotten most of my materials off Amazon. I'm a prime member so it is always free shipping and they seems to randomly have FFG books at a discount. I paid less than $25 for all the source and adventure books I've picked up, and same goes for the two beginners games. I think I picked up the core rule book for around $40, and that's about what I paid for Age as well. For example I could get Edge of the Empire for $42.92 plus free shipping. These prices blow away any retailer in my area, but there could still be other sites where you can get a better deal, even if they include shipping. You'd just have to shop around. I'm really hoping they do some prime sales when they release the SW: FA blu-ray, for star wars related stuff!

You make me sick.

Would it make you feel even more sick, if I told you, I got prime for less than $70 dollars because they were having a rare sub-sale?

In all seriousness, I do try to support my local gaming shops, I normally get my trades and other things from there. Recently picked up a sweet Star Wars imperial dice bag for my narrative dice from one. But when it comes to RPGs and board games, their prices are to high, for my means of living.

By which, they mean you have to dig through a (9 page and counting) thread full of random little tidbits of information, to see if any of it happens to be applicable to your situation.

I try and integrate all submissions into their proper groups on the first few posts.

But I'm also lazy and let them build up and submit them in batches. So at worst, you'll need to pour through the first page and the last 2 or 3. I always post an update with the submissions that I add so you can easily find the last update and read from there.

It's nothing against you, good sir. I'm also disgruntled b/c they're doing the same thing with the Shadowrun forums. Only they don't have anyone organizing anything, so you literally do have to dig through pages and pages of random chatter to find anything resembling true errata.

I just think an actual errata / FAQ document is more effective at fully illustrating where things have changed, and how. Most of the submissions on the Developer Questions thread are situational, and the readers have to decipher what rules applied to the question and to the answer. And even then some of those answers don't make sense (like whether Defensive items and talents are supposed to apply in addition to actual armor).

Point of order...or two.

While I have nothing against purchasing gaming stuff online (Heck, I've bought more than a few things from various online shops), unless the web store has some Insanely Insane Discounts going, you really aren't going to save much. While the web store may knock, lets say $10 off the MSRP, you usually pay about that in shipping costs. Yes, I know that Amazon has its Prime deals, or whatever, but we will treat that as an exception. So, your book costs $10 less than MSRP...but shipping may cost $10 or more (depending on how fast you want it) and THEN you have to wait for the order to process...for the shipper to pick up the book...delivery times to your city...delivery to your front door... In the end, you may have 'saved' some money, only to spend it on shipping, and then get to hurry up and wait for it. Meanwhile, your Local Game Shoppe just got a new shipment in, and the book you want is sitting on the shelf, all shiny and new.

And I heard an interesting rumor, this past weekend. FFG will be sending Star Wars RPG stuff to actual B&M stores, now. During a game session at a game shoppe, the store owner was bemoaning that there are new hoops for him to jump through to prove to FFG that Yes, he is an actual shop, and No, he is not an online retailer. If its true, it could mean that Amazon may or may not be able to sell Star Wars RPG stuff. Dont know if its true or not...its just third-hand information that I got wind of. Your mileage may vary.

Meh ..... I typically save 10-15 shopping online. Also as I understand the situation, it's not online retailers they are dropping but smaller retail outfits. They want their retailers that they sale direct to to sale a certain amount of product. So the problem may not have been the store having to prove it wasn't an online store but having to prove it moves enough product to buy direct from them. And it appears to really only affect buying direct from FFG. Online retailers can apparently still get it from larger distributors as there are several that still do pre orders for FFG products. And of course there are plenty of "local" shops that also have an online store front that do nice discounts. So even if it were the case that they stopped dealing with online retailers directly it wouldn't impact online sales much as there are a number of gaming stores that have both a physical shop and an online store. And most of them are pretty good with saving money.

That and I find it highly unlikely FFG would opt to not do business with Amazon. With the kind of weight they toss around in the market I don't see FFG wanting to end up on their bad side.

Just for the record I've gotten most of my materials off Amazon. I'm a prime member so it is always free shipping and they seems to randomly have FFG books at a discount. I paid less than $25 for all the source and adventure books I've picked up, and same goes for the two beginners games. I think I picked up the core rule book for around $40, and that's about what I paid for Age as well. For example I could get Edge of the Empire for $42.92 plus free shipping. These prices blow away any retailer in my area, but there could still be other sites where you can get a better deal, even if they include shipping. You'd just have to shop around. I'm really hoping they do some prime sales when they release the SW: FA blu-ray, for star wars related stuff!

Thanks, I went ahead and got my books from Cool Stuff Inc. , Pretty legit website, I received my books in a timely manner, however, one of my core rule books had slight damaged on the spine. But that is ok this book is going to see use regardless and will more than likely get a few bumps along the way.