The Force Awakens Beginner Game... Really?

By Trooper723, in The Force Awakens Beginner Game

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

Your life seems to be one of anger and pain. Kylo, is that you?

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

1) Nobody said this new Beginner Box was leading to a new book.

2) Since Force Awakens came out, they also made a "new" X-Wing box set based on the movie. It's the exact same as the original X-Wing starter set, only the paint jobs are a little different.

3) All of this is in an effort to capitalize on the movie popularity and draw more customers.

The "The Force Awakens" angst on these forums boggles me. We went through the same thing on the X-Wing side with the new Millenium Falcon / Poe Dameron T-70 X-Wing expansion set...

This solution is actually pretty good. If you aren't interested in TFA, you can simply skip this begginer set and any setting books that follow without missing out on anything important for the earlier eras. In fact, being able to buy just the rules you're interested in using (EotE, AoR of F&D) is a strength, allowing a group to start playing with fewer resources and then adding on as time, money and the direction of the game allow.

The one thing that does kind of suck, is that all these forums are split out from each other, where really they could be one with some strategic subforums.

Edited by RookiePilot

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

As others have pointed out. This is low cost, high gain proposition for the RPG. It should entice potential new players from the legions of TFA fans (which, despite your misgivings, was a hugely successful movie). FFG did not break a sweat producing this, so you shouldn't either.

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

Nobody was asking for a TFA era rulebook.

Which is why they're not making one.

How about making even a modicum of effort before going off on a rant about something that's not actually happening?

They've confirmed that this beginner box is not going to lead to a new rule book. So there's not going to be one.

There might be a sourcebook, which is fine, but there will be no rule book.

(oh, and ps: nobody cares about your views on the new movie, it was hugely successful and tons of fans loved it, and it made tons of new fans for star wars.)

Edited by OddballE8

The only thing I am gonna agree with you is that the

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

The only thing I am going to agree with you is that the movie was bad. For the rest, before renting, you should have read the annoucement, all of it. You would have learn that this boxe is just a gateway product to draw people to their Star wars rpg. There is no mention about a fourth corebook.

Note: Unlike our other Beginner Games, The Force Awakens Beginner Game will not be followed by a new Star Wars RPG game line.

I'm looking forward to any TFA supplements. I really want the stats for Chewbacca's improved bowcaster!

I really want the stats for Chewbacca's improved bowcaster!

Take a bowcaster, add both attachments from EotE with full modifications, followed by Tinkerer to get an extra hard point, which allows you to add in Superior Weapon Customization.

I'd say that replicates the "flying bolts of STFU&GTFO!" effect that Chewie's bowcaster had in the film. And he's been shown to be fairly tech savvy, so it's quite possible for him to make all the Mechanics checks required to fully mod his bowcaster attachments, allowing him and Han, who probably doesn't even have any ranks in Ranged (Heavy), to one-shot the First Order's stormtroopers with hilarious ease.

As someone who thinks the movie was very average, and was neither good nor bad, I think a Force Awakens boxed set is a good idea.

A Core Book would be a bit too much, because it would be 99.9% identical to the ones we already have. Change the name of the Empire and the Alliance and you're good to go, because (as far as the movie goes anyway) pretty much every splatbook and adventure works fine in the Disneyverse setting. So anyone who wants to play in the new era can do so with minimal effort.

And as others have said, people who are new to RPGs might check out this one and get hooked to the larger system.

It's win-win for us - gives us a bit more stuff, a nice beginner product with maps and tokens and dice, and doesn't interrupt the existing schedule at all.

If you hate the new movies that much, it can easily be ignored without impacting the rest of the line.

If they mothballed everything else and insisted this was the only way to play (and gave us stats for Emperor Snoopy and Darth Manbaby) I'd be annoyed. But they're not doing that at all.

In fact, I'm betting the beginner game adventure can be used for a regular game with the bare minimum of changes.

Edited by Maelora

...Emperor Snoopy and Darth Manbaby...

Bwaaahahahaha! Brilliant! :D

*Facepalm....

So people were already pissed about not having a single rulebook or Era rulebook with everything for an entire Star Wars experience... But now you are going to come out with a new rulebook based on the new era movie which is out right terrible and not Star Wars?

Fantasy Flight do you just love pissing off your customers? Who was even asking for a book like this?

1) Nobody said this new Beginner Box was leading to a new book.

2) Since Force Awakens came out, they also made a "new" X-Wing box set based on the movie. It's the exact same as the original X-Wing starter set, only the paint jobs are a little different.

3) All of this is in an effort to capitalize on the movie popularity and draw more customers.

I made an assumption based on the fact they have 3 other beginner games followed by Core books. Maybe your right maybe they won't make a new rulebook for it. Hopefully not.

As someone who thinks the movie was very average, and was neither good nor bad, I think a Force Awakens boxed set is a good idea.

A Core Book would be a bit too much, because it would be 99.9% identical to the ones we already have. Change the name of the Empire and the Alliance and you're good to go, because (as far as the movie goes anyway) pretty much every splatbook and adventure works fine in the Disneyverse setting. So anyone who wants to play in the new era can do so with minimal effort.

And as others have said, people who are new to RPGs might check out this one and get hooked to the larger system.

It's win-win for us - gives us a bit more stuff, a nice beginner product with maps and tokens and dice, and doesn't interrupt the existing schedule at all.

If you hate the new movies that much, it can easily be ignored without impacting the rest of the line.

If they mothballed everything else and insisted this was the only way to play (and gave us stats for Emperor Snoopy and Darth Manbaby) I'd be annoyed. But they're not doing that at all.

In fact, I'm betting the beginner game adventure can be used for a regular game with the bare minimum of changes.

Point well made. Anger has subsided. Thank you.

Note: Unlike our other Beginner Games, The Force Awakens Beginner Game will not be followed by a new Star Wars RPG game line.

Nice.

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

This one is certainly not needed if you have the Core books you want already, or even the Beginer Boxes you already want.

Why do so many gamers seem to believe that if the company releases it they must buy it?

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

This one is certainly not needed if you have the Core books you want already, or even the Beginer Boxes you already want.

Why do so many gamers seem to believe that if the company releases it they must buy it?

Was gonna say the same.

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

This one is certainly not needed if you have the Core books you want already, or even the Beginer Boxes you already want.

Why do so many gamers seem to believe that if the company releases it they must buy it?

;)

I will say that so far I haven't been sorry for acquiring any of the FFG Star Wars roleplaying books. There are little gems in all of them.

Don't like it? Don't buy it.

This one is certainly not needed if you have the Core books you want already, or even the Beginer Boxes you already want.

Why do so many gamers seem to believe that if the company releases it they must buy it?

Otherwise I'm missing out on that game changing rule! ;)

I will say that so far I haven't been sorry for acquiring any of the FFG Star Wars roleplaying books. There are little gems in all of them.

Yeah, I was talking to my co-worker the other day (she doesn't know anything about RPG's so I was explaining a bit), and I said that I would probably have bought all of the FFG Star Wars books even if I didn't play, just because of the quality of the books and the imagry and stories.

People need to stop whining about it. You don't like it, don't buy it. Why is that so difficult to understand? No one is walking you to your local gamestop and forcing you to purchase it. For FFG, it's is a great way to get new players to pick it up after watching the movie, maybe hooking them in to buying the other books. That's all, it's not a conspiracy to get your money. $30 doesn't break the bank, it's worth it for the dice, galaxy map, and stats for Phasma and others. A no brainer purchase for me.

I like the adventure even if I do not overly like the setting. My only real gripe about the beginner box set is the lack of art. They just took lucasfilm stock footage. Whereas all the other books use illustrations and beautiful art work. The TFA boxset just doesnt fit the artistic theme of ANY other SWRPG release by FFG. But if it brings in new players and didnt cost FFG a bundle to make or a large time sink then YAY for everyone!

I agree with you about the artwork. I'd have loved to see some stuff akin to the rest of the series, gorgeous original artwork done up for TFA era stuff. Maybe they'll make a special edition some time down the road, but it probably depends on how well this first boxed set sells (which I think was probably quite well for the boxed sets). The map really made it appeal to both old and new players.

I wonder if the use of so many movie stills was a directive from Lucasfilm?

When WotC released the Revised Core Rulebook for the Star Wars d20 line, they were actually informed by Lucasfilm to publish a new core rulebook using footage from the upcoming AotC movie. JD Wiker (head of the product line at the time) decided that if they were doing a core rulebook with new 'artwork' then they might as well update the rules while they were at it.

So could be that FFG had the idea to do a beginner box as a tie-in product, and that part of Lucasfilm's agreement was that FFG use as much movie stills as was possible for the product.

I wonder if the use of so many movie stills was a directive from Lucasfilm?

That's my guess. Whomever does marketing, the Mouse or the Jedi ordered it to be so. It's a promotional product.

It always seemed to me that there was a fairly narrow production window on this one, too.

LFL obviously worked well enough in advance with FFG on TFA information for X-Wing that the TFA starter variant hit stores two months before the movie and the first wave of minis hit at the same time as the movie. Meanwhile, the RPG Beginner Game was announced roughly five months after the movie was released, and even a few weeks after its initial home video release. If there was a shortened production time, it makes that much more sense to use existing photos rather than commissioning new artwork.

Edited by Nytwyng