19 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

"I am a charlatan" what movie is that a quote from?

i hope Edge isn't shelved for over 12 months

It's a joke directed at myself and referring to a couple of my own earlier comments about my dabbling with the Foresee force talent trying to predict FFGs future publishing schedule and hoping the FFG will cooperate and not make me look like a charlatan spouting failed prophecies.

Absol, Hives of Scum and Villainy is a doable title and it is a couple of letters shorter than Strongholds of Resistance and a classic quote

I agree it's a classic quote, but I'm less concerned with the number of characters in the title than I am "units of meaning," i.e. number of words. All of the previous titles in all three lines have only two units of meaning in them (basically, all words minus articles, conjuctions, and prepositions). The full "Hives of Scum and Villainy" had three, making it a busier title and not matching with the existing naming conventions. My suggested shoemaker was an attempt to use the same line, keep it recognizable, while making it fit the current conventions.

Of course, as FFG had shown, they're more then okay with changing things up, so I very well may be wrong . That was just my reasoning behind shortening it; sorry if I came across as dismissive or anything. Not my intention!

And I know I've been bad and not updated the first post, but I'm giving you my updated...not really "predictions" anymore, so much as "minimum waiting periods." If Ghosts changes status this upcoming Wednesday, we'll see a release on June 29. If it doesn't, then we're into Q3 before it comes out.

And I hope none of you are in dire need of that Engineer book, because at this point, we'll be lucky to get it before Q4. I'm currently putting it at September 21.

2 hours ago, Absol197 said:

Of course, as FFG had shown, they're more then okay with changing things up,

True. I seem to recall that you and I and others were pretty certain that the bounty hunter book wouldn't be called 'No Disintegrations'; but there we have it.

Yeah, I recall that, too . Good times! Good times!

Absol, you are right that most of FFGs Star Wars follows the naming convention of Something of Something but many of the exceptions are direct quotes from the movies like No Disintegrations, Fly Casual and Stay on Target.

Anyways, Hives of Scum and Villainy is a very appropriate and Star Wars-y title for an Outer Rim regional sourcebook.

Imperial Entanglements would fit either the Spy career book or an Imperial worlds regional soircebook.

Same with Aggressive Negotiations for the Warrior career book.

Maybe Hokey Religions for the Mystic career book?

I really want to see Aggressive Negotiations! That would be great! I also vote for Hives of Scum and Villainy, though I really don't know if they'll name it that:(

I seriously doubt that we'll get Aggressive Negotiations as the name of the Warrior book (like I was hoping ) because we now have a talent called Aggressive Negotiations in the Arbiter spec. They use a lot of iconic quotes as names for things, but we haven't seen them use one for multiple things (talent, power, spec, title) yet.

Also: at this point, I think it's fair to say that something has gone wrong. I can't believe that they misjudged the release timing of both Ghosts of Dathomir AND Fully Operational so much. I mean, Ghosts ' original announcement article indicated the book would be out in Q1. At this point, it's going to be out mid-July at the earliest. That's four months (at minimum!) and two quarters later than their original estimate. There has to have been some sort of catastrophic thing happen that's caused these delays. Which is exceptionally unfortunate.

Also, unless something happens later today, it's looking like we're not gonna get any announcement for June, either. Which, honestly, makes sense. If there's something so wrong that it's taken (essentially) the normal length of time for the full development, printing, boating, and shipping of a book just to get FO to the printers...why would they announce new products before that's fixed? It's just gonna cause more delays and frustration, and we're used to--or at least should be used to by now--long dry spells with no new announcements.

If I may speculate a bit, I think the delay in the two books is related. I think there was something wrong with the printing of Ghosts , and they had to have it entirely re-printed and re-shipped. And the essentially double-printing of that book has delayed their ability to get the other new book, Operational , a slot at the printers.

If that's the case, I do have the ability to make a new prediction for when Ghosts might be released, or at least give a range:

-- Ghosts of Dathomir changed status to On the Boat on 3/10/2017. Boating normally takes 6 weeks, so if we give it that timeframe, the mistake, error, or what have you was probably noticed around when they planned on starting shipping, around April 18-19. If they then had to send it back to the printers, give it a week or two to get an emergency correction slot opened (assuming the error was on the printer and not on FFG), and another 4-5 weeks for printing, we're back On the Boat sometime between May 24 and June 7. Another six weeks for boating, and we'd be switching to Shipping Now sometime between July 5 and 19. Going with the middle ground of July 12, that'd give us an expected release date of July 27.

That's my new prediction: within a week, give or take, of July 27.

What does that mean for Fully Operational ? Well, it depends on a couple of things. But honestly? If I'm right and there was a mistake that necessitated re-printing the entire run of Ghosts , and that mistake was on the printer, then...FFG might be looking for a new printer to handle their business. Which means finding a printer, negotiating a contract (probably), and getting their first product in the line, and reviewing to make sure the quality and final product is consistent with their previous ones, and then getting a slot in the print queue for the book to be manufactured. That could be what's causing the delay. Unfortunately, I can't estimate how long that'll take, but it could mean an even longer delay.

*puts on my full Aussie accent* I recon your bloody spot on there @Absol197 Either FFG made a mistake and the Printer is taking time to fit them back in. Otherwise the Printer stuffed up and FFG is on the search for a new one.

How bout Bastions of the Empire for a region book ?

It's a bit of a bad time for FFG to have printer problems right now because after GenCon 2017 their Star Wars RPG is going to face some fresh new competition in the sci-fi rpg market. There is StarFinder which essentially is PathFinder in SPACE and a new Star Trek rpg with an aggressive publishing schedule. And Alternity 2 ed. but who cares.

Give me Warrior or give me Death!

Could it be that the supplier is with holding product? I know that recently in Canada the Supplier (Lion Rampant) lost its contract due to Asmodee taking over FFG. Asmodee will probably hang onto all the releases until Lion Rampant is totally out of the picture so that they (Asmodee) can make the releases. Conspiracy theory maybe... But it makes sense from a business standpoint for Asmodee.

The Asmodee thing happened quite a while ago.

On 6/16/2017 at 4:01 PM, Daeglan said:

The Asmodee thing happened quite a while ago.

True, but I think we're starting to see the fallout from this. It would be interesting to look at this data again through that lens.

New article for Fully Operational , the last spec is Droid Specialist (not droid tech), so we're getting; Shipwright, Sapper, and Droid Specialist as the specs. Also another clone wars era species the Skakoan , with better intelligence and ranks in Mechanics and Knowledge (Education), plus the suit bonus/penalty. The article is unclear about what they 1 stat is, if they have one.

The article closes by saying the book is coming soon, so either someone's forgetting to update the website, or they don't know when it will be out (the more likely of the two in my opinion).

I wonder if fully operational will beat ghosts to the shelves

Probably. Ghosts is cursed.

19 hours ago, Alisair Longreach said:

Probably. Ghosts is cursed.

And it's from Dathomir so it's an extra strong curse.

It's so cursed it won't be out until Halloween.

On 6/16/2017 at 5:47 PM, Alisair Longreach said:

It's a bit of a bad time for FFG to have printer problems right now because after GenCon 2017 their Star Wars RPG is going to face some fresh new competition in the sci-fi rpg market ... a new Star Trek rpg with an aggressive publishing schedule.

From what I can discern, that Star Trek Adventures game is not a favorite among those who are testing it out.

Complaints range from "the mechanics stink" to "too many dice rolls leading to roll-play vs. role-play" to "I don't even understand how to interpret these attributes and skill listings" to "Momentum (a new mechanic) is all kinds of suck." About the only positives I've been able to find are that the scenarios are evocative of Trek and there is not too much emphasis on combat.

Anyway, as a huge Trek fan (especially in regard to TOS and DS9), I was looking forward to this thing. But now I'm not too sure...

Edit: Hey, at least I still have all of my FASA material and the three core LUG books!

14 minutes ago, Harlock999 said:

From what I can discern, that Star Trek Adventures game is not a favorite among those who are testing it out.

I'm somewhat familiar with the system from other games by the same company; and yes, it's a little cumbersome and takes some time to wrap your head around; but I don't think it's any worse than FFG's Star Wars system (which I've heard a lot of similar complaints about).

1 hour ago, Harlock999 said:

From what I can discern, that Star Trek Adventures game is not a favorite among those who are testing it out.

Complaints range from "the mechanics stink" to "too many dice rolls leading to roll-play vs. role-play" to "I don't even understand how to interpret these attributes and skill listings" to "Momentum (a new mechanic) is all kinds of suck." About the only positives I've been able to find are that the scenarios are evocative of Trek and there is not too much emphasis on combat.

Anyway, as a huge Trek fan (especially in regard to TOS and DS9), I was looking forward to this thing. But now I'm not too sure...

Edit: Hey, at least I still have all of my FASA material and the three core LUG books!

I think it takes a very disciplined group to play a Star Trek RPG (depending on the system, anyway). The strict command structure coupled with the focus frequently being on the senior bridge crew can lend problems. Some 20-ish years ago, I was part of a group that tried kicking off a Trek RPG campaign with...well...whichever license holder's system it was at the time. The rules specifically suggested making the ship's Captain an NPC, to avoid power trip and/or resentment issues. So, the one session we played turned into a few hours of us role-playing following the GM's commands.

Having played the Star Trek Adventures RPG (late-stage alpha tests), once my very small group (1-2 people incl. me) figured out the core rules the only consistent problem was momentum, which I think most groups would figure out given time. I rather liked it, it felt very Star Trek, if a bit difficult to understand at first. I particularly liked the character creation rules.

I think that roll play vs. role play can be an issue for any RPG depending on how you play it, my first AoR campaign would have appeared like roll play to some, since we were still trying to understand the game mechanics.

16 hours ago, Nytwyng said:

The rules specifically suggested making the ship's Captain an NPC, to avoid power trip and/or resentment issues. So, the one session we played turned into a few hours of us role-playing following the GM's commands.

Nearly every ST system - FASA, Prime Directive, LUG, etc. - asks you to be department heads, junior officers, or members of a Prime team. The goal is to get you to work together with other officers to solve a problem without having to worry about the lives of hundreds of other crewmembers. And if you recall from most TOS episodes, Bones and Scotty and the rest would often do what they **** well pleased (ha) unless Kirk or Spock REALLY came down on them. Yeah, very unlike the more rigid command structure of TNG.

Anyway, I've played (and run) FASA and LUG and have had a blast. If your GM was continually barking orders and expecting his players/crew to follow them? That's some pretty bad GMing, if you ask me. Star Trek is all about problem solving. (Interestingly enough, there was often very little starship combat; we saved that for the ST III Starship Combat Game or Star Fleet Battles.)

As for Star Trek Adventures? Hope it ends up getting some good reviews and positive WOM. But right now, you two (Imperial Stormtrooper and Nytwyng) may be the only people who've given me good vibes about it...

And to avoid completely derailing this topic? Hey, Absol197, I really appreciate your updates!

Whatever the name of this new EotE region/mystery book, I just hope it includes Tatooine, Tuskens, Jawa, bantha, dewbacks, Mos Eisley, etc. (My second choice would be the Corporate Sector, but I'm not sure how you'd craft an entire book around that sector of space; it might be best suited to an adventure supplement.)

On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 4:36 PM, Shlambate said:

Give me Warrior or give me Death!

Hey, if FFG gives you one, I can give you the other! No need to pick and choose !

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 0:28 PM, warchild1x said:

I wonder if fully operational will beat ghosts to the shelves

I really, really hope not. Keep in mind that, assuming Fully Operational is still actually In Development and someone didn't just forget to press the button (see previous pages for in depth discussions on The Button ^TM ), best-case scenarios put it out in late September, at the earliest. If Ghosts is delayed until then?! They might as well scrap the entire book.

Well, maybe not. But still! Utter ridiculousness if it happens.

35 minutes ago, Harlock999 said:

Nearly every ST system - FASA, Prime Directive, LUG, etc. - asks you to be department heads, junior officers, or members of a Prime team. The goal is to get you to work together with other officers to solve a problem without having to worry about the lives of hundreds of other crewmembers. And if you recall from most TOS episodes, Bones and Scotty and the rest would often do what they **** well pleased (ha) unless Kirk or Spock REALLY came down on them. Yeah, very unlike the more rigid command structure of TNG.

Anyway, I've played (and run) FASA and LUG and have had a blast. If your GM was continually barking orders and expecting his players/crew to follow them? That's some pretty bad GMing, if you ask me. Star Trek is all about problem solving. (Interestingly enough, there was often very little starship combat; we saved that for the ST III Starship Combat Game or Star Fleet Battles.)

As for Star Trek Adventures? Hope it ends up getting some good reviews and positive WOM. But right now, you two (Imperial Stormtrooper and Nytwyng) may be the only people who've given me good vibes about it...

And to avoid completely derailing this topic? Hey, Absol197, I really appreciate your updates!

Whatever the name of this new EotE region/mystery book, I just hope it includes Tatooine, Tuskens, Jawa, bantha, dewbacks, Mos Eisley, etc. (My second choice would be the Corporate Sector, but I'm not sure how you'd craft an entire book around that sector of space; it might be best suited to an adventure supplement.)

Thanks! I like giving them, regardless of how accurate my predictions have been of late.

I thinking there's a chance you might be in luck. One thing I've noticed is that the Edge region books have all been literal regions of space, whereas the Age and Force books so far have described planets with a similar theme (Rebel bases/Vergences) that aren't necessarily located in similar locations. Which means that the Shadowports book that we've all been yowling for might fall by the wayside in preference of a specific region of space. And, honestly, there are really only three big contenders: Mandalorian space, the Corporate Sector, and the sector where Tattooine is (forget its name). And out of all of those, I think they'll pick Tattooine, because...well, Tattooine.

But I don't rule out the possibility of a different region, or even a more general "planet type" book. I just think it's less likely.