So I know FFG is Never going to do it but my god I wish they would either release a source book of the collected races or release the source books on an ebook. There is no way in hell to carry them and even getting all of them would cost a huge fortune.

I know it's a heavy handed way to make money, and good for them, but the thought of having to carry all those books honestly keeps me from buying anymore of the career books but that is the only place to get more races. Very very annoying!

(This issue even has me thinking about forgetting about new books and looking for PDF's with the stats of the races.)

Get Oggdude's character creator for stats, google for race details and art? That's the budget version. /shrug

If you look around here there are some compiled lists i have seen, usually in spreadsheet form.

I think one of the problems FFG would run into with a species compendium is that the descriptions are all dependent on the specific line they are featured in. Humans in each core book have different text, do you then print each text separately but in the same book? Does every species get rewritten to fit a more vanilla game or at least blend all three lines? or do we get 3 different compendiums :groan: ?

I think the Devs wish they could legally do PDFs.. unfortunately their license does not allow it.

I think we will see consolidation books at some point, or cards, or whatever. However, how do you consolidate something that isn't all out yet though?

Point. Also I looked into what if I tried to collect the books and found after a lot of searching many of them are impossible to find right now. I seriously saw the Nal Hutta going for over a $150 on eBay because no one has it. (And I'll admit I've been eyeing my LGS's and picked up the new Bounty Hunter Source Book but the majority of them are no where to be found.) So even if I wanted the source books no one has them. Though there are hundreds of the adventure books.

They are in the process of reprinting. Look on the upcoming page.

Has any other roleplaying line ever come out with a compiled list? (D&D?) I'm curious, this is the only roleplaying line I've ever played. I wonder what the standard procedure is... all books >>> then compiled list books?

to my knowledge, no RPG line has printed a complied list. in fact, for DnD it is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 PHBs, 3+ monster guides, several campaign settings with their own races, monsters, and some times classes.

I would imagine you run into the issue of how at some point. The movies are coming now, they at least talked about Netflix a couple summers ago, and definitely if they did some TV thing there would be a constant stream of new races to think about for them. I know that's not much comfort for those having issues finding the books, but it should be a little welcome knowing there is so much for the line to continue to work with and produce.

15 minutes ago, 2P51 said:

I know that's not much comfort for those having issues finding the books, but it should be a little welcome knowing there is so much for the line to continue to work with and produce.

FFG appears to be addressing reprints, and I look forward to slowly growing my collection, as the titles become available; I could not afford to buy them all at once, even if they were available- I don't believe they are unreasonably priced, however, given the content.

I am personally excited that the franchise (and, perhaps subsequently, this game) appear to have a bright future. Compilations often tend to be in lieu of new content, and I would much rather see the line infused with fresh material. I also imagine the company wants to keep giving the "buyers" new things to buy (whereas the compilations might actually encourage some to pickup the single work, as opposed to the collection).

9 hours ago, Beatty said:

There is no way in hell to carry them and even getting all of them would cost a huge fortune.

I can't imagine lugging around an entire collection of the hardbacks, though... If you are the GM, I would advise hosting the sessions, if at all possible; otherwise, encourage players to bring sourcebooks pertinent to their characters.

1 hour ago, Darth Poopdeck said:

Has any other roleplaying line ever come out with a compiled list?

I can think of a couple of cases...

The last book published for 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy RP was a 'Career Compendium' which compiled all of the player careers from the entire line into a single book.

2nd Edition AD&D release a couple of spell compendiums (one for wizards and one for priests) which had every spell in the system up to that point.

Also, though I can't verify it myself because I never played it, one of my players told me that Seventh Sea did a compilation book with all of the fencing styles in it.

* Note, however, that in at least two of these cases (possibly all three) the compilations were released at the very end of the game's run. So these books may be handy, but they're also often a death knell for the line.

I'm thankful for the spreadsheet I started when the line first began. It's easy enough for me to take an hour out of my day when I get a new book in order to add the new content.

9 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

If you look around here there are some compiled lists i have seen, usually in spreadsheet form.

The L Master List post, if it is still up, had one of these. I keep my own because I prefer a different format. http://swrpg.viluppo.net/character/species/ has them all listed and where to find them. Oggdude of course has everything but the most recent ones. If you look around, you will find them.

As other have pointed out, Disney's license with FFG is extremely restrictive when it comes to digital properties and print manufacturers. This is the reason why they often fail to print enough to meet the demand on books and why we don't see compendium styles of books. Even if they thought is would be profitable and not cut into the sales of their other books they would unlikely prioritize it over the product of new books. A digital books wouldn't face the same issues of course but again, Disney doesn't let them make those.

2 hours ago, Darth Poopdeck said:

Has any other roleplaying line ever come out with a compiled list? (D&D?) I'm curious, this is the only roleplaying line I've ever played. I wonder what the standard procedure is... all books >>> then compiled list books?

WEG did a couple of them. Not as many as I'd like, but they did do a few.

38 minutes ago, kaosoe said:

I'm thankful for the spreadsheet I started when the line first began. It's easy enough for me to take an hour out of my day when I get a new book in order to add the new content.

You do two clicks on Google Drive and I'll be your friend for life.

8 hours ago, Beatty said:

Point. Also I looked into what if I tried to collect the books and found after a lot of searching many of them are impossible to find right now. I seriously saw the Nal Hutta going for over a $150 on eBay because no one has it. (And I'll admit I've been eyeing my LGS's and picked up the new Bounty Hunter Source Book but the majority of them are no where to be found.) So even if I wanted the source books no one has them. Though there are hundreds of the adventure books.

Wait - really? Hell man, I'll sell you my copy for the perfectly reasonable price of $75.

1 hour ago, Edgehawk said:

I can't imagine lugging around an entire collection of the hardbacks, though... If you are the GM, I would advise hosting the sessions, if at all possible; otherwise, encourage players to bring sourcebooks pertinent to their characters.

I did it for a while, but then I did end up hosting and now I play online. The effort of dragging all this stuff to my car discourages me from playing at the local FLGS.

53 minutes ago, Desslok said:

You do two clicks on Google Drive and I'll be your friend for life.

I wish I could, but I don't don't want to make FFG or LFL angry.

1 hour ago, Edgehawk said:

FFG appears to be addressing reprints, and I look forward to slowly growing my collection, as the titles become available; I could not afford to buy them all at once, even if they were available- I don't believe they are unreasonably priced, however, given the content.

I am personally excited that the franchise (and, perhaps subsequently, this game) appear to have a bright future. Compilations often tend to be in lieu of new content, and I would much rather see the line infused with fresh material. I also imagine the company wants to keep giving the "buyers" new things to buy (whereas the compilations might actually encourage some to pickup the single work, as opposed to the collection).

I can't imagine lugging around an entire collection of the hardbacks, though... If you are the GM, I would advise hosting the sessions, if at all possible; otherwise, encourage players to bring sourcebooks pertinent to their characters.

31 minutes ago, themensch said:

I did it for a while, but then I did end up hosting and now I play online. The effort of dragging all this stuff to my car discourages me from playing at the local FLGS.

Back in the heyday of 3.5 D&D, I picked up a suitcase with wheels. I was easily able to haul around 30-or-so books with that.

Still using that same suitcase for hauling my Numenera books to the Thursday sessions.

Not that I put much stock of the effectiveness of this, but has there ever been any attempt to inform LFL/Disney/EA (isn't it that their video game license causes issues with FFG's ability to sell PDFs) of this matter and attempt to change the situation?

I assume it would be nigh impossible, but I get the sense that this is just the sort of thing that has been accepted as fact, and never contested.

11 minutes ago, Kommissar said:

Not that I put much stock of the effectiveness of this, but has there ever been any attempt to inform LFL/Disney/EA (isn't it that their video game license causes issues with FFG's ability to sell PDFs) of this matter and attempt to change the situation?

I assume it would be nigh impossible, but I get the sense that this is just the sort of thing that has been accepted as fact, and never contested.

The biggest problem would be logistics. It's unlikely that all of the pertinent contracts come up for renewal/renegotiation at the same time. So, renegotiating out of cycle for st least one party just to split out PDF rights may not be seen as worth the time and effort, particularly when there's no benefit to EA to change the contract terms that have been in place for ages.

1 minute ago, Nytwyng said:

The biggest problem would be logistics. It's unlikely that all of the pertinent contracts come up for renewal/renegotiation at the same time. So, renegotiating out of cycle for st least one party just to split out PDF rights may not be seen as worth the time and effort, particularly when there's no benefit to EA to change the contract terms that have been in place for ages.

I think it also starts to get a little hinky because EA has exclusive rights to digital star wars games. If FFG starts making digital gaming books then things start getting a little more grey about what constitutes a digital game. I suspect this is the same reason we don't see more app based player aids.

SWRPG based on the FFG system is a rather small niche market, and I suspect that the reason we don't see more such player aid apps is because the investment in resources to build nice ones wouldn't be recouped by sufficient sales. App-based player aids do fall under the fair use doctrine for copyright, so long as the creator doesn't try to sell them (support donations apparently don't violate this), so it's an open field for fans to create their own. Just as Oggdude has done with his character generator.

I have to emphasize, bringing all my books and going thru them because I cannot remember in which so and so was became hell.

I can also relate to FFG for making information distribution the way they did in order to make more sale, the books are very good quality and I am fine with the prices.

What would be great are some FFG pdf printable indexes that would help guide users searching for information.

http://swrpg.viluppo.net/ is your friend.