...and Q4 is closing in. So far not many official infos and while this is the official forum of FFG, its staff seemingly ignores the contents of the threads. Staff of other publishers are more active in their own forums *wink wink*

Ok, isn't intended to be a rant, I love FFG! I rather wanted to ask for any (official) sources outside this FFG forum, interviews, articles, videos and the like, everything that might illuminate us (like that info that a Netrunner setting book is planned)?

So far, it's been pretty normal for a release. I think their standard model for prerelease information is announcement > a few months of quiet > news articles every few weeks leading up to release*. The interview on d20radio and the information from GenCon is more than I was expecting at this point. If they're on track, maybe we'll see something starting later this month or October.

I believe it is also FFG company policy that employees (or at least developers) not interact on the forums. But they do seem to be aware of the goings on, at least, as hinted at in interviews and peoples' conversations with them at conventions and the like.

*This has actually come to bite them, as they released the full line of prerelease articles for Ghosts of Dathomir , then it went quite due to shipping. Likewise, they released a bunch of Fully Operational articles, and that book apparently hasn't left the "In Development" stage.

That might be our first clue that we're getting close to a release date. We might get one more official article in September, but I think that would be the only one.

Once we start seeing them in Q4, that could be our indicator that the book is within a month of release.

Maybe.

*shrug*

Sigh. I really need to cancel my Ghosts order. It has been holding up other stuff I ordered with it for half a year now.

Really curious to see what they have planned for the genre books. Really hoping for a Fallout line since they announced the board game. Although I believe the chances are extremely slim.

19 minutes ago, TechnoGolem said:

Sigh. I really need to cancel my Ghosts order. It has been holding up other stuff I ordered with it for half a year now.

Really curious to see what they have planned for the genre books. Really hoping for a Fallout line since they announced the board game. Although I believe the chances are extremely slim.

I said this in another thread, but actually I would not be surprised if they do put out a Fallout book.

Back in the days when Fallout was an actual RPG and not an FPS with RPG mechanics and no meaningful consequences, for the console generation, there was talk of GUPRS releasing a tie in book (before they ditched GURPS and went to SPECIAL). That was back in isometric days; given Fallout has, since Fallout 3, become a bona fide gaming juggernaut rather than a wonderfully crafted roleplaying game (yes, I dislike Fallout 3 and 4, and am one of those people who says only New Vegas feels like Fallout. A Fallout hipster) there's demand for it. And, this gaming system is the kind of system that, if Rotten Tomatos ever scored RPGs, would be certified 99% FRESH.

For no work from Bethesda, you can get:

* licensing revenue

* A product from a developer with a proven track record, and

* Something that will enhance the brand

If you're smart, you could even push for a minis like or something, so people have an excuse to buy more Fallout branded merch.

There's no reason not to do this, if you're Bethesda. You can only benefit from it.

2 hours ago, Endersai said:

one of those people who says only New Vegas feels like Fallout

You are actually not alone

Fallout 4 is too much SIMS for my taste. I exactly played it untill the part with introduction of their building mechanics at the gas station. Never touched it again, since.

Vegas had great chars, a great storyline and a great scope. If there was a Fallout genre book, Vegas would be my favorite as well.

We can be friends, DarthDude.

I mean, think back to Fallout 2 aka best Fallout. If you pair up with Marcus, people will attack you on sight unless your reptuation is sufficiently high to represent how you've engendered trust in a town. But it varies town to town.

That's basically a perfect, perfect fit for the narrative dice system. If you play a supermutant, sentient ghoul, tribal, etc people will react, and you overcome that with questiing-based heroism. All the triumphs and advantages you can spend, buying their fickle love.

Then we get to Fallout 4. "We're the Brotherhood of Steel! We hate synths! Synths are our enemies. Oh, welcome aboard the Pyrdwen, player-character! Who is your friend? Nick Valentine? Welcome aboard, pardon our remarks about your kind Mr Valentine. Nothing will actually come of it".

Bethesda, pls.

I started the series with a 2 pack bundle of Fallout 1 and 2. It was months before I could stop replaying FO1 and finally give FO2 a try. It ended up being very difficult to ever play FO1 after FO2. Since then I've played Tactics, Brotherhood, 3, New Vegas, and 4.

Tactics was a fun tactical game but made me wish for another main title. I remember little about Brotherhood other than it being a cheap cash in on the name and thinking it was probably the end of the series. I really did enjoy FO3 when it first came out. It had problems but the only one that really irritated me is what they did to Harold. New Vegas remains my second favorite game in the series. Just barely beating out FO1 due to some of the rougher mechanics in FO1. Such as the barter system.

As for Fallout 4... Yeah, I don't want this to turn into a massive wall of text. There was a lot about the game I disliked but the biggest was the lack of interesting locations due to the game wanting you to build another settlement. I'd probably like the town building if it was limited to 1 or 2 locations, preferably 1. But there really was nothing going on in the settlements you built. Just felt like a giant waste of time and at best you had another location to sell your loot.

I really hope Obsidian is allowed to work on a new one. They've made several of my favorite RPGs.

10 hours ago, Endersai said:

I said this in another thread, but actually I would not be surprised if they do put out a Fallout book.

Back in the days when Fallout was an actual RPG and not an FPS with RPG mechanics and no meaningful consequences, for the console generation, there was talk of GUPRS releasing a tie in book (before they ditched GURPS and went to SPECIAL). That was back in isometric days; given Fallout has, since Fallout 3, become a bona fide gaming juggernaut rather than a wonderfully crafted roleplaying game (yes, I dislike Fallout 3 and 4, and am one of those people who says only New Vegas feels like Fallout. A Fallout hipster) there's demand for it. And, this gaming system is the kind of system that, if Rotten Tomatos ever scored RPGs, would be certified 99% FRESH.

For no work from Bethesda, you can get:

* licensing revenue

* A product from a developer with a proven track record, and

* Something that will enhance the brand

If you're smart, you could even push for a minis like or something, so people have an excuse to buy more Fallout branded merch.

There's no reason not to do this, if you're Bethesda. You can only benefit from it.

There's one thing that was pointed out to me that is a reason for Bethesda not to do this; loss of control of where the story goes.

The moment they give a game company the option to make an RPG, they lose in-house control of the Fallout storyline. RPGs have to fill in everything a movie or video game does not. If they do it as a one-off, then FFG might only have to do what I did; come up with a Fallout theme and stat up everything that's in Fallout 3 and 4 (Bethesda's Fallout Games). But would they want it to be a one off? **** no, they'll want a Brotherhood of Steel Sourcebook. A Railroad/Institute Source book. An Enclave sourcebook. A location book for the Captial Wastes, Commonwealth, the Pit, Far Harbor, and all the other places we see in the games. There's a lot of fluff that goes into such books, fluff that's going to likely be written by FFG Freelancers, not Bethesda's. Unless they have some sort of approval process like FFG has with Lucasfilm, that means there are 3-6 non-Bethesda people writing material for a Bethesda game that enters the realm of "is this canon/non-canon".

Bethesda may not be interested in giving up that much control. Wargames and Boardgames are one thing, but RPGs are a whole other matter.

I'm not saying it would never happen, but it is something for a company who gets more money from their video game than they would by licensing out the RPG rights to consider.

Now...if anyone at Bethesda ever gets a hold of my forthcoming Fallout theme for Genesys (and they decide not to smack me with a C&D), maybe they'll be inspired to let FFG take a crack at it after all.

They could also just take the stance that the RPG can cover whatever story material they want, but it's secondary to whatever the games come out with. A tabletop RPG would give fans a way to experience the universe when other means run out.

In settings like this, especially with video game settings, a tight choke-hold on the narrative seems counter intuitive.

Perhaps I'm cynical, but I'll be surprised if Genesys actually makes it out before 2018. The rate of books moving from In Development to On the Boat to Shipping seems to have frozen. Fully Operational has been "in development" since March, and I'm not sure what happened to that poor boat with Ghosts of Dathomir. All I can assume is Black Sun is somehow involved.

My guess is Fully operational lost its spot at the printer for reprints of Ghosts etc. Genesys won't have been affected and will keep its spot in preference to FO. This would mean FO gets a new printer slot some time late this year.

Fallout 2: definitely the best.

8 hours ago, DarthGM said:

There's one thing that was pointed out to me that is a reason for Bethesda not to do this; loss of control of where the story goes.

The moment they give a game company the option to make an RPG, they lose in-house control of the Fallout storyline. RPGs have to fill in everything a movie or video game does not. If they do it as a one-off, then FFG might only have to do what I did; come up with a Fallout theme and stat up everything that's in Fallout 3 and 4 (Bethesda's Fallout Games). But would they want it to be a one off? **** no, they'll want a Brotherhood of Steel Sourcebook. A Railroad/Institute Source book. An Enclave sourcebook. A location book for the Captial Wastes, Commonwealth, the Pit, Far Harbor, and all the other places we see in the games. There's a lot of fluff that goes into such books, fluff that's going to likely be written by FFG Freelancers, not Bethesda's. Unless they have some sort of approval process like FFG has with Lucasfilm, that means there are 3-6 non-Bethesda people writing material for a Bethesda game that enters the realm of "is this canon/non-canon".

Bethesda may not be interested in giving up that much control. Wargames and Boardgames are one thing, but RPGs are a whole other matter.

I'm not saying it would never happen, but it is something for a company who gets more money from their video game than they would by licensing out the RPG rights to consider.

Now...if anyone at Bethesda ever gets a hold of my forthcoming Fallout theme for Genesys (and they decide not to smack me with a C&D), maybe they'll be inspired to let FFG take a crack at it after all.

I think it depends entirely on what they expect from the game, too. If it's one book, taking your approach (which makes sense), you can have contractual clauses around performance that act as a wait-and-see. So, if preorders suggest interest will net profitability (either by sheer volume or, by forecasting based on previous preorder-to-post-release-date-sales in other game) then you can greenlight a splatbook.

Alternatively, they could also say "go play in the West Coast setting" of Fallout 1, 2 and NV; and confine their experience to the East Coast. That way, entities like NCR, Caesar's Legion etc can be developed based on notes from the existing Fallout canon without necessarily treading on Bethesda's plans.

I agree with your points on story restriction, but I'm thinking that if they can use it to pimp sales of bespoke dice (with Vault Boy giving a thumbs up for triumphs), expanded minis, etc then it's easy for them to go "sure, you can call it fallout, and cover settings we don't care about" whilst still profiting.

14 hours ago, DarthGM said:

The moment they give a game company the option to make an RPG, they lose in-house control of the Fallout storyline.

That hasn't been what happened with Star Wars this time around. Disney/LucasFilm has been keeping a tight rein on story elements.

Since FFG has to submit everything to LucasFilm for approval, it's certainly not unheard of for companies to keep control of the IPs they license out.

Granted, it would probably not be worth it to license out such a popular line unless FFG planned to publish several books. So it's probably a moot point

But hey, a guy can dream...

Also, FFG aren't making canonical decisions, output or books. They're just making their Own Thing, and not trying to influence the broad agenda of the story group. That the Imperial Raider was picked up for Battlefront II has confused some people on this, but it's still clear to me that it was a happy coincidence rather than intended design.

Fallout doesn't need to be any different, but it does require there to be a Pablo-esque curator at Bethesda...

21 minutes ago, Endersai said:

That the Imperial Raider was picked up for Battlefront II has confused some people on this, but it's still clear to me that it was a happy coincidence rather than intended ddesig.

FFG didn't event the Raider on their own (which they have done), but worked Lucasfilm to design it.

OK but it doesn't mean they put it out hoping it would show up in books, shows, or games. They put it out like they put the books out; to enable the best effing game system out there to assist GMs in telling timeless stories. There's a really good template there for licenced RPGs, actually - "stuff the canon!"

Of course FFG created the raider in order to improve their game(s). The Lucasfilm story group that they had to work with to do it, on the other hand, was overseeing the effort in order to make sure that it could be used in future non-FFG canon and that it's existence didn't contradict any already existing (or upcoming) canon. That's the story group's job, and it is extremely gratifying to see that they are doing it to the extent that they could integrate a FFG creation into the wider canon.