I know that TFA Beginner Game isn't getting a core rulebook, but with Dawn of Rebellion and Rise of the Separatists, we have two books that explore different SW time periods. The more I thought about it, the more I realized...
After RofS releases, this is really the only time period FFG can still explore. So, does anyone know if this is getting an Era Sourcebook?
I'm sure we'll see an era book announcement not long after the Ep IX hits.
Given the lag between when TFA was released and we got the Beginner Box, we probably won't see an era book for the this time frame until at least a year after Episode 9 hits theaters. Unless things have since changed from when Sam Stewart had said that Lucasfilm doesn't give the FFG crew any special spoiler information on upcoming releases, they (and the freelance writers they use) don't learn what's in the films until it gets released, the same as the rest of us.
1 hour ago, Donovan Morningfire said:Given the lag between when TFA was released and we got the Beginner Box, we probably won't see an era book for the this time frame until at least a year after Episode 9 hits theaters. Unless things have since changed from when Sam Stewart had said that Lucasfilm doesn't give the FFG crew any special spoiler information on upcoming releases, they (and the freelance writers they use) don't learn what's in the films until it gets released, the same as the rest of us.
I’m not sure I quite believe that. Granted, the RPG contains more information that could be considered spoilers than a game like X-Wing. That said, FFG had enough lead time to have the X-Wing Force Awakens Core Set on shelves in September, 2015 (two months before the movie), the U-wing and TIE Striker on shelves the day before Rogue One opened, and the Resistance bomber and TIE Silencer in stores a week before The Last Jedi was on screens. That’s not taking into account that, had Dawn of Rebellion released on time, it would have come out around the time of the fourth season premiere of Rebels and contained a great deal of info from season 3, which would have been ongoing during the book’s production.
Other licensees that need lead time seem to get it (Del Rey books comes to mind, with DK being something of an odd duck, as their entries tend to be written by members of the LFL story group itself - mostly Pablo - but staff at the publisher would still need to be looped in.)
Maybe they do keep a tighter rein on what’s made available to the RPG team in particular, but that just seems odd. Not only does it single out one sub-group of one licensee, but it eliminates the ability for that licensee (and, by extension, LFL) to capitalize on the same sort of promotional synergy that other licensees can (including a different group within FFG itself).
9 hours ago, Nytwyng said:I’m not sure I quite believe that. Granted, the RPG contains more information that could be considered spoilers than a game like X-Wing. That said, FFG had enough lead time to have the X-Wing Force Awakens Core Set on shelves in September, 2015 (two months before the movie), the U-wing and TIE Striker on shelves the day before Rogue One opened, and the Resistance bomber and TIE Silencer in stores a week before The Last Jedi was on screens. That’s not taking into account that, had Dawn of Rebellion released on time, it would have come out around the time of the fourth season premiere of Rebels and contained a great deal of info from season 3, which would have been ongoing during the book’s production.
Other licensees that need lead time seem to get it (Del Rey books comes to mind, with DK being something of an odd duck, as their entries tend to be written by members of the LFL story group itself - mostly Pablo - but staff at the publisher would still need to be looped in.)
Maybe they do keep a tighter rein on what’s made available to the RPG team in particular, but that just seems odd. Not only does it single out one sub-group of one licensee, but it eliminates the ability for that licensee (and, by extension, LFL) to capitalize on the same sort of promotional synergy that other licensees can (including a different group within FFG itself).
I would hazard to guess that the reason for LFL not wanting FFG to have the information and producing a source book beforehand is because an RPG supplement needs to be play tested before release. This means that there would be members of the "general public" (in the form of play-testers), not just the licensee proper and its contracted content creators, with knowledge of the events of the movie before the movie's release.
1 hour ago, Tramp Graphics said:I would hazard to guess that the reason for LFL not wanting FFG to have the information and producing a source book beforehand is because an RPG supplement needs to be play tested before release. This means that there would be members of the "general public" (in the form of play-testers), not just the licensee proper and its contracted content creators, with knowledge of the events of the movie before the movie's release.
Fair point. Hadn’t considered that angle. While acknowledging the difference of scale between an animated (ostensibly for kids) series and a major blockbuster movie, DoR play testers would have had some Rebels season 3 material previewed. I’m sure X-Wing is play tested, too. And I wouldn’t want to be someone violating an NDA with the weight of Disney lawyers behind it.
Edited by NytwyngBased on an interview with some of the folks who worked on DoR. They basically had to use trailers and image stills for anything that wasn't live to the general public to extrapolate information. Alot of the Rogue One writing was based on trailers, and nothing of Rebels season 3 made it in to a book that wasn't from a preview.
So, Tramp may be on to something there.
Edited by NytwyngI suspect playtesting isn't the issue. X-Wing content has, if anything, a greater need for playtesting than an RPG, because it's a competitive game with an international tournament scene. That's an environment where very small imbalances can have a severe effect, compared to RPGs where there's traditionally been an expectation that individual groups and GMs work out issues among themselves (and they're cooperative games in any case).
Access to information about setting and stories is more likely the case, because this is an area where RPG material has greater demands than a miniatures game. X-Wing did get their Force Awakens set out quickly, but it notoriously had Poe at Pilot Skill 8 (out of 9) because FFG didn't know at the time of development that Poe was portrayed as quite such an amazing pilot in the movie. They later released a Pilot Skill 9 version of Poe which was pretty much an acknowledgement that PS8 was wrong. Also, none of the unique Resistance pilots except Poe had a name (only callsigns like "Blue Ace") because FFG didn't have that information back then. You just can't make-do with those kinds of limits when writing an RPG setting sourcebook, not when you can't just make stuff up to fill in the gaps because all canon material is vetted by Disney.
Edited by DasharrWell, now that Rise of Skywalker is out, the main stumbling block to getting a Resistance Era sourcebook has largely been cleared, as we now know how the story ends (at least where the Skywalker Saga is concerned). I know that several of the freelancers that FFG had recently tapped as well as some of the old guard are chomping at the bit to contribute to such a sourcebook, possibly even with some hopes of covering material relating to the earlier years of the post-Empire era, namely The Mandalorian.
Though unless FFG has already been working on such a tome for some time, if they do announce a Resistance Era sourcebook, it probably won't be hitting shelves until the end of 2020 at best, with early 2021 being more likely.
I'd guess, at best, a Q1 or Q2 2020 announcement, for a Q4 release at the earliest.
Whenever it hits, if it does, then I'm sure to buy it.
1 hour ago, Desslok said:
What sources are those?
He's probably referring to the recent announcement that FFG is laying off their entire RPG department.
Correct. My source is a magic eight ball. . . . well, that and the knowledge that the RPG department just got shitecanned.
Edited by DesslokOn 1/14/2020 at 3:59 PM, kaosoe said:He's probably referring to the recent announcement that FFG is laying off their entire RPG department.
On 1/14/2020 at 4:09 PM, Desslok said:Correct. My source is a magic eight ball. . . . well, that and the knowledge that the RPG department just got shitecanned.
Oh... That's unfortunate.
On 1/14/2020 at 4:09 PM, Desslok said:Correct. My source is a magic eight ball. . . . well, that and the knowledge that the RPG department just got shitecanned.
That really doesn't mean much, given that most of the work on these books is done by freelancers , not full-time staff.
Except that FFG also sacked those that are in charge of outlining the book, communicating with the freelancers, communicating with the art department. Combining all the elements together. There's a lot that goes into these books that needs the eye of someone who understands the field and the content needed. If they kept Huck or Sam, I could see them floating along on freelance work, but those guys were let go as well.
At the same time, they've brought Kat back to the company as "Creative Director of Story and Setting," so no telling yet what (if anything) that mean for the company's various RPGs.
She was essentially doing that for L5R. I suspect her job will be managing the fictional content like the novels.