https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2019/1/10/allies-and-adversaries/

Looks pretty cool.

And stats for Ewok PCs!

I dunno... NPCs are nice, but not that nice, especially when collected from all the other books, making sizable portions reprinted info.

I'll probably get it for completion, but I'm sad we've finally reached this point.

I love Ewoks.

As long as they are collecting stuff from other books, I would appreciate an official species guide.

1 minute ago, blittlepage said:

I love Ewoks.

As long as they are collecting stuff from other books, I would appreciate an official species guide.

Is the emphasis on “species guide” or “official?”

You know it's the end of the game line when they start putting out stuff like this...

Edit: I'll still buy it, of course...

4 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

Is the emphasis on “species guide” or “official?”

Either.

I like and use the fan-made species guide.

But I would like a convenient source for the species that are scattered through all the books.

“the fan-made species guide” meaning CSG or USM?

Side note: I promise this is my last post on this thread regarding the off-topic survey on CSG’s popularity

I wonder how many more books they can come up with that have largely recycled stuff and only a relatively small chunk of new material. Perhaps next we'll get a starships book that gives us a dozen or so new ships along with all of the ones we already have...

21 minutes ago, Ghostofman said:

I dunno... NPCs are nice, but not that nice, especially when collected from all the other books, making sizable portions reprinted info.

I'll probably get it for completion, but I'm sad we've finally reached this point.

Agreed. They used to talk about the lack of stats as a positive, as a strength of the game - it just distracts PCs into trying to kill famous characters, they're never fully accurate etc.

Then they started, and it's just... yeah, I'm not thrilled about this.

EDIT: I hope it's filler ahead of some sequel trilogy books (post Episode XI) and not, as @whafrog says, the end of the line (though whafrog I agree, this is what a book like that signals).

My guess we'll see:

Species Guide
Vehicle/Ships Guide
Equipment Guide
Planets Guide

Gathering stuff from the various books, along with some new stuff... then finally a post-ROTJ era sourcebook.

Also a little disappointed with this announcement. This feels like an “okay to have” addiction with some reprinted stats, i would much rather they have gone with some more location books, era guides or adventures. I will buy this (as a completist) but am VERY unlikely to include any of these NPC’s in any of my campaigns.

Am hoping that we don’t see any equipment or ship guides, it doesn’t feel like we are lacking for enough stuff to justify a whole book.

And, I’m reminded once again of Sammy Hagar’s comments about “greatest hits” packages - just this time, as a matter of being disappointed that FFG is doing one.

Unable to find the exact quote, it was to the effect that, once you release a greatest hits package, you’re saying you have nothing left to offer.

He went on to say that he released one (Unboxed), because, as part of Van Halen at the time, he thought his days as a solo artist were behind him, and he was against the VH hits collection. Of course, in trying to find the exact quote, I see he’s put out several more since resuming his solo career, so....

Interesting to see Ewoks as a playable race now... I wonder if we might get a few other races thrown in as well.

Quote

Look for this sourcebook to release in the second quarter of 2019.

Not likely.

6 minutes ago, GroggyGolem said:

Not likely.

Hey, you can look for it. Nothing's stopping you! 🤣

21 minutes ago, Endersai said:

I hope it's filler ahead of some sequel trilogy books (post Episode XI) and not, as @whafrog says, the end of the line

Unless they've got a 2nd Ed in the works and are planning to kick that off with New-Tril content, I doubt this is the end of the line.

We probably will see another Era book for the New-Tril content about a year after IX hits theaters. And there's a possibility of more content of a similar ilk.

But yeah, when you start releasing books that are jus the compiled content of other books... usually a sign things are winding down.

Honestly, with as many re-prints as FFG's done, I half expect the RPG to coast for at least a few more years after the last books finally drops. As long as product is moving there's no need to invest in a totally new edition. And with X-wing/Armada/Imp Assault/Legion also keeping the license profitable it's not like they'll give it up.

I kinda suspect that when we stop seeing new player questions (here and elsewhere), and people asking "where can I find book X" is the point at which 2nd Ed will be either in production or under serious consideration.

43 minutes ago, whafrog said:

You know it's the end of the game line when they start putting out stuff like this...

Edit: I'll still buy it, of course...

Eh, we've been asking for this sort of "clip-show" for a while now, I hope they do summarize ships and gear into supplements like this, I too would buy them. Sure, I'd already have the content, spread across 80lbs of books that are going on a meter in height. This sort of condensed format will be most welcome at my table.

24 minutes ago, Gallandro said:

Interesting to see Ewoks as a playable race now... I wonder if we might get a few other races thrown in as well.

Bring on the Jawa’s!!

I'm definitely on the fence with this one. While I applaud another book and will get it like the other completionists here, the content definitely leaves a lot to be desired, at least from the initial article.

I'd have much rather have seen them compile the new npcs into new adversary decks than in a book. I'd use those far more than having to flip through a "monster manual" for a suitable challenge. Give me that so I can create an encounter on the fly with all I need on the card. (Though I totally understand that a book will sell better than the cards)

As for Ewoks... meh. Iconic SW species sure, but not something i see everyone scrambling for.

I'm hoping it has more to it than what has been revealed.

It's not the book I wanted, nor is it a book I think we needed, but it's the book we got. I'm just thankful that today's announcement was a book rather than the end of the license or some other doom and gloom.

They weren't going to do Jedi as a career, now Jedi is a career.

They weren't going to stat movie characters, now they're stating movie characters.

Etc.

Half-jokes aside, while I am curious of their official stats for Ewoks but not curious enough. I've run with the unofficial species menagerie since I was in a player group with an ewok PC, 6 years ago. I'm used to custom stuff at this point, so official ewok stats doesn't really excite me. Neither does a large reprint of what I am guessing will mostly be all the NPCs from the Core books and some of the big players in the franchise from the newer books.

I'd rather have more era books, space sector books, a dedicated imperial/dark side supplement, the thing that most people want of course, a KotOR era book, etc... I use stormtroopers or custom stats, always.

I am actually pretty excited for this book. There's nothing I loved Dawn of Rebellion more for than fawning over the stat blocks and seeing what crazy uber special abilities characters had. Plus my group loves to rub shoulders with the canon characters (and not kill them surprisingly), so this is great news for me.

Plus, for me when it came to Dawn of Rebellion's stat blocks I noticed a lot of glaring omissions, such as the entirety of the Rogue One team like Jyn, Cassian etc. I'll be very surprised if they and the other main characters from the OT don't get statted up.

Furthermore, while I get that some people are disappointed by this, it seems as the book will offer in-depth looks at each NPC and offer ways they can be used in encounters and such which is far cry from simple 'fluff text and stat block'. It does offer more substance...not a lot, but it is something.

Also, the fact they've added Ewok seems to suggest they will still be adding new character options, granted it won't be as fleshed out as other books, but they will still be there. Think positive! We are right in the middle of a trilogy and I am sure FFG is just waiting to get the sequel trilogy book out. Like us, they are probably just waiting for more content to work with. I am glad that there is a new book coming out.

I too am rather excited for this book, particularly since it does provide a plethora of NPC adversaries, and potentially playable species. And I'm not so much talking about iconic characters, I'm talking about archetypes. Currently, we don't really have a lot of options for NPC adversary types or creatures. I really hope this book gives us plenty of both.

55 minutes ago, Gallandro said:

My guess we'll see:

Species Guide
Vehicle/Ships Guide
Equipment Guide
Planets Guide

Gathering stuff from the various books, along with some new stuff... then finally a post-ROTJ era sourcebook.

Good news is if they go this way they actually could add plenty more mixed in with the reprints.

1 hour ago, blittlepage said:

I love Ewoks.

As long as they are collecting stuff from other books, I would appreciate an official species guide.

While I'm not a huge Ewok fan, I do like that the article makes it sound like they are going the WEG route and saying something like "Yeah, you don't get bonuses towards using a blaster, but if you want to build a catapult out of logs and rocks, here's how..."

The silliness factor was a great mental image, but the ability to craft traps, basic structures, hang gliders, and catapults has legit utility in the right situations.

3 minutes ago, Ebak said:

I am actually pretty excited for this book. There's nothing I loved Dawn of Rebellion more for than fawning over the stat blocks and seeing what crazy uber special abilities characters had. Plus my group loves to rub shoulders with the canon characters (and not kill them surprisingly), so this is great news for me..

Except the issue is - the appeal of Star Wars is that it was basically people, ordinary people, doing extra ordinary things. Forget the whole "Chosen One" nonsense - Han, Lando, Jyn, whomever - your PCs could be your campaign's version of them, as you didn't so much interact with the movie as have your own "movie" in the Star Wars universe. Only, when they brought these stats out, the stat lines were all 5/4/4/4/3/3 which is so far outside the reach of players even with several hundred XP invested going for nothing but Dedication-offering talents.

So basically, the statted NPCs in Dawn of Rebellion segregated the line between IP characters and player characters in a way that said the latter would rarely, if ever, be able to call the former a true peer. It was disappointing, and not quite a core promise broken but certainly a change in tone from a company whose position was that these sorts of stat blocks are a distraction and unnecessary as the PCs are the big heroes.

And on reflection, I feel like the best use of a book containing adversaries and allies would have been for FFG to create unique adversaries and allies based on the existing rules (rather than setting a minimum number of 5s and 4s in heroic statblocks) and present them with sample scenes or adventures to introduce and run them in. I don't mean, per the page shown on the FFG site, a generic barabel bounty hunter but a named barabel who can be integrated into campaigns. The adversary decks in effect do this for generics - they're a quick reference guide for social and martial combat encounters. But adding their own lore to their game (and confusing overzealous Wookiepedians about the canonicity of these characters!) by giving you a set of, say, a named Rebel and Imperial ace who are long term adversaries and rivals and whose rivalry can be inserted to your Age of Rebellion game as a plot point? That would be more useful than knowing the stats of people who died at Scarif in the years before my campaign takes place.