2 hours ago, Oldmike1 said:

With how the new movies are set up I don’t think the TFA sold well..

Main problem was that the box didn't come out until well after the movie had left theaters. Also remember that the point of a beginner box (especially something like the TFA one) isn't to provide more setting lore for those us already playing the system, but instead to entice people who aren't currently playing SWFFG to start doing so.

Now, if FFG had been able to put the box on shelves while the movie was in theaters, then it would have probably sold better as it would have been better able to tie into the hype and popularity amidst the masses that surrounded TFA at that time, as opposed to coming out after the fires had cooled.

Just now, Donovan Morningfire said:

Main problem was that the box didn't come out until well after the movie had left theaters. Also remember that the point of a beginner box (especially something like the TFA one) isn't to provide more setting lore for those us already playing the system, but instead to entice people who aren't currently playing SWFFG to start doing so.

Now, if FFG had been able to put the box on shelves while the movie was in theaters, then it would have probably sold better as it would have been better able to tie into the hype and popularity amidst the masses that surrounded TFA at that time, as opposed to coming out after the fires had cooled.

Not only that, it wasn’t announced until after the home video release. It missed out on both marketing synergy opportunities.

7 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

Not only that, it wasn’t announced until after the home video release. It missed out on both marketing synergy opportunities.

Well, home video release window is a lot smaller these days than it was even ten years ago.

It's probably not long before what was a joke in Spaceballs ("Instant Cassettes! They're out in stores before the movie's even finished!") becomes a reality, or at least pretty close to reality with films being available for digital purchase within weeks if not days of a film's cinematic release.

13 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Sure, and you can play an Aryan German in a game set in the late 1930s, but everyone is still probably going to be thinking "Nazi" even if you're not a member of the party.

Almost a third of the American population in WW2 was ethnically German, more if you remember the English are German in origin too.

19 minutes ago, Eoen said:

Almost a third of the American population in WW2 was ethnically German, more if you remember the English are German in origin too.

I said Aryan German. Most of the American population of that time didn't self-identify as such, nor did they speak with a marked German accent.

42 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Well, home video release window is a lot smaller these days than it was even ten years ago.

It's probably not long before what was a joke in Spaceballs ("Instant Cassettes! They're out in stores before the movie's even finished!") becomes a reality, or at least pretty close to reality with films being available for digital purchase within weeks if not days of a film's cinematic release.

Yeah. Successful movies might stay in theaters just a bit longer these days, but not much. (Hi, Black Panther and Infinity War.) The home video release is usually scheduled even before the theatrical release.

In the case of TFA, while FFG had enough advance info to get X-Wing minis designed and produced for the Force Awakens Starter Set to be released prior to the movie and new minis released concurrently, the RPG division says they haven’t been the beneficiary of the sort of information necessary to take advantage of that sort of marketing synergy that, well, pretty much every other licensee (including other groups within FFG) do.

Still, you’d think that the timing could have been optimized (on both LFL and FFG’s parts) to at least announce the BG when the home video release dropped. (“You can take home the movie now, and you can start your own adventure in the near future.”)

4 hours ago, Oldmike1 said:

With how the new movies are set up I don’t think the TFA sold well and I yet to talk to someone IRL who wishes to explore that “world” (to me I feel the setting is dead and there is no hope at all) I know many more who love the old EU and will love a new Jedi order book or a post RotJ book with everyone’s favorite blue guy

I find this ironic since my new gaming group just finished their own campaign set during the time period of TFA starting with the beginners box, and I for one would very much like a sequel era source book.

Also I'm curious why you believe the TFA beginners box didn't sell well?

As for the new source book, I'm always happy to get more Star Wars RPG goodness, but I would have preferred a single, larger $60 dollar source book, rather than two smaller $30 dollar ones. I know, profit motive means that they are likely to make more with two separate source books long term, but from a GM/convenience standpoint I'd rather have all the information in one item.

4 hours ago, Oldmike1 said:

With how the new movies are set up I don’t think the TFA sold well and I yet to talk to someone IRL who wishes to explore that “world” (to me I feel the setting is dead and there is no hope at all) I know many more who love the old EU and will love a new Jedi order book or a post RotJ book with everyone’s favorite blue guy

5 minutes ago, unicornpuncher said:

I find this ironic since my new gaming group just finished their own campaign set during the time period of TFA starting with the beginners box, and I for one would very much like a sequel era source book.

Also I'm curious why you believe the TFA beginners box didn't sell well?

As for the new source book, I'm always happy to get more Star Wars RPG goodness, but I would have preferred a single, larger $60 dollar source book, rather than two smaller $30 dollar ones. I know, profit motive means that they are likely to make more with two separate source books long term, but from a GM/convenience standpoint I'd rather have all the information in one item.

And I'm currently in a TFA/TLJ era PbP campaign on these very forums in the F&D Beginners Game forum.

3 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

I said Aryan German. Most of the American population of that time didn't self-identify as such, nor did they speak with a marked German accent.

At the beginning of the war there was a lot of sympathy for the German side. It wasn’t until Pearl Harbor that flipped on the propaganda spigot. Before the war the German American Bund was pretty popular.

In addition to that American companies made Tiger tanks under Opal, Standard Oil fulfilled its contract with the German Navy, and DOW chemical had already merged with IG Farbin, thus they owned stock in the company that owned concentration camps, IBM fulfilled its computer contracts, etc.

2 minutes ago, Eoen said:

At the beginning of the war there was a lot of sympathy for the German side. It wasn’t until Pearl Harbor that flipped on the propaganda spigot. Before the war the German American Bund was pretty popular.

In addition to that American companies made Tiger tanks under Opal, Standard Oil fulfilled its contract with the German Navy, and DOW chemical had already merged with IG Farbin, thus they owned stock in the company that owned concentration camps, IBM fulfilled its computer contracts, etc.

Unless you think any of those things might get stats in Collapse of the Republic, I think we're drifting off-topic 😄

I wonder if they'll be expanding the new Jedi career in the same way they're expanding the Clone one.

2 minutes ago, Kualan said:

Unless you think any of those things might get stats in Collapse of the Republic, I think we're drifting off-topic 😄

I wonder if they'll be expanding the new Jedi career in the same way they're expanding the Clone one.

The Clone Wars are modeled after the big wars America fought in during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. It’s not off topic, all three of our big wars and the Beor war were cynically manipulated by organized war propheteers mostly based out of England (the Empiral officer core has English accents for a reason).

Before Pearl Harbor there was many Americans who enlisted on the English/ Commonwealth side. But there was so few Americans who enlisted on the German side I've never heard of any, except in an Hollywood movie about the Battle of the Bulge . So I've some doubts that Germany very popular in the USA at that time.

I'm curious as to what the 'extra rules' part of the book will be about. From the blurbs we have received for Rise of the Separatists, it seems like RotS is going to give us some focus on the political arena of the Clone Wars and "troupe-style" play - the latter of which I'm definitely curious to explore more.

Things I would be happy to see in CotR:

- An exploration on running a military campaign in-universe. Similar to how we've seen the tactical side of mass combat explored in (I believe) the Commanders sourcebook, I'd be curious to see FFG's take on the strategic side of it. Our players might be Jedi Generals after all, so managing their troops isn't just about winning battles but keeping them well-supplied, dealing with the wounded, monitoring their effect on the local populace, etc. Some guidance on how to track that across multiple sessions/battles would be interesting.

- A 'manage your own battalion' sub-system, similar to how we have had 'run your own base/business/ship' in past books. The latter half of the Clone Wars is when we see the clone divisions really come into their own in regards to distinguishing themselves from each other. Is your battalion a force of light skirmishers tasking with recon and screening the main Republic forces' advance? Are they a mechanized unit designed to steamroll across enemy opposition? Are they a pilot squadron? I think there's plenty of meat to be had there.

On 3/9/2019 at 10:10 PM, Kualan said:

Unless you think any of those things might get stats in Collapse of the Republic, I think we're drifting off-topic 😄

I wonder if they'll be expanding the new Jedi career in the same way they're expanding the Clone one.

I reckon the next book after this will be Fall of the Jedi , a book about Order 66 and the Rise of the Empire, where the Jedi Career gets its own expansion, including both some sort of Jedi Temple Guard-variant, and a Jedi Runaway type.

On 3/9/2019 at 10:19 PM, Eoen said:

The Clone Wars are modeled after the big wars America fought in during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. It’s not off topic, all three of our big wars and the Beor war were cynically manipulated by organized war propheteers mostly based out of England (the Empiral officer core has English accents for a reason).

There are interesting similarities between the ACW and the Clone Wars, but that's where it ends. Funnily enough that's also the one where you might suggest there were 'war profiteers' (heavy inverted commas there...), as both sides did come to Britain to purchase arms as we were at the time the world's leading manufacturer.

I would be happy to discuss this further off the board, as it's heavily off-topic, but to affirm: there's very little similarity between the Clone Wars and either of the World Wars, and the British (not jsut the English, please remember we're a broader nation) did not somehow conspire to bring the United States into the World Wars.

1 hour ago, Kualan said:

- A 'manage your own battalion' sub-system, similar to how we have had 'run your own base/business/ship' in past books. The latter half of the Clone Wars is when we see the clone divisions really come into their own in regards to distinguishing themselves from each other. Is your battalion a force of light skirmishers tasking with recon and screening the main Republic forces' advance? Are they a mechanized unit designed to steamroll across enemy opposition? Are they a pilot squadron? I think there's plenty of meat to be had there.

If they wanted to just reprint Only War 's Regiment Creation system I wouldn't really object. Some Star Wars flavour would make it excellent!

20 minutes ago, ColonelCommissar said:

I reckon the next book after this will be Fall of the Jedi , a book about Order 66 and the Rise of the Empire, where the Jedi Career gets its own expansion, including both some sort of Jedi Temple Guard-variant, and a Jedi Runaway type.

They've already said that they're going to cover Order 66 in this source book. I doubt they'll do one based solely on Order 66, but I could see there being a "True Jedi" expansion that lets you play as someone actually trained or raised as a Jedi.

Not to be confused with a "True Jedi" expansion that makes the PC's gather studs.

My pessimist view:

Another book for the same era about half a year after RotS got on the boat. Seems like they're milking this a bit, and I'm not liking the odds of getting either book soon.

My optimist view:

I'm super excited to see another expansion for an era that I know my group has been wanting to run for a while. It's more to read, more to use, and more to love, in my opinion, and I'm excited for it.

Overall, I'm excited for both books, and am really hoping they'll work well together and not just be 80% the same with slight variations. I'm particularly excited for the ARC Trooper class, personally. I just hope I'm still alive when they release these books, but maybe my grandchildren will get to play!

Honestly, I’m not sure why some seem surprised that there’s a second Clone Wars era book in the pipeline. The Rise of the Separatists announcements were pretty clear that it was covering the early part of the war, and I seem to recall more than a few people voicing speculation that there would be a companion book covering the latter part.

Whether one feels that much coverage is warranted can certainly be up for discussion, and strong cases can probably be made for both arguments.

I wonder if we’ll get a third Clone Wars book. Considering the name- “Collapse of the Republic,” it might only focus on the war’s second year when the Separatists had the most success.

57 minutes ago, evo454 said:

a  "True Jedi" expansion that makes the PC's gather studs. 

I need this

23 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

I wonder if we’ll get a third Clone Wars book. Considering the name- “Collapse of the Republic,” it might only focus on the war’s second year when the Separatists had the most success.

Just the two books, I think.

From the article: "While the latter book details the first half of the Clone Wars, Collapse of the Republic details the end of the war and the Republic. "

I think there is more than enough content in the CW era to fill out two Dawn of Rebellion-sized books (between what we see in Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and the whole TV show) so I don't mind them spreading the content out more, but I think two books should give us enough to fill in any remaining blanks ourselves. By the time both books (and Allies & Adversaries) are out, I imagine they'll be ready to start firing up the hype for a sequel-era book. This is based on nothing more than my own wild speculation at the moment that RotS will probably finally hit shelves around the time of Celebration (with TCW hype) and CotR will follow when the show actually returns later in the year with the Disney streaming service launch.

Huh. Well in that case, it’s yet another poorly named thing by FFG. shrug

1 hour ago, evo454 said:

Not to be confused with a "True Jedi" expansion that makes the PC's gather studs.

It's probably a little too mono-focused for a its own sourcebook, but I wonder if there's any gold to be mined in Disneyland's soon to be opened Star Wars Land?

I personally love how they are doing the eras. Back when the RPG first launched, I was bummed we didn't get the prequels, as I am a prequel baby and not an OT baby and most of the games I played up to that point were set in prequel times.

I was really, really, REALLY, hoping we didn't get new cores with reprinted rules for every era... I like these new era books as the size of the sector books and the price per month is decent. That said my current group is much younger than me and is dying to play clone wars style. It's not my cup of tea and I have never finished The Clone Wars... I KNOW I KNOW!!! I'll get there someday! I'm thinking of watching the last two or three seasons in bits, like Asoka leaving the order arc, and Yoda finding Darth Bane arc.

I always liked the intrigue of the corrupt republic falling before the war than the outright war. So I am exactly the niche market that this break up of books sells to. Rise of the Seperatists for me, Collapse of the Republic for my players. Also no matter what era or setting I pick, my players always want to play Clone Wars era Jedi so I'm happy there's a specific specialization I can point them to finally. Hopefully...

Thanks FFG!

Also I'm wondering if the new Clone Wars season will get some representation in some book? Seems to be about a couple months too early. Had they waited a little bit, they could have covered that more relevant to us now, piece of Star Wars as well.

34 minutes ago, Drig said:

Also I'm wondering if the new Clone Wars season will get some representation in some book? Seems to be about a couple months too early. Had they waited a little bit, they could have covered that more relevant to us now, piece of Star Wars as well.

Information on the broadest strokes of these last few stories have been made available for years, so it’s probably all good.