1 hour ago, phillos said:

It's hard not to feel worried. Also I'm very sorry for anyone who lost their job. That's always tremendously stressful. I hope they know that the work they did was tremendous. The product quality of all FFG's RPG books are ridiculous and I've been really happy with the new edition of L5R as well as Gensys.

It'll be fine. At least for L5R, I think the team wasn't hit that hard. Max Brooke is still there, and all the LCG people. Also, the lineup of freelancers for L5R is just great. A lot of them "are" L5R.

Genesys and StarWars on the other end seem to have lost most of their heavy lifters... 😕 I just got into SWrpg and this system is actually a masterpiece for its time. Hopefully FFG keep producing RPGs after L5R.

15 hours ago, Avatar111 said:

I just got into SWrpg and this system is actually a masterpiece for its time.

I first came across the concepts in the system in WHFRP 3rd edition... I do think FFG's dice-based systems are a good core mechanic.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I first came across the concepts in the system in WHFRP 3rd edition... I do think FFG's dice-based systems are a good core mechanic.

I love them.

I think overall, the Star Wars system is probably their better version of it. Not just the dice, but the ease and streamlines of the system is pretty awesome. Talent trees etc make for a simple and fun experience.
L5R do have some improvements (many things are straight up better, smarter) but unfortunately have a lot of unwieldy and unpolished elements when it comes the mechanics (that damned conflict&scene chapter is just, awful 😕 ) ... Surprising really, that after making Star Wars, they didn't have more learning to make L5R. Its like they never really played their own game before making L5R and just took inspiration on paper.

To be fair though, the lineup of Designers for SWrpg was, strong. While L5R was made by less proven designers.
Hence why, the FFG rpg dept, maybe after that many years, was at a point that they should have taken the formula, further. Something that I am not really sure they achieved aside the few smart decisions they made in L5R. And considering they were fulltime with those game systems...

Anyway, I am curious to see the future of the "ffg style ttRPG". And I hope there IS a future. It certainly deserve so.

10 minutes ago, Avatar111 said:

Anyway, I am curious to see the future of the "ffg style ttRPG". And I hope there IS a future. It certainly deserve so.

With genesys being a setting-free core book with an open SRD (or near enough) in the form of 'The foundry' I expect it should be pretty healthy.

19 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

With genesys being a setting-free core book with an open SRD (or near enough) in the form of 'The foundry' I expect it should be pretty healthy.

Sure, but as much as people like fanmade content. When it is a professional product (with art etc) it gets more hype. Though I am not sure of the success of their Android, Terrinoth and now Keyforge settings.
So if you are in FFG "boss chair", you look at this and see:

-swrpg is almost done, while it is a great game, it cannot get much more extra content.
-genesys doesn't seem to be that popular, unfortunately probably due to weak published settings.
-l5r is the new kid in town, and while it have an amazing (but niche) setting, the rules are unwieldy and not easy to get into. SWrpg was already requiring a bit of a step up for regular D&D players and now you ask 10 times more out of them, while making the books somewhat of a confused mess with a lot of fishy and, broken, parts.

What do you do ? As the "boss" ?

My opinion:
-Outsource a few amount of SWrpg books (1-2 a year) just to keep the vibe going as long as it can.
-Let the community handle Genesys.
-Let the freelancers handle L5R which probably will stay niche due to reason mention above anyway.
-Think about the next ttRPG, hire the right people.

1 hour ago, Avatar111 said:

SWrpg was already requiring a bit of a step up for regular D&D players and now you ask 10 times more out of them, while making the books somewhat of a confused mess with a lot of fishy and, broken, parts.

As someone who played the SW RPG I can say with utmost confidence that L5R5 is a streamlined pick-up game meant for kids of all age compared to the SW RPG.

6 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

As someone who played the SW RPG I can say with utmost confidence that L5R5 is a streamlined pick-up game meant for kids of all age compared to the SW RPG.

Sure, that is why all podcasts and streamed games of L5R have been a total mess when it comes to mechanics. Haven't seen ONE good one. Not ONE.
So,
I have to disagree... L5R is shiite when it comes to rules (beyond the core gameplay). Not well presented, not well designed, not well explained and clunky, extremely clunky.

SW is much simpler (aside the vehicle part).
I also tried both. SW is a system close to being a masterpiece...
L5R is an interesting concept/take of a system based on SWrpg but that is ultimately very unwieldy and amateurishly done, despite having very powerful ideas like approaches/stances/composure/advantages etc.

2 hours ago, Avatar111 said:

I also tried both. SW is a system close to being a masterpiece...

For the sake of discussion (and definition):

you do realize that a masterpiece not a piece made by a master, but the sample crafted by a journeyman who wished to accepted as a master (meaning: allowed to have his own workshop and do unsupervised work) by a medieval crafts guild, right?

In which case you might be correct.

Deleted. No need to say anything more.

I have been running SW campaigns for a couple years, and now a year of new L5R. Star Wars scales up in complexity a LOT more over the course of a campaign, especially once you figure in vehicles, starships, second specializations, signature abilites and the entire subsystem that is equipment modding.

Star Wars at low credits, no force, down-and-dirty beginner characters is indeed much more simple than L5R. Star Wars after 150ish XP with half a million credits in hardware among the group is an entirely different beast.

Scaling is good.
The comment was not really about crunchiness, but mostly about versatility. L5R is very rigid and vague, while Star Wars is flexible and grounded.

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/44911/fantasy-flight-games-layoffs-rpg-lines-continue?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Assuming this is true, the important point is att the end of the text:

Quote

A company spokesperson declined comment on the Fantasy Flight Interactive shutdown or the RPG division layoffs, but did confirm that all four of the previously announced RPG products planned for the next few months, including Genesys: Secrets of the Crucible, L5R RPG: Sins of Regret, L5R RPG: Path of Waves, L5R RPG: Gamemat , and Star Wars: Age of Rebellion: Starships and Speeders will be released, and that "…all three product lines are still ongoing."

1 hour ago, Sharatec said:

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/44911/fantasy-flight-games-layoffs-rpg-lines-continue?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Assuming this is true, the important point is att the end of the text:

I told you not to worry.
Why nobody trust me?

More good news...it would appear that Katrina Ostrander is back with FFG. Katrina was the one running L5R (from a story and setting perspective, at least) when FFG launched it, and is simply awesome to work with. I am really excited to have her back in the company.

There you go. Toss a coin to your Witcher.

Great news! Hope she have some leeway into improving l5r rpg, as much as it is possible according to its current state.
I really like her though, I think she is what the new l5r rpg is all about. This is amazing news and absolutely looking forward to what she brings to the table! Go Katrina!

The news of the layoffs it terrible, but the news that Katrina is coming back is tremendous. I have nothing but praise for her previous work with the company and on L5R specifically. That's very good news for L5R as a brand.

14 minutes ago, phillos said:

The news of the layoffs it terrible, but the news that Katrina is coming back is tremendous. I have nothing but praise for her previous work with the company and on L5R specifically. That's very good news for L5R as a brand.

It is always difficult to be terrible.

It isn't because you disagree with something/someone that you hate it/them.

❤️

20 hours ago, DGLaderoute said:

More good news...it would appear that Katrina Ostrander is back with FFG. Katrina was the one running L5R (from a story and setting perspective, at least) when FFG launched it, and is simply awesome to work with. I am really excited to have her back in the company.

Very pleased to see her back. And looking forward to more interesting stories with the RPG (for what my two zeni are worth, the more the RPG materials can 'skirt around' and 'dip into' the main LCG storyline, the better. I love the way Kyotei Castle got used, for example.

It'd be interesting (since we've got a minor Lion Clan civil war brewing) to see what happened with Kitsu Sokorii's former family - after all, Sokorii killed her brother, but didn't kill her father, and said father 'named a distant cousin' as his heir (mask of the Oni). Having a relatively young Kitsu who wasn't expecting the post and is basically having to learn daimyo-ship and war 'on the fly' might be a nice nod to anyone who's played the adventure.

RPGs are at their peak in the US. I will guess that this is the decision of Asmode, a French owned company, who doesn’t know how to market well. Look at Games Workshop sales in the US ( very high ) and Wizards of the Coast with D&D sales and tell me the market is not there. The L5R RPG is a wonderful variation on the tired and traditional western fantasy RPG tropes. It will be a tragedy to see the line discontinued or diminished. All my opinion of course.

Peak of small numbers is still small numbers for a juggernaut like Asmodee. Focusing on Freelancers instead of full time employee is how the RPG industry work so I don't blame them for closing FFG inhouse department.

Looks like that brief bit of optimism was for naught: http://www.d20radio.com/main/fantasy-flight-games-long-term-plan-will-discontinue-rpg-development/

Queue the wailing gnashing of teeth. Over the last 40 years in this hobby i have played many many RPGs and L%R is easily in my top ten. To see this happen after such a short life with FFG is crappy. So much for my optimism when I said "Well, at least it is going to FFG, they are a stable company." Just goes to show how nothing is certian. Here's hoping someone can acquire the licence and bring L5R back with crowdfunding or something.

16 hours ago, Death Spectre said:

Looks like that brief bit of optimism was for naught: http://www.d20radio.com/main/fantasy-flight-games-long-term-plan-will-discontinue-rpg-development/

Or was it? https://www.reddit.com/r/swrpg/comments/f5vgy8/d20radio_may_have_misinterpreted_the_infos_for/fi1xq7i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

So nothing is final just yet. Fingers crossed, although it's not looking good, as it appears that Asmodee was bought by a locust investor...

Head of FFGs Story and Settings, Katrina Ostrander confirmed D20s report: https://twitter.com/lindevi/status/1229810153312182275?s=20