Last night I was thinking about Runebound, and the possibility for third edition. Maybe they are just having a hard time to streamline the game like the second edition of Descent, and that is why we haven't heard anything yet. A theory of mine is that they are trying to incorporate all of the Terrinoth games together. Well, the ones with plastic figures.

Theory: Maybe they are coming out with new heroes for Runebound that can be used in Descent also instead of what they did before my using the same in both games for the most part. They kinda started this at the end with Dungeon Quest with the game coming with cards, and figure to be used in their other games. If this is the case they have to make sure that these heroes would have to meet the requirements for the other games. Which means that this is being worked on by multiple teams. Thus, taking them forever and a day to come up with the new edition of Runebound's rules/game play. It would kinda get people involved in their other games to collect those figures to use. I'm not saying that is a good or a bad idea, but it might explain the delay in a new edition. I only wish that they would still print some of the old expansions while we waited…

Any thoughts on my theory???

Honestly, the crossover of characters didn't always work so well in the past. Perhaps IF they are considering this, taking a bit longer is a wise choice. On the other hand…

IF this is the case, it's unlikely to fair much better in midthought (not forethought, since the games already have set mechanics). The games in question have such differing mechanics, each being developed unto itself in its own microverse. And no, having the same "setting" is not the same thing. The mechanics can only be tweaked so much without alienated the established customer/fan base for a particular game.

Crossover of characters has always been attractive to players of character based games, but unless games are developed side by side (even in edition changes), the challenge of characters operating with equitable strengths AND weaknesses from one game to next might never be worked out to satisfaction in all games. This was seen by many players of the new edition of DQ. I don't play Descent, but I do play Runebound; and the characters never did work the same between that game and DQ. The afterthought in (or midthought between) editions can never fully compensate for the original differences between game mechanics.

And so, I don't think this would be the primary reason for delay IF a new edition is in the works, though it might be on the list of pertinent considerations from a purely marketing standpoint.

I didn't mean to come across that the primary problem was the crossover of heroes. I think that this is just another bump they have to deal with on their long list of problems. I still think main problem for them is making the rules more streamline for quicker games. Just like what they did for the second edition of Descent. Really, I just want to know if anyone things if they will continue to make these crossover heroes for their multiple games. The DQ crossover to Descent was pretty bad, but I haven't played them yet with Runebound (which I expect is just as you said, so that's why I never played with them). I think that if they put the time into this idea this time around that they could see positive results with gamers.

FFG, in my experience, is pretty good about not making new editions just for sake of selling new editions. In general, they only crank out a new edition when they have some significant improvements to make to the gameplay (ie: they wouldn't do it just for something cosmetic like giving the game a different batch of heroes.)

Runebound 2e is a pretty solid game as is. The only real complaint I know of against it is the downtime between turns in games with 4+ players. I don't think that's a big enough problem to warrant a whole new edition of the game, so I don't think FFG is working on Runebound 3e. (Unless they've come up with some genius way to fix it.)

The only thing I can think of that would speed the things a bit between turns would be to make some steps doable by all the Heroes at once. but this could easily be implemented with some variant.

Like Steve-O said, RB is a solid game as is.

**** now I want to play a game…

I guess my comments on crossover characters was all that I could latch onto because I don't really see any changes to be made to RB that I would suggest. Me and mine have no problems with the so-called "downtime" of turns, though we do not play with more than three people 95% of the time, so if anything, my wants in a new edition wouldn't match the majority anyway.

I have no problem with the core game itself, but I know that FFG is trying to make their games more streamline. As a gamer I don't mind long complicated games, since they turn out to be the best for the most part. Look at D2 with the updated rules. My gaming group is already torn with the changes. Some we like, but others we found to be two simple (which is going to cause problems). One example is the familiar movement where they can stay on the lava, but all other types of units will die. Sure the skeleton familiar would die, but not the ones from the first edition. How can little Picco be able to stand on the lava??? Little stuff like that, that people in my group complain about.

The main reason that I see them working on a third edition for Runebound is that they stopped doing reprints on a lot of the Runebound products. It just leaves me with a funny feeling that they have something coming our way good or bad. I would hate to see them let Runebound die out…

IronRavenstorm said:

FFG isn't trying to streamline ALL their games, though. Descent 1e was a bloated mess of contradictory rules. It NEEDED to be simplified and streamlined, so that's what they did.

My biggest fear is that Runebound won't see playtime as often when Descent 2nd edition will be out. On top of that I just bought Maqnsions of Madness+FA+'Til Death do us part+House of Fears…all painted…

****, too much games, not enough time…

That's a happy problem!

Steve-O said:

Since the economy is in rough shape, and gamers not having the time for long games now. It seems to me that they are coming out with more streamlined games with less components, and shorter playing times. I'm not saying that it is a bad idea, but to me that is what I see them doing. When was the last time they came out with a real big box game like Descent 1st edition, Twilight Imperium, or RuneWars? They got ride of War of the Ring, and are focusing on card games, miniatures, and short board games. The price of oil is up and I know that plastic pieces are expensive, but I miss the real big box games.

I just figured that they had Runebound in their sights of streamlining, since we haven't heard anything from them in away. Plus, the early expansions are almost impossible to find anymore. I know that I had to pay a lot of money to get some of them since they are out of print. In my mind they are either letting it die, or getting ready for a make over. If they aren't doing the make over they could at least keep doing reprints of the early stuff for new gamers trying to get into Runebound. I know that there are a few expansions that I would like to get a hold of.

If you want a Runebound 3rd ed., please read and post at:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100012-group-positive-thinking/

You can also read the steps I plan to take in addition to the posts in this thread!

If you want a Runebound 3rd ed., please read and post at:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100012-group-positive-thinking/

You can also read the steps I plan to take in addition to the posts in this thread!

Dude...

Necroposting two dozen ancient threads in the same forum is not going to help garner support. If people are here, they can see the "Group Positive Thinking" thread for themselves - you aren't spreading the news to anyone who can't already see it.

What's more, you've now pushed your precious thread almost half way down the page , when it was previously on top as one of the only active threads in the forum. All you've accomplished is to annoy everyone here, likely including those who are actively posting in your thread to support RB3E.

If you want to spread the word to new people, you need to go post this in other forums on other websites.