It would actually make a lot of sense to make such a shift from FFG's point of view. Deluxe expansions are better value for customers, since they get the content of three chapter packs for the price of 1.5 to 2. It's also clearer, especially to new players, since a smaller product line doesn't look as intimidating.

The biggest reason why I can see FFG doing this is cutting down expenses. Packaging and shipping costs would certainly be reduced. Furthermore, for the LotR LCG, this shift would mean that there are fewer encounter cards that can only be used for a single scenario, resulting in the need to create fewer encounter cards.

All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if all LCGs will go into this direction, and I certainly wouldn't mind it at all. I'd pay less for the same amount of cards which is always a plus. Also, keeping up with a monthly schedule can be hard, and I wouldn't get that feeling of having missed something all the time.

I get the feeling the decision to go this way with Cthulhu is largely based on how long the game has been running. I don't play it, so can't really say it with any real authority, but looking at A Game of Thrones (which I do play), as both seem to be of a similar size expansion-wise, and the chapter packs/deluxe boxes seem to be going over very old ground, by and large. How many Tyrion Lannisters do I need in my life? Certainly not as many as there are. But at least George is still out and about, creating new content for them to play with. Lovecraft has been dead for years, giving them a finite amount of material to use in the game. Rather than holding their hands up like WotC did with their Star Wars licence and say "we've run out of ideas", they're pulling back and limiting themselves to the 4-monthly thing.

Though the fact it presumably frees up staff to be used on their upcoming LCGs is also a prime motivating factor.

As to what this means for LotR, well I would think - nothing. LotR is a mere pup compared with the Grand Old Man of the Cthulhu game, and there's plenty of life left in it. I've only recently begun to read Lovecraft, but I do believe Tolkien's world is a lot richer and ripe for development. Plus, the distribution model is wildly different - in Cthulhu packs, all the cards are player cards (well, except perhaps the story cards, but still), whereas only a small proportion of LotR cards from each adventure pack are used. The player cards for each faction in Cthulhu are exhaustive, whereas for LotR there are still so many that could be made. And if I, as a casual gamer, can think of a whole load of such things, precisely what a professional game designer could churn out would probably keep the monthly packs going for decades.

So yeah, basically, they're two separate games, and what's right for one isn't necessarily right for the rest. Such are my thoughts

rather than doing the traditional type of expansion, with a few quests and some player cards in it, i would quite like them to do monthly packs with JUST player cards in them.

how about an occasional monthly pack with the normal 60 cards in it, but no quest -- just 20 different player cards (3 of each). or 3x19 player cards, and 3 new heroes.

maybe they could theme them as well, so they were all to do with one race, noldor, silvan, rohan, or whatever. so it would be a "Rohan expansion pack". that would allow our card pool to grow a lot quicker than it is at the moment.

i would also quite like them to do an occasional pack that gave us a load of themed items. how about a 60-card pack that was all armour? or all horses? or all food and healing items?

and my biggest wish is if they introduced weather effects, that we could drop into exisiting quests to make them play a little different. www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/820711/totally-new-kinds-of-card-that-wed-like-to-see-/new

they could replace one of the monthly expansions with that as well, with 60 new weather effect cards. Imagine that… then all our old quests would straight away play a little bit different

Or perhaps the silence is because the months following the Hobbit expansions will be followed by a few AP's based off the 2 boxed sets? That would be kinda cool, both because I love that area and theme of Middle-Earth, AND because it would be kinda like FFG jumping out and yelling, "Surprise! We're giving you more Hobbitty goodness!!"

But after 2 larger expansions, my guess is they are just taking a few months break… lol.

Cunir said:

I agree with that. I wouldn't have an all armour pack though. But the weather idea I like and that's not a new idea for FFG. They already got a weather mechanic in aGoT.

Cunir said:

i think doing that our card pool would grow too quickly…and when would we get our quests? i wouldnt be particularly excited to buy a pack knowing that im not getting a new quest to play. i think the amount we get at the moment is about right, the design team arent stretched and rushed this way (well maybe they are) but id rather get a small amount of good quality cards rather than many so-so.

as for the theme again i think they are doing the right thing. this way we dont get all the cards from one race or theme at one time, allowing the designers to slowly release them over a given time, meaning we dont sicken ourselves of them….i know several people currently sick of dwarves with the system we have

i think the current system is what makes the game stay so fresh and swaying from it would be a bad idea

i do like your weather idea though…if they released that as a side pack alongside the monthly pack then i think that would be great…..though my wallet may not like it

rich

after thinking about it a little more, i think i agree with you now. i would grow the pool too quickly.

but it would be nice if the expansion packs had just a few more player cards in them. that was the only thing that disappointed me about the khazad-dum box -- the piddly amount of heroes and player cards in it. happily, it looks like that they are fixing that with the hobbit box, because that has got quite a few heroes in it.

i do think it would be nice if they could find a way to break out of the expansion box + 6 adventure pack cycle, though, and chuck in a few surprises along the way. a pack with totally new and unsuspected stuff in it, to take the game in a different direction. weather cards would be a good example of that. i suppose the hobbit "saga expansion" is a little different, but it's really just the same as an expansion box.

one idea that has just popped into my head is this… how about doing a town. like bree. the pack is not a quest, but more of an opportunity for us to go and visit this town and find new items and characters, which we could then use on our subsequent quests (a bit like treasures). and these items are only ever available in this town. once you lose them on subsequent quests the only way you can get them back is to revisit the town. the pack would basically just be this town, and we would go around it, into the different locations and buildings, finding people and doing little tasks and quests to win items. we could even hire new allies in this town too. so allies can become treasures as well.

you could use it as an opportunity to buff up your characters and heal them, in between doing quests in nightmare mode.

Cunir said:

thats a really interesting idea there- it all depends i guess on whether ffg want to go down the rpg road….which i think going to towns to purchase equipment, supplies etc is. personally ive always loved rpgs, probably due to my imagination, as i can really get immersed in the game.

i think theres alot they could with this game, the town one depends on whether treasure-type cards become a more standard part of the game, which i am hoping it will….though im not sure how this will happen outside of nightmare play

rich

Ranger of the Force said:

I'm with you here. Having just started, I've had to commit (for my own sanity and for that of my wallet) to only buying one AP a month, even though I'm so far behind.

Big boxes might be just the thing, though it would seemingly lump LOTR in with other, "non-living" card games like Dominion.

shipwreck said:

i still hold with other's opinions on this thread that say less than at least bi-monthly would slow the game down and halt progress and sales. it may be ok for myself who only collects this game, but for the vast majority of cases gamers play other lcgs or card games, and will likely loose interest if packs dont come out often enough and given how much im into this game, id certainly find it frustrating getting all the cards at once in a big box, instead of nicely drawn out, givin us all something to look forward to each month

rich