Apologies if either of the following have already been answered elsewhere - being away with my unit, I've not been able to keep up-to-date with the forums post-beta.

My first question is this: do we have a release date for the core rulebook yet? I'm more than ready to get mine ordered, but every time I check back on the site it stills says that it's not yet available.

Secondly, I was wondering: how easy do we think it'll be to carry a character from one rulebook to the next? For example, say you make a character for EotE that you really enjoy playing, and then FFG releases AoR - will it be possible for you to carry him over (which would be okay in theory, given that the systems are supposed to be identical or compatible), or would some tweaking be required? How likely is it that your Force-Sensitive Exile will be able to find a teacher and begin gaining access to talents and powers from Force & Destiny?

No release date as yet other than Spring. And yes the theory is that characters from all the core books should be able to work together. They want you to be able to cherry pick the aspects you like the best once they are all released.

Amazon.co.uk lists April 15th (although amazon.com hasn't even got it listed as a preorder last time I checked, but I could be wrong of course) - which fits with a rumoured April release mentioned elsewhere on these boards. Not that this is a definite date in my opinion, still it seems some people think April is likely. I hope so. Although it could be anywhere from April to June I guess.

When it comes to compatability between 3 planned games, I assume and hope for some compatability - they have mentioned that they should be, we'll just have to wait and see I guess

Thanks for the response. Here's hoping it is released quickly.

I ordered the core book, GM's kit and dice from Amazon.co.uk a few days ago. Today I got an e-mail with a revised delivery date of 28th March - 8 April. Woot!

They're available on Amazon, but not from this site? :S

Well, amazon could be just hoping, and lying. We'll know soon enough. I doubt I'm getting my pre-order before mid to end of April, regardless of Amazon's listed and estimated dispatch/delivery dates. Very much due to this site's information, but also because Amazon has been wrong about this before.

Ah that makes sense, though I'm always hopeful for an earlier release.

According to the "Upcoming" section of the FFG site, a product can be "At the Printer" (like SW: EotE is) for a few months.

It then moves to "On the Boat", which can take 4-6 weeks.

It then goes to "Shipping Now", which is 7-10 days for the U.S..

So, once it switches from "At the Printer" to "On the Boat" in the "Upcoming" section of the site, it will be at least 5 weeks.

I hope that helps!

Yeah. That helps, thanks!

You're welcome!

Shakespearian_Soldier said:

When it comes to RPG release dates, never trust what Amazon lists.

Nine times out of 10, they are guessing as to when such products will be available.

salamar_dree said:

Of course, this assumes that they update those figures regularly. They do not. I've seen FFG products on the shelves of the FLGS when they were still listed as at the printer.

Good to know!

Of course, that leaves us back at square one.

Diamond Comics (who own Alliance Games one of the biggest distributors) have it listed as releasing at the end of May…

http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/930?stockItemID=STK529526

and FRP Games has it releasing 4-30-13. So it seems Spring 2013 is all we can rely on right now.

The most recent issue of Game Trade Magazine, #157, has a large feature article on Edge of the Empire. GTM tends to be what retailers use to order product from Alliance Distribution that is too new to be in their yearly cataloge. As such, it has to have pretty solid lead times for ordering so product gets to where it needs to be, when it needs to be there and release dates aren't missed. They can't afford to speculate on release dates like Amazon and a few other sites can because it is much more critical for them to be correct.

I tell you that, to tell you this: GTM #157 says April. So my money goes solidly on April. (Page 5 of this PDF: http://www.gametrademagazine.com/downloads/GTM157Games.pdf )

When in April? Not entirely certain, but Barnes & Noble is saying the 28th. Being a Sunday, that seems a bit odd. It could just be a 'safe' date for now, being so late in the month.

I am expecting an April to the first weekend in May release. This makes sense in my mind due to the Star Wars Game Experience happening on May 4th at FFG. I think they would want it handy by that weekend for added buzz for the event.

I'd expect it to be on the boat for 5-6 weeks, so if it's going to drop in April, it would have to leave the printer within the next week or two.

Not sure when this got posted, but since they're including the EotE game in the announcements of games for their May the 4th celebration weekend, I think it's likely FFG be expecting to deploy it around that time, at least. May be just before or just after for everybody, but the question remains:

When will then be now ?

SOON!

-WJL

Having your big product for a new RPG line come out at the same time you're hosting a major game day would make the most sense from a business perspective. Get folks to try out this hot new game, and have the books on hand to purchase if they like it and/or want to learn more about it.

Between GAMA's citing of "April Release" along with Barnes & Noble citing the 28th as when they'll have the books in stock, I'm thinking that April 30th would be a reasonable expectation of a street date. Altough with the GAMA trade mag, I can't help but wonder how far in advance those are printed, so the April Release may have been based on FFG information at the time, which may or may not still be 100% accurate due to factors outside of FFG's control (such as delays at the printer or from shipping).

At the risk of being accused of being contrarian, the Games Trade pdf says that it's scheduled to ship in April. I'm not sure if that's what you meant by "GAMA".

Based on how the "upcoming" tab on this site defines "Shipping Now", it takes 7-10 days to distribute the product to stores before it's available. So if we're still 5-7 weeks out (4-6 weeks "on the boat" plus another week for distribution), it should be available in late April earliest, and thats if it gets on the boat, like, tomrrow. I think an early May release (lining up with their event) is pretty likely, provided they get the books to the boat quick.

-WJL

LethalDose said:

Sooon.

They could also have some early copies from the printer for the event (like many companies do for events like Gen Con). It could be that you can buy a corebook at this event but still wait for the rest of the shipment to make it to distributers.

Given that I used to run the Holocron podcast for SW:TOR before the game even entered serious beta, I can confirm that release date speculation is indeed 'fun'.

However, unlike the Video Game Industry, the table top game industry (along with the book industry, etc.) can't afford to monkey around with these sorts of things. You either know when you are releasing the book/game/etc or you don't. There isn't really any room for pushing these things back on a moments notice so you tend to be VERY sure when things are due out and meet that deadline. Too many things on the production side have to coordinate with too many thing on the distribution side to even think about missing a deadline. If you aren't sure when all that is going to come together, then you don't put it up for the distribution side of things until you ARE sure.

Typical lead time for solicitation of upcoming products is generally about 3 months, or it was ten years ago when I had my own store. I can see where that might have shortened a bit over the years as the process has refined itself and incorporated new technologies, etc. That three month lead time is all about the distributors figuring out how much product people are going to want, how much they have to have ready to go out the door as soon as it arrives, and how much they will likely need on hand to meet follow up orders. On the retail side of things, pre-orders do much the same thing. How much interest is there and how much will I need to meet it? Most distributors do not randomly say, "Oh we'll take 3000 copies," unless they have good indication that 2,800 of them are going to go out the door on day one. Product just sitting on a shelf costs money when it isn't doing anything. Missing a deadline at this stage, when pre-orders are placed and product is expected, isn't just a minor faux pas, it is likely someone's job going away. The table top game industry operates on thin enough margins as it is without that kind of screw up costing extra money.

If Game Trade, and by extension Alliance, say April, then I think we have to contend with the fact that it WILL be April. Might be early April, might be late April but I feel confident that product will be leaving the warehouse in April on the way to the Local Game Store. Generally speaking, Tuesdays and/or Thursdays are when most FLGS' get product from Alliance. That'd be the Tuesday or Thursday AFTER it is shipped out. So if we assume April 28th is in fact the actual release date, I think, with some confidence, we can expect product in stores no later than May 2nd. Just in time for the big event.

Donovan Morningfire said:

I've never seen them get one right for an RPG product that wasn't from WOTC.

Part of that is the issues of getting things into distribution for the whole RPG industry.

Part of that is Amazon making **** up when not given information as specific as they want.