"Future of Star Wars Minis and RPG?" Topic

What I don't get is that Wizards has chosen not to renew their Star Wars license, ending the RPG and figures. But Hasbro has just extended theirs until 2018. IIRC Lucas has a stake in Hasbro and Hasbro owns Wizards of the Coast. Right? So is this just a ploy to drop the underperforming SW RPG and miniatures lines? Any word on the RPG and minis?

I think they are doing one more set, and then they can't release any more new stuff after the end of may, and can't sell anymore stuff at the end of August. Yeah, if the line dosn't make them much money anymore, then it gets dropped. It sucks but I can understand it…with all the action figures that are sold, and all the merchandise, in the grand scheme of Star Wars revenues they probably won't miss any revenue from the Miniatures line. I look at it this way…most of the Star Wars toy commercials I see are for the Star Wars lightsabers which must mean the rest of the line does fine…it dosn't need adverts. The weekly show is all the advertising the Clone Wars needs. Wish Republic Heroes was a better game though…

I thought they had kind of played out every possible angle with the RPG and minis. There are tons of books and minis. I'm not surprised they dropped it.

Like most big name licenses, I fully expect the SW RPG to go dormant for an indefinite amount of time. What's going on with the Lord of the Rings RPG? Or the Star Trek RPG (Prime Directive is out, but that doesn't cover the full breadth of the setting). I am firmly convinced that the RPG hobby is best served by smaller publishers, rather than the giants. Unfortunately for a big name license like SW the smaller publishers can't afford it… :(

Damon.

Running out of material? Considering the success of the Clone War and the new characters they have added, there is huge buzz for the "New Republic MMORPG" due at the end of the year, there is that live action series coming too, I really don't see lack of material or too much material really being a problem.

Lack of support from WOTC, yea, they have cut the SW staff from what I understand and the line has been running in neutral ever since. Since the cutbacks especially, there has been a lack of quality in there collectable miniatures line, yea, they are pretty bad and very inconsistent in the sculpting, let alone the manufacturing.

Note that Star Wars action figure sales are not part of the WOTC deal, and oddly enough, new Star Wars action figures shown at ToyFair came with cards of statistics for a simplified skirmish game.

Honestly, I am pretty sure the WOTC decision was more based on the very high license fee for Star Wars products. Hasbro's Boys Toys division can more readily absorb such fees, but WOTC or even the mainline Hasbro games division probably have a smaller margin that would suffer from that license cost. A poor-selling action figure is still going to sell 10x to 100x more units than a popular RPG sourcebook

"Note that Star Wars action figure sales are not part of the WOTC deal, and oddly enough, new Star Wars action figures shown at ToyFair came with cards of statistics for a simplified skirmish game."

hmmm yeah that does make sense. The action figure lines have always dominated SW toys. The micro collection line in 82 and the more recent unleashed battlepacks were the poor cousins to the 3 3/4 beast. So a good move for hasbro would be to make a more complex gaming system for action figures…not clicky like attacktix but card based?

"I really don't see lack of material or too much material really being a problem."

It's the law of diminishing returns at work.

Sure they can make new characters, but all the iconic ones have already been made. Most many times. They are what sell the boxes.

I have many hundreds of the WotC line, but I've got all the iconic figures I need now. Some new character in the comic isn't going to do it for me.

Any info on what the WotC final release will include?

Jake

Well, for the minis, they quality just kinda…well…sucked (for lack of a better word…)lately. IMO, for the last few years (but then again, so does the D&D figs too)…

I just recently got into the game, and its fun, but some of those figs… YEECH!

Now the RPG (other than the Droid book and the Legacy book) those were really well done.

CPT Jake, the last minis set, Masters of the Force, released on Tuesday. The set can be found at link . There are a few that I'm looking to pick up, Voolvif Monn and some of the generic Jedi, for certain. Not really happy about the Dejarik pieces, but it is an interesting idea. If the series were continuing, it wouldn't bother me at all.

I would happily wargame Star Wars in a second. I looked at the CMG and it just turned me off, I'd really like a real miniatures wargame in the setting and one that is limited to what we've seen on screen and not the wider canon. But them I'm a purist more about SW that I ever will be about WW2!

I just think that the mini and the RPG just ran its course as all games must. I consider the set of RPG pretty much complete. There is plenty of material there to feed a moderately creative GM for years and years.

Likewise, the miniatures. Plainly said, there's plenty for any imagininable scenario for the minis game and certainly enough for supporting the RPG. I think they probably could have done more, but whether they could it have done it profitably is not probable.

BTW, I don't think that there is any "ploy" here. The game ran its course and they are done with it. I have all the books and the last one is preordered already. I have tons of miniatures too. I am not, at all, unhappy with WotC.

Xrayvision, I would believe that if it wasn't for the fact that WotC has not been a good custodian of the RPG while it had it. It relaunched the game three times in total, with dry spells of variable length in between. The latest version has been very, very good, and there's lots of material out there, there's also plenty of scope for future releases too.

IMHO, I think the game as a testbed for 4e rules is no longer necessary, and because (I have heard) the minis license and the game license were together, once the minis game stops being profitable, there is no reason from WotC's perspective to keep publishing and possibly diluting their customer base…

Damon.

"I would happily wargame Star Wars in a second. I looked at the CMG and it just turned me off, I'd really like a real miniatures wargame in the setting and one that is limited to what we've seen on screen and not the wider canon."

You could try the West End Star Wars Miniatures rules. I got a set on Amazon pretty cheap.

Mad Dog, thanks for the heads up. I'll have to check those out.

Jake

I have tons and tons of the minis. Certainly enough to play any skirmish rules. Just because the minis were made for the SW CMG, doesn't mean you can't use them for Chain Reaction. As far as the RPG goes, even if you don't like the RPG mechanics, there is plenty of material there that can be readily adapted to a more dynamic game like Savage Worlds.

The West End minis rules are great…i've had them since they came out and fleshed out my collection with the supplements from ebay…..i use my WotC figs for my own version of the Clone Wars using Rogue Trader-era 40K. My kids have a great time charging round as Jedi hacking battledroids and capturing General Grievous…..

I'm just happy they finally released a Toydarian mini in the new set as a common, my group can finally stop using a Haqqislam jumptrooper for his RPG character…