Traveller gets a free run
- Thread starter Poi
- Start date
Poi said:
This had better be a joke....
EDIT: Sadly it isn't
News article.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
I guess at least it's good that they close them down after the 40K RPG is released...
weasel_fierce
Mongoose
Drop by the black industries website, its the top of their announcements.
Both Dark Heresy and WFRP are effectively dead.
Both Dark Heresy and WFRP are effectively dead.
weasel_fierce
Mongoose
they did, but GW was extremely slow in granting permission for any books. The original Realms of sorcery book waited for years before GW gave their goahead. They traditionally rarely license anything out
TrippyHippy
Emperor Mongoose
That's got to be one of the more bizzare decisions we've seen in the rpg business for a while. A sell out only a couple of days before - then dumped! :shock:
Oh well, I guess it does clear the decks for Traveller then. Unless we get another shock announcement!
Oh well, I guess it does clear the decks for Traveller then. Unless we get another shock announcement!
tbeard1999
Mongoose
TrippyHippy said:
Seems highly unlikley to me that Traveller and Dark Heresy were ever in the same competitive space...
TrippyHippy
Emperor Mongoose
Not on the D&D/WoD 'Feeder into rpg hobby' level, no.
But on the level of an alternative sci-fi game for established rpgers, yes.
The vacuum created by 40Ks (continued) absence in the rpg marketplace, will probably have fans filtering into the various alternatives, including Traveller.
I'm half expecting that White Wolf will release their EVE game, and then drop out of the pen-and-paper market too, now! :roll:
But on the level of an alternative sci-fi game for established rpgers, yes.
The vacuum created by 40Ks (continued) absence in the rpg marketplace, will probably have fans filtering into the various alternatives, including Traveller.
I'm half expecting that White Wolf will release their EVE game, and then drop out of the pen-and-paper market too, now! :roll:
GW seems to have some odd business practises – the best example being their non-core games which appear and are supported only briefly. It seems a very odd way to run a business.
I will not mourn it. I dreaded our local GW fan boy buying it and making us play it for he is the worst GM ever to touch a die. On the other hand it did appear rather more playable than I first feared. You could do something with the Inquisition background though it might easily become repetitive. As to the now stillborn space marine book that did seem to have even more limited potential, the best campaign background I could think of for it was vaguely A-teamish; one cannot control what one comes up with ideas for. What can you do with steroid (and worse) pumped Übermensch? They can hardly go undercover!
I fear also they would appeal to the very basest instincts of some players, the sort of wargmers who like to field Waffen SS units. Speaking of whom, I always suspected the Empire was modelled on Nazi Germany with the human Imperial Guard as the Heer and the Space Marines as the SS. Ignoring the ideology and atrocities this is in some ways a productive model capturing the edgy nature of the relationship between the two organisations with the constant terrifying presence of the Gestapo/Inquisition in the background.
I will not mourn it. I dreaded our local GW fan boy buying it and making us play it for he is the worst GM ever to touch a die. On the other hand it did appear rather more playable than I first feared. You could do something with the Inquisition background though it might easily become repetitive. As to the now stillborn space marine book that did seem to have even more limited potential, the best campaign background I could think of for it was vaguely A-teamish; one cannot control what one comes up with ideas for. What can you do with steroid (and worse) pumped Übermensch? They can hardly go undercover!
I fear also they would appeal to the very basest instincts of some players, the sort of wargmers who like to field Waffen SS units. Speaking of whom, I always suspected the Empire was modelled on Nazi Germany with the human Imperial Guard as the Heer and the Space Marines as the SS. Ignoring the ideology and atrocities this is in some ways a productive model capturing the edgy nature of the relationship between the two organisations with the constant terrifying presence of the Gestapo/Inquisition in the background.
. I have been wanting to do an EVE pen and paper RPG for a loooong time.TrippyHippy
Emperor Mongoose
On the face of it they appear strange decisions, but we don't have the full data that is available to the executives do we?
From the point of view of a fan, I'm dissappointed, but I never felt that GW were in the rpg business for the profit margin anyway. It was more a way of promoting their brands through different media. Most games, as I have been informed by somebody who works in GW, only have a shelflife of about 3 years. If you consider that WFRP 2nd edition has been out since 2005 it kinda rings true. It appears that BI were going to do a similar 3-year plan with 40K, but something seems to have forced a strategic rethink from GW on this.
I think the decision smacks of the news of an impending recession in the UK - and the execs may be looking to consolidate their lines somewhat.
To be sure, the issue isn't whether the rpgs were profitable, it's whether they are as profitible as other potential investments (like novels). My feeling is that the costs of setting up an expensive rpg like Dark Heresy is significantly more than that of a new novel (or even several novels). Novels also don't suffer from a marketing limitation in the same way that rpgs do, where the learning curve and usual fanbase concerns about 'system preference' and so on, aren't a factor of selection.
I don't like the decision, but I suspect the businessmen are doing what is correct for their own interests (as usual). In terms of simply making money, the business execs are almost always proved correct.
From the point of view of a fan, I'm dissappointed, but I never felt that GW were in the rpg business for the profit margin anyway. It was more a way of promoting their brands through different media. Most games, as I have been informed by somebody who works in GW, only have a shelflife of about 3 years. If you consider that WFRP 2nd edition has been out since 2005 it kinda rings true. It appears that BI were going to do a similar 3-year plan with 40K, but something seems to have forced a strategic rethink from GW on this.
I think the decision smacks of the news of an impending recession in the UK - and the execs may be looking to consolidate their lines somewhat.
To be sure, the issue isn't whether the rpgs were profitable, it's whether they are as profitible as other potential investments (like novels). My feeling is that the costs of setting up an expensive rpg like Dark Heresy is significantly more than that of a new novel (or even several novels). Novels also don't suffer from a marketing limitation in the same way that rpgs do, where the learning curve and usual fanbase concerns about 'system preference' and so on, aren't a factor of selection.
I don't like the decision, but I suspect the businessmen are doing what is correct for their own interests (as usual). In terms of simply making money, the business execs are almost always proved correct.
