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Layoffs in FFG RPG department
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 7:17 am    Post subject: Layoffs in FFG RPG department Reply with quote

Apparently FFG laid off its entire RPG department. There's currently a lot of speculation about what this means for the Star Wars RPG. This has had Twitter's attention for a few days.

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2020/01/rpg-fantasy-flight-interactive-shuttered-rpg-rumors-swell-as-layoffs-hit-ffg.html
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OuttaWindu
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 11:34 am    Post subject: Re: Layoffs in FFG RPG department Reply with quote

cheshire wrote:
Apparently FFG laid off its entire RPG department. There's currently a lot of speculation about what this means for the Star Wars RPG. This has had Twitter's attention for a few days.

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2020/01/rpg-fantasy-flight-interactive-shuttered-rpg-rumors-swell-as-layoffs-hit-ffg.html

Twitter attention? I'm pretty sure I've seen talks about this on every RPG forum I've happened to read, as well as on Facebook, Reddit & the original LinkedIn post.

Still, thanks for sharing, this is the first article I've seen on the subject, even if it didn't bring up any more info on the subject.
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Stan Shinn
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Although this doesn't mean the RPG business is shutting down. Many reports are saying they are going to focus on freelancers for most of the RPG work, which is what Wizards of the Coast (D&D) has done for years. So I'd guess it is restructuring on the RPG side, not turning off the lights.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, that's one of the things I've been wondering about since I saw the announcement. The layoff doesn't mean shutting down the line. Though there does need to be someone at the helm guiding the projects. I would be interested to see what their plans are for the line.
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Potroclo
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

FFG Interactive has shut down. RPG shutting down is just a rumor as of now.
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Stan Shinn
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

News update on the FFG Star Wars line. The RPG line is NOT shutting down. The Interactive side in the only division shutting down. There were RPG layoffs but reports are that this is a move to use more contractors and fewer in-house staff (Wizards has taken this approach for years so not a bad thing from a company health perspective). See today's news here:

https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/44911/fantasy-flight-games-layoffs-rpg-lines-continue
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's good news. And it's a model that WotC had used. Heck, even WEG had relied pretty heavily on freelancers to get the products out the door. So, it's unfortunate that the in-house game designers are now looking for work, though fortunate that the SWRPG is going to continue.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2020 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cheshire wrote:
That's good news. And it's a model that WotC had used. Heck, even WEG had relied pretty heavily on freelancers to get the products out the door. So, it's unfortunate that the in-house game designers are now looking for work, though fortunate that the SWRPG is going to continue.

It's great news. I harbor no ill will towards FFG, and I wish nothing but the best to all of those looking for a new job. However it is still unfortunate that FFG's SW RPG has less nuance than both of its predecessors while being the crunchiest SW RPG. Oppressively crunchy. Crunch for the sake of crunch alone. With gimmicky dice. But hey at least the art is good.
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TauntaunScout
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am not a fan of FFG's rules honestly. I put up with it in SW: Legion and Imperial Assault because it's a great value on SW minis. But those are the only FFG I've ever bought, though I've tried several. I don't like the whole vibe of them.

Honestly it's better to announce it like this than just mysteriously stop supporting it and leaving everyone in suspense.
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cheshire
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whill wrote:

It's great news. I harbor no ill will towards FFG, and I wish nothing but the best to all of those looking for a new job. However it is still unfortunate that FFG's SW RPG has less nuance than both of its predecessors while being the crunchiest SW RPG. Oppressively crunchy. Crunch for the sake of crunch alone. With gimmicky dice. But hey at least the art is good.


I hear it's great in play. I've listened to several actual play podcasts. And there is some GREAT stuff there. But yea, that crunch. It's like the parts of Captain Crunch that scrape up the roof of your mouth and then crunchier.

I just couldn't read those rulebooks.

Now, if the actual game was more like their beginner games? that would be grand. I played the first beginner game and loved running it.
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Whill
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I have played FFG SW for one adventure and didn't care for it. I also ran it for another adventure and didn't care for that either. Glad you had a better experience!
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Stan Shinn
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have run FFG's Edge of the Empire demo games several times. I loved the starter set. I bought over $300 of their books. As I dug into the rules to prep for a campaign I ran into a few big issues:

Rules Inconsistencies

This article sums it up well: https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/37670/roleplaying-games/review-star-wars-force-and-destiny

The starter set is simple and relatively clean, but as you dig into the core rules, there are inconsistent sub-systems all over the place. Ugh.

Color Dependencies

I'm red-green color blind (8% of males have some form of color blindness). Although I can pick out the dice at the table easily enough (due to the symbols on the dice), in the books, the stats use color icons to represent the dice that lack the symbols. It is VERY difficult for a color-blind GM to pick out these symbols and relate them to their proper die type.

Price Points

They have gorgeous books, but they have a lot of books, different ones per each era. It gets expensive very quickly. Plus having to purchase odd dice.

I really wanted to love the FFG Star Wars system, but in the end I abandoned it and turned to d6 as my Star Wars game system of choice.
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RyanDarkstar
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm with TauntaunScout, FFG's miniatures are awesome. I've purchased quite a few Imperial Assault miniatures and Armada ships. I haven't bothered learning their rules. They're just tools for running my D6 game.

And Whill is right, the books have great art, which you can find on Google and Wookieepedia -- which is nice. I also like a lot of the fluff and adventures, but I'll never bother running the game as is. WEG will always be my go-to Star Wars system.
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TauntaunScout
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RyanDarkstar wrote:
I'm with TauntaunScout, FFG's miniatures are awesome. I've purchased quite a few Imperial Assault miniatures and Armada ships. I haven't bothered learning their rules. They're just tools for running my D6 game.

And Whill is right, the books have great art, which you can find on Google and Wookieepedia -- which is nice. I also like a lot of the fluff and adventures, but I'll never bother running the game as is. WEG will always be my go-to Star Wars system.


The Imperial Assault core set is pretty much all you need for D6 combat resolution. It's a great value.

The "proprietary dice" are just silly. Just use a 2D10 system or something, geez FFG.

But I have a lot of Legion and IA and actually play them. They're ok. Ish. The great thing is now there's an app to be the GM for Imperial Assault, turning it into a cooperative game with minimum pre-planning.
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Potroclo
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TauntaunScout wrote:
The great thing is now there's an app to be the GM for Imperial Assault, turning it into a cooperative game with minimum pre-planning.


Well that's exactly the FFG department that's been laid off; the one developing apps and the like...

I personally would have done the opposite; keep the interactive department and build a freemium app much like dnd beyond, lay off the RPG department and freelance new content for the RPGs. Especially if the RPG department came up with the idea of proprietary dice and the core ruleset divided in 3 books.
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