EDR Planned Products?

[Nahor]

[Slimcreeper]

I sure fell into the bad timing issue. Just started a new game with a EDr book that I waited and waited and finally bought.

[Mataxes]

It was inevitable that there were people who were going to buy the Revised Player's Guide and learn about the new edition like, five minutes later. Sorry you were in that group.

I wanted to make the announcement sooner rather than later for a couple reasons -- one, it frees me up to talk about the changes. I'm excited to be working on this, and I hope that the fans end up excited as well.

Two, while announcing a new edition is going to hurt sales of remaining print stock of ED3 and EDRev, I want to put the long running questions about the Revised line to bed. The Player's Guide was released August 2012 -- over a year ago. The Revised edition of Mists of Betrayal was February of 2013 -- another reprint (it's like the third or fourth version of that adventure at this point?). The GM's Guide has not seen print, and was not ready to go. I'm not going to get into the reasons why it wasn't ready.

So, for a number of reasons, it made sense to go with a new Edition. It was not an easy choice, and I can understand the appearance of a naked cash grab. That is not my intention with the line at all. I am not looking to reprint books that have seen two (or more) versions already. Down the line we may revisit areas that did not get covered under Third Edition, but only if it is worth revisiting (Vivane and Parlainth are the two that come to mind).

A lot of good will has been squandered over the past few years, and it will take a lot of work to make up for it. There is also a lot of inertia to overcome. I will try to be as open and honest as I can.

The next several weeks will see previews and discussion about why certain changes are being looked at, both from a setting and system standpoint. It might not end up as everybody's mug of hurlg, but that's okay. I just ask that you give me a chance.

[Rajaat99]

No, I gave FASA a chance to get my business once again. and you guys screwed me. I'm done with FASA.

[etherial]

[zayven]

As someone that has been complaining pretty loudly about the recycled products for quite some time, I'm beyond happy to hear about the new edition. Having said that, it REALLY sucks for people that bought the EDR Players Guide and will never have the matching GM guide that they've been waiting and asking for. And it's rough from the FASA end because they've spent the last year and a half or so talking about the Revised Edition and asking people to be patient and put their trust in them only to have to course correct at the last second.

Having watched the way things have been developing since FASA Games came together in the wake of Redbrick, this news seems somewhat inevitable in retrospect. The decision to publish EDR always felt like a short term solution to a bad situation. Unless I'm mistaken, there was some publication rights issue with ED3 that prevented FASA from simply taking over as the publisher for that edition (does Mongoose get a percentage of ED3 pdf sales?), so the only way to get the game back in print was to do another edition. Unfortunately, I don't think things were settled enough to get a 4th edition off the ground right away, so EDR became the stop-gap solution.

Things seem to be getting underway again now that Josh has taken over, but he's stepping into a difficult situation. As much as I feel for people that bought EDR, the fact remains that Revised Edition wasn't going to go anywhere and needed to be put down for the long term good of the game. I like what I'm hearing about the future after two years of treading water, but I hope the new vision doesn't prove too ambitious for FASA Games to handle in its present incarnation.

[zayven]

Actually, my biggest fear about ED is that it will end up suffering the same fate as first edition.

I can't prove that this was the case, but it always seemed that ED was removed from the Fasa Corp's lineup to make room for miniature games that ultimately tanked. By rolling out VOR and Crucible at the same time (or within a year or two of each other), Fasa seemed bound and determined to break into the wargaming market and go toe to toe with Games Workshop. Obviously, this didn't work out. I don't have a shred of evidence of this beyond the timetable, but at the time it sure felt like Fasa shut down because VOR, Crucible, and Crimson Skies didn't hit the numbers they needed to hit to be sustainable properties.

Why do I bring this up? Because 1879 and Demonworld are miniatures games (and maybe Earthfell, too; we don't know anything about that one yet). Unlike rpgs, miniatures games have significant up-front costs and thus have a totally different sales model. When they fail (and, if we're being honest, most of them do), they tend to fail big. I worry that if either of these games underperform significantly, they'll take FASA Games down with them and leave ED in limbo again.

Oh, and just for the record, I'm not holding this against VOR, Crucible, or Crimson Skies. I liked all of those games quite a bit (especially Crimson Skies, which was like Battletech on speed), but I've always held them partially responsible for the cancellation of Earthdawn and the demise of Fasa Corp.

[Mogre]

I would suggest a Play Test type model, similar to what Paizo uses. Paizo has been massively successful selling us a product that somebody else created, only dressed up. I'm not trying to be mean here, just honest (I have several Pathfinder books, for the record). Nothing wrong with looking toward a successful company and try to emulate a few parts. I think a play test would be a good idea.

Note: I'm not a marketing guy, I'm sure you guys have professionals for that. Just tossing out what I see. I love Earthdawn and want to see it succeed.

[Slimcreeper]

It always tickles me when gamers think their companies are in it for the naked cash grabs. Why do we aways think of you guys as naked?

[Darth Quiris]