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FASA Dies
To0n writes: "Thought all you Mechwarrior fans would like to know. FASA, after 20 years of being in the role playing game business, has decided to close up shop. Instead of just stopping all the lines, FASA has decided to hand over the reigns to WizKids LLC and Ral Partha Enterprises. Offical press release is here. Sad to see them go, especially after the launch of two new systems, VOR and Crimson Skies."
According to the press release, the whole corporation is part of the deal.
I loved battletech. My brother and I used to play. We'd spend hours filling out mech sheets, then line all our mechs up on a huge hex sheet and go at it. It was hours of fun for the whole family. And such a balanced game too. Until they released all the clan stuff. Then it seemed the game was targetted to an audience that a certain battletech website called "munchies" But what I really hated about all the clan stuff was that it seemed to take the strategy out of the game. Clan "rules of warfare" dictated that all combat was one-on-one. IMO, this makes game play *much* less interesting. One way to avoid this would be to have a inner sphere vs. clan battle. Good luck. Clan 'mechs and equipment are much superior. Whoever played the inner sphere would have to be a tactical genius to win.
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
Im really bummed.. Ive seen some articles on /. that have gotten to me, but this one... WOW! Ive been an avid BattleTech player for 8 years, I hope the companies who have it now will continue developement. IF NOT, lets get an online communtiy together around this and the other great FASA games to facillate online-by-player-developement to extend FASA games into the future.
"The chief enemy of creativity is 'good taste'" -Pablo Picasso
It's been a while, but my recollection is that Jordan Weisman founded FASA with another gamer. Around the time that they got the Star Trek license, Jordan brought in his father, Morton, who was a semi-retired(?) executive, to bring some business knowledge to the company. Now, FASA's valuable properties are being transferred out to a company founded by Jordan. Sure looks like a transfer of assets to get out from under something, or a restructuring, not a real company failure.
Er, FASA used art from the Macross (and Dougram and Southern Cross), but it was certainly not "Macross in America." Battletech has a distinctly different flavor from Macross. In addition, there was apparently some confusion over who owned licenses to what a couple of years ago and FASA lost the rights to the artwork entirely. Nowadays you see people ripping off FASA instead (remember that "exo-armor" in Exo Squad that was a Battletech Madcat?).
I read the internet for the articles.
That's not true. The entire reason that TSR failed in the first place can be pinned down to that exact reason. An increasinlgy large amount of low quality products was not enough for them to survive. WotC taking an attitude that leads to them cutting back quality for immediate financial gain seems to just be setting them on the same road as TSR. They started off so very well with 3rd Edition DnD, but now they have started making cutbacks because of lowered income from other licenses. This may not have the immediate effect of lowering their financial and publication holdings, but it will follow if it means that quality suffers because of it. That's why I don't think it can be in any way construed as a good thing. It may not be too bad, but it is certainly far from good.
I've been reading these books since they came out and used to chat with Mike on GEnie, back in the good old days when there were some brains still at FASA. Some of those brains, also, hung out on GEnie. Somewhere I still have archives of thos messages. Good nostalgia there... I even collected overseas copies of the books so he could read the edit differences. Got a very cool autograph, too. Mike's a great guy and I hope they do pull BattleTech back together and bring Mike and some of the othe great writers back to do the fiction. The books were my intro to BattleTech.
I'm perplexed at the selling of FASA Interactive to Microsoft (guess what's going to be on the X-Box, go on, guess!) This should have infused them with significant cash, unless they did a SubLogic and cut their own throats.
I keep hoping Ralph Reed's old BattleMech will resurface. That was the best game, ever!
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It's interesting to note, though, that FASA only mentioned two of their product lines by name - Shadowrun and Battletech. To be sure, those are their most profitable products, but there's a lot of smaller market, but still very good, product lines that are being left in limbo...
Martin Blank dun said:
Pretty much thanks to Gygax, came very close to being sued into oblivion, eventually going out of business (pretty much after the whole Gygax fiasco they ended up folding).
AFAIK, there's only one or two properties of the former GDW even around--the creators of Dark Conspiracy ended up buying the rights back and as of late is being published by Dynasty Presentations (and in fact is about to go into Dark Conspiracy v2.5), and if memory serves there's still a company selling supplements for Traveller. (In direct relation to FASA going out of business--it appears the exact same thing is happening with Shadowrun and which ended up happening with Earthdawn--pretty much gamers and creators buying the rights, and keeping the game going.)
Of course, it's also slightly ironic that TSR itself ended up nearly going bankrupt, got bought out by WotC, and promptly went from being the sue-happiest RPG manufacturer on the planet (I remember when TSR would file cease-and-desists on folks for posting their own campaigns with their own created worlds, gods, etc.) to not only open-sourcing the game system but having supplements for a game using D&D rules published by White Wolf (!!!), of all companies. :)
-Windigo The Feral (NYAR!)
FASA the gaming company, which is separate from FASA Interactive, was sold to WizKids LLC. FASA Interactive was sold a while ago to Microsoft.
how sudden, given that fasa's just been releasing new mechs. Hopefully the new company will continue the line of excellence.
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You have to agree that the introduction of the clans destroyed a brilliant balance. Before the clans, there was no perfect 'mech for any given task. A limited number of 'mechs, with only a few variants each. No 'mech was optimally configured. The inner sphere had basically lost the technology necessary to build 'mechs. A 'mech was more valuable than the life of it's pilot. IMO, this was much more interesting to play than after the clans arrived.
Introduce the clans. The clans can build 'mechs. Then the inner sphere learns how to as well. The clans have highly configurable 'mechs. When you see a certain kind of 'mech, you have no clue what is on it. All you know is the weight. It could be configured for speed. Could be configured for close combat. You don't know.
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
I'm in a similar situation. I've got plenty of things to keep me busy, so if I'm going to play a game, it's got to be perfect. Not the game itself, the rules, or anything like that. The trick is to actually find folks that I want to game with. If the chemistry isn't right, you might as well forget about it.
As a kid, games were a focal point for me and other like-minded folks to get together and do stuff that we like. Now that I've aged a little, other things provide that focus. Still, if I could get that same vibe that my old gang had going again, you bet I'd be spending time playing pen-and-paper RPGs.
Pretty much thanks to Gygax, came very close to being sued into oblivion, eventually going out of business (pretty much after the whole Gygax fiasco they ended up folding). Nope. If you have to pick a single reason they went out of business, it's because they tried to get into the mass market, selling books to bookstores. They produced a Gulf War sourcebook, printed huge quantities of it in response to mass distributor orders, and then took a bath when the war ended faster than expected and most of those copies came back remaindered. The Gygax thing was a minor annoyance for GDW compared to the discovery that, when you sell books to the mass market, they can come back.
AFAIK, the WotC cuts were NOT a result of sliding sales of anything they made -- anything they lost in Magic sales was easilly recouped by the smash hit that was D&D 3rd edition.
The cuts were an across the board thing that happened as a result of an overproduction of action figures on Hasbro's part (don't remember which line but I'm sure the people who follow that end of things know).
I always kind of dug Shadowrun's magic and technology mix. Then again, I like both Fantasy and hard sci-fi games, so for me, blurring the distinction was a nice excercise in creativity.
Shadowrun's setting gives you the same kind of possibilities that a movie like Highlander did. When the gun-crazed Marine unloads his Uzi into the Kurgan in the middle of an alley, and it has no effect on the guy - that's a vibe that you'd love to recreate in a game.
Hell, the one of the most frequently used quotes in sci-fi, paraphrased, is something like "Technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishasble from magic." (Asimov?) If you're looking for realism in your game, SR may not be the way to go. But blending the two genres makes a whole lot of sense if you're looking for a way to spice up a cyber-game.
As another Dinosaur (I started with the REAL original 3 little D&D books in app 1976) i have to take issue woith your ending.
There is nothing in the computer are ayet that coems anywhere close to the richness of experience and imaginationwe had playing pen and paper games. Frankly, i have yet to even see a game that can be called a Roleplay game on a comouter. Roleplay requires the interraction of personalities and computers have none.
Don't get me wrong, i enjoy Sims and adventure games (of which CRPGS are really just a resource-management oriented variant) but they aren't RPGs as we know them.
Bioware right now is trying to crteate a real on0line toold for playing true RPGs (D&D specific). We'll see how well it works.
Hero was also bought by Cybergames.
The FASA StarTrek:The RPG is most noteable for ist ship combat system, which was awesome and the only role-play oriented ship combat system I've v\ever seen or played.
Although I own a number of FASA products, I have never been a big fan of FASA. I play them primarily because other people play them. I have yet to see a FASA product that was truly well thought out with balanced game play. Although big robots are fascinating, they (FASA) weren't the first to come out with the idea. Others before them have done a better job in creating a universe populated with robots and their pilots. In fact, most of the older mech designs were mostly taken from Robotech. Much of the rest were pieces of robots taken from various anime that they put together and called their own. And to add insult to injury, they created a universe where the nations of various non-European cultures such as, the Japanese, the Chinese and the Arabs were the bad guys while the white guys of various origins were the good guys. How prejudiced is that? I can only wonder what the makers of Robotech must have felt when they learned of this game called Battletech.
"Only Real Men Have FABs." -W. J. Sanders III
Yes, Traveller is still around ... its creator,
Marc Miller, still owns the rights to it and
is reprinting the original game books, plus all the
supplements, adventures, alien modules etc, in
single volumes (eg all the rules booklets in
one book). Great for a nostalgic Traveller player
like me who never gets to play it anymore! (Nice,
uncluttered system; but it's the richly detailed backdrop which is compelling ...)
The website is at Far Future Enterprises.
There was a short-lived attempt by a company called Imperium Games to release a 4th edition, back to basics Traveller, but it folded after a couple of books and supplements.
--
The real Captain Avatar is a fictional character, so I suppose he doesn't mind if I impersonate him.
Let me explain. Early on they had Star Trek, Battletech, and Renegade Legion. Then they wanted to add Shadowrun into the mix - and they dropped Star Trek. When they wanted to add Earthdawn, they dropped Renegade Legion. When they wanted Crimson Skies, they dropped Earthdawn. This worked fine until they also wanted Vor and Crucible...
(To be clear, I'm *really* going to miss FASA. It was a good company with a fun name. Sure, they'd gone downhill in recent years, but I was willing to forgive them if they'd just start publishing things again...)
Doing? It's out. Can't remember how many months ago, but it just about knocked me flat on my ass to see "GURPS Traveller" on the shelf. Partly because it'd been so long since I saw anything to do with Traveller, but mostly because Traveller's unchanging, take-four-years-off-to-get-a-new-skill characters are so diametrically opposed to the constantly-evolving characters in GURPS.
You might want to refrain from making racist statements as part of your post.
It isn't "J*p Anime" any more than Barbara Streisand is a "k*** singer" or Ray Carruth is "that n***** football player."
Some decorum, please.
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
Shadowrun is the best RPG of all time. I eventually stopped playing because my friends did, but I had a troll street samurai that had been on many, many runs and which I was this close to retiring anyway because of all the fudging the game master was having to do on the bad guys' stats and rolls just to make them a challenge. Mostly what I liked about it though is the amount of well thought-out background information. The sourcebooks themselves were as fun to read as any novels.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
see the grey bar at the bottom of the post that has all those pull down menus, that one check box and the buttons that say "change" and "reply"? click reply. :)
You think you're so rich...But there's one thing you can't buy....A dinosaur
Myself and a group of friends did a huge amount of work for Flying Buffalo on a Blade supplement (I think it was the last City Map book) and most of us haven't seen a dime and that was probably over three years ago. The editor paid out of her pocket for the color seperations and I don't think she was ever repaid for that.
The only ones who have been paid, AFAIK, are the ones who worked at Buffalo and thus were in a position to bitch repeatedly until paid, or those whom the owner thought he might be able to get more product out of (fat chance!).
--
When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
A year or three ago, Last Unicorn Games acquired a license for new Star Trek RPGs. Strangely enough, just a week after GenCon in Wisconson, they were bought up in turn by Wizards of the Coast, the ever growing owners of AD&D.
It's available at http://www.dumpshock.com/FASA-FAQ.html.
(Yes, I'm one of the webmasters at Dumpshock.)
Ok, so WhizKids will now have the Battletech system.
A question that's been knocking through my mind is,
How hard does WhizKids protect it's IP?
Are fan sites going to have to worry about being shut down,
or are will it be business as it has been (fans a bart of the process).
The Freedonian Air & Space Administration
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
First don't get me wrong I think battletech is a great game, however like most things (Magic) it has grown too large for its britches. When I started playing BTech it was with first edition in I think the late 80's. I now have a collection of over 800 miniatures. Those who play it found recently, the last year or so, that the game desiners started ignoring all the fluff they put out about the history and such. The bad guys, the head of the Clans (Wolf) deciced to up and join their moral enemies. Akin to Isreal deciding that they should firght with Jordan against the United States. This was too much for us old timers (21yrs old). Modern production was accelerated in the last year, probably in a last attempt to same the company, however the new rules are far too complicated and start to prevent battles with large numbers of mechs (72 per side) from taking under an entire weekend. People complained about 3rd edition Warhammer yet they play it. Those who I know, decided that BTech was dead and called the universe to an end at 3058/3059. The sales at our local hobby shop, who had previously kept all FASA stock on the shelves dried up. FACA whithout BTech is not right, VOR was good but couldn't compete with WH40K. New BTech designs were stupid, unable to compete with a well played older unit and failed to look as good. (A more rounded feel) Old players who have hundreds of miniatures will still play and will not be affected at all. To us Battletech died over a year ago. Still it is sad that we may now have troubles getting new players and the new owners will want the game to take on their feel. A sad day, but we all knew it was comming.
Why did he get modded down to zero? He had the right answer..
Douglas Adams
1952-2001 :(
For those looking for Whiz Kids, you can find them at http://www.mageknight.com.
The WK press release can be found at: http://www.mageknight.com/company_landing.htm?sid= 89&cid=4501
While it sucks that an old friend like FASA is going the way of the dodo, it's actually a Good Thing [TM] for the BattleTech and Shadowrun product lines. Additionally, it's a good thing for Ral Partha. As WK is FAR better funded than FASA "EVER" was.
FASA is going to settle out all their debts, finish up and publish their last project or two (including the much awaited Periphery Field Manual), and that's it. The novel contracts will stay with ROC until the end of the current BTech story arc. After which time, WK will probably begin shopping the line around to other publishing houses. Especially since ROC didn't exactly treat FASA very well.
Unofficially (so far), Mike Stackpole is being brought back into the fold here. So fans of his BattleTech series of books may see him actually finish out his post Clan Invasion story arc.
As to what form BattleTech and SR might take when they re-emerge under the WK imprimature, we don't have any clue right now. From a hardcore gamefan's POV, the best thing they could do is not really change the game, and simply make the supplements for the game better.
From a businessman's POV, BT's fanbase has been gradually shrinking over the last several years (though those who remain are usually VERY hardcore). This presents a barrier of sorts to the entry of new players. WK may (or may not) convert portions (or all) of BattleTech/SR over to a MageKnight format of game play. Which would probably simplify an already simple game.
As for FASA's MechForce fanclub and their Games Workshop-esque Marauder program (sanctioned event hosting). Both programs are probably going to be allowed to quietly die away (some disgruntled members of both organizations would say they already have). Later on, something like MechForce could be resurrected by WK or by someone willing to buy a license to run MechForce in North America.
As to FASA's licenses for VOR, Crucible, and Crimson Skies projects. Crimson Skies reverts to Microsoft. VOR and Crucible revert to their own holders. They may shop the properties around, or simply re-license them to WK under similar terms.
About the only REALLY messed up thing was that most of the EMPLOYEES weren't told till right before the announcement hit the net. And some of their freelancers actually found out about it before being alerted by FASA.
So it's not technically a bankruptcy. Basically, a major, important part of the FASA corporation is being melded into the WK corporation.
Additionally, for those hoping for the Unseen (the mechs that caused the lawsuit with Harmony Gold) to return. Don't bet on it. It'll probably be WK stance that licensing the images from Harmony Gold would simply be money ill-spent.
In short, this is a black cloud with a lot of silver in the lining.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Despite the somewhat unrealistic combat rules for BattleTech, I'll still miss the hell out of FASA and the large number of great supplements they were able to produce.
Mechwarrior II: Mercenaries for the PC, you mean. This game suffered from what I call SimAnt Syndrome, where the enemies would always make a beeline for your mech unless directly being assaulted by your assistants. Of course, then all you needed to do was give yourself a speedy runner and assign your Atlases D and K to your squad assistants, and train everybody except one all around, assigning the assistants to pick off them one by one. Easy.
Second place was the Battletech cartridge for Sega Genesis. Now that was a tough game to beat.
I am for the complete Trantorization of Earth.
I think what I will miss most about the passing of FASA will be Shadowrun. While I'm certainly familiar with Mechwarrior, I think they made much greater contributions to the gaming comunity with Shadowrun (now a definite classic).
- learn mathematics - shoot dope -
Since then, I have not played as many games as I did at that time, but a general review of the main companies is in order.
Chaosium: Always a bit of a niche company, Chaosium has amazed me for years at how they hang in there. Exemplary source material and a loyal cult following (and labeling something a cult hit in the RPG industry is something) have kept it anf their lines (mainly Cthulu) alive.
FASA: Well, we all know they are closing, but at least they're trying to do it with some grace, instead of shutting down and leaving a lot of freelancers without their payments. However, Shadowrun and Battletech managed to stay a head above most of the other games on the market with remarkable source material and a system that didn't change every three books. Anyone who played Battletech 10 years ago would easily slip into the current rule set with only a few adjustments.
Game Designer's Workshop: I don't even see them on the shelves anymore. Does anyone know what happened to them after the Gygax Disaster?
Games Workshop: OK, not an RPG company per se, but still a major force in the gaming world. They've stopped selling to most of the stores out there, preferring to go the route of web sales and opening some of their own stores, in my mind, a bold but perhaps foolhardy move.
Iron Crown Enterprises: Makers of Rolemaster (aka Rollmaster and Chartmaster), they shut down in 1999 or 2000, although I didn't catch many details of it.
Palladium: As annoying as many find their character and combat system (a bastardization of the original D&D system), you can't argue with the sheer volume of source material with a storyline in the Rifts books that is just enough to keep fans coming back for more. Last I heard, they were doing fairly well, although they do so with a tack that is rather over-protective (like threatening lawsuits against anyone who makes an unauthorized character generator).
R. Talsorian: Creators of my favorite game, Cyberpunk, as well as makers of a half dozen other games, RTG consists (technically) of one person, Mike Pondsmith, with his wife, Lisa, helping out. For those who haven't been to the website recently, Mike took a position in Redmond with the Great Satan (Microsoft). Work continues (slowly) on other books, but at least he's really working at keeping it alive. However, with RTG going from several full-time employees to a couple of part-timers (and perhaps some freelance work), I can only hope that Mike's persistence will be able to pay off.
Steve Jackson Games: Having come back after the Secret Service raid that nearly bankrupted them, SJG is probably about the most well-off company I can think of. Steve Jackson does not focus on one thing at a time, and long ago diversified into other businesses (he runs the Illuminati ISP, IIRC). SJG is probably the best-off company I can think of.
TSR: Once the pinnacle of the industry, bad press, bland game design, and real competition set in to knock the King from his throne. They were purchased by WotC a couple of years ago to escape the inevitable slide to disaster.
White Wolf: I loved Vampire, but could never get into Werewolf or Mage. In any case, WW expanded rapidly (too rapidly, I thought), and then sales growth tapered off. I still see their hardbound books everywhere, which are quite expensive to make, so I can only assume that they are making some kind of profit. Whether they can keep it going may be a different matter.
Wizards of the Coast: A few add-on books for D&D and a few other, unremarkable books for generic source material made up WotC's product line until Magic hit, and then started the explosion of the CCG industry. Years later (1999, I think), they sold out to Hasbro for $400 million. Nice turn of cash, considering where they were a mere nine years ago.
I know I'm forgetting some of them, but these are most of the major ones, and how I have seen them change in the last few years. The industry has been through slumps before, but seems to be coming out of the last one for now. It's not a pretty picture, but it never has been, really. Just a fact of some industries, I guess.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
While FASA did stand for Freedonian Air and Space Association, that name first appeared on a Traveller supplement (SONTAG?), which IIRC, was their first product. But I don' tthink they were a full company then.
"Hail, hail Fredonia, land of the free and brave!" - Duck Soup
Before West End got bought out by Yeti, it pissed away all its money and went bankrupt. Chapter 7. When they shut the doors they left a lot of employees out in the cold, missing thousands of $ worth of salary and expenses. It was hardly an organized exit strategy, like the FASA/Wizkids thing.
I know, I was one of the WEGers at the time. I worked from home in LA, on the Herc & Xena RPG.
The owners of WEG were the worst kind of corporate scum. At the end they strung their people along for a while, getting work out of them knowing that soon they'd be cut loose, uncompensated.
Did you know that WEG also owned an Italian shoe importing business? The fantastically successful game company kept paying off debts that the failing shoe business racked up. Eventually the shoe vampire drained them dry, and that was the end. As Dave Barry would say, "I am not making this up."
As "The H&X RPG Guy" for 6 months, I have HUNDREDS OF PAGES of Herc & Xena RPG materials that were commissioned but never paid for by WEG. The books were never printed, the freelancers were never paid, but I have a huge amount of ready-to-go material. I have contacted my freelancers, and almost unanimously they are in favor of releasing the material for free to the web, so at least SOME fans can enjoy it. The only thing stopping me is the fear of a lawsuit. But does WEG have any claim to the stuff? The studio at least could gripe about it... I don't know what to do. Maybe this should be an Ask Slashdot.
On that topic, does use of CCGs inspire use of RPGs? I know I played magic before I started playing Shadowrun, though I must admit, I played Robotech even before that.
But I must admit, it would be quite nice to see an increase in gamers in a couple of years because of that.
Twitter.com/TrentonHyatt
>If you liked VOR, good news, the creator's contract stipulated that rights reverted back to him.
Ack. Vor stinks. I can say that with confidence, because I wrote a big chunk of one of the sourcebooks. My editor padded my stuff by about 1/3 to make up for his incorrect estimate of the needed page count, so my stuff isn't even reading like my stuff. Yuck.
FASA pays late too. I hope Wizkids is run better.
...as metastasize.
My friend has a RuneQuest charater in a game I GM along time ago who was a duckling fisher/tailor. He wore a huge helmet that took up almost all his fatigue points and just went around headbutting doing 1d4 DM (then -1d3 DM due to his low str). I think he critical striked a small wolf once and almost killed it.
No more S.C.OUT? : (
You think you're so rich...But there's one thing you can't buy....A dinosaur
I'm with you. Battletech was fun, but Shadowrun was awesome. I think the best RPGing times I had as a teen were playing shamans and physical adepts in a seemy 2053 Seattle.
-Brian
"Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness." -Robert A. Heinlen
Yeah I wish I had the time to play Table-Tops again. I used to spend like 8 hours every Sunday playing Shadowrun. Now, it would be very difficult to find that kind of time. On top of that, it would be impossible for me to find 5 or 6 others who had that kind of time at the same time as me. THEN we'd have to find someone who could devote twice as much time to GMing the damned thing. Ugh.
What about NeverWinter Nights? Could this bring back RPGing? A real DM, and a regular group of players would have a lot easier time if not restricted by geography.
-Brian
"Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness." -Robert A. Heinlen
Hey, I was typing fast. Spelling Nazi's allways take the fun out of life.
my 200 in pesos.
blah
Do any of you remember NetRunner?
Now that was a great game, and I'm sorry to say it didn't really survive. A few friends of mine bought off a few of the cards from game stores really cheap, and we started playing, but we couldn't find anymore. Come to think of it, I probably could check eBay, but this is one example of a game that never made it despite how good it was. I guess it was a litle to difficult for the mainstream gamers, but I taked to my local comic book store owner, and he said it was the only game to ever get 4 stars in some magazine rating. I don't remember which one though. But if any of you happen to come across a few cards...feel free to email me.
Twitter.com/TrentonHyatt
is the dealer room at major conventions. There are three conventions in LA held over President's Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day. I picked up a box of boosters for Shadowfist for $5.00. I've seen NetRunner there.
--
When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
That should be "Nazis", not "Nazi's".
--
"Where, where is the town? Now, it's nothing but flowers!"
This is a tragedy. A moment of silence, please.
The truth shall set you free.
Or do I remember reading that FASA (named after a fictional aeronautics company - mucho kudos to the person who can name it) was bought out by Microsoft. It may have been just the development end, but after they almost made themselves broke after overproducing the pod simulators and then having the lead developing firm go under, I was pretty sure it was the whole company.
In either event, it is a sad day for us all.
Information is the catalyst for revolution
As I was hanging around my favorite gaming store yesterday afternoon I heard some interesting news. It seems one of the heads of Wizkids and one of the heads of Fasa were related, more over fasa, when it acquired another company last year picked up a few debts. It's been discussed that this could be a way to drop the debt, and still keep some of the games "in the family" It'll be interesting to see what's next.
Sig: "Examine the road over which the fault has passed"
It is always sad to see a good company go down. FASA has made great games like Shadowrun and Battletech and too see go is like watching a really good friend move 3000 miles away hoping you wont lose touch, but knowing that you will. It is good that another will take its place with the same products so players will not have to worry too much. This story reminds me of the complete destruction and saddnes that surrounded Microprose and it's demise, another great company that failed.
Lord Arathres
stainless steel
I much more enjoyed the RTG offerings (cp2020, bubblegum crisis, CyberGeneration REvolution 2 was the pinnacle of real roleplaying in a cybertechy world, instead of guns guns guns guns... very good stuff cg/2)...
Will be interesting to see what happens to fasa's licenses.. the company was really run off shadowrun and battletech.
Battletech would be the only reason to really buy the company for. That title has a lifespan. books, toys, movies, games, cartoons, etc.
guess its in wizzkids house now....
Write your Own Operating System [FAQ]!
no sig for you
it truly is sad to see fasa go. i wonder if WizKids will continue to produce the maps, etc. for crimson skies. man that game is a good way to kill some time :o)
It's okay, kids, you can still play pokemon!
SR has been FASA's breadwinner for years.
As for BTech, is was never really intended to be some horrendously intricate mecha combat system. It was intended as a quick pickup, beer and pretzels game.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm not sure what is going to survive in this market. The market isn't saturated with crappy CCGs like it was a few years ago, but now it seems that it's not the best games that continue - its the most promoted. *cough*Windows*cough*
Okay... that's enough ranting from me this morning.
That is, bttotalcontrol the SourceForge project to make Battletech: Total Control as a computer game. It didn't have rights to make it, but did (or started) anyway. Hmmm...
"For success, it is essential you have Thunderball Fists." "I can have such a thing?" "That's right. Thunderball Fists."
It's views like this I hate.
Oh. I understand the "busy busy busy" argument. I just don't agree with it.
There's still a hardcore RPG and tabletop gaming community out there. Just head to GenCon and find out how big it really is. Most of them look at CCG's like Magic as crack. Yeah it's a quick hit. But it wears off. It's not memorable.
Look to RPG's and you'll find people who have fond memories of adventures played LONG before CCG's were even a concept.
It's not really the game system that holds people. It's the storylines involved in them that keep people coming back for more. Not the need for another "hit".
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Breadwinner? Last year was the first time ever that Shadowrun earnt more money than Mechwarrior/BT. And this was just counting the actual games themselves. The BT licenses still bring in FAR more money than Shadowrun could even hope to by itself. Hardly what I'd call "FASA's breadwinner for years".
If you spend a day RPG'ing, and have fun. The time is NOT "wasted".
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
You're right. (Why wasn't that modded up?) I looked into all this recently after getting Mechwarrior 3 and Mech Commander and seeing my fave mechs (Marauder, Warhammer etc...) weren't in it. 'Tis a sad day indeed. I recently got back into Warhammer 40K after a 9 year absence. Would have gotten back into B'tech, but there are just far to many books for it out there today. I have the second edition rules (well, whatever was out in 1988), CityTech, Aerotech (never could figure that out) and the Technical Readout in storage in England, but it's just far too insane now with all the add-on material. Of course, Warhammer is no better but still... Warhammer has a kickass back story on a par with Battletechs. Very sad day. Why couldn't Wizards go under? They are perhaps the worst company involved in the gaming scene. No better than drug dealers. ("I'm an ex Magic "addict".)
Synchronized cocks!
Actually I knew that the shoe store killed West End, and I have a friend who wrote a good bit of the Star Wars stuff, and never got compensated for it. I have another friend who finished his project for Blood Shadows but since his wife was leaving to work for TSR they canned his project. Yes they are the worst kind of scum, too bad I liked their games.
As for the free release, I don't know what your terms were in licence, ask some lawer, of course that would cost you too. Good luck
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
Atlas Games : A small games company which has the distinction of being the fourth organization to own the Ars Magica property (following WotC, which followed White Wolf, which followed Lion Rampant). For my money, Ars Magica is the best roleplaying game ever written: it has the best background for any game I've ever seen, and the guts to say "screw game balance, we're making the mages kick ass."
One, the game and plot-line have always revolved around each other.
Two, nobody said anyone HAD to use anything more than the basic Level1 materials (the stuff in the boxed set) when playing a game. It's always been up to the GM to determine the complexity and allowed rules in the game.
Also, the "good guy - bad guy" dichotomy was merely a plot device (since it's hard to have a good protagonist/antagonist story without the antagonist). As to a set house being the universal badguy, those who actually read the entire series of books saw how this was definitely NOT true.
BattleTech is NOT reality. It never has been. If you're looking for reality, you need to look someplace OTHER than the mecha game genre. As to the star-empire based on a monarchy system, while it's fairly ludicrous, at least SOME effort was taken to explain HOW it came about. And if you can get your hands on the House Source Books (quite out of print, head over to Gamer's Union and look if you're interested.
See the first couple sentences of my post.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Earthdawn (my favourite FRPG) is actually alive and kickin' - its rights were bought by living room games and they plan to bring out a second edition and have already published an adventure of their own creation (which I have not seen yet).
Check out the link:
www.lrgames.com
Best regards,
Jochen
www.lrgames.com
In particular, the span of time between the first Mechwarrior and MWII was unbelievable. I've liked the other MWs, and even MechCommander (with all its faults), but I've never had the game I've always wanted from them. I wanted depth, role playing, and something other than "this time your in your mech and...". What about the people? What about the world around you? Is everything a fucking target, or what? At least in MW you could choose what planet you went to and sell mechs... the merest hint of a wider universe against which the game was played. In the newer stuff? Nothing.
And the Clans suck. Mostly. Deus ex Machina for the Inner Sphere stalemate. Nice try. What next? Aliens?
In the end, it doesn't matter to most of us who played, I think. Regretfully, I have no time for games anymore.
We thieves, we liars, we vandals, and poets. Networked agents of Cthulhu Borealis.
I just tried to make a standard href and (for the convenience of all slashdotters) a target link in an anchor tag, the result = link to --"url._top" - it should be possible to write such things shouldn't it?
G'day
Jochen
Good game properties do seem to be surviving depsite the financial troubles of the companies producing them.
Those game properties that evolve do seem to find new homes or leases of life, by whatever means.
Consider for example the excellent fantasy world of Glorantha written by Greg Stafford. Once it was supported by Runequest, after troubles with Avalaon Hill it now survives in a new game system: Hero Wars. The funding for the company to write the game system and producenew background material was paritally from donations by the fans, who gave Greg the money, because they wanted to see Glorantha in print again.
Check out http://www.herowars.com.
And the game has evolved, a simpler system means that those of us who have aged in years (33) and have less time to write and run games, can concentrate on the narritive elements instead of the numbers.
Gaming is not dying, it is evolving with us.
Its biggest problem remians that its fanbase is aging. Who will carry the torch, when we are gone?
I know exactly what you mean. I just found out about this this morning (been out of RPGs for a while; work and all). I grew up on FASA and must have played and read every Battletech game and book before 1994 or so. It's strange to hear them die. BTW: the cub was Simba and you're right on Mufasa (in the clouds)
"Be proud to be a fighter" - Martial Arts Adage
My biggest problem with FASA shutting down is that we will probably not see much more fiction written in the Battletech universe. I really liked some of those books. I really wanted to see what happens to Katrina Steiner when the truth about her involvment in her mothers death comes out....Oh well....
Boy, oh boy, I sometimes feel like a brontosaurus surrounded by cute little mammals -- I just know something's wrong...
(...please indulge an old man (39 years) in his reverie...)
I met my wife while playing RuneQuest back in 1980. My character was an intelligent shaman duck with a geas to destroy reptiles. This cute girl comes into the room, and I'm introduced as "the guy playing a duck".
So I said "Quack."
We got married in '81. And I'm still quacking up the cute girl...
The problem is time. Once we started having kids in the late 1980s, I just didn't have time to run a role-playing game anymore. Job, kids, and other hobbies impinged. The last game I "gave up" was Star Fleet Battles. SFB just took too much time to play...
I will miss FASA, more because it represents my youth than because I played its games much.
And in spite of the changes, the state of gaming is good.
Today, my family games on the computer, even the 5yo. My eldest daughter is 11, and she's quite good at games like Pharoah and Age of Kings; my 10yo (b-day today!) daughter is into scenario design. We play AoK, Heroes of Might & Magic, and some others. No shooters, other than the Heretic-Hexen series. Having been shot at, I don't find much joy in pointing guns and fragging people -- but that's a matter of taste, and not some moral judgement.
As a family, we play strategy or RPG games over the home LAN. Right now, my wife and I are in Hell, trying to put Diablo down for good (or until the expansion kit ;) ) I'm waiting on Arcanum, which sounds like it might be an interesting family RPG game.
Maybe we're not going extinct -- perhaps we're just evolving...
--
Scott Robert Ladd
Master of Complexity
Destroyer of Order and Chaos
All about me
Not that I'am against the RPG, if your into it, but rather that it is a ripoff of Macross (Robotech). Early editions of the game even used some of the robots form the cartoon series. For example the Archer, Wasp, Battlemaster etc etc. Also Ive read interviews with the creator of the RPG that he simply wanted to create a westernised version of Macross (this was in the days where people thought that manga would never be accepted in America).
To top that off they sold out to M$, for the creation of the video games, who ignored most of the back story of the RPG.
Shawdowrun, Skies etc were/are a much better RPG's in my opinion because they are not attempts to recycle manga. I hope that the company gets equal credit for them as for the creation of mechwarrior since the later are more original creations then recycle manga.
Not that it's all bad because it may have helped Macross gain an audiance when noone knew what the hell manga was. Just my opinion.
I'm sorry for my blatent use of emoticons but I can't help but cry every time I think about when Fasa died in Disneys The Lion King(TM). And the the little lion cub.. I forget his name, I'm bad with names.. he sees him in the clouds and he talks to him, and that is SAD..
wait, I'm thinking of Mufasa.. sorry
As background info for the rest of you. There's a small, somewhat vocal group out there that basically whines and cries about every decision that FASA's made in regards to the BattleTech universe.
People like them are the reason the last head-developer left (he got sick of putting up with childish whining after one of these crude individuals accosted him at a convention).
Basically, ignore anyone who starts talking about "true battletech fans".
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
FASA was sliding more visibly since the days they lost their Star Trek license. Granted, they had some powerful pieces like ShadowRun, but their overall holdings were slipping.
What downsizing does mean for Wizards is that they've got bosses who felt it better to separate the haves from the have nots. The Owners seem to be doing quite well, regardless of how the workers, artists, and authors are fairing... and such is the nature of today's copyright; that an artist can drown while the distributor can lucritively exploit their work.
I was big into shadowrun and battletech as a teenager (early 90s), and so one spring break a friend of mine wanted to go visit Chicago - under the guise of seeing some colleges he didn't really want to attend. Three of us ended up going - and since I had called ahead and somehow gotten Lou Prosperi on the phone (creator of earthdawn, great guy) - we were invited to come in and tour the building.
It was in a not-so-hot area of town, on the third floor of a large warehouse building, but once you were inside you forgot all of that. Original artwork from all of their diffrent books decorated the walls - one end of the hallway had a Shadorwun banner/logo that had to be 8 feet wide if it was an inch... Lou took us into the lounge/game-room where they spent a couple of hours everyday testing their own products and the competitions'... One wall was a series of shelves filled with more game books then you can count - it was amazing.
Lou told us about their daily routine, and then showed us promotional materials (including a proof he brought straight from the art department for an upcomming ad in Dragon magazine) for the upcomming game Earthdawn, and we immediatly fell in love.
Anyway, FASA for me meant good, detailed worlds with enough behind-the-scenes action going on, or at least hinted at, that you never got bored, and had plenty of material to use when GMing. In their later years the quality slacked off a bit in the artwork (or at least the on-staff artists changed and weren't in my style anymore) and the quality of the books - for me this death knell came much earlier, in '95 or '96 (I can't remember which) when it was anounced that Tom Dowd - one of the creators of Shadowrun and the maintainer of the game world/senior editor for all Shadorun products, left to work at FASA interactive. The new guy on staff had good ideas, but they didn't mesh with the way the game world had originally been presented - Tom had the Touch, this guy didn't...
As I got further and further away from gaming in general and more focused on my career, I would look back on my gaming time as educational - I expanded my creativety, my social skills, and my problem solving ability. I'm slowly selling my game books collection on ebay, and now this... brings back memories I tell ya. It is a semi-sad day in the gaming world.
The Fredonian Air and Space Association is no more (yes, thats what fasa stood for, a reference to a old marx brothers movie)! At least battletech and Shadowrun will live on.
man is machine
I noticed a few people saying that BattleTech was a blatant ripoff of some Jap Anime things. Nope. It was an original idea of its creators, but the artwork for most of the original mechs was licensed from the people who made Macross. When Harmony Gold bought the rights to make a Macross show in the US, they theatened to put FASA out of business in endless court proceedings, despite the fact that FASA did have a legal right to use the artwork. Lacking the money to fight the case, they just gave it up. May be a couple things not quite right in my version of it, but this is the general feel of it. FASA was royally screwed over by Harmony Gold. Pyro
A wise man knows his weaknesses. A fool learns of his clumsiness when juggling knives.
http://forums.dumpshock.com//Forum1/HTML/001271.ht ml.
Like I said I was into RPG's in my school years (and I'm probably older than you think, 27) and some of my best memories are staying up to 5:00am playing D&D with about 8 friends in a small cramped room, junk food everywhere. I'll admit CCG's are crack. And most of my RPG friends fell to it when it came out. It became harder to keep people interested in D&D and RPG's in general. Now I just don't have the time to waste 1/2 a day+ playing an RPG. I have other interests now and my Shadowrun and Earthdawn manuals are packed away in storage. I can't sell them because of the memories they contain. My Magic cards on the other hand were easy to part with! Whether you agree with my view or not it's hard to deny that as people get older their free time for entertainment is redused. Only the 'real hardcore' players as you put it 'make' the time. You can't really get a good role playing session in a hour, even if you can get everyone to agree to meet at a certian time. It's much easier to fire up the computer now and play a round of Quake/Rainbow 6/Starcraft/whatever. Agree with it or not that's just my experience with RPG's. JoS
buy license!=blatantly rip off.
They just didn't buy the license from Harmony Gold, the company Carl Macek set up to pimp anime in America. I was upset when I found out what they did to Robotech, and now I'm livid with what they're doing to the import toy market. (the Toycom Valkyires that aren't allowed to be imported) I'd LOVE to be able to buy a decent Valkyrie toy in the US, but Harmony Gold won't let anybody sell them, and won't sell them themselves.
When did capitalism stop being about selling products and start being about controlling markets?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
If so, can't some lawyer donate some time to one of these projects to counsel people like IronChef on topics like that? Freeing written texts definately falls in their scope, doesn't it? ;-)
Disclaimer: No, I didn't research if there isn't already such a project. I'm just rambling, so forgive me, please! ;-)
But I sure think it would help!
Regards, Ulli
Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible.
Even the fabled Star Wars license couldn't keep them afloat, however...
I know that FASA was known for its vast array of RPG systems, but I always thought that Shadowrun was its more original and most fun (Ok, it stole a LOT of stuff from the original Cyberpunk Gaming system). I've been a gamer since the early 90's and played a vast array from AD&D to GURPS and everything in between. My alltime favorite games always involved playing a Decker in Shadowrun. Granted my scope is limited, I'm sad to see them go.
Secret windows code
Clinton made me a Republican. Bush made me a Libertarian. Trump is making me question reality.
It seems to me this is the trend in RPG now, TSR/Wizards/Ha$borg, West End bought by Yeti, Pinnacle being sold to Cybergames and then being bought back.
More money behind the games may do some good for the quality of the products made, but it may make it hard for new game ideas to make it into the industry.
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
I see l33t sed syntax is considered "lame"...
It should be "reins", not "reigns".
--
"Where, where is the town? Now, it's nothing but flowers!"
I was a big role playing fan back in my school days. But I found as time went on and the internet got bigger and especially the advent of multiplayer FPS and CCG's those weekend role playing sessions turned soon turned into weekend Doom/Magic sessions.
Everyone now days is looking for the 'quick fix' it takes a lot of prep time to start a good role playing session; character creation, story lines, NPC creation, etc. Personally I miss it but just don't have the time to sit down and plan a RPG session for 2 hours. It was easier to fire up the computer and frag some opponents or throw together a deck and find some anonymous newbie at the comic store for a quick hand of Magic.
I haven't been in the RPG scene for about 4 years now. I was surprised that anyone plays RPG's anymore.
JoS
That said, didn't the original flaship MechWarrior blatantly rip off the designs of the Mech from Japanese sources? Was that legal or not, did they ever get in trouble? And the generations of mech design that came after, the Clans, most of it looked pretty lame and contrived next to the originals.
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SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death