People worried about a Korriban repeat. Remember, it was originally supposed a cloth map. Then, got downgraded to cardstock. I imagine the poster paper is cheaper than the cardstock used on the original Korriban map, and I see no reason why we won't get more maps/posters.

I'm a bit worried about another Korriban. Another map doesn't make a real difference if it is unbalanced.

I'm not as worried that it's going to be a "Bad" map
as I am that it's going to take 6 months to Never to be made usable if it IS a "Good" map...

IF, it's distributed like the latest DDM map was for their release
I'm cool
but I just can't can't stand that Ian Richards is incharge at DCI and runs things so lazy and loose with Star Wars...

I hope we get to see if it is a good or bad map. The "Its friendly for flyers" has me a bit worried.

If its a good map, I hope it has excellent distribution. .

If its another Korriban, I honestly hope the distribution is worse than Korriban. Without the reprint.

What I'm really hoping for is that it is part of the "Release Events" so that everyone playing at a release events gets a new map. That's generally a pretty easy way to get people fired up for release events - give away bonus stuff. Magic has been giving away special foil cards at their release events for a while now. Heck, I play magic online release events just to get some of the unique avatars...

That is an incorrect summation. When exactly did they say they have "2" map distribution projects? Even if they did I never said I don't think they'll do the second one. So far, all I've heard is that all the set posters for 2008 are going to have maps and by your own account they opted to do them this way because they can't make a profit by selling them.

Here is a summation that is more accurate.

WotC: A LOT of new maps are coming.
Me: That's awesome! That is the best news in a long time regarding SWM!
WotC: Here's how we're doing them - they're not being sold, they're going to be on the backs of set posters for each set this year.
Me: Promotional items? My playgroup doesn't have much access to those particular promotional items. (Sigh, like Chevy Chase in "National Lampoon's Vacation" as he comes to the realization that Wally World is closed.)
Nickname: Well, they are doing it this way because they can't make a profit by selling them so this comes out of different resources they can afford to lose.
Me: So they're not going to ever try to sell map packs again? That sucks.

I guess what it comes down to is that when I said it's the "logical conclusion of the discussion" I meant the discussion between us and not based on anything WotC did or didn't say. I hope there is some other method in the works for map distribution that reaches a larger audience but I don't know one way or the other so all I can address right now is the implications of your posts.



Nor does it. Right now no one knows what they're doing or why, for that matter.



What other games have you played? How many of them were produced by WotC?

That's even worse than each store only getting a couple of them. How many stores even get a release event? That's ok for something nobody needs like the squad box they gave away at the FU tournies, but its horribly limiting for for a new map.

I think we just have to concede at this point that not everyone is going to get these maps on the backs of the set posters. Sadly, this isn't the first time this has happened.

No matter how they do it, anything less than selling them (including putting them with other product such as stuffing them randomly into cases, my suggestion) is going to alienate some of the customers who don't have active LGS's to play at.

Even having an LGS nearby may not be enough depending on the size of the play-group there.

My son was sent a magazine called Lotus Noir. With it was a smaller one about Star Wars miniatures, with a Tusken Raider Figure. We looked in a larger Town than our local one for some Minis. We foud some in a toy shop. We bought a Clone Strike Starter on one booster. In Waterstones (book shop) they only had boosters for Rebel Storm. I bought some from the toy shop, then they stopped selling them. We have no LGS anywhere near us. Waterstones stopped selling them after a while to. I then had to take the train up to London (over 30 Miles away) to buy some. I went up to London a few times and bought quite a few boosters. I bought a Rebel Storm starter. In the early days I bought on line from Amazon. I now use two different on line stores here in England. it sucks there is now LGS near us. I play against my son who is now fifteen. It's fun, but it would be nice to play other people as well. I just hope the on line companies will have some set posters.

1. You were sitting right beside me at Gencon when Jennifer said they were looking into creative methods of getting us maps.

2. In Erik's thread people were initially confused thinking he was talking about the same thing mentioned at Gencon (myself included). He said no, that was something seperate, he wasn't sure what the brand team was working on, and his idea was only in regards to online distrubution of maps. All the other suggestions were off-topic, but he would pass them back along to the brand team.



Gotcha.



I lived and breathed Mechwarrior. I played LotR and HeroClix casually. I have second-hand experience with Mage Knight, Pirates, DDM, and A&A from interacting with local players and players on the various boards to play more than one game.

Maybe you missed my question about it, but do you have any details about these RPGA kits? What are they, what's normally in them, who normally gets them, etc...

I don’t know how many people have retail experience, or retail Management experience, but before my days as a troubled sailor, I was the manager of Sam Goodies.

One of the best parts about the Job was the free promotional stuff (CD’s Posters, Videos). In order to get the stuff you need to call a regional distributor. In my experience, granted Record companies are a little bigger than Wizards, The ability to get this stuff was only limited to the ability to call the office and get it.

If you want to get these new maps, I highly recommend making arrangements with the LGS, so he knows how much he needs to get.

This shouldn’t be an issue with Wizards if you can’t get maps, unless they intentionally create a shortage to increase demand, which is against the law (See Furby, Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage patch Dolls). The issue will be the crooked LGS owner who hordes them for himself and sells them, If this happens friendship needs to be thrown out the door and the LGS owner needs to be reported.

I say this because there are a lot of A-holes running comic book stores around here.

Also if you have a friend that manages a major book retailer(Barnes and Noble, Borders, ETC) ask him/her to call the regional distributor, and find out about getting some posters, as the bigger stores may have more access to or access to larger quantities.

And I second any sentiment about not jumping to conclusions, and grabbing pitchforks and torches yet. I’m sure access to these maps will not be difficult.

AS A COMMUNITY, we need to do our part to make sure that If we get multiple copies of these maps that we share them, So I if can secure a few copies I’ll make sure I get them to people that need them.

I EXPECT the same behavior from the other leaders of this community.

I guess I missed that. I focused on other stuff, and I didn't take notes last year (like I did the year before). Kind of wish I had now, but I lost my pencil that morning. Oh well.



I see. That explains it. I have been dealing with WotC for more than 10 years now. I love most of their games, they have made some great ones over the years, but their business management leaves a lot to be desired. The more you deal with them as a customer the more you will discover the truth of that. I have heard others say it over the years that they believe WotC has been successful despite the company's best efforts. It's not a sentiment I agree with, necessarily, but still it is said.



I have no idea, but I did pose the question in the "Galaxy Tiles" thread to Rodney on the RPG general site. Hopefully he will answer.

I'm wondering if maybe it was just a slip and he's actually talking about the League Kits. It would be so odd to start off the whole thing saying how RPG and SWM have completely different needs. Galaxy Tiles are for RPG rather than SWM, but new maps will be coming later for SWM.... in RPGA Kits. (ba-ba-wha?)

The DCI legal Bespin and Mos Eisley maps were originally distributed in the League Kits, correct? I would gladly have them send out League kits with maps instead of miniatures for a couple months. I can't imagine that the cost per piece of product would be that much different on their end. That would be fantastic, IMO.

That doesn't make sense, either, though, since as I understand it the league kits are free with a limit of 2 per store.

Either there really is an RPGA kit that is little-known (not surprisingly, I once heard Ian Richards call RPGA "WotC's best kept secret);

or they are lifting the restriction on league kits;

or there never was a restriction and I was misinformed.

Maybe they'll switch back from 2 free league kits per store each month to letting stores order as many as they want for whatever the fee was when they did it that way before.

Correct. And they still had a mini. The maps replaced the tiles. There were 6 copies of the map per pack.



Yes, but that's a fairly recent change and Rodney's area of focus is elsewhere so I could see him not being aware of the precise details. Regardless, if it's like before, we're talking 6 maps for small stores and 12 for big ones. That should be more than plentiful enough for pretty much anyone who wants one to get one and so there wouldn't be so much need to order more.

Not sure why that wouldn't make sense. Honestly, what stores have more than 12 people who REGULARLY play? 12 is about the most we have from week to week, unless we have a big event going on, and of those, several of them won't care about getting a new map.

However....as the League kit system stands RIGHT NOW, stores can get 2 kits (so, 12 promos total), and have the option to order more if they want them. I believe the first 2 are free, and then there's a small fee for any additional ones. But you can get more than 2 kits as things are set up right now. So, we'll have to keep a close eye on how this all develops. If the maps end up being released through the League kits, it might be a good idea to start asking your LGS's to go ahead and start requesting an extra kit or two. I don't think the cost for each additional one is that great.

Ahh, Wizkid experience. Really, I think only a Decipherian has had worse experiences than a Wizkid guy. I know it has colored my views of things as "not that bad".

I still can't believe Decipher recently got some bailout money to keep them alive a bit longer. Don't know what their mystery project, but without any licenses, not liking the looks of it.

Anyway...

I am hopeful. I can't wait to see the map and play on it.

I loved SW:CCG. It forms the basis for many of my happiest memories from my young teenage years. We played twice a week here in Maine and just had a blast. But especially near the end, Decipher's handling of SW:CCG was basically just repeated, aggravated kicks to the groin.

I consider myself lucky I played SW:CCG only briefly and got out before the groin kicking. LIkewise ST:CCG, which I still have lots of the original of (hell still have my SW too).

I will observe that part of the reason for the doomsaying, in general, is that Sturgeon's Law applies. On the upside... the reason I still have faith is that Sturgeon's Law applies.