Farewell to an old friend ...

Farewell to an old friend ...

I heard today that an old friend passed away ... he was only in his mid 30s (Born in 72') ... had a terminal illness for years.  He was very private about it and I didn't know (I don't think many people outside of his immediate family did) that it had returned.  I post this here because Rick was a gamer ...  through and through ... dyed in the wool ... gamer.  He was mainly a mini game fan ... but he was an old time D&D player and an avid video game player as well. I met him through the Las Vegas Gamers Club ... he and I were basically part of the founding group.  We had a wonderful five year run as a club ... then people moved away and things sort of fell by the wayside.  I'd only spoken to Rick a few times since I left Las Vegas in 2009. 

He LOVED ... I mean dearly LOVED Games Workshop games ... particularly 40K.  I think they guy owned and fully painted to high tabletop standard ... damn near every army GW makes for both 40K and WHFB.  He was crazy for the stuff ... he'd buy an army ... paint it ... sell it off ... buy another ... lol.  Always so fun to shoot the shit about gaming with.  He really didn't care if he won or lost when you played against him ... he never lost his cool and got ticked about losing .. or gloated about winning ... he was really just in it for the fun and good times.  He could find the humor in a bad loss ... find humor in rolling 8 ones out of 9 dice (I witnessed him make that roll once btw) for a game losing round of close combat in a tournament.  When he won he was gracious.  He was quick to compliment people, quick to open a door, quick to pat someone on the back when they needed it.  When we had our first child he got a card and a heartfelt gift ... I mean none of my other gaming friends did anything like that and I didn't expect them too ... but Rick did ... he was that kind of guy.

He was one hell of a nice guy ... one of the nicest people I've ever known and I say that with all sincerity.  Always there to lend a hand, always willing to pitch in on gaming club activities, etc.  He was one of those guys who not to be cliche "would give you the shirt off his back" but really he was ... he could be down to his last five bucks and if you needed it ... he'd give it to you.  He was just a salt of the earth person just an amazing person.  He had a very young daughter and a loving wife.  It tears me up to know that his child won't know him and that he won't have a chance to see her grow up, go through school, go off to college, get married, have a career, kids, etc. 

Rick rest in peace man ... you will be missed ...

To follow the blog heard ... who will pick up the Star Wars RPG license?

So who will pick up the Star Wars RPG license?

Here is my based on nothing but opinion opinion ... 

To start as we all know The Old Republic looms on the horizon ... its going to generate interest in the Star Wars franchise that it hasn't seen in years.  Clearly all the bean counters, marketers, executives and legal folks are well aware of this and as we know Lucas is all about the Ben Franklins ... they could give two shits about anything else.  Again obvious givens right.  So keep this in mind then when one speculates on who is going to pick up the license.  For Lucas Arts ... they have so much merchandising going on ... in so many genres ... the RPG license is a small nat on a nats arse sitting on another nat who happens to be on a mouses ass.  In short its pointlessly small.  I'd think they'd be far more concerned about the collectible card games/mini games/board games, etc.  So why would a company like Mongoose with really poor history in the US (I have no clue what their history is in the UK maybe its better) in terms of big successful titles, and their licensed stuff is bottom barrel stuff.

Mongoose is a terrible, terrible company that has put out consistently bad games.  I'd die laughing at the house that does Babylon 5 ... picked up a Lucas Arts license ... it would be a huge joke.  Mongoose isn't remotely the caliber of company they'd be interested in IMO.  They have had a few ok RPG supplements but in general everything they've done from their minis lines to a fair portion of their RPG stuff hasn't been of a level that Lucas Arts would be looking for.  If I had to take a shot in the dark guess on who would be in the running I'd say:  Green Ronin (they've done high quality licensed product), Fantasy Flight Games (they are just a top notch all in one shop, Lucas Arts could sign them up across the board for tabletop and they'd be set).  Unless its some crazy lotto win for some third string company like Mongoose ... I'd wager it would be one of those two.

Cubicle 7 would kick ass (Legends of Anglerre rocks) ... but do they have the chops to compete for a Lucas license??  The only companies I know of that make sense are FFG and Green Ronin ... Green Ronin has Dragon Age, Warhammer Fantasy 2nd ed, and A Game of Thrones under its belt. Again all idle speculation at this point ... Upper Deck will likely end up with the license and farm out the RPG stuff to someone we've never heard of ... lol.  Who knows ... likely Lucas will drag its feet for a few years and award it to some shitbox company that does a bad job ... and we'll end up with a game designed by Jar Jar Binks ... woot!