New and Upcoming Releases Volume XII: Baker's Dozen

[NeonKnight]

I would be much more interested in a "TRO: Helm Memory Core" or something like that, because I have a pathological aversion to buying the same book twice with some extra pages in the back.  The new version of Total Warfare gets a pass because it's full of things like rules updates, but for a fluff book no matter how much I want it, that's a hard pass.

And yet, new product or updates must be made for the New players.

Even tho I agree with you in part.

[Scotty]

And yet, new product or updates must be made for the New players.

Even tho I agree with you in part.

"You should get TRO: Succession Wars if you want to get into the fiction, but you have to check and make sure you get the one with all the cool designs actually included, not the first printing."

No thank you.  I've been wrestling that bear with the Alpha Strike books for too long to think that's a good idea.  A new book that covers 3039 and the prototypes between 3025 and the Invasion would be a great place to put them.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

"You should get TRO: Succession Wars if you want to get into the fiction, but you have to check and make sure you get the one with all the cool designs actually included, not the first printing."

No thank you.  I've been wrestling that bear with the Alpha Strike books for too long to think that's a good idea.  A new book that covers 3039 and the prototypes between 3025 and the Invasion would be a great place to put them.

I agree, but not for your reasons.

I'd love seeing the nuSeens restricted to Alpha Strike books just to force players who wouldn't otherwise buy Alpha Strike books to support that brand.  I don't mind being a jerk in that way.

[Pat Payne]

I agree, but not for your reasons.

I'd love seeing the nuSeens restricted to Alpha Strike books just to force players who wouldn't otherwise buy Alpha Strike books to support that brand.  I don't mind being a jerk in that way.

 :thumbsup:

[Joewrightgm]

Thought:  what if you update the TRO: Succession Wars, and make it available for download to those who have already bought the book, either in the CGL store or DrivethruRPG?

That way you get a nice olive branch to the existing player who own those books digitally, and make it a good jumping off point for new players?

[Sartris]

Creating a false sense of support for the system leading to more resources going into projects that won’t sell as well without nostalgia blackmail and hurt CGL in the end

I don’t mind being a jerk saying ****** that noise

[cawest]

I would love to see the TRO clan golden age.  new art, new story, new goodness

[JadedFalcon]

The solution: XTRO Succession Wars Volume 2: Every new Classic mech gets a Blazer variant.

Or wrap them all into TRO Golden Century and have the Classics modded with Clan tech weapon swaps, like the old Twycross garrison variants.

I would love to see the TRO clan golden age.  new art, new story, new goodness

Me too. And that Goliath Scorpion unit profile e-pub.

[Maingunnery]

Or wrap them all into TRO Golden Century and have the Classics modded with Clan tech weapon swaps, like the old Twycross garrison variants.

It would be a good opportunity to retcon those C variants so that they aren't underweight anymore.

[ActionButler]

Creating a false sense of support for the system leading to more resources going into projects that won’t sell as well without nostalgia blackmail and hurt CGL in the end

Ultimately, isn’t that exactly what the Unseen are?

Listen, I want to see the Marauder back in print just as much as anyone else here, and I was over the moon when the when the news of the case broke last week, but lets be honest with ourselves, we could have walked away from the Unseen at any time.  TRO 3025 has more than enought units that the game objectively does not need any of the Unseen. 

Yet here we are, twentysomething years into pining for them to be reprinted because of nostalgia.  I’m not saying that we should use them to push Alpha Strike, that’s silly because Alpha Strike is a wonderful system by itself, but let’s not pretend that there aren’t a ton of people here, myself included, waiting to buy TRO: Just The Unseen And Probably An Awesome.

I would love to see the TRO clan golden age.  new art, new story, new goodness

I would definitely buy that.

[I am Belch II]

Didn't TRO:Golden Century get pushed back for other things first.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Listen, I want to see the Marauder back in print just as much as anyone else here, and I was over the moon when the when the news of the case broke last week, but lets be honest with ourselves, we could have walked away from the Unseen at any time.  TRO 3025 has more than enought units that the game objectively does not need any of the Unseen. 

Interesting experiment I tried once.  Use Xotl's RAT tables, and reroll any number that gets you an Unseen or Unseen variant.  Force dynamics become quite interesting.  I should throw the bones again and see how it turns out this time, I lost that unit a computer or two ago.

[PyreLight]

The answer to any question like this is "Money." As in it either:
1. Costs too much to do
2. Won't deliver enough money to be profitable

In this case we've talked about it before you had joined the forums, and it's #2.

Money is always an issue. Let us all remember the HBS experiment with trying to crowd-fund BT merch.

"I'd definitely buy one of those!" Okay, that's one sale made, and possibly several thousand more to go.

I just don't understand why one single person, e.g. an artist, is able to put up their artwork as T-shirts and posters to buy from their personal online shop, but a company with decades of experience and plenty of ambitious workers cannot do the same.

It is even more incomprehensible when T-shirts and posters are possible to produce for conventions, but somehow not online. The costs are practically the same and it is the fans who will nonetheless pay for shipping. The only extra costs compared to a convention is having a box sit somewhere in someone's house or storage while the T-shirts or posters are little by little being sold online (or at subsequent conventions).

[klarg1]

I'll be honest:

I was pretty satisfied with CGL's strategy of rolling out NuSeen art by folding it into the product release cycle through the various Combat Manuals, and the 1st/2nd SW books.

Sure, I was sad to see that interrupted, regardless of the cause, but that track record gives me reasonable confidence that things will roll forward again, once new releases start showing up on shelves. (Insert positive, or negative prediction about future releases here.)

I've waited 20 years. I can wait a little longer. I agree with ActionButler: The game's playability and viability aren't really hurt by their absence.

(Also, am I the only one who would rather see TRO3039 with the new art, rather than TRO:Succession Wars?)

[monbvol]

I for one do not demand any all new products but if it makes sense I'll be more than happy to see the classics in new product.

I just don't understand why one single person, e.g. an artist, is able to put up their artwork as T-shirts and posters to buy from their personal online shop, but a company with decades of experience and plenty of ambitious workers cannot do the same.

It is even more incomprehensible when T-shirts and posters are possible to produce for conventions, but somehow not online. The costs are practically the same and it is the fans who will nonetheless pay for shipping. The only extra costs compared to a convention is having a box sit somewhere in someone's house or storage while the T-shirts or posters are little by little being sold online (or at subsequent conventions).

Those single persons don't have the same licensing issues, are one person so that the cut they get from those shirts/posters are far more financially viable, and they don't produce the shirts/posters themselves.

And you'd be surprised how much of a cost difference there is between having stuff available for a convention versus on-line ordering.

[Sartris]

Ultimately, isn’t that exactly what the Unseen are?

Listen, I want to see the Marauder back in print just as much as anyone else here, and I was over the moon when the when the news of the case broke last week, but lets be honest with ourselves, we could have walked away from the Unseen at any time.  TRO 3025 has more than enought units that the game objectively does not need any of the Unseen. 

Yet here we are, twentysomething years into pining for them to be reprinted because of nostalgia.  I’m not saying that we should use them to push Alpha Strike, that’s silly because Alpha Strike is a wonderful system by itself, but let’s not pretend that there aren’t a ton of people here, myself included, waiting to buy TRO: Just The Unseen And Probably An Awesome.

I would definitely buy that.

I wasn’t arguing against nostalgia blackmail as a business practice; lord knows how many times I’ve paid for Zelda: Ocarina of Time over the years. There’s a difference between tro classics and forcing people to scratch that itch by buying product they may not have use for (especially when they did that very thing with the CMs and... yeah). A stand-alone product would be just the right amount of blackmail that gives someone a clear expectation of what they’re getting.

Ultimately I have a different view of this as I came into BT just after the original HG settlement so I have zero attachment to any of it. This obsession with constantly chasing after 1988 continuously bemuses me.

[Colt Ward]

Of course it also does not help that the franchise bleeds money from pirated merch . . . I really want a Wolf Clan t-shirt, my wife knows it and looked at the ones that pop-up on facebook.  Then I explained that they were produced from IP theft- she apparently contacted CGL in the past trying to see if they had them as a surprise for me- which she knows how I feel about it.

Want to know why we cannot get some things that are only feasible for the IP at Cons?  Look at the online/FB groups and see all the folks making MWO or Classic derived 3D printed mechs, selling the those 3D printed mechs, and using them rather than official products.  Or Amazon where CGL cannot keep ripped off FASA art from a couple of people's fanfics they are selling.  Or Shapeways, which sells 3D printed table top scale or larger mechs & tanks- in particular I am remembering a Timberwolf (Notice MWO Marauder now) that is museum scale and a couple of hundred dollars . . . then again, I think Shapeways might be a problem for bigger IPs- I see Star Trek & Star Wars stuff on the website.  If the merchandising company of Disney cannot keep their IP from being stolen to Shapeways then I guess it should not be a surprise for BT.

[klarg1]

Do we (the fans) know that the issue with promotional merch is IP-related? Could it simply be an economic question of having to pay up front for enough inventory to keep the store stocked at a much larger scale, and for a much longer time?

[monbvol]

I'm reasonably certain Topps would demand a cut of the sales, so licensing is something of a factor.

Then there would be the warehousing costs, which would be ongoing versus not a factor for conventions only.

[MarauderD]

I've always wanted the Sword and Sunburst on a t-shirt, with no other graphics or text. Then people would ask me what it meant, and I could start my whole "game of thrones in space" shpiel to start up the BattleTech conversation.

The other really catchy one would be the Draconis Combine symbol on a tee, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that. A man has to have standards.

[Pat Payne]

I've always wanted the Sword and Sunburst on a t-shirt, with no other graphics or text. Then people would ask me what it meant, and I could start my whole "game of thrones in space" shpiel to start up the BattleTech conversation.

The other really catchy one would be the Draconis Combine Capellan Confederation symbol on a tee, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that. A man has to have standards.

FTFY

[RoundTop]

I've always wanted the Sword and Sunburst on a t-shirt, with no other graphics or text. Then people would ask me what it meant, and I could start my whole "game of thrones in space" shpiel to start up the BattleTech conversation.

The other really catchy one would be the Draconis Combine Capellan Confederation Draconis Combine symbol on a tee, but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that all hail the coordinator. A man has to have standards.

FTFY

FTFY

[MarauderD]

Well, point being, I can see others here like the tee shirt with house crest only idea.

Wish we could do a print run and see if it was profitable for CGL?

Cheers,

Mad

[Garrand]

If I could get a dark-ish blue T-shirt with the Steiner fist, I'd be all on board for that!

Damon.

[I am Belch II]

I will miss Gencon this year. I always want to get a t-shirt and a poster....now that the posters are back.

[PyreLight]

Do we know how the posters will look like?

[Tyler Jorgensson]

I just want the dice from GenCon... but I'd be real happy to get a Dark shirt with a CGB/RD/GBD logo on it.

[JadedFalcon]

Didn't TRO:Golden Century get pushed back for other things first.

At this point, the product could very likely be dead. I don't hold out hope for anything that's been pulled from the release list.

It seems like the priority is fiction these days, like a Wolf's Dragoons novella:

Some rambling BattleTech stuff. 

https://blainepardoe.wordpress.com/2018/07/03/writing-battletech-addressing-some-questions/

Blaine "Buck" Pardoe

[Sharkapult]

I just don't understand why one single person, e.g. an artist, is able to put up their artwork as T-shirts and posters to buy from their personal online shop, but a company with decades of experience and plenty of ambitious workers cannot do the same.

It is even more incomprehensible when T-shirts and posters are possible to produce for conventions, but somehow not online. The costs are practically the same and it is the fans who will nonetheless pay for shipping. The only extra costs compared to a convention is having a box sit somewhere in someone's house or storage while the T-shirts or posters are little by little being sold online (or at subsequent conventions).

I share your frustrations and bewilderment.
I'd buy merch (stickers, dice, t-shirts and patches) with a vengeance. I can't make it to cons so I am stuck.
In fact my friends and I surmise the reason the BT game's Kickstarter success was so significant was due to the merch offerings at higher tiers.

[Weirdo]

Many of those small retailers either own their own IP, or are conveniently ignoring the fact that copyright law is a thing and relying on the informal truth that their hide is worth less than what it would cost to get a copyright lawyer out of bed, much less actually into the office.

Pretty sure not a single one of them had to negotiate licenses and royalties with the likes of Topps.

I am neither privy to the CGL/Topps relationship, nor the costs/benefits of a proper merchandising line(even a print-on-demand one), but it would not totally surprise me if the effective costs of getting permission to set one up plus the costs of actually doing it might be greater than the realistically expected rewards.

Finally: "Plenty of ambitious workers"? Where'd you get that idea? "Ambitious" I can see, but everything we know about Catalyst tells us that as far as the other bit, the exact opposite is true.