Already discussed over at the purple place is the fact that Eden's RPG lines for 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel' will be coming to an end.

Official announcement by Eden here.

This is really too bad.  

Although I only own the two core books (BtVS and Angel), I was really impressed with how well Eden did in translating these series into viable, fun RPGs.

I won't shed a tear. Playing teenagers in a half-assed horror setting has never held much interest for me. That's one step away from Nicotine Girls...

Licensing is expensive. Most setting (and I'd include Angel and Buffy in this) make it hard to come out with an extensive line of supplements. So there's not much more gain to be made from those lines. It's better they stop instead of producing inferior later editions... (cf. Star Wars 2nd ed.)

Quote from: Sosthenes... Playing teenagers in a half-assed horror setting has never held much interest for me....

:confused:
Obviously your conception of Buffy is somewhat different from my own.

In any case, for RPG'ing, I think that the Angel setting is far superior.

I heard they were cool.  I loved the shows, and the Unisystem, but I didn't like what I heard about the implementation of the Unisystem in their case.  Plus, I don't know if I wanted my chocolate (Buffy and Angel) in my peanut butter (RPGs).

I also can say that I'm not all that suprised by this news.

Nothing lasts forever.

Settings, especially, can be done quite effectively in a book or two.

Why everyone thinks settings need to be done like FR and Eberron, where supplements detail every last corner of the entire world until the GM can create NOTHING without conflicting with somethin print, is beyond me.

I think 100 pages is a fine size for a setting book if no rules are required. Certainly not even ONE 300 page book.

But that's me and clearly I'm in the minority here.

Chuck

I don't see the problem. Buy the core books and, if you'd like, the supplements, and keep playing. Just because a game goes out of print, it doesn't mean that it's worthless.

Quote from: Akrasia:confused:
Obviously your conception of Buffy is somewhat different from my own.

I repeatedly tried to like it. During the initial run of the first season, a fellow player suggested that it isn't as superficial as I might think, so I watched a few episodes. Didn't quite convince me.
After seeing Firefly (and hearing good stuff about the RPG), I thought I'd give it yet another chance, this time in the original English version. I found that the background is still a hodgepodge of horror elements with not much to tie it together, pop culture references alone don't save the dialogues, Sarah Michelle Gellar is still rather atrocious and the less said about Hannigan-fanboys, the better. I might give Angel a try if I can lend some DVD sets, but I don't have high hopes...

That said, I did like the movie

I browsed through the RPGs and didn't find that much exciting stuff, either. Well-done, if you like the series, but not a format I'd want to use for weekly gaming.

To cut a long story short: Different strokes...

Well, yea; given that Buffy and Angel are both finished as series, it makes sense that sooner or later there would be a final limit to how far they could go on presenting material and still be within the boundaries of what was comprehensible as part of the series.

I never liked Unisystem, so I'm not too sad to see them put an end to it.

RPGPundit

I really liked the Buffy and Angel books.  I've run them in the past and they've proved to be really nicely versatile systems that are fun and pleasingly unobstrusive.

Having said that, I'm not surprised that Buffy and Angel are being rolled up; nothing substantive has come out since the Angel book and Eden seem to be slowly imploding anyway.  Their tendency to hype things to buggery before even a single word had been put down as well as their disastrous flirtation with DRM pretty much lost them all of the good will I had for them.

Not the least bit sad to see them go.  The parent properties are dead, and RPG spinoffs rarely last longer than their parents.  This was inevitable.

Wow, Bradford Walker has at last arisen, the stars are right!!

Welcome to the site.

RPGPundit

Eh, these things come and go. I think the Angel game is excellent for any modern monster bashfest, but as has been already said, both shows are long gone now. Eden should save the money and move on.

I'm of two minds myself. Buffy remains my favorite RPG for doing what it does (point based, simple resolution with some player control via drama points)--simple and my goto game for a lot of settings (I'm running a game using it for a friend--Zombiepocolypse).

I was a huge fan of Buffy starting about season 5 (not the first season I saw, but predating its airing by about two months I saw Season 1-3), I wasn't hooked until the second season FULLY though (I watched it because it replaced Babylon 5 airings on the channel I watched it on. I'm a much bigger Babylon 5 fan)

As an adult I found the show spoke to me about remembered horrors of high school and later life--not the "monsters" they were just setting backdrop for the real darknesses of the world.

Yet I've owned the corebook and two supplements (which I sold) because beyond the corebook I didn't really need the stuff in the supplements--they were neat, but once I'd read them, well I make up a LOT of my own material, and if I want to do "Buffy" as 'Buffy' , I've got knowledge of the show from the show. If that makes any sense.

I'm sad Eden won't be doing it, I think they did a damn fine job with the license (a bit too slowly, but still.)

Wasn't a big fan, but I usually disliked any gamer fanbase to have their game line cancelled.  I guess they still have the .08 books Eden would put out annually, though.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstWasn't a big fan, but I usually disliked any gamer fanbase to have their game line cancelled.  I guess they still have the .08 books Eden would put out annually, though.

Hi Zachary! Are you back and settled in?

I thought the Buffy/Angel games were the best, most true-to-source licensed games I ever saw. It's just unfortunate I couldn't stand the source.

-clash