The Stargate franchise’s brand new tabletop roleplaying game won’t release this year after all, due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Developer Wyvern Gaming announced to its customers, and confirmed to GateWorld, that the Stargate Roleplaying Game has been delayed to 2021. But development and refinement on the game’s mechanics will continue.
Release of the game was originally set for this summer, with an official roll-out at Gen Con 2020 in Indianapolis.
Wyvern CEO Brad Ellis said that the decision to delay the project’s full release is due in part to the pandemic’s economic impact on families, as well as the likelihood of Gen Con’s cancellation. The Indianapolis convention is held in late July and early August, and last year drew a reported 70,000 people.
While Gen Con organizers have not yet cancelled this year’s event, registration has been delayed while they monitor the public health situation.
“The main reason we decided to delay was that we felt that a lot of people are feeling a financial crunch at the moment and would only spending money on necessities for their families,” Ellis told GateWorld. “Also because we had planned to launch at Gen Con 2020, but believe it is likely to be canceled or at the very least greatly diminished in attendance. We felt it would be prudent to delay the physical launch.”
The planned Kickstarter for the Stargate RPG, originally planned for early this year, is now aiming to launch this fall.
The game is based on the D&D fifth edition framework and is in the final stages of development. It went into public beta play-testing at the end of February. Wyvern said that the open beta will continue, with additional updates published every few weeks — so testers should continue sending in their game feedback through the project’s official Web site, at StargateTheRPG.com.
“The public playtesting is going great,” Ellis told GateWorld. “The feedback has been very positive and people are liking the new mechanics we’ve added to 5th edition to make the game more ‘Stargate.’ We’re still tweaking some things and this extra time for testing is really going to help hone the system down even more.”
Keep your chevrons locked on GateWorld for the latest Stargate RPG developments. Fans who are interested in signing up for play-testing can register now at StargateTheRPG.com.
On Twitter: @WyvrenGaming